Our Lady Queen of Peace Church is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

Llanelli ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Carmarthenshire and the Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is on the estuary of the River Loughor and is the largest town in the Principal areas of Wales, ...

, Carmarthenshire, Wales. It was built in 1995, replacing an older church built in 1938. It is located on Waunlanyrafon in Llanelli, opposite the police station. It is the only Catholic church in Wales served by a community of Carmelite priests.''Taking Stock''
Llanelli – Our Lady Queen of Peace

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

, retrieved 6 May 2021

History

Church building

In the 1880s a

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 ...

started in Llanelli to serve the Catholic community in the town. In 1938, a church was built in the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, 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 ...

style of architecture. In 1985, the church had structural issues and was demolished. In December 1993, construction started on a new church. On 11 July 1995, the church was opened by the

Archbishop of Cardiff The Archbishop of Cardiff-Menevia is the ordinary (Catholic Church), ordinary of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cardiff-Menevia. The position came about after the merger of the Archdiocese of Cardiff and the Diocese of Menevia in 2024, afte ...

John Ward. In 2004, the

Carmelites The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (; abbreviated OCarm), known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a mendicant order in the Catholic Church for both men and women. Histo ...

moved to Llanelli from Aberystwyth to serve the parish.

Carmelites

In 1936, the

returned to Wales, for the first time since the Reformation. They took over the running of St Mary's College in

Aberystwyth Aberystwyth (; ) is a University town, university and seaside town and a community (Wales), community in Ceredigion, Wales. It is the largest town in Ceredigion and from Aberaeron, the county's other administrative centre. In 2021, the popula ...

, a seminary for the training of Catholic priests in the Welsh language, and Our Lady of the Angels Church in the town. From Aberystwyth they went out to found other churches and school. In the late 1930s they built Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in

Lampeter Lampeter (; (formal); ''Llambed'' (colloquial)) is a town, community and electoral ward in Ceredigion, Wales, at the confluence of the Afon Dulas with the River Teifi. It is the third largest urban area in Ceredigion, after Aberystwyth and C ...

. After the Second World War, from Aberystwyth, the Carmelites founded a school in Tregib Manor in

Llandeilo Llandeilo () is a town and Community (Wales), community in Carmarthenshire, Wales, situated where the River Towy is crossed by the A483 road, A483 on a 19th-century stone bridge. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census the community had ...

. Eventually, the Carmelite friars moved on from all those places and in 2002 decided to move from the parish in Aberystwyth to Llanelli, arriving in 2004.

Parish

The church has two Sunday Masses at 6:00 pm on Saturday and at 10:00 am on Sunday.Parishes
from Diocese of Menevia, retrieved 6 May 2021

References

Externals links