The Church of St Cadoc, sometimes referred to as "The Cathedral of Gower", is a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

and an Anglican church located in the hamlet of Cheriton on the north side of the

Gower Peninsula The Gower Peninsula (), or simply Gower (), is a peninsula in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is the most westerly part of the historic county of Glamorgan, and is now within the City and County of Swansea. It projects towards th ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

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. The present church was built in the 13th century and is believed to have replaced an earlier church within the manor of

Landimore Landimore ()Owen, H.W & Morgan, R. ''Dictionary of the Place-names of Wales'' 2007 Gomer Press, Llandysul is a hamlet on the north coast of the Gower, in the City and County of Swansea, south Wales. To the north are the extensive saltmarsh ...

. Restoration was carried out on two occasions in the 19th century and again in 1934. The font may have been salvaged from the earlier church which was abandoned because of the encroaching sea.

The original church

The first church in the district is supposed to have been built by the family of Payn de Turberville, who granted it to the

Knights Hospitallers The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there u ...

of St John at

Slebech Slebech () was a community (prior to 1974, a civil parish) in Pembrokeshire, Wales, which is now part of the combined community of Uzmaston and Boulston and Slebech, a sparsely populated community on the northern shore of the Eastern River Cled ...

in about 1165. The exact site of the earlier church is uncertain. The name "Cheriton" derives from "church town", but this name is thought to have been given in recognition of the new church.

The present church

The church has a

saddleback roof A saddleback roof is usually on a tower, with a ridge and two sloping sides, producing a gable at each end. See also * List of roof shapes Roof shapes encompass a broad range of designs, including flat (or shed roof, shed), gabled, hip roof, h ...

with a defensive intent. The interior of the church contained medieval wall paintings, including scriptural quotations and vine-leaf patterns, but these were destroyed during the Victorian era. Eighteenth-century maps show the church in its present location, near a

mill Mill may refer to: Science and technology * Factory * Mill (grinding) * Milling (machining) * Millwork * Paper mill * Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel * Sugarcane mill * Textile mill * List of types of mill * Mill, the arithmetic ...

, which went out of use in the 19th century, and "Great House", which was demolished at a similar date. In the 1840s, Rev W. L. Collins had the original pews removed, and installed a new window, which was itself replaced during the restoration of the mid-1870s, carried out by Rev J. D. Davies, the Rector of Llanmadoc and author of ''A History of West Gower''. Diocesan architect

John Prichard John Prichard (6 May 1817 – 13 October 1886) was a Welsh architect in the neo-Gothic style. As diocesan architect of Llandaff, he was involved in the building or restoration of many churches in south Wales. Personal history John Prichard ...

was involved in this work, as he was in numerous other restorations of the period.

References

External links

The Gower – Places of Worship

The Church in Wales
{{Authority control Cheriton, St Cadoc