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Left to right: (a) St Paul's, west elevation seen from street. (b) Close-up of exterior artificial stone dressings made of gravel and Portland cement, as noted by Newman. (c) Close-up of one of the artificial stone mouldings at the base of the internal piers, made presumably of concrete — also as noted by John Newman.
St Paul’s church, in the Grangetown area of Cardiff. was designed by Messrs. Seddon and Carter in 1888 and built largely at the expense of Lord Windsor, who donated £7,000 to the project. It rose in two stages; the nave and aisles between 1889 and 1891 and the chancel between 1901 and 1902. A planned tower and spire were never built.
Externally the walls are constructed in Pennant sandstone rubble with dressings of Penkridge sandstone, a freestone from Staffordshire and artificial stone made from an aggregate of fine brick fragments bonded with Portland cement. Internally some of the stonework is also artificial comprising concrete cast in moulds.
Left: Interior view, looking east. Right: Pulpit with carved figures designed by John Coates Carter.
It is generally considered to be the finest of Coates Carter's surviving early churches. Of the architecture, Phil Thomas observed that “the exterior impresses through a combination of height, austere massing, strong detailing and subtleties like the delicate four-plane profile of the gables on the rhythmically cross-gabled aisles and on the stone spires of the turrets framing the bold west front” whilst "the tall interior is calm and coherent, unified by the splendid trefoil-section roof of nave and chancel, and by the insistent rhythm of tall, single-mullioned windows which achieve resolution in the five-light east window."
Bibliography
Newman, John. The Buildings of Wales – Glamorgan. London: Penguin, 1995.
"Parish Church of St Paul, Grangetown, Cardiff. British Listed Buildings. Web. 10 July 2023.
Thomas, Phil. "John Coates Carter Building a Sense of Place." "Buildings Conservation Directory (17th ed., London, 2010): Special Report on Historic Churches, p.34-39. Available at https://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/coates-carter/coates-carter.htm 10 July 2023
Created 10 July 2023