Catholic Church of St Mary incl. attached presbytery, Park (Parc), Merthyr Tydfil

History

1893-4. Substantial church built for the Benedictines to designs by the notable architect J S Hansom, his only Catholic church in Wales. Plan form of chancel flanked by gabled chapels, aisled nave, lower transepts, W porch. C13 Gothic style.

Merthyr, like many towns in S Wales, saw rapid industrial and population growth in the early C19. Much of this growth in the Merthyr and Dowlais area was made up by migrant workers, many from Ireland, recruited to the ironworks and collieries. A mission was established in the town c1825 in a loft over a slaughterhouse at Pondside and served by Rev. P Portal from Newport. By 1839 there was a resident priest, Rev. James Carroll, and he established a school for 50 children and was holding Mass each Sunday in the town and at Rhymney. Fr Carroll was able to secure land and funds for the building of St Illtyd’s church in Dowlais in 1844-6 (Rec. No. 11517).

After the Benedictines took over the Merthyr mission in 1859 plans were made to build a permanent church but they were unsuccessful. The Carmelites took over c1864 and were equally unsuccessful in raising the funds required and after they left the mission in 1878 the Benedictines returned under Fr Bernard Sanders and Fr Dunston Ross.

Fr Ross produced plans for a priest house, built by his successor Canon Stephen Wade 1884-5 at a cost of £1,000 on land given by Colonel Morgan, whose family owned much of the Morganstown area. The house, known as the Priory, was possibly designed by the firm Pugin & Pugin who at the time were working for the Benedictines at St Joseph, Swansea and Belmont Abbey, or by JS Hansom who later designed the church. This brick building survives as the current presbytery attached to the rear of the church.

Canon Wade then oversaw the building of a church on the area adjacent to the Priory, with plans prepared by JS Hansom of London and Thomas Rees of Ynysgored, Merthyr as builder. The foundation stone was laid in 1893 and the church was opened 27 September 1894 with Bishops of Clifton and Newport in attendance.

It was originally proposed to have two side chapels, two sacristies, an organ loft, side chapels and confessionals off the S side. These were omitted from the initial construction with the intention to construct them at a later date. The sanctuary and sacristy were added in 1904, probably following the original designs. After Canon Wade’s death in 1909 a high altar was erected in his memory and consecrated by Bishop Hedley in July 1910. Also that year altar rails in the memory of a Mrs Bernasconi and a font were installed. The organ gallery was erected in 1921 and in 1924 the Lady Chapel (now side chapel) was opened.

The Benedictines left in 1930 with the church served since by diocesan clergy. The sanctuary was reordered in 1992 by Nigel Dees of Hereford with a freestanding altar installed using marble from the earlier altar rails. The mensa from the Wade high altar was set into the sanctuary floor with other parts used as a base for the tabernacle. A new ambo (pulpit) was made from the former pulpit and an electronic instrument replaced the original organ. A lean to on the N side housing a kitchenette and WCs have been added. The church retains original and early furnishings including the reredos and good stained glass.

Exterior

Church in Early English Gothic style. Randomly coursed snecked Pwllypant stone with Bath stone dressings, slate roofs (except for extension to north aisle) with parapeted gables and crucifix finials, elongated corner buttresses without set-offs.

Aisled nave with transepts and a square ended sanctuary with side chapels. 5-light stepped E window with cusped lights and linked hoodmoulds; cinquefoil above clerestory. W front with pilaster-like buttresses separating nave from lean-to aisles. Triple lancet window in gable, above, stepped 5-lancet window with hoodmoulds, attached shafts etc, both windows over stringcourses. Buttresses frame shallow gabled porch to moulded trefoil-headed doorway of 3 orders double boarded doors up steps. Narrow lancets to either side of doorway, and paired lancets to each aisle. Triple lancets in gable apex above paired lancets in the transepts, triple lancets at the E end of the side chapels, paired lancets in the nave and clerestory and paired lancets with plate tracery in the clerestory of the sanctuary.

The presbytery is attached to the east end of the church by a short single storey linking block, serving as a porch which gives access to both presbytery and church. Presbytery is a large 2-storeyed building with an expressive plan comprising 3 main blocks. Sturdy domestic gothic style, brick with stone dressings, including plinth and string course. Slate roof with ridge cresting. Canted bay windows in two principal gables, single light windows elsewhere to ground floor (paired in rear wing), and 2-light mullioned and transomed windows to first floor all have shallow arched stone heads. Glazing itself renewed.

Interior

Spacious interior with Corsham Down Bath stone dressings, pillars and arches. Glazed screen (modern) at W end forming a narthex with piety stall and archway to WCs etc in N aisle. Gallery of 1921 above the narthex accessed by spiral stair in NW corner. 5-bay nave with alternating round and polygonal piers, taller arches to the transepts. King post roof sprung from moulded stone corbels, open timbered with pointed principals and collar beams. Off N aisle a panelled confessional, with cusped blind tracery, and Lady chapel. Lean-to aisle roofs. 4-bay chancel with attached shafts to springers of panelled pointed ceiling. Sanctuary arcades to N and S, granite columns with painted stone bases, capitals and moulded arches. Timber barrel vaulted roof. Blessed Sacrament Chapel to N, Sacred Heart chapel to S.

Fittings: reredos of alabaster and marble, open tracery and carved figures of St Bernard and St Stephen under canopies, the pelican in her piety and foliage detailing; forward altar with cusped tracery; carved and painted stone and marble polygonal pulpit with open arcading (its pillars reused for the tabernacle plinth in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel); Blessed Sacrament Chapel with marble altar rails and metal gates; Sacred Heart Chapel octagonal stone font (1910); painted plaster relief Stations of the Cross. Windows: 5-light E window depicting the five Joyful Mysteries, likely C20 and similar to the N transept Coronation of the Virgin and the Assumption window and S transept Way of the Cross and Crucifixion window.

Interior of presbytery retains encaustic tiled floor in link with church, and good original joinery including fine staircase.

Reasons for Listing

Included for its special architectural interest as a substantial late C19 church, well designed by a notable architect of the period and a rare example of his work in Wales. Good interior with some high-quality fittings. Included, notwithstanding the alterations, is the attached presbytery, important for its special historic interest in the establishment of a permanent Catholic church in the town of Merthyr.

External Links

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