£3m needed to repair city cathedral

IT is our lighthouse - once, literally so.

We are drawn to Newport's cathedral at times of celebration and of mourning.

High on its ridgeway overlooking the city it is the rock upon which Newport is built.

Seven hundred years ago, before the marshes were drained, the high tides of the Severn Estuary and the untamed surge of the Severn bore would, depending upon the season and state of the tide, see water lapping the base of the hill upon which St Woolos stands.

In those days a light kindled in the church precincts guided merchantmen into the safety of an Usk mooring.

The captain of the Newport Ship, inbound from Portugal with a cargo of wine and spices, would have every reason to offer a prayer to St Gwynllywg, for whom the church is named, for a save haven.

For all but the last 100 of the 1,000 years of St Woolos' history any suggestion that there might not be enough money to maintain the church would have been met with disbelief.

Through taxes, or the benefices of the wealthy, such as Humphrey, the 6th Earl of Stafford (later Duke of Buckingham) but largely upon a bedrock of faith, St Woolos rose from being a humble place of worship to an imposing church built largely in the Norman tradition.

In what we condescendingly call the Dark Ages - as if ours were not - a place of worship in wattle-and-daub was established on the site by Gwynllywg, a warrior who, from accounts of his doings, had much to repent.

A large part of the nave, North aisle, South aisle and the western end of the church, which may well have been Gwynllywg's chapel, would have been much as they are now when in 1402 Owain Glyndwr, claimant to the Principality of Wales, attacked first Newport Castle before razing the crops of Newport's burghers, killing their cattle and then turning his destructive attentions towards St Woolos Church.

Long before the introduction of a national lottery, tithes - effectively a church tax - were the means by which money was raised to rebuild St Woolos after Glyndwr's predations.

In 1534, a year that stands midway between Glyndwr and Cromwell, a national audit of churches assessed the income of St Gunleus - as the church was then called - at £8 a year.

Glyndwr's attack resulted in the first and last serious damage, although some was caused during a minor siege at the time of the English Civil War of 1642-1651.

On the west side of the church, over the main entrance, a decapitated figure stands within a niche which some people believe to be Jasper Tudor, Duke of Bedford and others Humphrey Stafford himself, the local story being that the head was knocked off during the Civil War skirmish.

A deep sleep of centuries settled over Newport and its church after the settlement of the war, a drowsiness unbroken until the coming of the canals and railways which were the sinews of the Industrial Revolution.

This calm was shattered by gunfire when, early in the morning of November 4, 1839, a column of 5,000 men demanding electoral rights for working men as the central element of a new Charter marched on the town to be met by the dispersing fire of troops hidden within the Westgate Hotel.

At dead of night, and in an unmarked mass grave, some 20 men who were shot down that morning were buried somewhere on the north side of the church. Is it possible that the bones of these men still lay there?

At the time of the Chartists the church had six bells (hence the name of the pub opposite, recently restored from the noxious Phizog and Firkin) although since the beginning of this century there have been 12.

Since the creation of the Diocese of Monmouth in 1921 St Woolos has been its pro-Cathedral, 28 years after that date being confirmed as the permanent diocesan cathedral.

To what extent St Woolos is still regarded as a place of worship rather than merely an interesting historical building is beyond doubt.

Non-conformist and Roman Catholic as well as Anglican come to it at times of sadness and of rejoicing.

Far from being the divisive image of just one branch of the Christian faith, it is a building hallowed by age and common acceptance.

Over 1,000 years, St Woolos has served us well.

The question as wear and tear take a toll of the venerable old church is this: Are we now prepared to serve it?

REPAIR APPEAL

* A RESCUE appeal committee is to be set up to raise around £3 million to restore Newport's cathedral.

An inspection of St Woolos Cathedral in Stow Hill, parts of which are nearly 1,000 years old, revealed urgent repairs are needed to the roof and outer walls.

Michael Davies, of Davies Sutton Architects, which is carrying out the work, said: "There are two major elements which need addressing urgently.

"These include repairing oak trusses in the roof which are rotting and repairing the outer stone walls as they are flaking away."

The clay roof tiles also need to be replaced.

Mr Davies said: "If all goes well, I'm hoping the roof will be finished before the end of 2007."

The Reverend Mark Soady, 45, a canon at the cathedral, said the damage was the result of wear and tear over the centuries. He said: "The building is clearly deteriorating - rain water is leaking in."

The routine inspection, carried out every five years on Church Of Wales' buildings, also revealed disabled access needs improving and that emergency lighting should be installed, in the case of a power failure.

The work may be carried out in four or five phases.

A more detailed inspection will take place in early February by architects, costing about £17,000.

Plans will be drawn up to determine how the repair work will be done and how much exactly it will cost.

It is thought the appeal committee will need to raise around £1.5 million themselves before they can apply for match funding from the Heritage Lottery Funding and CADW - the body which helps preserves historic monuments in Wales. Mr Soady said the committee, of about 20, will be convened in July and will aim to raise the money before the end of the year.

The intention is to keep the cathedral open and continue holding services while the work to the Grade 1 listed building is carried out.

He said: "Obviously there will be some disruption, which we want to keep to a minimum."