St German's Church

St German's Church

St German's Church, Star Street
Location within Cardiff
General information
Architectural style Arts and Crafts
Town or city Cardiff
Country Wales
Coordinates 51°29′4″N 3°9′34″W / 51.48444°N 3.15944°W / 51.48444; -3.15944
Construction started 1881
Completed 1884
Cost £5000
Design and construction
Architect Bodley & Garner

St German's Church (dedicated to St Germanus of Auxerre, the Garmon Sant of Welsh tradition) is a nineteenth-century parish church in Adamsdown, Cardiff, Wales. The building, located on the corner of Star Street and Metal Street, is a Grade I Listed building.[1]


History and architecture

Church interior, nave and chancel

The first church in this locality was established in 1857 in a converted barn and was known as Splott Chapel and as Christ Church. In 1874 this was replaced by a second-hand building made of iron. The population was growing rapidly and this building soon became inadequate.[2] By 1881 the parish had raised £5000 to build a new church.[3] Lord Tredegar donated the land and laid the foundation stone of the new church in April 1882.[2]

Crucifixion with Mary and John by Frank Roper, outside the west doors of the church[4]

The new church was designed by architect George Frederick Bodley,[3] part of architectural partnership Bodley & Garner. It was built between 1881 and 1884. Pevsner and Newman describe the church as "tall, spacious and elegant" and of "widespread influence locally". [5] Among other features of note, high on the south wall of the chancel of St. German's is a particularly finely carved and painted organ case – recently painstakingly restored to its former glory – which was given to the new church by the Rev. Francis Edward Nugee, who spent most of the 1880s as a young curate in the parish of Roath under the Rev. Charles Smythies, who was vicar of Roath until 1883; Smythies went on to become Bishop of British Central Africa (later renamed Nyasaland, now Malawi) and Nugee later married his half-sister, Edith Alston.[6]

In addition to the church there is a school and clergy house next door, built contemporaneously by the same architects.[5]

St German's church was consecrated in March 1886 and the new parish of St German was created in the same month.[2]

In the media

The BBC Radio 4 program The Daily Service has been broadcast from St German's on several occasions.[7][8][9]

References

  1. ↑ Church of St German of Auxerre., Adamsdown, britishlistedbuildings.co.uk, retrieved 2013-06-09
  2. 1 2 3 History of St German's Church, St German with St Saviour website. Retrieved 2013-06-11.
  3. 1 2 Jean Rose, The Church of St German, Roath, Cardiff: A Guide for Visitors, St German's Church (2010), pp. 1–2
  4. ↑ "Crucifixion with Mary and John". Imaging the Bible in Wales Database. University of Wales Trinity Saint David. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  5. 1 2 Newman, John; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1995). The Buildings of Wales: Glamorgan. Penguin Group. p. 95. ISBN 0-14-071056-6.
  6. ↑ Phillips-Evans, J. The Longcrofts: 500 Years of a British Family, Amazon, 2012, p. 113
  7. ↑ Daily Service 11/04/2011, BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 2013-06-19.
  8. ↑ Daily Service 01/03/2012, BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 2013-06-19.
  9. ↑ Daily Service 25/06/2012, BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 2013-06-19.

Coordinates: 51°29′04″N 3°09′34″W / 51.4845°N 3.1595°W / 51.4845; -3.1595

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