Holy Cross Church | |
---|---|
Chapel of Ease | |
51°35′28″N3°46′09″W / 51.59116°N 3.76908°W | |
Country | Wales |
Language(s) | English |
Denomination | Church in Wales |
Architecture | |
Functional status | Redundant |
Heritage designation | Grade II listed |
Designated | 28 April 2000 [1] |
Architect(s) | Edward Haycock Sr. |
Years built | 1827 |
Closed | 2008 |
Specifications | |
Capacity | 500 [1] |
Administration | |
Parish | Margam |
Holy Cross Church, Port Talbot, also known locally as the "Chapel of Ease", is a Victorian church located centrally in the Taibach district of Port Talbot, Wales. [2] Prior to the building of the M4 motorway flyover through the centre of the town in the 1960s, it was in the centre of a residential area, but it is now dominated by junction 40 of the motorway. [3] The land was originally donated by C. R. M. Talbot, MP, the owner of the Margam Abbey estate, as a church for local people who could not get to the abbey itself to worship.
The church was built in 1827 [3] by the Shrewsbury architect Edward Haycock Sr., with William Bruce Knight as its first vicar, [4] and fell within the parish of Margam, as a chapel of ease to Margam Abbey. [5] It had a capacity of 500. [3]
After the building of St Theodore's Church, Port Talbot, Holy Cross became a subsidiary of the new parish of Taibach. [6] In 1903 Holy Cross was upgraded, with G. E. Halliday as architect, to bring it up to the standard of a parish church, [3] and a rood screen was added. [1]
The parents of the actor Anthony Hopkins were married at the church in 1936. [7]
The church closed at the end of December 2008 after part of the ceiling collapsed. It was declared redundant by the Archbishop of Wales, Barry Morgan, in 2009. [3]
The cemetery contains several war graves in the care of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. [8]
A proposal to turn the church into a private residence met with opposition from those with relatives buried in the churchyard. It was then proposed to convert the building into a chapel of rest instead. [9] The chapel was taken over by a local funeral director in 2016. [10]
Port Talbot is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, situated on the east side of Swansea Bay, approximately eight miles from Swansea. The Port Talbot Steelworks covers a large area of land which dominates the south east of the town. It is one of the biggest steelworks in the world, but has been under threat of closure since the 1980s. The population was 31,550 in 2021, comprising about a fifth of the 141,931 population of Neath Port Talbot.
Margam Abbey was a Cistercian monastery, located in the village of Margam, a suburb of modern Port Talbot in Wales.
Aberavon is a town and community in Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. The town derived its name from being near the mouth of the river Afan, which also gave its name to a medieval lordship. Today it is essentially a district of Port Talbot, covering the central and south western part of the town. Aberavon is also the name of the nearby Blue Flag beach and the parish covering the same area.
Margam Castle, Margam, Port Talbot, Wales, is a late Georgian country house built for Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot. Designed by Thomas Hopper, the castle was constructed in a Tudor Revival style over a five-year period, from 1830 to 1835. The site had been occupied for some 4,000 years. A Grade I listed building, the castle is now in the care of Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council.
Margam is a suburb and community of Port Talbot in the Welsh county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, close to junction 39 of the M4 motorway. The community had a population of 3,017 in 2011; the built up area being larger and extending into Taibach community.
St Illtyd's Church is a church complex in Llantwit Major, Vale of Glamorgan, southeast Wales. It is located at the site of the oldest college in the United Kingdom, once believed to have been founded as Côr Tewdws c. AD 395 by the Roman Emperor Theodosius II. It is now generally accepted as having been founded by St. Illtud c. AD 508, from whom it derives its name. The current church building was built in the 11th century by the Normans, with portions being rebuilt in the 13th and 15th centuries. The church building is one of the oldest and best-known parish churches in Wales. It is a grade I listed building, or building of exceptional interest, and has been called both the "Westminster Abbey of Wales" for its unique collection of carved stones and effigies, and "the most beautiful church in Wales."
Margam Country Park is a country park estate in Wales, of around 850 acres (3.4 km²). It is situated in Margam, about 2 miles (3 km) from Port Talbot in south Wales. It was once owned by the Mansel Talbot family and is now owned and administered by the local council, Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council. Situated within the park are three notable buildings: Margam Abbey, a Cistercian monastery; Margam Castle, a neo-Gothic country house that was once the seat of the Mansel Talbot family; and the 18th-century Orangery. The park is designated Grade I on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.
Taibach or Tai-bach is a community and suburban district of Port Talbot, Wales. It is a settlement centered on the main A48 road, sandwiched between the river Ffrwdwyllt and Margam. Parts of Margam are within the community boundaries.
Port Talbot Steelworks is an integrated steel production plant in Port Talbot, Wales, capable of producing nearly 5 million tonnes of steel slab per annum. This makes it the larger of the two major steel plants in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe. Over 4,000 people work at the plant.
Bryn and Cwmavon is an electoral ward of Neath Port Talbot county borough, south Wales. The electoral ward comprises the parishes of Bryn and Cwmavon.
Goytre is a village near the town of Port Talbot, Wales.
Margam Stones Museum is a small Victorian schoolhouse near Port Talbot, South Wales, which now provides a home for one of the most important collections of Celtic stone crosses in Britain. All originally found within the locality of Margam, and mostly assembled as a collection in the 19th century, they provide enduring testimony to a Welsh Christian culture between the 6th and 16th centuries. The striking Cross of Conbelin is the most celebrated example. From around 1000 AD, it is a huge disc cross with Celtic interlace and plaitwork patterns, figurative scenes including a hunting scene, and inscriptions telling us who made it and who erected it. There are 17 early Christian stones, plus 11 memorials and other stones from the post-Norman periods. The museum is run by Cadw, the Welsh historic sites agency, and is close to Margam Abbey Church and the ruins of the Abbey buildings.
In the United Kingdom, the term listed building refers to a building or other structure officially designated as being of special architectural, historical, or cultural significance; Grade II* structures are those considered to be "particularly important buildings of more than special interest". Listing was begun by a provision in the Town and Country Planning Act 1947. Once listed, strict limitations are imposed on the modifications allowed to a building's structure or fittings. In Wales, the authority for listing under the Planning Act 1990 rests with Cadw.
Beulah Calvinistic Methodist Chapel, also known locally as "The Round Chapel" and in Welsh as "Capel y Groes", is a Grade II*-listed building in Margam, Port Talbot, Wales. It originally built in the mid-nineteenth century and had to be dismantled and moved in 1974 to make way for the new M4 motorway.
The Church of the Holy Cross at Mwnt, Ceredigion, Wales, is a parish church and Grade I listed building dating probably from the 13th century.
The Church of St Theodore is a parish church of the Church in Wales in Port Talbot, Wales. Located on the A48 opposite Maes-y-Cwrt Terrace and bordered on two sides by the Talbot Memorial Park, it is administered within the diocese of Llandaff.
Nant Ffrwdwyllt is a stream that runs through Cwm Dyffryn, within the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, from the village of Bryn, through the village of Goytre and the district of Taibach in Port Talbot, to the sea. The stream was originally a tributary of the River Afan but was diverted in the 18th century into the ironworks at what was to become Port Talbot to provide a source of water. It now flows into Port Talbot Docks. Several streets are or have been named after it, notably the present-day Ffrwdwyllt Street in Taibach, where the stream runs close to St Theodore's Church and the Talbot Memorial Park.
Olive Emma Talbot was a Welsh aristocrat of the prominent Talbot family of Glamorgan. She was a patron of Welsh church construction and restoration, and a close friend of Amy Dillwyn.
Groes was a village south of Port Talbot in the county of Glamorgan, Wales. It was demolished in 1976 to make way for Junction 39 of the new M4 motorway.