History

Anglican parish church of 1867-9 by R. K. Penson, the foundation stone laid 2/9/1867, opened by Bishop Thirlwall 21/9/1869, during the National Eisteddfod. Built as the English church for the expanding W side of the town, St David's being the Welsh church, and built large to accommodate the soldiers of the garrison. Organ added 1873 by Gray & Davison. Renovations in 1891 by E.V. Collier, including painted decorations in the chancel of British saints and martyrs. Organ chamber and vestry by Collier, 1900, further painted decoration and new organ by Hunter & Co 1907. Choir stalls and rails of 1867 moved to St David's church in 1930s. Tower had a steep pyramidal slate roof, removed and replaced with battlements in 1965, by A.D.R. Caroe. The church is near the site of the church planned by John Nash of which foundations were laid in 1824, but not continued. Originally a cruciform church with tall spire was intended, but the design was modified for lack of funds. The first bell in the tower was found as ballast on Swansea quay in 1864, inscribed from a church in Santiago, Chile, presumably burnt in the great fire of 1863.

Exterior

Anglican parish church, rubble stone in irregular courses with ashlar dressings and slate roofs with coped gables. Nave with N porch and N transept, tower over chancel, 5-sided apse, parallel roofed S aisle. N side, from W end has lancet window; large gabled porch with side buttresses, pointed doorway and traceried roundel over; pointed 3-light with multi-foil over; gabled N transept with N end round window with 4 quatrefoils, 2 cusped lancets below and a NE corner turret with pyramid roof and single cusped openings each side. Central tower has clasping buttresses with gables at mid height and 2 offsets above. Rectangular in plan, the broader faces E and W, Each face has a single large pointed bell-light with 2-light and quatrefoil tracery. Corbelling under plain parapet of 1965 stepped up at angles. This replaces former steep slated wedge-shaped roof. N side has a lancet window at mid-height and lean-to vestry below with cusped lancet set to right. Polygonal apse to chancel with 5 2-light windows with trefoils. South aisle is separately roofed with pointed windows of 3 and 2 lights with foiled circles in heads. At E end of aisle a gabled insertion at right angles, S of tower. W end of aisle has 2-light window with cinquefoil, W end of nave has 2 similar windows each with quatrefoil in head.

Interior

Five-bay arcade of double-chamfered pointed arches on round piers, screened off as a schoolroom in 1990 with screens by R. Clive-Powell with round panels of coloured glass by Glasslight of Swansea (Suzanne Hill and Elizabeth Edmundson). Matching larger chancel and sanctuary arches, 5-sided apse. Arch-braced collar trusses with cusping above the collars. Pews of 1869. Font of 1869 by Penson. Altar rails 1913 by E. V. Collier. Oak Gothic reredos of 1914 by E.V.Collier, in memory of Rev. Walters. Oak pulpit of 1928 by Wippell & Co. Organ in S aisle by Hunter & Son 1907, pulpit 1928, choir stalls 1935.
Five stained glass windows of 1915 in apse (Life of Christ) and one of 1917 in S aisle S (Good Samaritan) all by Kempe & Co, nave N second window by J. Powell & Son, Resurrection, 1955.

Reasons for Listing

Included as a prominent mid Victorian church with crossing tower, a landmark in distant views.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Christ Church at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q24182661

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings