13672

 

II*  

Designated  

19/05/1975  

27/06/2000  

Church of St Augustine  

 

Cardiff  

Rumney  

Cardiff  

Rumney  

321432  

179116  

N  

Standing in a large roughly square churchyard on sloping ground, the level to N substantially higher than to S. Main entrance through a stone-tiled lych-gate at SE corner; further entrance across stone stile by Belli-bach cottages.  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

 

Traditionally founded in 1108, the West doorway is later Norman. Original Welsh name for Rumney is Trederlech, the nearby castle founded 1093. Building enlarged in 1407, all windows being Perpendicular, with C19-early C20 restoration, including roofs to nave and chancel; chancel refurbishment first half of C20. The large churchyard appears to have been cleared in mid C19 with no tombstones earlier than this. Church had connections with St Augustine's Abbey Bristol. Unusually there was provision for the wives of deceased clergy to hold the living and thus Katherine Morgan of Llanrumney Hall held benefice in 1603. Electricity introduced 1931, clock 1962.  

Parish church. W tower, wider long nave with deep S porch, lower narrower chancel, vestry and other extensions, 3 in all, at SE. Of stone rubble with ashlar dressings, Welsh slate roof with cruciform finials. Embattled tower of 5 storeys with triangular crocketed pinnacles on each corner, string course with gargoyles below. Belfry openings on each face are 2-light pointed-arched with Perpendicular tracery and pierced panels of cusped diapering. Below are the narrow rectangular chamfered lights to the tower chambers on 3 levels. Clock on E and W face. Ground floor Norman Transitional W doorway with roll mouldings and clustered shafts; studded boarded door with full-width hinges. Nave has deep battered plinth, shallow buttress at SW, remains of lime render: SW window of 2 trefoil-headed lights. S porch has battered plinth, gable coping and pointed arched doorway with light mouldings, no capitals and heavy hoodmould. Porch interior is flagged with long benches either side, 3-bay C19 arch-braced roof with lower tier of windbraces and billet moulding to wallplate; pointed-arched inner doorway with painted boarded door with wide hinges. SE nave has a further larger nave 3-light window with hoodmould and at E end of nave an unusual 2-tier window bay relating to the former roodloft with 3-light rectangular lower window and similar window above but with cusped heads to the lights and a small staircase light at extreme E; medieval face corbel at eaves SE. S Chancel has 2 large Tudor-arched 3-light windows with Perpendicular tracery separated by a narrow moulded pointed arched priests' doorway. E window is large with 3 lights and Perpendicular-style tracery probably a wholly C19 replacement. NE vestry complex in 3 separate blocks with E entrance. N nave has a range of 3 rectangular windows with cusped heads under hoodmoulds.  

Interior is rendered. Nave floor of flags and ledgers. Deep reveals to windows. 7-bay boarded roof of bolted scissor trusses with billet-moulded wallplate. Steps up to W door which has date 1829 designed in studs; inner face of S door has horizontal boarding. Octagonal C15 font. At SE end of nave is the narrow door to former roodloft steps with narrow upper doorway now filled with stained glass; lower window has piscina adjacent. Pointed chancel arch of paired sunk quadrants, no capitals. Chancel roof of 4 bays with wind braces. High quality woodwork including richly carved Perpendicular-style pulpit, rood screen, choir stalls and extensive chancel and sanctuary panelling, some of this dated 1936; polychrome reredos to wooden altar attributed to Ninian Comper. N nave wall has war memorial to men of Rumney. Some simple C18 and C19 wall monuments in nave and chancel including an unusual wooden monument of 1819 by Wilson of Llandaff to Thomas Heineken. Priests' board from 1153. Most windows have stained glass; that in SE chancel by Charles Kempe early C20, E window of c1960, SW nave window by Geoffrey Robinson 1976. Tower has 6 bells with C18 inscriptions.  

Listed II* as a medieval church retaining much historic fabric including a late Norman W door and interesting earlier C20 chancel fittings.