St David's Priory 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 ...

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

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 ...

. It is the oldest Catholic church in Swansea. It was built in 1847 and replaced a church on the same site that was constructed around 1808. It is called the Priory Church after the

Benedictines The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly Christian mysticism, contemplative Christian monasticism, monastic Religious order (Catholic), order of the Catholic Church for men and f ...

ministered there from 1873. It was designed by Charles Hansom 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. It is located on St David's Place, between

LC, Swansea The LC is a leisure centre in the city centre of Swansea, Wales. Originally Swansea Leisure Centre, it was rebranded as 'The LC' when the facility reopened to the public on 1 March 2008 after a £32million makeover. The building's exterior was ...

and Swansea Minster, in the centre of the city. 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

Foundation

In 1810, before Catholic Emancipation in 1829, a Catholic chapel was built. It was situated in a modified barn building on Nelson Street. It was paid for by

Maria Fitzherbert Maria Anne Fitzherbert (''née'' Smythe, previously Weld; 26 July 1756 – 27 March 1837) was a longtime companion of George, Prince of Wales (later King George IV of the United Kingdom). In 1785, they married secretly in a ceremony that was ...

, who was once illegally married to

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 29 January 1820 until his death in 1830. At the time of his accession to the throne, h ...

. The chapel was served by a priest from France, Albert Sejan. He was once chaplain to

Louis XVI Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste; ; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France (1729–1765), Louis, Dauphin of France (son and heir- ...

Construction

In 1839, a new priest started serving the chapel, Charles Kavanagh. He worked serving the Catholics in Aberavon, Neath and Llanelli during the

Great Irish Famine The Great Famine, also known as the Great Hunger ( ), the Famine and the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of mass starvation and disease in Ireland lasting from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a historical social crisis and had a major impact o ...

. The chapel was too small and dilapidated for the growing congregation, so he set about raising funds for a new, larger church. Construction of the church was paid for by Lady Catherine Eyre, Mrs Shewin and donations from the public. The church was designed by Charles Hansom. It cost £1300 and was opened on 8 September 1847. The stained-glass window depicting the resurrection was given to the church by George Grant Francis. At its opening, the Bishop William Ullathorne, the Vicar Apostolic of the Western District, preached at the

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 ...

Developments

From 1856 to 1873, the priest at the church was Peter Lewis. He was responsible for the building of the school, a nearby convent, and the first post-Reformation Catholic church in Greenhill. He expanded St David's Priory Church and hired the architect Benjamin Bucknall to design the extensions. In 1873, the

was handed over to the

and they made it a priory church.

Parish

In 2009, the Benedictines left and returned administration of the parish to the local

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

, who continue to serve the parish today. St Illtyd's Church in Danygraig is served from St David's Priory Church. St Illtyd's Church has two Sunday Masses at 6:00 pm on Saturday and at 10:00 am on Sunday morning. St David's Priory Church has two Sunday Masses at 11:30 am and at 6:00 pm.Directory
from Archdiocese of Cardiff-Menevia, retrieved 31 May 2025

Interior

St David's Priory Church interior, Swansea by Jon K.jpg,

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 ...

St David's Priory Church main window, Swansea by Jon K.jpg, Main window St David's Priory Church Salvation history window, Swansea by Jon K.jpg, Stained glass window St David's Priory Church Benedictine window, Swansea by Jon K.jpg, Window remembering the Benedictines St David's Priory Church Louis Marie Baudouin window, Swansea by Jon K.jpg,

Louis-Marie Baudouin Louis-Marie Baudouin (2 August 1765 - 12 February 1835) was a French Roman Catholic priest who was the founder of the Sons of Mary Immaculate and the Ursulines of Jesus. Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed him as venerable on 20 December 2012. Life Lou ...

window St David's Priory Church St Leo window, Swansea by Jon K.jpg, Saint Leo window

References

External links

* * {{Archdiocese of Cardiff-Menevia Grade II listed churches in Swansea Grade II listed Roman Catholic churches in Wales Roman Catholic churches in Wales Gothic Revival church buildings in Wales 1810 establishments in Wales Religious organizations established in 1810 Roman Catholic churches completed in 1847 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom Benedictine churches in the United Kingdom