All visitors are welcome and encouraged to join us at St Mary’s for public worship.
Our regular service times are:
| Sunday | 9.30am | Sung Eucharist |
| 6pm | Evensong | |
| Except 5th Sunday in month | ||
| Tuesday | 5.30pm | Evensong |
| Wednesday | 10.30am | Eucharist |
| 1pm | Lunchtime Worship | |
| Saturday | 12.45pm | Eucharist |
Photo by Lilo Lil used under Creative Commons
In 1540 an extension was built to house a tomb:The Cradock Tomb.
Sir Mathew Cradock was a Royal Official in South Wales.
He was the most important man in the area.When he died a special tomb was built in his honour and placed in the new extension of St Mary’s Church.
In 1941 when Swansea came under attack from the bombs of war the tomb was damaged and could not be repaired.
Picture copyright held by Hartlepool Library Services and Swansea Museum.
Tuesday 24th November – 14th December
SWANSEA ART SOCIETY
Christmas Exhibition in North Aisle
Friday 13th February 2010
Carlo Curley – Organ extravaganza
The return of the popular world class performer to play our magnificent organ
All tickets £10.00
Contact St Marys Box Officeon (01792 298616)
for further details and tickets.
The Font.
Photo by Lilo Lil used under Creative Commons
The font is situated near the front door because it is said to be the beginning of our life in the church.
St Annes Chapel.
This tells the story of Mary mother of Jesus. Her life is shown in the stunning windows. The main colour is blue a colour which is associated with Mary.
Pulpit and Lectern.
The main body of the church is called the nave which is Latin for ship. It is the vessel in which Gods people meet to hear his messages on their journeys through the sea of life.
Chancel and Sanctuary.
The chancel is towards the high alter it sits on the seventh step . Seven is meant to represent heaven and godliness. Around the high alter is the most decorated part of the church.
Holy Trinity Chapel.
This is the Chapel beyond the high alter, this was a new build after World War 11.
“Old Nick” was the name given to a wooden carved effigy of the devil. It was made by a disgruntled Victorian that took offence of his plans being overlooked in favour of someone else for the re-build of St Mary’s Church. He was made to keep an evil eye on St Mary’s Church. When Swansea was bombarded by bombs in February 1941 there was devastation everywhere in Swansea, St Mary’s Church was no different. However,”old Nick” was virtually untouched.
“My Devil will be able to leer and laugh, for at some time in the future he will see St Mary’s burn to the ground”.
In 1962 “Old Nick” was removed and many years later was found in a garage in Gloucester. He was brought back to Swansea to continue his watch over St Mary’s. His original place was where the Quadrant Centre now stands. Permission was gained to install “Old Nick” inside the Quadrent Whitewall entrance. However yet again public opinion fuels latest controversy and “Old Nick” is now situated high up within the glass roof and partially obscured from view. Again “Old Nick” keeps his evil eye over St Mary’s Church once more.
I got married to Jimmy at St Mary’s Church Swansea on the 27th October 1979 at 11.30 St Mary’s was my local church, I also sang in the choir there. I had two bridesmaids Helen and Beverley and a flowergirl Tracey. I wore a long white wedding dress and my bridesmaids were in pink and our flowergirl was in white our best man was Ian. We had the bells rung and we also had the choir sing. I had 100 guests attend, we then went on to the Top Rank Gower Room Swansea for the afternoon reception. We had our night reception at the Drill Hall Swansea where we had around 300 guests we had a live band play and a disco. We spent our wedding night at The Dolphin Hotel Swansea. On our 25th wedding anniversary we renewd our wedding vows at the Vetch Field home of our favourite football team. This year we celebrated our 30th Wedding Anniversary.
This is a table showing some dates of interest:
| Dates | |
| 1200 | St Mary’s Church was founded, it is reported there have been five churches on this site.
|
| 1540 | An extension was built to house a tomb for Sir Mathew Cradock who was the most important man in the area at that time
|
| 1739 | The Nave roof of St Mary’s collapsed. It is logged in the vestry book
|
| 1890 | A smited Victorian architect turned his back on the church as his designs for a rebuild were rejected in favour of Sir Arthur Blomfield. As revenge for this he carved a wooden effigy of the devil to keep an evil eye on the church. However, the wooden effigy was unscathed when disaster struck in February 1941
|
| 1941 | St Mary’s was gutted during the blitz
|
| 1958 | Queen Mother re opened St Mary’s Church
|
This is a table to show the distance of local churches, near to St Mary’s.
| Nearby Churches | Distance |
| Christ Church Swansea | 0.6 miles |
| Mumbles Methodist Church Swansea | 0.6 miles |
| St James Church Swansea | 0.8 miles |
| Hafod Baptist Church Swansea | 0.9 miles |
| Townhill Baptist Church Swansea | 1.1 miles |
| Sketty Methodist Church Swansea | 1.9 miles |
St Mary’s church Swansea has a strong commitment to music and the arts, holding regular concerts, exhibitions and art festivals.
Photo by Old Shoe Woman Creative Commons
St Mary’s Choir -
Mixed voice choir of teenaged girls, boys and adults (10.am Choral Eucharist and 6.00pm Choral Evensong)
Weekly rehersals Friday 7.30pm – 9.00pm.
St Mary’s Boys choirs-
Aged 7-13 years.
Meets Tuesday and Fridays at 4.30pm, with Evensong at Tuesdays at 5.30pm.
St Mary’s Youth Choir-
Age 10 upwards,
The Youth Choirs aim is to encourage and develop the younger voices through services, solo opportunities and occasional concerts.
Creative Commons sharealike photo by Silus Grok
These are the times and dates of the carol services at St Mary’s Church Swansea.
Thursday 17th December at 7.30pm The City Carol Service.
Thursday 24th December at 3.00pm Crib service for young children.
Thursday 24th December at 11.30pm Midnight Mass.
Friday 25th December at 10.30am Choral Eucharist.
