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.
| Holy Cross Church | |
|---|---|
| Chapel of Ease | |
 | |
 | |
| 51°35′28″N 3°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 |
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]
Closure
editThe 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]
References
edit- ^ a b c "Holy Cross Church, Port Talbot". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- ^ Geoffrey R. Orrin (2004). Church Building and Restoration in Victorian Glamorgan: An Architectural and Documentary Study. University of Wales Press. p. 101.
- ^ a b c d e "Holy Cross Church, Taibach (414438)". Coflein. RCAHMW. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
- ^ "The National Library of Wales, Knight, William Bruce (1785–1845), Welsh scholar, ecclesiastic, and administrator: Dictionary of Welsh Biography". Retrieved 17 September 2020.
- ^ Port Talbot Historical Society (1965). Transactions.
- ^ "History". The Parish of St Theodore, Port Talbot. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
- ^ Michael Feeney Callan (1993). Anthony Hopkins: In Darkness and Light. Sidgwick & Jackson. p. 19.
- ^ "Port Talbot (Holy Cross) Churchyard". CWGC. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
- ^ Jenny Hunt. "Holy Cross Church, Taibach, near Margam". trysor.net. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- ^ "Chapel of Rest". Port Talbot Funeral Service. Retrieved 5 October 2020.