St Fagan's Church (Welsh : Eglwys Sain Ffagan) is a Grade II-listed Anglican church in the village of Trecynon near Aberdare, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. It was originally built in the mid-nineteenth century in the Gothic Revival style, but burned down a few years later and was rebuilt.
The church was designed by the architect Thomas Talbot Bury of London (a former pupil of A. W. N. Pugin) and built between 1851 and 1853 at a cost of £1,795. However, it burnt down on 12 January 1856 and had to be rebuilt at a cost of £5,000. [1] Both of these costs were met by Lady Harriet Clive (by 1856 widowed and known as Harriet Windsor-Clive, Baroness Windsor) [2] [3] of St Fagans Castle near Cardiff.
The building had a southwest tower added in 1909. It received a heritage listing of Grade II on 1 October 1991. [1]
In March 2007 the church made the national news headlines when the vicar Rev. Paul Bennett, who lived in the Vicarage behind the church, was found stabbed to death in the churchyard. [4] Bennett had taken the services in the three parish churches and played the church organ too. 500 people attended his funeral at the church on 3 April 2007. [5] His killer had had paranoid schizophrenia and had lived in a flat overlooking the churchyard. [6]
The church, in a Decorated Gothic style, has snecked Duffryn rubble walls with bath stone dressings, stepped buttresses with a slate roof, gables with parapets and crucifix finials. The interior has an aisled four-bay nave and a three-bay chancel with circular columns. [1]
Aberdare is a town in the Cynon Valley area of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, at the confluence of the Rivers Dare (Dâr) and Cynon. Aberdare has a population of 39,550. Aberdare is 4 miles (6 km) south-west of Merthyr Tydfil, 20 miles (32 km) north-west of Cardiff and 22 miles (35 km) east-north-east of Swansea. During the 19th century it became a thriving industrial settlement, which was also notable for the vitality of its cultural life and as an important publishing centre.
Earl of Plymouth is a title that has been created three times: twice in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
Brecon Cathedral, in the town of Brecon, Powys, is the cathedral of the Diocese of Swansea and Brecon in the Church in Wales and seat of the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon. Previously the church of Brecon Priory and then the Parish Church of St John the Evangelist, it became Brecon Cathedral following the disestablishment of the Church in Wales in 1920 and the creation of the diocese in 1923.
Robert George Windsor-Clive, 1st Earl of Plymouth,, known as the 14th Baron Windsor between 1869 and 1905, was a British nobleman and Conservative politician. He was the founding President of the London Society.
Trecynon is a village near Aberdare situated in the Cynon Valley, in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. It dates from the early nineteenth century and developed as a result of the opening of the Aberdare Ironworks at Llwydcoed in 1800.
Paul Bennett may refer to:
St Fagans Castle is an Elizabethan mansion in St Fagans, Cardiff, Wales, dating from the late 16th century. The house and remaining medieval fortifications are Grade I listed. The grounds of St Fagans Castle now contain St Fagans National Museum of History. The castle estate is designated Grade I on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.
St John the Baptist Church is a Grade I listed parish church in Cardiff, Wales. Other than Cardiff Castle, it is the only medieval building in the city centre.
Aberdare High School was a comprehensive school in Aberdare, Wales.
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St Mary's Church was an Anglican church in Cardiff, Wales, which stood at the south end of the current St. Mary's Street, from 1107 until 1620. After severe flood damage it was abandoned in 1701 and later replaced at a different location in 1843.
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Siloa Chapel was the largest of the Welsh Independent, or Congregationalist, chapels in Aberdare. Services are held in the Welsh language. Established in 1844, Siloa is one of the few Welsh-language chapels in the locality to remain open today. Siloa was notable for its long-serving ministers and in over a century there were only three pastorates, namely those of David Price (1843–1878), D. Silyn Evans (1880–1930) and R. Ifor Parry (1933–1964).
Harriet Windsor-Clive, Baroness Windsor was a landowner and wealthy benefactor in the Penarth and Cardiff area of South Wales. She is probably best known for developing Penarth Dock in competition with the Marquess of Bute's docks in Cardiff and for her charitable donations in the area. A daughter of the 5th Earl of Plymouth, she was granted the title 13th Baroness Windsor in 1855 after the deaths of her sister and brother.
The Saint Mary's Church in St Fagans is a medieval church located in Cardiff, south Wales. Built in the 12th century it underwent extensive and sympathetic restoration in 1859, undertaken by G. E. Street in 1859. The Church of St Mary was listed as a Grade II* building on 28 January 1963.
Hen-Dy-Cwrdd is a disused Unitarian chapel in Trecynon, Aberdare, Wales. Services at the chapel were conducted in the Welsh language.
St Elvan's Church is a Grade II* listed Anglican church in the centre of the town of Aberdare. It was built in 1851–1852, largely at the instigation of John Griffith, vicar of Aberdare from 1847 until 1859.
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