Hit List 5: Some more Churches

 The last post I made on my hit list concerned a couple of churches. Well, let’s not forget, Port Talbot still has more churches than you can shake a stick at. So I hope I’ll be forgiven if the next few buildings on my hit list are also churches. This is Margam Road Evangelical Church. I did an internet search, but I wasn’t able to find out a great deal about it. There are some commemorative stones on the exterior of the building which were laid in 1926, so it seems reasonable to think that this is when it was built. This makes it a little bit of a Victorian Gothic revival hangover. For style wise, it’s gothic as far as I’m concerned. The windows on the front, and the buttresses certainly wouldn’t have looked out of place on a church building from pretty much any time in the previous century.

While it is fairly imposing, I can’t say that I’m in love with this building. Even at the best of times, in bright sunshine at the height of summer, it has a little bit of a dark and brooding atmosphere. It’s obviously been well kept and well looked after, but, I don’t know, when I look at a church building I’d always like to feel it lifting my spirits a bit, and I’m afraid that this one just doesn’t do that.

The next on this exclusively ecclesiastical buildings post is the Grange Street Congregational Church. Usually when I sketch a church I do it so that it at least includes a view of the entrance. But I’ll be honest, it’s difficult to get far enough away from the entrance on Grange Street to get a good photo which gets it all in – and I know because my daughter used to rent a house just opposite the church.

From this angle, then, you can see that this is a large, barn like structure. You can also see that while it’s not as ornamented as the front of the building, but you can still see a couple of gothic features, namely the arched door and the window above the side entrance, together with some of the ornamental stonework. In some ways this aspect of the building is very reminiscent of school architecture from the immediate pre first World War period, as in the nearby Dyffryn Lower school, which is hardly surprising since the church was built I the same period. It’s not necessarily the finest church in Port Talbot, but its position on the street corner makes it surprisingly imposing.

Let’s finish this particular post with a sketch of what may just possibly be the newest church in Port Talbot, the Holy Trinity Church in Sandfields. Sandfields is a large community in Port Talbot, between Aberavon, the Beach and Baglan, which was built after the second World War. The first church was in a canteen provided by Wimpey (the builders, not the fast food company of days gone by) in 1953. In 1959-60 a church was built, but this was superseded by a new building in 1969. I don’t know exactly what was wrong with it, but by the noughties it was clear that the building needed to be replaced. I’ve searched online for pictures of the 1969 building, which I remember, although I never actually went inside it, and I haven’t been able to find any.

The current building was consecrated in 2018, and I have to say, I rather like it. Normally I tend to favour the ‘more is more’ approach to ornamentation and church architecture, but to me, Holy Trinity has a very clean, harmonious appearance which seems a little Scandinavian in approach. That may just be the colour scheme, but hey, don’t knock it if it works. Out of interest, the interior looks just as effective as well, minimalist, but the clever use of white and light blue lifted my spirits, and that’s just from a photograph.  

Margam Park

I've sketched the buildings of Margam Park on a number of occasions. It's the site of the medieval Cistercian Margam Abbey. There are few remains, although the second sketch down from the top of this page shows the remains of the Chapter House. The top picture shows the Abbey Church which was constructed around the nave of the former Abbey church.

 In the 19th century one of the richest men in the world, Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot built the gothic mansion, Margam Caste, which is in the third sketch. He also built the Orangery in the 4th photo. 

The top picture was sold privately, while the third sketch of the gothic castle was sold for Oxfam.

84) Tata Steel Sports Club, Margam

The club has gone under a series of different names, as ownership of the steelworks has changed hands, from the Steel Company of Wales, to British Steel, to Corus, to Tata Steel. I can’t really say how much, if any, connection exists now between the club itself and the steelworks – I know for example that Tata Steel RFC are completely financially independent from the works. This shows the clubhouse, and to be honest it has seen better days. Speaking of the Rugby Club, this has been a great ‘nursery’ club for younger players, a number of whom have even gone on to play for Wales later on in their careers.

75) Margam Abbey Chapter House

Well, look, I know that I already sketched quite a similar subject(Number 65) Margam Abbey Ruins and Margam Castle) I have to justify it to myself for two reasons. That particular sketch wasn't a real study of the ruins as such, they may have been in the foreground, but it was more a case of making one part of a frame for Margam Castle and steps in the distance. The other reason is that it's another attempt at line and wash, and in some ways I quite like it, I think it's got enough for me to be able to tell myself that I'm making a little progress with line and wash. 

73) Swansea - London Mile Post, Margam

This mile post was installed in the 19th century when the main Swansea to London Road, now known as the A48, was made into a turnpike. This one just stands by a bus stop, near the corner of the road, minding its own business. It’s one of several still standing, each of which has been grade II listed. I used to think that they were carved stone, but actually this is not the case, since they were all made of cast iron. You can actually find one in the open air Museum of Welsh Life just outside Cardiff. On a personal note, I moved from London in 1986, and although I’m perfectly happy to be living in Port Talbot now, for quite a long time this post did serve as a reminder of just how far away my ‘home’ was. I’ve always liked the look of it though.

70) Watching the Lions v. All Blacks - Twelve Knights pub, Margam

I sketched this surreptitiously during the second test between the British Lions and the All Blacks, in the Twelve Knights Pub in Margam. This is only one small part of  large pub restaurant. If you're wondering whence it derives the name, there was a legend which persisted up until the 19th century that Robert Fitzhamon, a Norman follower of William I, conquered the whole of Glamorgan with just 12 knight followers. Fitzhamon existed, and most of the knights ascribed to him also definitely existed. However the legend is just that, a legend, with little or no literal truth behind it. 

65) Margam Abbey Ruins and Margam Castle

The building on the left is the ruined Chapter House of the medieval Margam Abbey, a Cistercian Abbey originally founded in 1147.  It’s very possible that there was a much older monastic community on the same site, or close by, since early Celtic stone crosses have been found on the site, and they are on display in the nearby Margam Stones Museum. In the background, the large building is Margam Castle, a 19th century gothic confection that I’ve sketched before. The view looking up the steps towards the castle is actually one of my favourite views in the whole of Port Talbot. I managed to get the figure in when she stopped for a minute, to have a breather, I think. It was a beautiful bright day sketching this, but there was a cold wind blowing, and the bench I sat on to make this sketch was in the shade. I know that we can get 4 seasons in one day in Britain, but come on, shivering in July?!

17) Margam Castle

I should probably have put the last two sketches in context. I made the previous two sketches, and this sketch, within a week of being diagnosed with depression, and being signed off work for what eventually stretched to two months. Put bluntly, when I was at all with it, I really didn't know what to do with myself. So this was made at a time when sketching was just something I could do which I could get absorbed in, and while I was sketching I didn't have to listen to any of the negative thoughts going through my head whenever I was awake.

As for Margam Castle, well it's Port Talbot's own former stately home. It was built for Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot - and it's his family from which Port Talbot takes its name. The Castle was built between 1830 and 1840, in the newly fashionable Victorian Neo Gothic style.Talbot's cousin, Henry Fox Talbot, took some of the world's first photographs in Margam Castle.

Today it's run by the County Borough Council, and is fully protected as a Grade I listed building. The Castle itself is just one of the attractions open to the public, and with entrance free after you've paid to park your car, it's a good day out.

16: St. Theodore's Church, Taibach

This is a less successful line and wash picture, in my opinion. It focuses on the details of one of the side doorways of the church. I do live literally less than 100 yards from this church, and it's surely one of the biggest in the whole of Port Talbot.

In 1901 it became the mother church of the parish of St. Theodores. The building of the church was heavily subsidised by Emily Charlotte Talbot - a member of the family after whom the town is named - who inherited Margam Castle after the sudden early death of her brother Theodore.

11) The 'Round' Chapel, Margam

The ‘Round Chapel’ as it’s usually known locally is actually not round at all. It is in fact octagonal. It was one building which really grabbed my attention when I first moved to Port Talbot in 1986, partly because of its unusual appearance, and even more so because it inhabits a quiet corner of a small park, minding its own business as it there’s nothing unusual about it at all.

The  chapel was constructed as part of the "planned village" of Groes, created by architect Edward Haycock, Sr. It was built by Thomas Jenkin in 1838 at the cost of £800. In 1974, the government inn their wisdom decided to demolish the village to make room for the new M4 motorway. The chapel was the only building in the village to be saved; it was re-located in 1975–76 to Margam, in an area called Tollgate Park. It was Grade II*-listed as early as 1976 as the only surviving octagonal chapel in Wales.

Once again, this is a building I have also painted in acrylics.

10) Tambini's Express Cafe - Margam

Time was that every South Wales town of any size had an Italian café, such were the links between South Wales and Italy. Thankfully Port Talbot still has the Tambini family's Express Café in Margam, in the eastern part of Port Talbot. When I first made this sketch, my daughter showed it to family connections of the Tambinis, who asked if they could buy the original of the sketch, and use it on their menus and wine labels. To say that I was delighted would be an understatement. The Express café is opposite one of the other buildings which featured in these early sketches, namely the round chapel.