St Asaph Cathedral
Encyclopedia
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
in St Asaph
St Asaph
St Asaph is a town and community on the River Elwy in Denbighshire, Wales. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 3,491.The town of St Asaph is surrounded by countryside and views of the Vale of Clwyd. It is situated close to a number of busy coastal towns such as Rhyl, Prestatyn, Abergele,...
, Denbighshire
Denbighshire
Denbighshire is a county in north-east Wales. It is named after the historic county of Denbighshire, but has substantially different borders. Denbighshire has the distinction of being the oldest inhabited part of Wales. Pontnewydd Palaeolithic site has remains of Neanderthals from 225,000 years...
, north Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. It is sometimes claimed to be the smallest Anglican cathedral in Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
.
History
A church was originally built on or near the site by Saint Kentigern in the 6th century (other sources say Saint Elwy in 560). Saint Asa (or Asaph)Saint Asaph
Saint Asaph was, in the second half of the 6th century, the first or second Bishop of St Asaph, i.e. bishop of the diocese of Saint Asaph, the Welsh See now of that name.-Biography:...
, a grandson of Pabo Post Prydain
Pabo Post Prydain
Pabo Post Prydain was a king somewhere in the Hen Ogledd or Old North of sub-Roman Britain.According to the Old Welsh genealogies of British Library, Harleian MS 3859, he was a son of Cenau ap Coel Hen...
, followed after this date.
The earliest parts of the present building date from the 13th century when a new building was begun on the site after the original stone cathedral was burnt by King Edward I
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
in 1282.
The rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr
Owain Glyndwr
Owain Glyndŵr , or Owain Glyn Dŵr, anglicised by William Shakespeare as Owen Glendower , was a Welsh ruler and the last native Welshman to hold the title Prince of Wales...
resulted in part of the cathedral being reduced to a ruin for seventy years. The present building was largely built in the reign of Henry Tudor
Henry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....
and greatly restored
Victorian restoration
Victorian restoration is the term commonly used to refer to the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria...
in the 19th century.
The cathedral made the national press in 1930 when the tower became subject to significant subsidence
Subsidence
Subsidence is the motion of a surface as it shifts downward relative to a datum such as sea-level. The opposite of subsidence is uplift, which results in an increase in elevation...
and the cathedral architect Charles Marriott Oldrid Scott
Charles Marriott Oldrid Scott
Charles Marriott Oldrid Scott was an English architect who is often best remembered for being the son of John Oldrid Scott and grandson of Sir George Gilbert Scott, both of whom were architects, as was his uncle George Gilbert Scott, Jr. and his cousins Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and Adrian Gilbert...
advised of urgent repairs to be undertaken. It was reported that the cause of the damage was by a subterranean stream. It made the papers again when work was approaching completion in 1935.
The organ
A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.List of organists
| Year instated | Name |
|---|---|
| 1620 | John Day |
| 1630 | Abednego D. Perkins |
| 1631 | John Wilson |
| 1669 | Thomas Ottey |
| 1680 | William Key |
| 1686 | Thomas Hughes |
| 1694 | Alexander Gerard |
| 1738 | John Gerard |
| 1782 | John Jones |
| 1785 | Edward Bailey |
| 1791 | Charles Spence |
| 1794 | Henry Hayden |
| 1834 | Robert Augustus Atkins |
| 1889 | Llewellyn Lloyd |
| 1897 | Hugh Percy Alien |
| 1898 | Archibald Wayet Wilson |
| 1901 | Cyril Bradley Rootham |
| 1902 | William Edward Belcher |
| 1917 | Harold Carpenter Lumb Stocks Harold Carpenter Lumb Stocks Harold Carpenter Lumb Stocks was an English cathedral organist, who served in St Asaph Cathedral-Background:Harold Carpenter Lumb Stocks was born on 21 October 1884 in Essendon, Hertfordshire... |
| 1956 | Robert Duke Dickinson |
| 1962 | James Roland Middleton |
| 1970 | Graham John Elliott |
| 1981 | John Theodore Belcher |
| 1985 | Hugh Davies |
| 1998 | Graham Eccles |
| 2004 | Alan McGuinness |
Assistant organists
- Llewelyn Lloyd 1875 - 1889 (later organist)
- F. Walton Evans 1897 - 1901
- John Hosking (2004–present)
See also the List of Organ Scholars at St Asaph Cathedral.
Burials
- Saint AsaphSaint AsaphSaint Asaph was, in the second half of the 6th century, the first or second Bishop of St Asaph, i.e. bishop of the diocese of Saint Asaph, the Welsh See now of that name.-Biography:...
- John Owen (bishop of St Asaph)John Owen (bishop of St Asaph)-Life:He was the eldest son of Owen Owens or John Owen, a Welsh-born Archdeacon of Anglesey, and Jane, his second wife. The son John was baptised at Burton-Latimer on 8 November 1580, and graduated B.A. from Christ's College, Cambridge, in 1597. He subsequently became Fellow of Jesus College,...
, Bishop of St AsaphBishop of St AsaphThe Bishop of St Asaph heads the Church in Wales diocese of St Asaph.The diocese covers the counties of Conwy and Flintshire, Wrexham county borough, the eastern part of Merioneth in Gwynedd and part of northern Powys. The Episcopal seat is located in the Cathedral Church of St Asaph in the town of...
(1629 to 1651) - Isaac Barrow (bishop)Isaac Barrow (bishop)Isaac Barrow was an English clergyman and Bishop, consecutively, of Sodor and Man and St Asaph, and also served as Governor of the Isle of Man...
, Bishop of St Asaph (1669–1680) - buried in the Cathedral churchyard - William MathiasWilliam MathiasWilliam Mathias CBE was a Welsh composer.-Brief biography:Mathias was born in Whitland, Carmarthenshire. A child prodigy, he started playing the piano at the age of three and composing at the age of five. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music under Lennox Berkeley, where he was elected a fellow...
- William Carey (bishop)William Carey (bishop)William Carey was an English churchman and headmaster, bishop of Exeter and bishop of St Asaph.-Life:He was born on 18 November 1769...
, Bishop of St Asaph (1830–1846) - buried in the Cathedral churchyard - Joshua HughesJoshua HughesJoshua Hughes was Bishop of St Asaph, an Anglican diocese in Wales, United Kingdom.Hughes was educated at Cardigan and Ystradmeurig grammar schools and at St David's College, Lampeter , where he was placed in the first class in the examinations every year and gained prizes for Latin and Welsh essays...
, Bishop of St Asaph (1870–1889) - Alfred George EdwardsAlfred George EdwardsAlfred George Edwards was elected the first Archbishop of the disestablished Church in Wales.The son of a priest of the Church of England, Edwards was born in Llanymawddwy in Gwynedd. He studied at Jesus College, Oxford before being appointed Warden of Llandovery College in 1875...
, Bishop of St Asaph (1889–1934) and first Archbishop of WalesArchbishop of WalesThe post of Archbishop of Wales was created in 1920 when the Church in Wales was separated from the Church of England , and disestablished...