St. Asaph Cathedral

I just had to finish the year with these few images. Taken yesterday in the cathedral, the image above is a wide-angle panorama stitched together from 16 different photographs. Very often the cathedral is empty and yesterday was no exception. All the while I was in the cathedral (2 hours) I think about 8 people came in. Better still, the organist was practicing and nearly all of the time I was there I got to listen to some great music.

St Asaph Cathedral (Welsh: Eglwys Gadeiriol Llanelwy) is a cathedral in St Asaph, Denbighshire, North Wales. An Anglican church, it is the episcopal seat of the Bishop of St Asaph. The cathedral dates back 1,400 years, while the current building dates from the 13th Century.

It is sometimes claimed to be the smallest Anglican cathedral in Great Britain.

A church was originally built on or near the site by Saint Kentigern in the 6th century (other sources say Saint Elwy in 560). Saint Asa (or Asaph), a grandson of Pabo Post Prydain, followed after this date.

The earliest parts of the present building date from the 13th century when a new building was begun on the site after the original stone cathedral was burnt by King Edward I in 1282.

The rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr resulted in part of the cathedral being reduced to a ruin for seventy years. The present building was largely built in the reign of Henry Tudor and greatly restored in the 19th century.