St Margaret's Church

St Margaret’s Church stands in the Cardiff suburb of Roath, a nineteenth-century Church in Wales building designed in Decorated Gothic style. The church replaced a medieval structure demolished in 1868, retaining the Bute family mausoleum from 1800. Its walls are decorated with coloured bricks and stone in red, blue, white, grey-green and pink. The tower was completed in 1926 by John Coates Carter after the original architect’s spire was never built. The east window glass, destroyed in the Second World War, was replaced in 1952 with a depiction of the Ascension and the patron saints of former daughter churches. The church holds the Bute mausoleum, an ornate north aisle chapel added between 1881 and 1886. Inside are seven red granite sarcophagi containing the remains of the Marquises of Bute and their family. The original memorial plaques were preserved in the new tombs. Among those interred are John Stuart, the first Marquess, and his wives Charlotte and Frances. The chapel’s design reflects the family’s prominence in the area. Visitors find a Grade I listed building with a cruciform plan and richly coloured internal decoration. The 1952 east window shows the Ascension flanked by the patron saints of St Edward’s, St Anne’s, St Agnes’s and St Philip’s. The Bute mausoleum chapel remains a quiet space for reflection. The churchyard and surrounding streets in Roath provide a peaceful setting close to Cardiff city centre.