Saint Winifred’s Church:
from 1883 to 2008
St Winifred’s Church was born out of the great changes which were seen in the South Wales Valleys during the second half of the nineteenth century. The Cynon Valley, once a quiet, thinly populated backwater, changed beyond all recognition with the rapid expansion of the coal mining industry. Coal had been raised in South Wales on a small scale for many years and in the upper part of the valley there were a number of ironworks. But it was not until the mid-nineteenth century that the lower part of the valley came to be the great industrial centre which made it famous.
The first shaft of what would be known as “Penrikyber Colliery” was sunk in 1872 by the Glasbrook Brothers of Swansea (who had established several other collieries elsewhere), although it would not be until 1879 that the first coal would be raised.
At that time there was no village to speak of. Penrhiwceiber was no more than a wooded hillside, whose timber was used for the making of roof beams. With the sinking of the first pit shaft, however, forty cottages were built for the convenience of the workmen and their families. There were no proper roads, other than a temporary track connecting these cottages to Cardiff Road, and the workmen used a rough path beside the railway line to get to work.
The following decade, however, saw a tremendous expansion of the village and its population. The neighbouring town of Mountain Ash was expanding very rapidly; Penrikyber Colliery began raising prodigious quantities of coal and employing an ever-increasing number of men. There was a clear need for a new village to accommodate those who were arriving in the valley to work in the mines. Hence the village of Penrhiwceiber was born.
With the great increase in population came the need not only for housing but for various public buildings. Penrhiwceiber School was built in 1881 and enlarged four times over the next twenty years. The Workingmen’s Institute and Public Hall was built in 1888. Carmel Welsh Independent Chapel was erected in 1880, the first of nine chapels to be built for the various Non-Conformists denominations.
The new village of Penrhiwceiber came within the parish boundaries of Mountain Ash, and so it naturally fell to that parish to provide for the spiritual needs of Church of England members. (This was in the days before the creation of the Church in Wales). Initially services were held in a cottage, shared with the school, and conducted by one of the Curates of Mountain Ash. It seems that there was little interest in these services, as they ceased after a short time.
However, in 1881, another attempt was made to establish a Church presence in Penrhiwceiber. The Rev. J Swinnerton, Curate of Mountain Ash, began to hold services in a cottage, and was joined by a congregation of eight (of whom five were small children).
Week by week the attendance improved, keeping pace with the increasing population.until the cottage was no longer adequate. On the passing of the Sunday Closing Act the landlord of the Lee Hotel allowed his function room to be used for church services and Sunday school. This proved to be inadequate in time, and so the church authorities began to make plans for a permanent church building.
It was on 29th March 1883 that the memorial stone of the new church of Saint Winefred (Winefred was the spelling used at the time). In November of that year the building had been completed (at a cost of £1,600) and the Bishop of Llandaff (the Right Rev.Richard Lewis) granted a license “for the performance of divine service”, paving the way for the official opening on Tuesday 18th December.
The Western Mail the following day heaped lavish praise not only on the building itself (it described St Winefred’s as possibly the prettiest church in South Wales) but also on the opening festivities, which were attended by the Bishop of Llandaff, Lord and Lady Aberdare and various other dignitaries along with a great number of other people. The Bishop’s sermon at the opening service was based on the text of Psalm 132 verse 7: “We will go into his tabernacle and fall low on our knees before his footstool”.
The following year, on 12th November 1884, the Bishop visited St Winifred’s once again, this time to perform the ceremony of consecrating the new church and to administer the sacrament of Confirmation for the first time. By this time the church was flourishing. Since the opening eleven months earlier there had been fifty six baptisms and nineteen marriages. There was a Sunday school of one hundred children, a robed choir numbering forty, and full Sunday and weekday services (including a Friday evening service in Welsh). The vicarage was built in 1885, allowing a priest to reside permanently in the village, along with the church hall, providing space for a variety of clubs and other activities to complement the church services.
The church as originally built had seating for 210 people. Numbers continued to grow and it was necessary to enlarge the church in 1888 (to a seating capacity of 345) by adding a new south aisle, south transept (the present-day Lady Chapel), vestry and organ chamber. It is clear from newspaper reports just how fast the church was growing in those days. At the farewell presentation in 1891 to the Rev. D Lloyd-Rees it was noted that due to his hard work in the parish the number of communicants had increased from 128 to 240 in the three years of his ministry.
Further church enlargement was undertaken in 1911 by extending the church westward, taking the seating capacity to 418. (It was only the outbreak of the First World War that prevented the final extension, which would have seen the addition of a north aisle.) By this time the population of the village had stabilised and there was no real need for further expansion. In fact it is generally agreed that the late-Victorian and Edwardian era marked the high point of church attendance all over the country and the twentieth century was marked by a gradual decline from those pioneering days.
The twentieth century brought both good times and bad. Two world wars brought sadness and loss to many families in the village, the names of whose loved ones are inscribed on the war memorial. The greatest ongoing factor in the lives of ordinary people, however, was the current state of the coal industry. When business was booming jobs were plentiful and life was relatively good, both for those employed directly in the mines and for those who benefited indirectly such as shopkeepers. But during the times of depression things were different. Jobs were lost, wages were reduced, most people suffered in some way and many who had moved into the valley left again, seeking better opportunities elsewhere such as the new motor factories in England. At the height of the coal industry in the 1920s over four thousand men were employed between Penrikyber and Cwmcynon Collieries. Sixty years later, just before closure, the number had been reduced to around eight hundred. No small community can remain unaffected by job losses on that scale.
The church can never stand in isolation from the village which it serves. When times were prosperous Sunday collections were greater and it was easier to raise money. In more difficult times it took more effort. It has always been a feature of Penrhiwceiber that the church people have shown great generosity in their own financial giving and similar ingenuity and hard work in raising money in various other ways. At the 1897 Easter Vestry meeting it was noted that St Winifred’s was the only church in the Mountain Ash area to be in the black at the end of the previous year! It was also noted that much of the money needed to pay for the new vicarage and church hall had been raised “by the energy of the Penrhiwceiber people by sale of work and other means”.
Our organisations include the Sunday school, 2 Youth Group, Mothers’ Union and Bible Study Group. The church hall provides space for Rainbows, Cheeky Monkeys mother and toddler group, dance classes and bingo. Social events are always enjoyable as are the occasional parish trips. Looking outward to the wider church we participate in services and events held around the Diocese of Llandaff and occasionally beyond. We give financial support to an orphanage in Cameroon and make regular donations to various charities and appeals.
St Winifred’s is a place where, we believe, you can enjoy being a Christian!
We are both proud and humbled to be celebrating 125 years of our church: proud of the achievements of the past and of what we have in the present, but humbled when we realise that in an age when so much religious life is in decline it is only by God’s grace and guidance that we are able to celebrate this anniversary.
“To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever”. (1 Timothy 1.17)