St Paul’s Church, Pontyclun

St Paul’s church was built in 1895 at a cost of £1600. Built by Mr John Morgan of Pontyclun from plans drawn up by ecclesiastical architect E M Bruce esq.

The funds were raised by public donations with G T Clarke of Talygarn donating about £400 of the total.

The church, initially known as St Paul’s church at Llantrisant Station, was licensed for worship by the Bishop of Llandaf on Thursday 27th June 1895. It was a daughter church in the Parish of Llantrisant with Llantrisant being the Parish Church.

As the population of the area around Llantrisant increased due to industrial development, new and more manageable parishes were formed, an example being the separation of “Pontyclun and Talygarn” from the parish of Llantrisant, whereupon the daughter church of St Paul’s in Pontyclun, became the Parish Church.

In 1923 the newly formed Conventional District of Pontyclun and Talygarn came into being under the leadership of the Rev.J.Jones-Davies, who had been Curate at Pontyclun for the previous seven years. He remained the Vicar of the parish until his retirement in 1961.

(Note that a Conventional District is a particular area where the Bishop of the Diocese may not wish to appoint a cleric as incumbent of a parish, but instead appoints a cleric as the priest in charge. Such an area may later be accorded full parish status.)

For more information about the early days of the church see this document

Historical information on St Paul’s Church

For more information about the history of the community of Pontyclun please visit our online museum