87902

 

II  

Interim Protection  

 

 

Catholic Church of St David, including Presbytery and other attached buildings  

 

Gwynedd  

Tywyn  

Tywyn  

 

258182  

300653  

S  

On the S side of Pier Road, to the W of underbridge on the rail line, set back within its own plot.  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

Modern  

Catholic church constructed 1967-9 to designs by the prominent firm of architects Weightman & Bullen of Liverpool. The church was designed to seat up to 250 people. It cost £47,000. In the early C20 there were only a handful of Catholics living in Tywyn and the nearest church was in Barmouth. A local lady, Miss Mary Corbett took a lease on a Welsh Presbyterian chapel in 1935 in Brook Street for use in Mass. It was dedicated to St David and was furnished with an altar of Austrian Oak. In 1939, the local parish area was reorganised and Bishop Hannon of Menevia appointed Fr Basil Rowlands as the parish priest for Tywyn, the first resident Catholic priest in the town since the Ven. John Griffith who was martyred at Camberwell in 1539. In the years following WWII the town developed as a holiday resort and with the influx of summer tourists the local Territorial Army hall was requisitioned for Mass. Fund raising for a new church began in 1954, and by 1958 sufficient funds had been raised for the parish priest Fr Joseph Jackson to purchase the present site. Fundraising continued for another decade and on 25 October 1969 the church was opened and blessed by Bishop Petit of Menevia. It was built under the direction of Fr Charles Lloyd, the priest at the time, to designs by Weightman & Bullen, with a notable collection of furnishings by John Skelton, nephew and pupil of Eric Gill including a statue of St David on the lawn to the NW of the church. The church was built as a complex with a nave annex, parish hall, kitchen, offices and presbytery. St David is one of a number of modernist Catholic churches constructed in Wales after the Second Vatican Council. The Council ushered in radical changes in church design, layout and worship practices. St David is remarkable for its use of a central tapering funnel tower as the centrepiece of the church. It has echoes in the design of the chapel at Hopwood Hall in Manchester by Frederick Gibberd (1964-5, GII), complete with glazed panels to the funnel. At Tywyn the funnel is highly distinctive from the outside and floods the interior of the church with natural light. The walls of the church were strengthened in 2001 with the construction of buttresses in the courtyard, the rendering was renewed and the windows were changed for double glazed units - all at a cost of £42,000. The following year the copper cladding of the tower and roof, which had been leaking, was replaced at a cost of £120,000.  

Church in striking modern style. Constructed of brick, with Tyrolean render finish. Hexagonal plan, the structure dominated by large, central metal-clad funnel-shaped roof with vertical glazing strips to the funnel. Continuous narrow clerestory window band around this central feature, with smooth-rendered walls forming parapet to flat roof of outer skin. Windows are some original timber and some replacement uPVC. Entrance projecting on N, with apsidal top-lit baptistry to its left. Vertical strip windows wrapped round NW and SW corners with prominent boarded fascia on projecting joists. A cloister-like corridor links the main church building to the presbytery, which is advanced to the east, behind a high plain white wall enclosing a courtyard.  

Comprises main body of church with attached hall forming extension to nave, from which it is separated by a sliding partition. Sacristy, confessional and kitchen contained within main building, on its south side, linked to presbytery and offices by a corridor. Main entrance in projecting porch on N side of church Interior dramatically top lit by the central tower and perimeter clerestory. Main roof structure of laminated timber; low ceilings in outer areas with painted textured coatings; plain plastered walls. White terrazzo floor in the porch, green terrazzo from Porthmadog in the church and hall, and mixed with slate in the sanctuary. Vinyl floor tiles elsewhere. Central sanctuary, raised up one step and surrounded by a rail. Central altar on the predella. Furniture by John Skelton includes the tabernacle and Stations of the Cross, the latter low reliefs in Corris slate. Sanctuary furniture of Welsh oak, the altar, font and tabernacle plinth of Corris slate and granite.  

Included, notwithstanding some alterations, as a striking church complex in a modern style designed by a prominent firm of church architects of the period. The design of the church reflects the principles of the Second Vatican Council, departing from the traditional axial orientation in a broad open and flexible space, using the dramatic roof form to emphasise and light the central sanctuary. The furnishings by John Skelton are also notable. This structure has been afforded Interim Protection under the Planning (Listed Building and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. It is an offence to damage this structure and you may be prosecuted. To find out more about Interim Protection, please visit the statutory notices page on the Cadw website. For further information about this structure, or to report any damage please contact Cadw.