St James the Great, Cardiff
St James the Great is a church opposite the Cardiff Royal Infirmary on Newport Road, near the centre of Cardiff, Wales. It closed in 2006 after serving for 112 years as an Anglican place of worship.
History and description
St James the Great was designed by the architect Colonel E. M. Bruce Vaughan. It was built between 1890 and 1894, replacing an earlier iron church. Bruce-Vaughan's church is described as his "major work" and took some inspiration from the nearby St German's Church in Adamsdown but with the noticeable addition of a "finely composed" tower and spire. It cost a substantial £10,000 to complete. Externally, the church is finished with Sweldon limestone, Bath stone and ashlar while, internally, the nave pillars are alternately round and octagonal. The carved pulpit was "a sumptuous piece" in pink, green and buff coloured stone. The gilded and painted reredos screen was early 20th-century.The church became a Grade II listed building in 1975.
The church closed in 2006 and was sold in 2007 by the Church in Wales for £500,000.
Important architectural fittings have been relocated, for example the font is now in the entrance hall of the next door Tredegarville Primary School and the reredos has been refitted to St Theodore's Church, Port Talbot.