Continuing the new feature, and following on from the previous article – did you know that when St Tydfil’s Church was rebuilt at the turn of the 20th Century, the architect for the new building was one of the foremost architects of the day? His name was John Loughborough Pearson.
John Loughborough Pearson was born in Brussels on 5 July 1817. He was the son of William Pearson, etcher, of Durham, and was brought up there. At the age of fourteen he was articled to Ignatius Bonomi, architect, of Durham, whose clergy clientele helped stimulate Pearson’s long association with religious architecture, particularly of the Gothic style. He soon moved to London, where he became a pupil of Philip Hardwick (1792–1870), architect of the Euston Arch and Lincoln’s Inn.
Pearson designed many buildings, but his most famous work is Truro Cathedral which was begun in 1880 to a design by Pearson. In the same year he also drew up plans for the new cathedral in Brisbane, Australia.
As well as designing new churches and cathedrals, Pearson was also responsible for restoration on many ecclesiastical buildings, most notably the cathedrals at Lincoln, Gloucester, Exeter, Bristol, Chichester, Peterborough and also at Westminster Abbey.
All of this goes to re-affirm what an important place Merthyr Tydfil still was in the late 188o’s, that a man of such importance was asked to rebuild the town’s Parish Church.
