Norwegian Church Cardiff Bay

Description

The Norwegian Church Cardiff Bay is the charity that runs the Norwegian Church Arts Centre in Cardiff Bay, which carries out heritage and historical research and outreach activities relating to the Norwegian Seamen's Mission in the United Kingdom and the impact of Norwegian immigrant communities in British port cities. The main emphasis is on the docklands in South Wales, where there were Norwegian churches in Cardiff, Swansea, Barry, and Newport. Yet, the focus is currently expanding to include Norwegian churches and communities across the United Kingdom, including those in London, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Glasgow, Blyth, and Methil. 

From October 2022 to September 2023, the Norwegian Church Cardiff Bay charity successfully obtained funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to work on the 'Norwegian Church Collation of Heritage' project. Since completing this project, the charity has also obtained funding for the 'Norwegian Church Heritage Research and Outreach Project'.

The new project is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund for three years. This project comprises three main work packages with set outcomes and outreach activities. 

The work packages with their intended outcomes are as follows:

1. Digging Deeper Into Our Past

Purpose: The first project identified that information on the origins, purpose and history of the Norwegian Seamen’s Mission in Wales (Cardiff, Swansea, Barry, Newport) existed in a wide variety of national and international locations and had not been previously catalogued or the full story told. The new project aims to work with a wide range of institutions in the UK and Norway to create a publicly accessible resource on the history of the Church that will fill gaps in knowledge about each of the Churches and the links between them.

2. Contribution of the Norwegian Church/Norwegian community to the economic and social development of South Wales.

Purpose: The Norwegian Church in Cardiff symbolises Norwegian seafarers, the wider Norwegian community, and their role in South Wales. The project documents their impact on the region’s industrial revolution and coastal communities along the Bristol Channel.

3. The UK-Wide Context

Purpose: Cardiff’s Norwegian Church is one of over 20 Norwegian Churches that have existed in the UK. The interactions between these churches remain understudied, and their combined heritage needs further study. This work package seeks to redress this gap in our knowledge and focus on the religious/cultural impact of the Seamen’s Mission churches in the UK and their contribution to the multicultural life and heritage that evolved in docklands in UK cities.

Offers funding

No, this infrastructure does not provide funding.

Founding year

2023

Contact details

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Categorisation

Type

Project Tags

Partner Infrastructures

Victorian Society

The Victorian Society's members' generosity enables them to fight for the Victorian and Edwardian buildings people value. Every day, they work to protect Victorian and Edwardian buildings from demolit… read more about Victorian Society

London

Partner Universities

Cardiff University

Swansea University

Additional Partnerships

Royal Commission of Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales Welsh Norwegian Society Vestland County Council Theatr na N'og Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama