History
According to tradition, the first church and small monastery were built at St Asaph in the second half of the 6th century, at the initiative of Saint Kentigern, Bishop of Strathclyde. His successor was supposedly Bishop Asaph, after whom the settlement took name. In later centuries, the local monastic community continued to function, but the bishopric fell into abeyance until the administrative reorganization of the Welsh Church led by Anglo-Norman invaders. The first reliable record of St Asaph dates back to 1143, when the church was mentioned as “Lanelvensis Ecclesiae,” after the Welsh name for the settlement of Llanelwy, which was derived from the nearby River Elwy. The papal tax register of 1291 already used the name St Asaph (“Ecclesia Cathedralis de Sancto Asaph”).
Construction of the early Gothic cathedral church began in the first half of the 13th century. Records indicate that it was already underway in 1239. By 1281, construction work was likely completed, as the relics of St. Asaph were transferred to the church, later becoming a destination for numerous pilgrimages. However, the following year, the cathedral burned down during King Edward I’s conquest of northern Wales, allegedly due to Bishop Anian II’s support for the rebels. The bishop initially maintained good relations with Edward, with whom he corresponded regarding the king’s plans to move the see of the diocese to Rhuddlan, which was then being built and was more secure. Edward promised land for a new cathedral and financial support of 1,000 marks, but before Rome could respond, Pope Martin IV died, and the unpopular project ultimately fell. Meanwhile, the bishop fell out of favor with the king due to his dealings with Llywelyn ap Gruffudd. He was briefly exiled, though thanks to the mediation of Archbishop Peckham, he returned to the episcopal throne in 1284.
The reconstruction of the cathedral from war damages was begun by Bishop Anian II shortly after his return to St Asaph in 1284. Construction work continued in the early 14th century, during the tenure of Bishop Leoline of Bromfield, and between 1315 and 1354, during the tenure of Bishop Dafydd ap Bladdyn. First, the nave was rebuilt, along with the arcades, clerestory, and façade. The transept was built probably towards the end of the first quarter of the 14th century. In 1391-1392, the Gothic cathedral was completed with the construction of a tower, built at the crossing under the supervision of master builder Robert Fagan of Chester.
At the beginning of the 15th century, a major Welsh uprising led by Owain Glyndŵr swept across much of Wales. During this time, St Asaph’s Cathedral burned down in 1402, necessitating the re-roofing of the building during the reign of Bishop Robert de Lancaster from 1411 to 1433, as well as other repairs to the most damaged sections of the church. However, as late as 1442, Henry VI wrote that the cathedral and all its furnishings were destroyed, as were the adjacent bishop’s palace and the remaining canons’ buildings. The protracted reconstruction was only completed in the fourth quarter of the 15th century by Bishop Richard Redman, under whose supervision the church’s interior was embellished with late Gothic furnishings.
In 1534, the advancing Reformation caused the dean and chapter of St Asaph to finally renounce papal authority. Shortly thereafter, Bishop Thomas Goldwell took all the cathedral registers and documents, except for a single book entitled “Coch Asaph,” and fled with them to Rome. In 1602, Bishop William Morgan, the first translator of the Bible into Welsh, repaired and tiled the chancel, which was then reportedly in a dilapidated state. In 1631, Bishop John Owen modernized the church’s interior. He also financed repairs to the tower, bringing in enormous trees from the Jannian Forest in Beraigne.
The English Civil War of the 17th century caused unknown damages to the church’s architecture. The bishop’s estate was confiscated, and the church revenues went to the Parliamentary treasury. Only after nine years of vacancy in the bishopric, in 1660, was George Griffith appointed and partially repaired the cathedral. His successor, Isaac Barrow, continued the restoration work, repairing and lead-roofing the north and south aisles, and also making extensive repairs to the chancel interior. Unfortunately, in 1714, the tower’s weakened upper section collapsed during a violent storm. In 1778, the ruined chapter house was demolished, and the chancel was completely rebuilt by 1780. A thorough Victorian renovation of the historic building was carried out between 1867 and 1875 by Sir George Gilbert Scott, under whose supervision many of the 18th- and early 19th-century alterations were removed. Further major renovations were carried out between 1929 and 1932 by his grandson, Sir Oldrid Scott.
Architecture
The cathedral was built on a Latin cross plan, using red sandstone, supplemented with gray limestone. In the 14th century, it received an aisled, five-bay basilica-shaped nave, north and south transepts built between 1315 and 1320, and a rectangular, three-bay chancel from the 13th century on the eastern side. A quadrangular tower was built at the crossing in 1391, while a two-story chapter house was originally located on the north side, at the central bay of the chancel. The entire church reached a length of approximately 55.5 meters and a width of 20.7 meters and in the transept 32.9 meters, one of the smallest dimensions of any medieval cathedral in Wales and England.
From the outside, the church was surrounded with buttresses, perpendicular to each other at the corners, particularly massive and tall on the western façade, stepped at the transept, chapter house, and chancel, and topped with pinnacles to the east and west. The façade’s horizontality was accentuated by plinth cornices and a drip cornice under the windows in the chancel, transept, and chapter house. The chancel was distinguished by a frieze composed of semicircular arcades supported by bas-reliefed corbels in the form of masks, running just below the late medieval battlements. The tower was likely also decorated with a frieze composed of alternating masks and quatrefoils, framed by cornices at the top and bottom. Above, the tower was crowned by a decorative battlement, extending to slender corner communication turrets. Similar battlements adorned the walls of the transept, chapter house, and chancel, while in the aisles and nave, the roofs were supported by rows of stone corbels.
Between the buttresses were pointed windows, the largest of which, filled with multi-light tracery, were set in the 14th century in the western façade, northern and southern walls of the transept and traditionally in the eastern wall of the chancel. In the second half of the 15th century, a late Gothic window with a seven-light tracery was inserted into the eastern wall, partially utilizing the archivolt and external moulding of the older window. The windows in the side walls of the chancel may originally have been narrower lancet openings, framed externally by shafts with capitals and plinths. Large, three-light windows illuminated the top floor of the tower from each side. The windows in the central nave, on the other hand, had small, quadrangular, moulded jambs filled with unusual eight semicircles. The impressive west window, mentioned above, stood out, filled with a six-light tracery, divided into three pointed arches, each divided by a mullion into two pointed arches with trefoils and three traceries inscribed with teardrop-shaped figures. The aisles were lit by larger, two-light pointed windows with tracery motifs of trefoils and hexafoliate rosettes, topped with the hoods mounted on carved corbels.
The main entrance to the cathedral led through the pointed west portal on the axis of the central nave, set in the 14th century in the older, 13th-century wall. Its six orders were chamfered and separated by grooves in a manner typical of the period, without a division zone of capitals. This achieved a relatively simple yet elegant effect. Entry into the church also led through the north and south portals, both located in the second bays from the west. The southern one was pointed and handsomely moulded, likely with an archivolt set on capitals.
The interior of the nave was covered in the 14th century with a wooden ceiling, set on stone corbels carved to resemble human heads and figures, suspended just below the unusual, multi-leafed clerestory windows. Vaults were also not used in the aisles. The nave was divided by pointed, moulded arcades, supported by pillars with a four-leaf cross-section, each leaf formed from five straight sections. As in the western portal, the chamfered arcades, divided by a grooves, were not divided by capitals but extended without interruption onto the pillars, all the way to the moulded plinths. This achieved a coherent, harmonious, and at the same time relatively modest effect, with similar decorations being applied to the arcades under the tower, including the chancel arcade.
Unusually, the first bay on the west side of the nave was significantly shorter, and the pillars did not align with the buttresses of the aisles. This was likely the result of a 14th-century reconstruction, which required the architect to fit within the older western wall and the eastern chancel. It may also have been a result of a change in plans, as the length of the western bay would have roughly corresponded to the division of the nave into six bays, instead of the final five. A similar imperfection occurred at the crossing of the transept and chancel. The northern wall of the latter was aligned with the half-pillar under the tower, while the southern half-pillars under the tower were shifted approximately 0.6 meters from the axis of the chancel wall to the north.
Current state
The church retains its medieval layout to this day, although the chancel was thoroughly rebuilt in the 18th century and then regothized in the 19th century. The upper part of the tower had to be rebuilt, and no trace of the chapter house remains. Most of the windows in the nave were restored, especially in the longitudinal walls of the aisles. The windows in the central nave, transept, and west façade retain their original elements. The tracery of the eastern chancel window, still partially set in its 14th-century frame, likely retains its 15th-century form. Some of the lancet windows in the chancel may replicate the original shapes of the early Gothic windows. The decorative battlements over the north aisle and central nave are a completely modern element, while the friezes on the tower and chancel have been lost (the latter is a 19th-century reconstruction). The only surviving 13th-century detail, surviving the 14th-century rebuilding and subsequent alterations, are the western buttresses (with the exception of the 19th-century pinnacles). Inside the nave, you can see 14th-century arcades and the exceptional, late 15th-century canopied choir stalls, the only ones to survive in Wales. They are high, vaulted, and adorned with pinnacles and carved decorations. The cathedral also houses the first translation of the Bible into Welsh, made by William Morgan.
bibliography:
Hubbard E., Clwyd (Denbighshire and Flintshire), Frome-London 1986.
Ironside-Bax P.B., The cathedral church of Saint Asaph, London 1904.
Martin C.H., Silvester R.J., Watson S.E., Historic settlements in Denbighshire, Welshpool 2014.
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The Royal Commission on The Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions in Wales and Monmouthshire. An Inventory of the Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales and Monmouthshire, II County of Flint, London 1912.
Wooding J., Yates N., A Guide to the churches and chapels of Wales, Cardiff 2011.