The Cathedral Church of Saint Joseph – also known as St Joseph's Cathedral, Menevia Cathedral or Swansea Cathedral – is a Grade II-listed
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
* Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
cathedral
A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations ...
in
Swansea
Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the C ...
,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
. It is the seat of the
Bishop of Menevia and
mother church of the
Diocese of Menevia
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Menevia is a diocese of the Catholic Church in Wales. It is one of two suffragan dioceses in the ecclesiastical province of Cardiff and is subject to the Archdiocese of Cardiff.
History
On 12 May 1898, the Apos ...
. The cathedral was built in the late nineteenth century and is located in the
Greenhill area of Swansea.
History
Originally built as a church, St Joseph's was conceived by Father Wulstan Richards,
OSB who came to Greenhill in 1875. It was designed by
Peter Paul Pugin and took two years to build at a cost of £10,000. The building was officially opened on 25 November 1888 while still under construction. Built as a church, it was converted to a cathedral in 1987 for the redefined Diocese of Menevia.
The Cathedral Today
catholicweb.com; retrieved 29 March 2014. It was designated a Grade II listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...
on 30 March 1987.[
]
Description
The plan of the building is that of an apsidal
In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...
chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse.
...
flanked by side chapel
A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common type ...
s with a seven-bay aisle
An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, pa ...
d 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-typ ...
, a polygonal tower with spire
A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires a ...
in the north-west corner and twin porches on the western facade. Its walls are coursed bull-nosed masonry with bath stone dressings and red Dumfries stone in the nave piers and responds. The cathedral has a modern pantile roof and there is a gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aest ...
d parapet
A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...
, topped with a finial on the western side of the building above a small arched opening over a four-light Geometric traceried window. The nave has three-light clerestory traceried windows and the east facade has a lower clerestory and a three-light window under a corbelled gable with a finial. The ceiling has radiating ribs that extend to the walls.
See also
*Saint Joseph
Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers ...
References
External links
Diocese of Menevia: The CathedralArtwork at St Joseph's Cathedral, Swansea
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swansea, Saint Joseph
Roman Catholic churches completed in 1889
19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom
Grade II listed churches in Swansea
Grade II listed cathedrals in Wales
Mass media and culture in Swansea
Saint Joseph
Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers ...
Roman Catholic cathedrals in Wales
Roman Catholic Diocese of Menevia