The church at the centre of Swansea and the devil that haunted it

Swansea Minster, formerly St Mary's Church, is an Anglican church in the centre of Swansea, Wales. It is considered the civic church of Swansea, having been designated as Wales' first minster church by the Church in Wales in 2024.

As Wikipedia says, there has been a church on the site of St Mary's since circa 1328, which was erected by Henry de Gower, Bishop of Saint David's. It has rebuilt many times:

One Sunday morning, in 1739, the roof of the nave collapsed into the church while the congregation was waiting to enter the building. The whole structure was re-built apart from the tower. 1822 saw the church being lit by gas for the first time with thirty six lamps. The church underwent complete renovation between 1879 and 1882 by Vicar Dr Morgan. In 1896, the church was flattened and rebuilt again under the designs of Arthur Blomfield by Dean Allan Smith, though some parts of the old church survived the re-development. In February 1941 the church was extensively damaged by Bombing during the Blitz. It was not rebuilt until the 1950s.

The Swansea Devil, also known as "Old Nick," is a 3-foot-tall wooden carving featuring in local folklore, which stood on a set of buildings facing the west side of the church. It was constructed by a disgruntled rival of Blomfield's, angry at the commissioning of Blomfield's designs over his own.. The architect promised, "When your church is destroyed and burnt to the ground my devil will remain laughing".

He had his wish during World War II, when St. Mary's Church was destroyed in a bombing raid, but the devil carving remained unscathed. The original, carved devil was removed in the 1960s but later found and briefly displayed at the Quadrant Shopping Centre in the 1980s. It is now safely housed inside Swansea Museum.