Catholic Church of St Mary, includes stone wall, railings and gates

Cadw's description

Location

On the E side of Meyrick Street near to the junction with Bush Street.

History

Built 1847. The Royal Dockyard at Milford Haven had been established in 1814 with the town of Pembroke Dock developing around it. Initially it was for the housing of workers constructing the dock then later to those working the docks and the military units garrisoned in the town. Irish migrants had travelled to the town for employment, located as it is on a shipping route to the south of Ireland, however between 1845-52 the Irish Potato Famine brought a greater influx of people from Ireland, the majority of whom were Catholics. From 1845 the first resident priest in the town was Rev. Peter Lewis. Money was raised from the local population enabling a church to be built 1846-7 on land leased from the landowning Meyrick family. The church was designed by Joseph Jenkins from Haverfordwest, designer of a number of other churches in Pembrokeshire though this was his only commission for the Catholic church. St Mary’s is one of the earliest Catholic churches in SW Wales.

A sanctuary and sacristy were added to the church in 1862 to designs by John Cooper of Pembroke Dock. Late C19 illustrations show a high altar and reredos with vertical timber boarding to the sanctuary walls. A hall was added to the rear in c1900. Possibly at the same time a Lady altar was installed in a new recess at the NE corner of the nave. In 1927 the high altar reredos was moved to behind the Lady altar (later removed, and the recess blocked). Stained glass by Paul Woodroffe (1875-1954) inserted into E window in 1929. Woodroffe was a member of the Art Workers Guild and pupil of Christopher Whitworth Whall (1849-1924). Most of the interior furnishings and decoration have been replaced and are relatively modern, including the timber and iron sanctuary rails (c1980) and benches (c1960). In the 1960s an adjacent building was acquired for a presbytery, demolished in the 1980s when the current presbytery and houses were constructed.

Exterior

Church and attached hall at rear, both in Gothic style. Church of aisleless nave, sanctuary and sacristy, and hall. Random coursed rubble stone with ashlar dressings, slate roof. Pointed heads to openings. Gabled W entrance front with pointed central doorway, 2-light traceried window above. Octagonal piers with dentil cappings to both sides. Floriated gable cross. Blocked window to left of door. S elevation to nave of 5 bays, N bay of 4 bays with later hall attached at E end. Flat buttresses in between each bay. Windows with hoods (some renewed), right hand window of S elevation 2-light with tracery. Corbel table to both sides. Nave E wall with bell-less gabled bellcote. Hall at right angles. Sanctuary and sacristy in the same style, E window to sanctuary, sacristy with door in W wall, S gable

stack and paired 2-light windows to E. Later hall attached to NE, W 4-bay wall, door to left under paired overlight in stone frame, 2 central segmental headed 3-light windows, right hand window with Y-tracery. Later extension added to NE.

Interior

Nave, aisle-less with plain plastered walls, hammer beam roof on corbels with slight timbers. Boarded underside of roof. Gallery at W end, partially infilled underneath. Tall plain chancel arch. Short sanctuary with 2-bay wagon roof. 2-light E window with stained glass of St David and St Patrick and a naked boy. Altar with hanging crucifix over. Timber and iron sanctuary rails. Timber benches. At E end on N side a wide pointed arched opening with columns with floriated capitals (originally housing the Lady altar). Door in the centre of the arch through to hall.

Reason for designation

Included, notwithstanding replacement of original furnishings, for its special architectural interest as a relatively well preserved mid C19 Catholic church, one of the earliest in SW Wales. It is also important for its special historic interest for its connection with the development of Pembroke Dock and for the migration of a substantial Irish population as a result of the famine, many of whom would have landed in Pembrokeshire and settled in or travelled through the town.

Group value with other listed items in Meyrick Street including a group of religious buildings: Zion Free Church (6415), Bethel Baptist Church (14366) and the Church of St John the Evangelist (14343) on Bush Street.