All Saints' Church, Oystermouth
All Saints' Church, Oystermouth is an Anglican church in the Diocese of Swansea and Brecon, South Wales. It is located in Mumbles and is a Grade II listed building (listed 23 April 1952 as "a large church with substantial medieval fabric and good interior detail including early medieval piscina and font and C20 glass")[1] The church stands on a hillside, not far from Oystermouth Castle.[2]
The building is estimated to have been built in the mid-12th century, having first been mentioned in writing in 1141. It originally consisted of a tower on its western side, a nave and a lower chancel; the former nave are now the south aisle. A porch was constructed on the northern side in the 19th century, and in 1873 an organ chamber and vestry were built, to the design of Richard Kyrke Penson.[1] The church was substantially reconstructed in 1915, adding a new nave and chancel and a north aisle. The formerchancel became the Lady Chapel.[1] Oak panels for the altar in the Lady Chapel were carved in 1937 by the Revd J. D. Davies.[3]
The stained glass in the church includes a memorial window, commemorating the Mumbles lifeboat disaster of 1947; it shows lifeboatmen at work and was designed by Glantawe Studios and installed in 1977.[4] There are memorials in the churchyard to the eight members of the Mumbles lifeboat crew who were killed in the incident.[5]
The most notable grave in the churchyard is that of the English doctor and editor Thomas Bowdler, who died in Swansea in 1825.[6]
Further reading[edit]
- A History of All Saints’ Church Oystermouth by Geoffrey R. Orrin and Dr. F. G. Cowley, 1990 (ISBN 0 86383 705 0)
References[edit]
- ^ a b c "Church of All Saints, Oystermouth". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
- ^ Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales (1976). An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Glamorgan: pt. 1. pt. a. The early castles from the Norman Conquest to 1217. H.M.S.D. ISBN 978-1-871184-22-8.
- ^ Morgannwg: Transactions of the Glamorgan History Society. 1994.
- ^ "Lifeboat Window". Stained Glass in Wales. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
- ^ Robin Turner (9 May 2014). "Mumbles lifeboat disaster of 1947: Memorials to lifeboatmen repaired free of charge". WalesOnline. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
- ^ Phil Carradice (13 June 2013). "To boldly bowdlerize – Thomas Bowdler and the Swansea connection". BBC Wales. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
