Church of The Most Holy Redeemer, Porthmadog

Introduction

The Church of The Most Holy Redeemer in Porthmadog, within the Diocese of Wrexham, was designed by Giuseppe Rinvolucri, an Italian engineer and architect who moved to North Wales in 1929. The church is in simplified Romanesque style with Arts-and-Crafts influence.

History

The church was originally designed with a concrete roof, but the steep slate roof was added in the 1960s. The sanctuary was adapted in the 1960s following the Second Vatican Council, with the original rails remaining but other fittings from the 1960s. The church was listed at Grade II on 26/09/2005. The church is listed for its special architectural interest as a strongly composed and robustly detailed C20 Roman Catholic Church, with good interior detail, and as a fine example of the work of the Italian architect Rinvolucri.

Architecture and furnishings

The church is oriented north-south and comprises a nave and chancel under a single roof, with shallow apsidal projections to the chancel south (liturgical east) and east walls, and a lower hipped vestry on the north side. The nave and chancel are tall and narrow, of rock-faced rubble stone with larger quoins, and a steep slate roof on a moulded stone cornice. The interior has a plaster tunnel vault, and plaster stripped to reveal rubble-stone walls. The chancel apse is blue mosaic and incorporates the figure of a dove; apses in the side walls are in gold mosaic, with fine stone statues of the Madonna and child and Christ the Redeemer, all the work of Jonah Jones.

The altar and ambo are stone with marble framing, and have raised incised slate panels, also the work of Jonah Jones; the polished slate paschal candle-stand is an integral part of this design. The tympanum has a representation of Christ on the Cross in low-relief, probably marble, inscribed with the text 'ADOREMUS TE ET BENEDICIMUS TIBI QUIA SANCTUM CRUCEM REDEMISTI MUNDUM'. The nave gable has raised verges, concealing a stack on the L (E) side, and has a slate-hung apex of swept profile, projecting on 2 gilded head corbels.

The 3-window side walls have round-headed windows with steel-framed glazing and incorporating pivoting lights; the W side also has a small blocked window at the N end. The E wall has a boarded basement door to a boiler room at the N end, where the ground level is lower. The E apsidal chancel projection is lower and under a conical roof; the S (liturgical E) chancel apse has a hipped slate roof on wide eaves; the chancel gable is slate hung. The vestry has a half-lit door in the splay abutting the chancel, and in its S wall a 2-light and a 1-light window; in the opposite N wall is a boarded door under a 2-light window.

Parish life

The Guardian Angel Society, formed in Pwllheli in 1985 as the Parish equivalent of the SVP, had about twenty members, including new recruits from the Criccieth and Porthmadog area after the two Parishes amalgamated in 2016. The Parish of the Most Holy Redeemer and Saint Joseph covers a geographically huge area from the foothills of Snowdonia to the tip of the Lleyn Peninsula, though its Parishioners are comparatively few in number. Annual fundraising events include the Summer and Christmas Fairs and a Sponsorship event held at the end of August.

Concerts are also held in Saint Joseph’s, and the Parish is grateful for the generous support of its visitors. The fundraising events also aim to strengthen togetherness, involving Parishioners from both churches and supporters from the wider community. The Parish held a Parish Social in honour of Saint Patrick, Saint David and Saint Joseph.

Visiting

A team of Parishioners from both Porthmadog and Pwllheli, co-coordinated by Anna Meyerratken and Gillian Williams, carries out regular fundraising for the Parish.