St Elvan's Church, Aberdare, Glamorgan

Description

Denomination: Anglican

Dedication: St Elvan

Built: 1851/52
Consecrated: 25 Sep 1854


Photography: John Ball
Date: 15 October 1998
Camera: Agfa ePhoto307 digital compact

Notes: St Elvan's is prominently set in a small churchyard in the centre of the town. It was built in 1851 to designs of Andrew Mosely, architect, of London, initially as a chapel of ease to St John but eclipsing it in siting, lofty form and landmark steeple. The builder was G N Strawbridge of Bristol but poor quality of construction led to extensive repairs in 1869 and again in 1884 when the chancel was also extended and a north porch added. The south aisle was added in l9l0. The church is built in Decorated Gothic style, an aisled church with shallow north transept, south aisle, lower chancel and integral tower. Constructed of snecked (Dyffryn) rubble with Bath stone dressings, and slate roofs with cresting. The design is dominated by the tall four-stage west tower with octagonal spire and lucarnes, the spire set back behind a pierced parapet. Inside, the whitewashed nave and aisles are broad and lofty, separated by slender piers alternating round and octagonal but all with octagonal caps. By contrast the chancel and its north chapel, with painted boarded ceilings, are polychromatic, decorated in 1961 by Stephen Dykes Bower in characteristic green, red and white. The font is an Art Nouveau piece comprising a Red sandstone bowl on a drum-shaped green marble shaft surrounded by shaft-like sandstone trees rooted to the base. There is stained glass in almost every window. [Source: Coflein online database of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (accessed 18 May 2017)]

• http://www.jlb2011.co.uk/walespic/churches/aberdare1.htm (link opens in new window)