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Swansea Mosque is located in two former terraced commercial buildings on St. Helen's Road in BBC News - Police probe BNP mosque leaflet
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Swansea MosqueSwansea's New Mosque Project
1980s establishments in Wales Buildings and structures in Swansea Mosques converted from churches in Europe Mosques in Wales {{Wales-struct-stub
Swansea Mosque is located in two former terraced commercial buildings on St. Helen's Road in Swansea, Wales
Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City ...
. It has served the Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
community in Swansea since the 1980s.
In order to cater for the needs of Swansea's growing Muslim community, a project is underway to redevelop a disused church building nearby on St. Helen's Road just yards away from the existing mosque. The new mosque building was founded in 1862 as St. Andrew's Church. Built in 1864 by Scottish immigrants working in the drapery trade, St. Andrew's was at that time Swansea's only Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their n ...
Church.
Designed by John Dickson, the façade has decorative twin towers and is located on St. Helen's Road. St. Andrew's later became the property of the United Reformed Church
The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2022 it has approximately 40,000 members in 1,284 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers.
Origins and history
The United Reformed Church resulte ...
before falling into dereliction. After fire damage in 1964, the rear hall was redesigned and rebuilt.
A Muslim charity (Kafel Fund UK) bought the building from a private owner in 1997. In 2004 following the merger of the charity with the mosque, the current restoration and renovation plans commenced.
The new mosque project attracted controversy in 2004 when the British National Party
The British National Party (BNP) is a far-right, fascist political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and its leader is Adam Walker. A minor party, it has no elected representatives at any level of UK gover ...
circulated a leaflet in opposition to it./ref>
See also
*Islam in Wales
Islam is a minority faith in Wales followed by 2.2 % of its population with about 64,000 adherents recorded as per 2021 Census up from about 46,000 adherents in the 2011 Census. The earliest recorded connections between Wales and the Muslim worl ...
* Islamic schools and branches
Islamic schools and branches have different understandings of Islam. There are many different sects or denominations, schools of Islamic jurisprudence, and schools of Islamic theology, or '' ʿaqīdah'' (creed). Within Islamic groups themselves ...
References
External links
Swansea Mosque
1980s establishments in Wales Buildings and structures in Swansea Mosques converted from churches in Europe Mosques in Wales {{Wales-struct-stub