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Key Image St Asaph Cathedral/Cadeirlan Llanelwy
25 High St
LL17 0RD St Asaph/Llanelwy
United Kingdom
Denomination: Anglican
Congregation: Cadeirlan Llanelwy/St Asaph Cathedral
Geogr. Coordinates: 53.25711° N, 3.44201° W
Geo Location
Reference year: 1239
Architectural style: Gothic
Building type: Basilica
Description: Gothic basilica in the form of a Latin cross with a massive square tower over the crossing
Name derivation: From St Asaph
Building material
  • Carboniferous fine-grained yellowish sandstone from Flint or Talacre, local purple sandstone from Cefn
Windows
  • Stained glass east window showing scenes from the life of Christ (1864)
  • Stained glass west window (20th cent.)
Noteworthy
  • Stone carvings on the arches and clerestory windows (1403)
  • Carved choir stalls (1482)
  • Exhibition of early Welsh bibles, including a copy of the first Welsh bible by William Morgan (1588)
  • Cathedra in memory of Bishop Beveridge (Bishop of St Asaph 1704-08)
  • Translators’ Chapel in the north transept, dedicated to the memory of the first translators of the Bible into Welsh
  • “Nativity: This is God, God is Tenderness”, by Fr. Rory Geoghegan SJ
  • “The Naked Christ”, figure from sheep bones, scrap metal and scrap wood by Michele Coxon (21st cent.)
History:
About 560:   St Kentigern founds a church and a monastery, of which St Asaph becomes abbot and bishop in 573
1143:   Construction of the second, Norman cathedral
About 1239:   Building of the current church starts under Bishop Hugh (remains in the gables and chamfered buttresses on the west front, the south west corner buttresses, and the walls of the early English choir)
1282:   Burnt down by soldiers of Edward I’s army
1284:   Reconstruction starts (main parts built 1310–20 under master builder Henry of Ellerton)
01/11/1392:   Cathedral completed with the finishing of the bell tower
1402:   Heavily damaged during the rising of Owain Glyndŵr
1482:   Completion of the repairs (begun in 1411)
Mid- 17th cent.:   Damaged during the Civil War
1779:   Alteration of the choir by Joseph Turner
1875:   Completion of a 6-year period of restoration (architect George Gilbert Scott)
1968:   Roof restored and decorated
Important persons:
Architect:  Scott, George Gilbert (1811–1878, English architect of the Gothic Revival)
Patron:  Asaph (d. 596, Welsh saint; hermit, later abbot and bishop of Llanelwy)
Dimensions:
Length [m]:  55
Sources
Cadeirlan Llanelwy/St Asaph Cathedral: A walk around St Asaph Cathedral (information leaflet)
Cadeirlan Llanelwy/St Asaph Cathedral: The Cathedral's History, https://stasaphcathedral.wales/cathedral/the-cathedrals-history, retrieved 13/07/2019
Wikipedia: Kathedrale von St Asaph, https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathedrale_von_St_Asaph, retrieved 13/07/2019
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TuK Bassler
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