ONE hundred years ago, St Woolos - now also known as Newport - Cathedral was just a parish church.

But in 1921, Newport was declared the seat of the Bishop of Monmouth, and St Woolos became the pro-Cathedral of the Diocese of Monmouth.

The Diocese of Monmouth had been created out of the eastern part of the Diocese of Llandaff and St Woolos - according to the building's history in its website - became a pro-cathedral.

A pro-cathedral is - put simply - a parish church that is temporarily serving as the cathedral of a diocese.

There had been a plan to build a new cathedral for the diocese at Bassaleg, but the prohibitive cost - some £500,000, or more than £30m today - saw the project shelved.

Full cathedral status was finally granted to St Woolos in 1949.

Have a look at some old pictures of the cathedral from our archive in the gallery above.