Description
All Saints church is located in the centre of Porthcawl, on the south side of Victoria Avenue at its junction with Church Place, and lies within a churchyard not used for burial. The church was built in 1912-14 to designs of architect G.E.Halliday of Cardiff for the developing new town, and replaced an iron church of 1899-1912 which lay behind the present church on the site of the church hall. The church is constructed of red, rock-faced, snecked sandstone with yellow and buff ashlar dressings, the roof of Port Dinorwic slates and with apex crosses. Built in Late Gothic, Perpendicular, style the church comprises continuous nave and chancel, five-bay north and south aisles, and north and south porches; the north-east Lady Chapel and choir vestry was added in the 1960s to replace a lean-to. The gabled north porch, now the main entrance, is attached to the west end end of the north aisle; the south porch, similar to the north, was the original main entrance. The proposed south-east tower was never built and brick fills the gap.
The interior is spacious and airy with no division between nave and chancel, under a wagon roof, and very high north and south arcades, piers of lozenge plan; the nave was reportedly never pewed. Features include a full-legth stone reredos, comparable with the medieval one at Llantwit Major, and the font designed by Halliday. Stained glass includes works by Karl Parsons (1927-8) and L.C.Evettes (1964).
Sources:
extracts from Cadw Listing description.
J.Newman, Buildings of Wales: Glamorgan (1995), p.529.
RCAHMW, 16 January 2015