Welcome to the 2019 Gower Festival

St Paul’s church was built by John Henry Vivian (1785-1855) of Singleton Abbey and one of the founders of the largest industrial dynasty which would establish Swansea as ‘Copperopolis’. In 1848 his wife Jesse, aged 22, had died and he wished to build a memorial chapel which he envisaged as an estate church. The Bishop of St Davids consecrated the building in 1850 as a ‘Chapel of Ease’ to St Mary’s. The architect was Henry Woodyer, a disciple of Pugin, and the design included Geometrical, Perpendicular and Decorated features. However as the population of Sketty was expanding so rapidly and to counteract the growing popularity of the Nonconformists, the chapel became a new autonomous parish, separate from St Mary’s in 1851. As the congregation continued to grow the building was extended in 1907 and 1928 when the north and south aisles were added and the chancel and vestry enlarged.

Pennard, in one of the best farming areas in Gower and long attractive to settlement, has seen several churches. The original is thought to have been dedicated to St Cenydd. In the C13th a church was built near Pennard Castle but soon afterwards a great sand inundation created the Pennard Burrows. By the C16th this was finally abandoned and the present church of St Mary’s became the parish church on the site of an existing chantry or private chapel or even one of Gower’s mediaeval ‘lost’ churches. Numerous original features from this site plus parts of the Burrows church were incorporated into the new structure. All Souls, Oxford was the patron until 1838 when the title was transferred to Thomas Penrice of Kilvrough Manor who began some restoration after centuries of neglect. The embattled west tower is smaller than that in other local churches but recent restoration of white limewash to the whole building has made it a striking Gower landmark.

Cheriton Church is dedicated to St Cadoc, who founded Llancarfan monastery and was one of the chief figures in the early Celtic Church. The building is of the late C13th and early C14th, built after Llandimore church was abandoned owing to sea encroachment. The structure introduced a totally new concept of church architecture to the area and earned the name of the ’Cathedral of Gower’. The large tower has a saddleback roof and below the parapet are numerous holes which could have supported beams to form a fighting platform in case of attack. This was a common occurrence when the Burry estuary was a busy shipping channel to the numerous small ports on the north shore of Gower. In the churchyard lies buried Ernest Jones, Freud’s biographer and well known pioneer of early psychoanalysis, who was born in Gowerton but had a holiday home nearby.

St Andrews church probably dates from the early C12th. The church is cruciform in shape and consists of chancel, nave, north transept and a south porch which is remarkable for its unusual size. One view is that it was added later for secular purposes. J D Davies, the Gower historian, wrote that the north transept might have been used as a chantry chapel where mass was said for the souls of the departed members of the Penrice and Mansel families. In 1893 the dilapidated condition of the church concerned the patron, Miss Emily Talbot of Penrice Castle, who then generously funded a 15 month restoration of the church by a local Horton firm, Bevan and Gibbs. A nearby farmhouse called ’Sanctuary’ was possibly the local centre of the Knight Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem who held the patronage of not only Penrice but numerous other Gower churches.

Port Eynon Church is dedicated to St Cattwg of Llancarfarn and is thought to have been founded in the C6th. The present church dates from the C12th and the south doorway, in spite of changes through the centuries, has retained its original Norman form. The church was restored and enlarged in 1861, and there was further work in 1901, to accommodate the growing population and activities of this busy coastal village. Unusually the church lacks both an East and a West window. The North transept became the ‘Schoolroom ‘ but a recent project has seen a kitchen added, as well as comfortable seating for a meeting area and every Saturday morning it becomes the very popular ‘Caffi Cattwg’. The white marble statue in the churchyard is a memorial to three local men who were drowned and also a thanksgiving for the ten survivors in the 1916 ‘Janet’ lifeboat disaster.

St. Peter’s is said to be named after the c11th ruins of St Peter’s Well and monastic chapel in nearby Caswell Valley. Consecrated in 1903, as part of the parish of Oystermouth, it reflects the increasing population and wealth of late c19th Swansea as it spread on the edge of Gower. The church design in the decorated Gothic style was described as ‘ambitious’ although insufficient funds denied the building of a 90ft tower at the south east corner and the early building was thought to be plain. The church is constructed of greenish sandstone from Bridgend, with Bath stone carvings, particularly intricate inside. The interior has a richly appointed chancel. Today much of the beauty and warmth of the building lies in the works of art, given as memorials of/by people whose lives were woven into the fabric of the church and history of the area.

All Saints was probably built on the site of a Roman villa or mansion (inn) or even a military/naval base. It is suggested that St Illtyd established the original church as early as the c5th but the first recorded reference dates from 1141. The oldest parts are the large Norman Tower (to protect the Anglo-Normans from Welsh attacks!) and the Early English Lady Chapel. By 1800 the church was described as ‘notoriously poor’ but during the c19th fortunes changed with rapid population increase as Oystermouth grew into a busy fishing, trading and tourist centre. The church was enlarged in1860 and again between 1915 –1937 when the architect was Leonard William Bernard.

The first Church Hall, which opened in 1929, was an impressive building with a fine balcony and reflected the prosperity that had been brought to Gowerton by its steelworks and railways. By the 1980’s this needed much repair and was demolished. After much fund-raising by the church members the current hall was opened in 1989.

The original c6th church settlement in a llan is thought to have been founded by Cenydd/Kyned/Kennith, who was also associated with a hermitage on Burry Holms. In 986 these were destroyed by Viking raiders. Early c12th Normans built a small priory cell, and then the Early-English style church, dedicated to St Cenydd, on the original site. Today this is Gower’s largest church. Initially linked to a Benedictine Priory in Normandy, from 1441 to 1838 the church was the property of All Soul’s College, Oxford. Hence College House nearby. The ancient and important building has seen many changes in windows, doorways, stairways which can still be traced but major restoration took place from 1882 - 84 since the church was in such a ‘ruinous state’. This included raising the floor by four feet which made the tops of old cloister doorways the alcoves in the south wall.

St Hilary’s is the most recently built local church and was consecrated in 1926.
Today it is difficult to imagine the rural setting of late c19th Killay – farms and woods laced by poor tracks leading to Sketty or Dunvant or Gower. However the Clyne valley coal mining and especially the railway line led to rapid population growth and after World War I plans began for a new church, designed by Glendinning Moxham, to serve the new housing. As well as some generous benefactors, many small donations as well as physical labour came from members of the church. But the effects locally of the General Strike had reduced the money available and the church, never completed as originally intended, (shorter by one bay), began with a debt of more than £3,000. The simple building of red brick, with black mortar mixed in the Clyne valley, holds a number of attractive features.