WELCOME TO
LLANDAFF CATHEDRAL
CHURCH IN WALES
PAUL SCOTT
SATELLITE VIEW
The satellite view shows us that Llandaff Cathedral has an axis which is very close to geographical east-west, so we shall easily identify our geograohical and liturgical directions. The Cathedral is essentially rectangular in shape, with the Lady Chapel extending out at the East end, and St David’s Chapel extending out on the North side of the nave. There are two towers at the West end.
To reach the Cathedral from Cardiff, I took the train to Fairwater Station and walked about a kilometre along Pwllmelin Road / Fairwater Road / Heol-Y-Pavin Lane which brought me directly to Cathedral Green. (See the red arrow.) From here we easily find the War Memorial, the bell tower ruins and Teilo’s Well, before descending to the Cathedral. We then follow around the Cathedral in an anticlockwise direction, finishing up at the West door.
This is the plan of the Cathedral from the Cathedral publication. Our tour begins at the West door. On entering we investigate the St Illtyd Chapel, and the font. Access to St David’s Chapel is to the left, but we leave that till last, exploring the nave and choir. We then follow up past the chapter house, which unfortunately is not open to the public, to Teilo’s Chapel, and the Lady Chapel. We then have to do some backtracking to gain entry to the St Dyfrig Chapel in the Northwest corner. Finally we investigate the sanctuary area before returning to St David’s Chapel.
To continue, start with START!
Or, if you wish to go inside the Cathedral immediately, tap / click on Nave.
You can access intermediate points in the tour by a tap / click on the following links:
NOTE ON MAGNIFYING IMAGES
With this website format the images are large enough for most purposes. If there is a need for greater magnification of an image, go to the identical photo on
https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulscottinfo/albums
and use Command - + (Mac) or Windows - + (Windows).
HISTORY
Wikipedia
Years Built: C12th
Address: Cathedral Close, Cardiff CF5 2LA, UK
Llandaff Cathedral (Welsh: Eglwys Gadeiriol Llandaf) is an Anglican cathedral and parish church in Llandaff, Cardiff, Wales. It is the seat of the Bishop of Llandaff, head of the Church in Wales Diocese of Llandaff. It is dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul, and three Welsh saints: Dubricius (Welsh: Dyfrig), Teilo and Oudoceus (Welsh: Euddogwy). It is one of two cathedrals in Cardiff, the other being the Roman Catholic Cardiff Metropolitan Cathedral in the city centre.
The current building was constructed in the 12th century on the site of an earlier church. Severe damage was done to the church in 1400 during the rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr, during the English Civil War when it was overrun by Parliamentarian troops, and during the Great Storm of 1703. By 1717, the damage to the cathedral was so extensive that the church seriously considered the removal of the see. Following further storms in the early 1720s, construction of a new cathedral began in 1734, designed by John Wood, the Elder. During the Cardiff Blitz of the Second World War in January 1941, the cathedral was severely damaged when a parachute mine was dropped; blowing the roof off the nave, south aisle and chapter house. The stonework which remains from the medieval period is primarily Dundry stone from Somerset, though local blue lias constitutes most of the stonework done in the post-Reformation period. The work done on the church since World War II is primarily concrete and Pennant sandstone, and the roofs, of Welsh slate and lead, were added during the post-war rebuilding. In February 2007, the organ was damaged during a severe lightning strike, following which there was a successful appeal for £1.5 million for an entirely new organ.
For many years, the cathedral had the traditional Anglican choir of boys and men, and more recently a girls' choir, with the only dedicated choir school in the Church in Wales, the Cathedral School, Llandaff. The cathedral contains a number of notable tombs, including Dubricius, a 6th-century British saint who evangelised Ergyng (now Archenfield) and much of South-East Wales, Meurig ap Tewdrig, King of Gwent, Teilo, a 6th-century Welsh clergyman, church founder and saint, and many Bishops of Llandaff, from the 7th century Oudoceus to the 19th century Alfred Ollivant, who was bishop from 1849 to 1882.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llandaff_Cathedral
