Barmouth, Gwynedd - St. John's Church, font - local & Wylde Green 1917 pmks

• Postcard

   

• Picture / Image:  St. John's Church, The Font [an angel], Barmouth [Gwynedd, formerly Merionethshire]
• Publisher: E.T.W Dennis
• Postally used: yes
• Stamp:  George V half d green
• Postmark(s): Barmouth 7 Aug 1917 cds + Wylde Green 8 Aug 1917 thimble cds type
• Sent to:  Miss S.M. Pearson, Elfordleigh, Church Road, Wylde Green, [corrected to Erdington], Birmingham
• Notes / condition: has a bit of wear to one corner [understandable due to double postal use] 

Please ask if you need any other information and I will do the best I can to answer.

Image may be low res for illustrative purposes - if you need a higher definition image then please contact me and I may be able to send one. No cards have been trimmed (unless stated).

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NOTE: All postcards are sent in brand new stiffened envelopes which I have bought for the task. These are specially made to protect postcards and you may be able to re-use them. In addition there are other costs to sending so the above charge is not just for the stamp!

I will give a full refund if you are not fully satisfied with the postcard.

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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St John's Church, Barmouth, Gwynedd, Wales was built between 1889 and 1895 and designed by the Chester architects Douglas and Fordham. The foundation stone was laid by Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom. The bulk of the cost of construction was donated by Mrs Sarah Dyson Perrins in memory of her husband James Dyson Perrins (father of Charles William Dyson Perrins) of Lea & Perrins.

The church belongs to the Church in Wales. It is a grade II* listed building, and was given this status by Cadw on 31 January 1995.[2] It is part of the Bro Ardudwy Ministry Area.

In 1830, a new church was opened in Barmouth on the quayside dedicated to Saint David. This church was built to accommodate an increasing population since the ancient church in Llanaber is over a mile away from the town centre.

During this period the railways had not reached this part of the Welsh coast and as such Barmouth was still reliant on the maritime industry. This changed in the 1860s with the arrival of the railway resulting in a vast increase in the number of tourists.

Soon after the Reverend Edward Hughes became rector of the parish of Llanaber and Barmouth in 1887 he realised that Barmouth needed a larger place of worship. Many trials were carried out in St David's to try and increase the seating capacity but these attempts proved fruitless.

During 1887 Reverend Hughes proposed the idea of building a larger place of worship to the Churchwardens and the Parochial Church Council, who agreed and the work of finding a suitable location began.

With Barmouth's geographical location between the mountains and sea, building locations were limited. However a donation of a rocky precipice above the town was accepted as the final choice.

A design by architects Douglas and Fordham was chosen and fundraising efforts begun. An unexpected donation of £15,000 from Mrs Sarah Perrins, widow of James Dyson Perrins and mother of Charles William Dyson Perrins was gratefully received and provided funding for the chancel, central tower, lady chapel and vestry to be built as a memorial to her late husband. Mrs Sarah Perrins and her family owned a holiday home in Barmouth called Plas Mynach and would have been aware of the need to build a larger church.

St John's took seven years to build between the laying of the foundation stone in 1889 by Princess Beatrice of Battenburg to its consecration in November 1895 by Bishop Cambell of Bangor. There were some setbacks during the construction stages, most notably during the evening of September 11th 1891, on the same day that the local Catholic church, St Tudwal's was opened. During this stage the church was almost finished, the roofs had not yet been slated, the tower was almost completed. At some point during the evening the tower collapsed into the church destroying most of the un-slated roofs and most of the walls on the mountainside of the building. Douglas and Fordham blamed the collapse on blasting operations behind the church that were aimed at allowing more light into the building.

St John's was finally rebuilt and furnished due to the financial kindness of Mrs Perrins and her family.

The Font located at the back of the church is a free-copy of Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen's font in Copenhagen Cathedral and is sculpted out of pure marble.