St Mary's is the third oldest of Cardiff's Catholic parishes. A school and Mass centre from the 1860's serving the influx of Irish dock workers and a 'tin' church of 1901, preceded the present church, a majestic building of 1907, in Romanesque style by architect F.A. Walters, the designer of Buckfast Abbey. Spacious nave and aisles, with stately round-arched arcades, the arches soaring up to enclose the clerestory windows. A huge hanging Rood over the Sanctuary steps leads the eye eastwards to the High Altar with its magnificent Reredos, stone and marble carvings of the Risen Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Side chapels of St Anne and the Sacred Heart, a Lourdes Grotto, dramatic Stations of the Cross, and stained glass Saints everywhere. Re-ordered and restored in recent years, the church is a treasure house of rich materials and fine craftsmanship, a beautiful devotional space.