The Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust
Historic Environment Record
 

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St Baglan's Church, Baglan

Primary Reference Number (PRN) : 00653w
Trust : Glamorgan Gwent
Community : Baglan
Unitary authority : Neath Port Talbot
NGR : SS7534792290
Site Type (preferred type first) : Medieval Church
Status : Scheduled Monument , listed building II

Summary :
Original parish church of Baglan, still surviving as a standing, but ruinous, building in the churchyard, having been badly damaged by fire in 1954; the present church (St Catherine's PRN 3253w) was built on a different site in the churchyard.

Description :
Original parish church of Baglan, still surviving as a standing, but ruinous, building in the churchyard, having been badly damaged by fire in 1954; the present church (St Catherine's PRN 3253w) was built on a different site in the churchyard. It is a pre-Norman foundation; two Early Christian monuments of Classes C and G are known from the site (PRN 670w, 672w; RCAHMW 1976, 43 no 886, 64 no 961), and the dedication of the original church is Celtic.
The remains of St Baglan's church are ruinous and overgrown, making assessment difficult. It is single-celled with a continuous nave/chancel and a W gable-end bellcote; no porch survives. The E window has a two-centred head, three ogee/trefoiled lights and Perpendicular tracery, and as far as can be seen is medieval. The 16th century SE window is rectangular and has three lights with segmental heads and recessed spandrels; the hoodmould, unusually for a window of this type, has human heads as stops. The two other windows on this wall have no distinguishing characteristics. The W front appears to be post-medieval with a semicircular head to the door and the window above, and triangular heads to the two openings of the bellcote. A beam embedded in the N wall at the W end may be the remains of a W gallery. The church was apparently limewashed inside and out (O'Brien 1926, 116). The NMR holds a number of photographs, taken before the present extensive growth of vegetation and when some plaster survived on the internal walls, showing that there was a barrel roof over the body of the church, Some restoration was carried out in the late 1990s

Evans 1998 GGAT 51 Historic Churches Project

Sources :
, 1967 , 'Old Photos' of Port Talbot
, Archwilio App Submission
Evans, E M , 1998 , Glamorgan Historic Churches Survey: Churches in north-western Glamorgan
Evans, E M , 2003 , Early Medieval Ecclesiastical sites in Southeast Wales: Desk based assessment
Morgan, G , 2013 , Digital photograph (1); St Baglan's Church
The Handley Partnership , HAAbase built heritage assessment system: Buildings at Risk database
Evans EM, 2003-04, GGAT 73 Early Medieval Ecclesiastical Sites Project

Events :
E001386 : Early medieval ecclesiastical sites in Southeast Wales desk based assessment (year : 2003)
E008572 : Baglan Way, Port Talbot (year : 2021-22)

Related records
Church in Wales Reference No. 648 https://churchheritagecymru.org.uk/CHR/ChurchDetails.aspx?id=2999
Church in Wales Reference No. 9820 https://churchheritagecymru.org.uk/CHR/ChurchDetails.aspx?id=4516

Compiled date : 12-03-2004


Images :



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