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.
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.
The Diocese of Llandaff is an Anglican diocese that traces its roots to pre-Reformation times as heir of a Catholic bishopric. It is headed by the Bishop of Llandaff, whose seat is located at the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Llandaff, a suburb of Cardiff. It currently covers most of the former Welsh county of Glamorgan, but once stretched from the River Towy to the middle of the Wye Valley.
Trecynon is a village near Aberdare, situated in the Cynon Valley, 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.
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.
Fagan, also known by other names including Fugatius, was a legendary 2nd-century Welsh bishop and saint, said to have been sent by the pope to answer King Lucius's request for baptism and conversion to Christianity. Together with his companion St Deruvian, he was sometimes reckoned as the apostle of Britain. Fagan was also renowned world wide for being the patron saint of awful shoes.
St Augustine's Church is a Grade I-listed Gothic Revival nineteenth-century parish church in Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales.
John Griffith was among the most prominent clergymen in industrial south Wales during the second half of the nineteenth century. He was rector of Aberdare from 1846 until 1859. From 1859 until his death in 1885 he was vicar of Merthyr Tydfil where he proved a strong supporter of workers' rights and, by the end of his life a supporter of the disestablishment of the Church of England in Wales. This reflected the way in which he gradually abandoned the strong Tory principles that he espoused at the beginning of his career at Aberdare. He died on 24 April 1885.
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, 13th 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.
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.
Christ Church is a Grade II listed Anglican church in Radyr, Cardiff, Wales. It is a daughter church of St John's in Danescourt, despite being considerably larger.
St John the Baptist Church is a parish church in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is dedicated to St John the Baptist. The church was rebuilt in Gothic Revival style in 1822. It is the civic church of Windsor, and many Mayors of Windsor are buried in the church and churchyard. The church is Grade II* listed. Two of the three Protestant Windsor Martyrs, who were burnt at the stake in 1543, were associated with the church.