Stained Glass at St Seiriol’s | Gwydr Lliw yn Eglwys Seiriol Sant
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The images of two saints can be found in Venetian glass mosaics at the entrance to the Celtic Gateway Bridge in Holyhead. One is of St Cybi, whose church can be found in the grounds of the Roman fort, and a Victorian church in Holyhead was built in the 1850s and dedicated to St Seiriol.
The spire of the Church of St Seiriol was formerly a local landmark and a useful navigational point for those on the sea around Holyhead. The church was located on Porth-y-Felin Road and was built in 1853–4. Structural problems resulted in the church being closed in 1989 and it was demolished in 1992.
At least seven stained glass windows were commissioned for the church. Most of them survive and some of them remain in Holyhead, and other plaques and furnishings were also saved from the church.
The earliest known stained glass window at the church was placed in the east wall of the south aisle; it was given in memory of Vice Admiral Charles Frederic Schomberg, who died in Holyhead in September 1874. Much of the window is now on display at Holyhead Maritime Museum and shows Christ teaching from a boat by the lakeside and Christ calming the storm. The window can be attributed to the London firm of Heaton, Butler & Bayne and another version of the window with the same two scenes can be found at a church in another coastal location at Fowey, in Cornwall.
Windows and other memorials were associated with individuals connected with the crossing to Holyhead. A window that no longer survives was commissioned by Thomas Liddicoat, who had been a Commander in the Holyhead and Dublin Express Service, in memory of his wife Sophie and only daughter Ethel Maude. A plaque was given commemorating Thomas Hirste (died 1861), the Superintendent of the Chester and Holyhead Railway and of the London and North Western Railway’s Marine Establishment at Holyhead.
The east window of the church behind the high altar was a First World War memorial by the London firm of C.E. Kempe & Co. The window consisted of a Crucifixion scene at the centre with standing figures of St David and St Deiniol at each side. Kneeling figures at the foot of the cross represented the Anglesey saints St Cybi and St Seiriol, the patrons of the two large Anglican churches in Holyhead. The window was acquired by Tonbridge School, where it was installed in the large east window of their chapel.
At least four more windows were added to the church before it closed in 1989, all of which were the work of different studios. A second window that survives at Holyhead Maritime Museum is the work of the Lancaster firm of Shrigley & Hunt. It commemorates two brothers who were drowned in 1930, when Cecil Ralph Bulmer died in his attempt to save his younger brother Francis Hubert.
A window of 1935 at St Seiriol’s was made by the firm of William Morris, reusing nineteenth-century designs by Edward Burne-Jones, and more windows by the firm can be found at St Cybi’s in Holyhead and at Rhoscolyn, to the south of Holy Island. In about 1956 the artist Hugh Easton, who also made a window for St Cybi’s in 1950, made a window for St Seiriol’s with figures of St Nicholas and St Stephen. Both of these windows from St Seiriol’s seem to have been sold to private collectors.
One window at the church was moved to St Cybi’s in Holyhead, which was given in memory of Francis Bell and his wife Florence in 1982, only a few years before the church closed. The window was made by the Swansea firm of Celtic Studios, and depicts Christ with a boy scout, as Francis Bell had been a scoutmaster.
One further item made for St Seiriol’s was the rood figure of Christ carved by the Welsh artist Jonah Jones in 1979. It appears to have been moved by the donors to All Saints Llanelli in the early 1980s when the family moved to south Wales. The figure inspired another to be commissioned for another church in Llanelli by the same artist in 1983, but by 2010 both churches in Llanelli had also been closed. The location of the Christ figure from St Seiriol’s is unknown but the other, made in 1983, stands in the grounds of the Church of St Mary, Tenby.
Mae delweddau dau sant i'w gweld mewn mosäig o wydr Fenis wrth fynedfa’r Porth Celtaidd yng Nghaergybi. Mae un yn dangos Cybi Sant, y mae ei eglwys i’w chael ar dir y gaer Rufeinig, a chafodd eglwys Fictoraidd ei chodi yng Nghaergybi yn y 1850au a'i chysegru i Seiriol Sant.
Roedd meindwr Eglwys Seiriol Sant yn arfer bod yn dirnod lleol ac yn bwynt mordwyo defnyddiol i forwyr o amgylch Caergybi. Lleolwyd yr eglwys ar Porth-y-Felin Road ac fe'i hadeiladwyd ym 1853–4. Yn sgil problemau strwythurol cafodd yr eglwys ei chau ym 1989 a chafodd ei dymchwel ym 1992.
Comisiynwyd o leiaf saith ffenestr liw ar gyfer yr eglwys. Mae'r rhan fwyaf wedi goroesi ac mae rhai yn dal yng Nghaergybi, a chafodd placiau a dodrefn eraill o'r eglwys eu hachub hefyd.
Cafodd y ffenestr wydr lliw gynharaf rydyn ni’n gwybod amdani ei gosod ym mur dwyreiniol ystlys ddeheuol yr eglwys; fe'i rhoddwyd er cof am yr Is-lyngesydd Charles Frederic Schomberg, a fu farw yng Nghaergybi ym mis Medi 1874. Mae llawer o'r ffenestr bellach i'w weld yn Amgueddfa Forwrol Caergybi ac yn dangos Crist yn dysgu ar gwch wrth lan y llyn a Christ yn tawelu'r storm. Gellir priodoli'r ffenestr i gwmni Heaton, Butler & Bayne o Lundain, ac mae fersiwn arall o'r ffenestr gyda'r un golygfeydd i'w gweld mewn eglwys mewn lleoliad arall ar y glannau yn Fowey yng Nghernyw.
Roedd yna ffenestri a chofebau eraill yn gysylltiedig ag unigolion a fu’n ymwneud â'r croesiad o Gaergybi. Comisiynwyd ffenestr nad yw wedi goroesi gan Thomas Liddicoat, a fu'n Gomander yng Ngwasanaeth Brys Caergybi a Dulyn, er cof am ei wraig Sophie a'i unig ferch Ethel Maude. Rhoddwyd plac i goffáu Thomas Hirste (a fu farw ym 1861), Uwcharolygydd Rheilffordd Caer a Chaergybi a Sefydliad Morol y London and North Western Railway yng Nghaergybi.
Roedd ffenestr ddwyreiniol yr eglwys y tu ôl i'r brif allor yn gofeb Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf gan gwmni C.E. Kempe & Co o Lundain. Roedd y ffenestr yn cynnwys golygfa o’r croeshoeliad yn y canol gyda ffigurau Dewi Sant a Deiniol Sant yn sefyll o boptu iddo. Roedd ffigurau ar eu gliniau wrth droed y groes yn cynrychioli seintiau Môn, sef Cybi Sant a Seiriol Sant, nawddsaint y ddwy eglwys Anglicanaidd fawr yng Nghaergybi. Prynwyd y ffenestr gan Ysgol Tonbridge, lle cafodd ei gosod yn ffenestr ddwyreiniol fawr eu capel nhw.
Ychwanegwyd o leiaf bedair ffenestr arall i'r eglwys cyn iddi gau ym 1989, a'r rhain i gyd yn waith stiwdios gwahanol. Mae ail ffenestr sydd wedi goroesi yn Amgueddfa Forwrol Caergybi yn dod o gwmni Shrigley & Hunt yng Nghaerhirfryn ac mae'n coffáu dau frawd a foddwyd ym 1930, pan fu farw Cecil Ralph Bulmer yn ei ymgais i achub ei frawd iau Francis Hubert.
Cafodd ffenestr sy’n dyddio o 1935 yn Eglwys Seiriol Sant ei chreu gan gwmni William Morris, drwy ailddefnyddio dyluniadau o'r bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg gan Edward Burne-Jones, ac mae mwy o ffenestri gan y cwmni i'w gweld yn Eglwys Cybi Sant yng Nghaergybi ac yn Rhoscolyn, i'r de o Ynys Gybi. Tua 1956 gwnaeth yr arlunydd Hugh Easton, a wnaeth ffenestr i Cybi Sant ym 1950, ffenestr i Seiriol Sant gyda ffigyrau Sant Nicolas a Sant Steffan. Mae'n ymddangos bod y ddwy ffenestr yma o Sant Seiriol wedi cael eu gwerthu i gasglwyr preifat.
Cafodd un ffenestr yn yr eglwys ei symud i Eglwys Cybi Sant yng Nghaergybi, a roddwyd er cof am Francis Bell a'i wraig Florence ym 1982, ychydig flynyddoedd yn unig cyn i'r eglwys gau. Gwnaed y ffenestr gan gwmni Celtic Studios, Abertawe, ac mae'n darlunio Crist gyda bachgen o sgowt, gan fod Francis Bell wedi bod yn sgowtfeistr.
Un eitem arall a wnaed ar gyfer Eglwys Seiriol Sant oedd ffigwr Crist ar y Grog a gerfiwyd gan yr arlunydd o Gymro Jonah Jones yn 1979. Mae'n ymddangos i’r Grog gael ei symud gan y rhoddwyr i Eglwys yr Holl Saint yn Llanelli ar ddechrau'r 1980au pan symudodd y teulu i’r De. Ysbrydolodd y ffigwr un arall i gael ei gomisiynu ar gyfer eglwys arall yn Llanelli gan yr un artist ym 1983, ond erbyn 2010 roedd y ddwy eglwys yn Llanelli hefyd wedi’u cau. Nid yw lleoliad ffigwr Crist o Eglwys Seiriol Sant yn hysbys ond mae'r llall, a wnaed ym 1983, yn sefyll ar dir Eglwys y Santes Fair, Dinbych-y-pysgod.