Christ The King

Introduction

Designs were made by the architect T Edmund Rees of Messrs Johnson, Richards & Rees of Merthyr Tydfil, with construction carried out by Messrs F Morris of Hereford.

History

At the start of the C20 the area of mid-Wales around Builth was without a Catholic church or priest, and there was no permanent priest until 1907 when Fr Patrick Kane took up residency in Llandrindod Wells. It wasn’t until 1936 that mass was offered in Builth, in a room in the Crown Hotel that was later made into a chapel. A plot for the new church was acquired on a site along Garth Road, rapidly being developed in the post-war years. The crucifix above the entrance porch was carved by Francis Leech of Layton & Leech, stonemasons of Cambridge.

Architecture and furnishings

The church is built in pale red brick in Flemish bond, with a pantile roof set on deep eaves with tiled kneelers, narrow round headed windows, clear glazing with small rectangular panes, and sloping buttresses to sides and porch. The church comprises a wide aisle-less nave, W porch, sanctuary and flat roofed sacristies set down below main roof at the E end. The W front has a projecting porch with triple ordered round arched doorway, pairs of windows either side, above a stone crucifix (after Eric Gill) in relief and with the inscription REGNAVIT A LIGNO DEVS (God has reigned from a tree).

The interior comprises a single wide space with wood parquet floor, plain plastered walls and curved ceiling. The baptistery in the NW corner has an octagonal stone font enclosed by wrought iron railings incorporating riddel posts from the original high altar. Two oak statues of St Joseph and the Virgin Mary by Francis Leech flank the sanctuary. The stations of the Cross are by Dame Werburg Welch OSB, a disciple of Desmond Chute and Eric Gill.

The confessional in the NW corner and the statue of Christ the King over the high altar are both by Charles Victor Gretner, woodcarver of Hereford, and were created for the earlier chapel. The church retains original chairs. There is a stone piscine in the wall on the S side.

Visiting

The church is set back from Garth Road with a partly-paved forecourt with brick boundary wall, gate and gate piers. The church has a narrow entrance porch leading to a timber vestibule with part glazed doors to each side.