Saint Padarn's Church is a Church in Wales

Church in Wales

The Church in Wales is the Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses.As with the primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Archbishop of Wales serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The current archbishop is Barry Morgan, the Bishop of Llandaff.In contrast to the...

 parish church

Parish church

A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....

 at Llanbadarn Fawr

Llanbadarn Fawr

Llanbadarn Fawr is an urbanised village and community in Ceredigion, Wales. It is located on the outskirts of Aberystwyth situated next to Penparcau and Southgate. It forms the eastern part of the continually built-up area of Aberystwyth...

, near Aberystwyth

Aberystwyth

Aberystwyth is a historic market town, administrative centre and holiday resort within Ceredigion, Wales. Often colloquially known as Aber, it is located at the confluence of the rivers Ystwyth and Rheidol....

, in Ceredigion

Ceredigion

Ceredigion is a county and former kingdom in mid-west Wales. As Cardiganshire , it was created in 1282, and was reconstituted as a county under that name in 1996, reverting to Ceredigion a day later...

, 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...

, SY23 3QZ.

The site has been used for Christian worship since it was founded by Saint Padarn

Padarn

Saint Padarn is the eponymous founder of St Padarn's Church. Llanbadarn Fawr, near present day Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Wales, in the early 6th century...

 in the 6th century. It was rebuilt in the thirteenth century after a fire, and is a fine large aisleless cruciform

Cruciform

Cruciform means having the shape of a cross or Christian cross.- Cruciform architectural plan :This is a common description of Christian churches. In Early Christian, Byzantine and other Eastern Orthodox forms of church architecture this is more likely to mean a tetraconch plan, a Greek cross,...

 church with transepts and a substantial central tower, some 163 feet long. It contains a fine peel of bells

Bell (instrument)

A bell is a simple sound-making device. The bell is a percussion instrument and an idiophone. Its form is usually a hollow, cup-shaped object, which resonates upon being struck...

, and its tower presents one of the more noticeable sites in Aberystwyth. It was extended around 1475, and the wagon roof over the chancel

Chancel

In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...

 was boarded or plastered in 1491 by John Stafford (1476-1516), Abbot of Strata Florida Abbey. The roof is finely finished with bosses at the intersection of the moulded principals and purlins.

The church, which has been listed grade I since 21st January 1964, was substantially restored in stages 1867-84 by John Pollard Seddon

John Pollard Seddon

John Pollard Seddon was an English architect.He was a pupil of Thomas Leverton Donaldson and C.F.A. Voysey trained under him....

, and the roof was renewed, apart from the wagon roof over the chancel, which survives above Seddon's roof. The church contains two mediaeval crosses, moved in the early twentieth century inside the church. In 1988 a new chapel to St Padarn was constructed in the western transept. The Foster & Andrews organ

Organ (music)

The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...

 dates from 1885.

The church was a monastery

Monastery

Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...

 until the twelfth century, and had been the seat of a bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 during the years immediately following St Padarn, who was its first bishop. The parish

Parish

A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

, which was once one of the largest in Wales, was eventually divided into some 17 parishes, comprising 20 churches.

Thomas Bradwardine

Thomas Bradwardine

Thomas Bradwardine was an English scholar, scientist, courtier and, very briefly, Archbishop of Canterbury. As a celebrated scholastic philosopher and doctor of theology, he is often called Doctor Profundus, .-Life:He was born either at Hartfield in Sussex or at Chichester, where his family were...

, later briefly Archbishop of Canterbury

Archbishop of Canterbury

The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...

, was Rector

Rector

The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...

 of Llanbadarn Fawr 1347-1349, and thereafter the Abbot

Abbot

The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...

 of the Cistercian Vale Royal Abbey

Vale Royal Abbey

Vale Royal Abbey is a medieval abbey, and later country house, located in Whitegate, between Northwich and Winsford in Cheshire, England.The abbey was founded in 1270 by Edward I for monks of the austere Cistercian order...

, Chester

Chester

Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...

, was ex officio Rector

Rector

The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...

 1360-1538. William Morgan

William Morgan (Bible translator)

William Morgan was Bishop of Llandaff and of St Asaph, and the translator of the first version of the whole Bible into Welsh from Greek and Hebrew.-Life:...

, later Bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 of Llandaff

Bishop of Llandaff

The Bishop of Llandaff is the Ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of Llandaff.-Area of authority:The diocese covers most of the County of Glamorgan. The Bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul , in the village of Llandaff, just north-west of the City of...

 and of St Asaph

Bishop of St Asaph

The 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...

, the first translater of the Bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

 from Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 and Hebrew into Welsh

Welsh language

Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...

, was vicar

Vicar

In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...

 of Llanbadarn Fawr 1572-75. The single parish benefice (under a vicar

Vicar

In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...

) is now in the deanery

Deanery

A Deanery is an ecclesiastical entity in both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of a Dean.- Catholic usage :...

 of Llanbadarn Fawr, in the archdeaconry of Cardigan

Cardigan

Cardigan may refer to:In geography:* Cardigan, Prince Edward Island, Canada* Cardigan , an electoral district in Prince Edward Island* Mount Cardigan, a mountain in New Hampshire, U.S.* Cardigan, Ceredigion, Wales...

, of the Diocese of St David's.

The parish, traditionally of a broad church

Broad church

Broad church is a term referring to latitudinarian churchmanship in the Church of England, in particular, and Anglicanism, in general. From this, the term is often used to refer to secular political organisations, meaning that they encompass a broad range of opinion.-Usage:After the terms high...

persuasion, and a strong choral tradition, has separate Welsh and English speaking services.