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75:. The committee accepted Blomfield's designs and the church was built. The local man took his rejection as a slight against his talent. After several years a row of cottages adjacent to the church became available for purchase. The offended architect bought these houses, and tore them down. In their place he erected a red brick building to house the brewery offices, on which he placed a carving of
130:, opened in 1979. Once returned to Swansea the devil was placed as close to his original location inside the shopping centre as possible without directly offending the church goers. There was notable religious objection to its reinstallation, and when the Quadrant was refurbished the carving was placed in storage. After public outcry aided by the local newspaper the
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had been rejected by a committee. Some years later when designing an office building across the road, he placed a carving of Satan facing the church and prophesied "When your church is destroyed and burnt to the ground my devil will remain laughing". This prophecy later came true when the church was
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February 1941 was St. Mary's Church. The building on which Old Nick was mounted was not hit and remained standing through the war thus allowing Old Nick to continue laughing over the burnt remains of the church.
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In 1962 the brewery offices were torn down, while St. Mary's was rebuilt to the original designs. The devil was left to rot in a garage in
Hereford, until a local historian returned him to
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219:"Ghosts and Folklore of Wales with Mark Rees: EP02 The Curse of the Swansea Devil: a real-life "haunted" statue steeped in the folklore of Wales on Apple Podcasts"
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would be rebuilt. The task of designing the new church was put to tender. Among those who applied were a local architect and Sir
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In 2019, the carving was donated to the
Swansea museum by the owners of the Quadrant.
81:"When your church is destroyed and burnt to the ground my devil will remain laughing."
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194:"Why there's a devil looking down on everyone from a Swansea shopping centre"
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In the 1890s it was decided that St. Mary's Church in the centre of
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160:"Swansea - What the devil? Swansea's Old Nick has a new home"
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Occupying the land of the brewery offices is now the
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296:The Devil in legend
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164:www.swansea.gov.uk
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32:Swansea Devil
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198:walesonline
122:Present day
95:South Wales
301:Grotesques
275:Categories
245:51°37′01″N
228:2024-06-11
143:References
286:Welsh art
248:3°56′17″W
203:26 March
174:14 March
110:Post war
36:Old Nick
116:Swansea
91:Swansea
69:Swansea
63:History
44:Swansea
306:Curses
86:Blitz
77:Satan
48:Wales
40:Devil
205:2020
176:2022
30:The
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