Our Lady and St James Church is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

Bangor, Gwynedd Bangor (; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and Community (Wales), community in Gwynedd, north Wales. It is the oldest city in Wales. Historic counties of Wales, Historically part of Caernarfonshire, the community had a ...

, Wales. The church structure was built from 1864 to 1865 and designed by Henry Kennedy. Originally, it was built as the Anglican Church of St James. However, in 1994 it closed, and was acquired by the local

Catholic diocese As of June 21, 2024, the Catholic Church in its entirety comprises 3,172 ecclesiastical jurisdictions, including over 652 archdioceses and 2,249 dioceses, as well as apostolic vicariates, apostolic exarchates, apostolic administrations, apost ...

in 1996. The local Catholic congregation moved from their old church, Our Lady's Church, to this one and they rededicated it to Our Lady and St James. Architecturally, the church is in the

Gothic Revival style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

. A part of the church was designed by Henry Harold Hughes. It is located on the corner of Holyhead Road and Ffriddoedd Road to the southwest of the city centre. It is a

Grade II listed 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, H ...

building.

History

Our Lady's Church

In 1824, it was decided that Bangor would be the location of a North Wales

Catholic mission Missionary work of the Catholic Church has often been undertaken outside the geographically defined parishes and dioceses by religious orders who have people and material resources to spare, and some of which specialized in missions. Eventually, p ...

by the Vicar Apostolic of the Western District, Bishop Peter Collingridge. It was difficult finding a suitable location in the city, because of local hostility to Catholics. Houses of local Catholics were often used as temporary places of worship. In 1827, the mission was established with

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

being said in a room in a house in the Hirael ward of the city. Irish Catholics passing through the city would often stay for Mass, including once

Daniel O’Connell Daniel(I) O’Connell (; 6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847), hailed in his time as The Liberator, was the acknowledged political leader of Ireland's Roman Catholic majority in the first half of the 19th century. His mobilisation of Catholic Irelan ...

. Until 1838, the mission was financially supported by the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

Stonyhurst College Stonyhurst College or Stonyhurst is a co-educational Catholic Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing education for boarding school, boarding and day school, day pupils, adhering to the Society of Jesus, Jesuit tradition. It is ...

. In 1833, a site for a church was purchased in the Pendref area of the city. Construction started on it and it was opened in 1834. It was designed by

Joseph John Scoles Joseph John Scoles (1798–1863) was an English Gothic Revival architect, who designed many Roman Catholic churches. Early life and education Scoles was born in London on 27 June 1798, the son of Roman Catholic parents Matthew Scoles, a joiner, ...

, an architect who regularly designed churches for the Jesuits, such as

St Winefride's Church, Holywell St Winefride's Church (also known as St Winifred's Church or St Winefred's Church) is a Roman Catholic Parish church in Holywell, Flintshire, Holywell, Flintshire. It was founded by the Society of Jesus and was until recently the first church in t ...

. The church itself was quite small and by 1920, it was not large enough to accommodate the increasing

congregation Congregation may refer to: Religion *Church (congregation), a religious organization that meets in a particular location *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administrative body of the Catholic Church *Religious congregation, a type of religious instit ...

. A new site for a church on Upper Farrar Road was purchased, but in 1931, the

Bishop of Menevia The Bishop of Menevia was the ordinary of the Diocese of Menevia in the Province of Cardiff in the Catholic Church in Wales. The Diocese of Menevia covered an area of roughly consisting of Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Neath Port Talbot, ...

, Francis Vaughan told the priest to sell the land and put the funds towards repairing the church. In 1960, the church was again repaired and renovated. In 1963, to alleviate the overcrowding in the church, St Pius X and St Richard Gwyn Church was opened in nearby Bethesda, but it has since closed.

St James' Church

In the 19th century, with the expanding population of Bangor, a new

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church was needed. The population had doubled between 1831 and 1861. On 28 May 1862, the Dean of Bangor,

James Cotton James Henry Cotton (July 1, 1935 – March 16, 2017) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who performed and recorded with many fellow blues artists and with his own band. He also played drums early in his career. ...

died. The new church would be built in memory of him. The architects were Henry Kennedy and John Mechelen Rogers, the builders were W. T. Rogers, and the benefactor who contributed the most was a Mrs Price. On 29 June 1864, the foundation stone of the church was laid by Mrs Price. The church was built in the

and the total cost of it came to £4,000. On 7 September 1866, the church was opened and

consecrated Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

as its construction costs had already been met. Over the following hundred years, various extensions and repairs were made to the church. In 1884, a south chapel was added to the church. It was designed by John Mechelen Rogers and built in memory of J. W. Hughes, a churchwarden and church benefactor. In 1894, a

sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christianity, Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is us ...

was added to the church and it was designed by Henry Harold Hughes. In 1955, the church pews were replaced with chairs. In 1965, the church was redecorated. The choir stalls were moved from the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

to the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and the south aisle was turned into the war memorial chapel, its altar came from Christ Church, Machynlleth, which closed that year. In 1994, the

Church in Wales The Church in Wales () is an Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses. The Archbishop of Wales does not have a fixed archiepiscopal see, but serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The position is currently held b ...

closed the church.

Our Lady and St James Church

In the 1980s and 1990s, the congregation of Our Lady's Church were still looking for a larger location.

Ecumenical Ecumenism ( ; alternatively spelled oecumenism)also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalismis the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships ...

efforts were made to share various church locations in the city. As the capacity of St James' Church was double that of Our Lady Church, its purchase made a lot of sense for the congregation of Our Lady's Church. In 1996, the church was acquired by the Diocese of Wrexham, and Our Lady's Church was sold off. The newly acquired church was renamed Our Lady and St James Church, keeping the names of its predecessor churches. On 8 September 1996, the church was reopened.

Parish

In the parish is

Bangor University Bangor University () is a Public university, public Research university, research university in Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales. It was established by Royal charter, Royal Charter in 1885 as the University College of North Wales (UCNW; ), and in 1893 ...

, which has a Catholic chaplaincy. In 2016, the church's

was merged with St Helen's Church in

Caernarfon Caernarfon (; ) is a List of place names with royal patronage in the United Kingdom, royal town, Community (Wales), community and port in Gwynedd, Wales. It has a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the easter ...

. The church has two Sunday Masses at 10:00 am and 5:00 pm.

References

External links

*
Diocese of Wrexham site
{{Diocese of Wrexham Grade II listed Roman Catholic churches in Wales Grade II listed churches in Gwynedd Roman Catholic churches completed in 1866 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom Gothic Revival church buildings in Wales 1866 establishments in Wales Religious organizations established in 1834 Bangor, Gwynedd Roman Catholic churches in Wales Former Anglican church buildings in the United Kingdom