Former Monastery / Clergy House at the Catholic Church of St Mary

Cadw's description

Location

Situated at the far NW end of Union Street, attached to the SE corner of St Marys.

History

Constructed c1889 as part of the transfer of the mission at St Mary’s church to the Passionist Order. The Passionist order had been founded in Italy in 1720, and arrived in Britain in 1841. Their mission included a commitment to the care of the poor, and they were particularly active in areas where there had been an influx of people from Ireland: from the 1840s, Carmarthen was home to many Irish refugees from the famine, as well as Irish soldiers stationed in the barracks. The clergy house replaced the original presbytery of 1851-2, built to accommodate the Passionists’ larger religious community, and was designed by the architect Albert Vicars. Vicars was also responsible for carrying out restoration works to the church and had been employed by the Passionists elsewhere, designing the church of St Joseph in Highgate, London. Alterations were carried out c2010 with the insertion of a secondary stair. Windows have also been replaced.

Exterior

Monastery / clergy house. Coursed dressed rubble stone, ashlar dressings, plinth. Slate roof with overhanging eaves, decorative ridge tiles, ridge stacks. Wide small pane casement windows (replacements). 4-bay 3-storey main block facing SE, tripartite windows 24 pane transom gabled dormers with flat heads, windows on ground and first floors 24 pane casements with relieving arches. Entrance to SW, 2-bay, pointed door to left, 16 pane window above, square 12 pane to second floor. To right similar windows but to ground and first floors. Pointed trefoil in gable. 2 ½ storey wing to rear left with cat-slide at ground floor, connects with church. Wide gabled 18-light dormer, similar window below with leaded lights. Ground floor with window to left. Attached to buttressed stone extension from church. Rear elevation to NW, various openings, all with yellow brick dressings. Rear wing with ground floor window. Main block with 2 at ground floor, 4 at first floor, centre windows both small. Single window to second floor with fire escape stair attached. NE elevation with two 16-pane windows to second floor. Single storey extension with gable stack and window, 24-pane window to SE, further lean-to added.

Interior

Axial plan with a corridor across the rear of the main block, repeated across each floor. Straight flight stair at NE end, later stair. Rooms to SE of corridor, Chapel on first floor of rear wing.

Reason for designation

Included primarily for its special historic interest as a clergy house associated with the Passionist Order’s involvement with the church and Catholic mission in Carmarthenshire, and for its connection to a prominent Catholic ecclesiastical architect. Notwithstanding alterations to the interior and exterior it survives largely intact and is also important for its special architectural interest as a substantial late C19 monastery/clergy house.