Our parish through the ages. Photographs, events and treasured memories of past times at St Margaret's, St.Joseph's and St.Peter's.

We welcome input for this website from all our parishioners. Do you have a story connected with the history of one of our Churches?

If you would like to add anything to our Parish History section, please email Helen at:h.davies3@talk21.com

The land where St.Margaret's Church now stands was a gift from Sir George Elliot Bart in memory of his wife Lady Margaret Elliot and his daughter Elizabeth.

Sir George was a self-made mine owner born in Gateshead 1815. Work commenced on the construction of the Church in 1882 and it was completed in 1883.

In a letter from the caretaker/church warden Henry Hall Burrows circa 1920, the opening times were listed as:

...all the seats are free and the Church is open daily for private prayer from 8am to 8pm.

The first church in Cwmaman was an iron church built in 1869 costing £350, by Norton and Company of Liverpool. The church was under Rev. Watkin Griffths as part of the Parish of Aberdare, it was dedicated to St. Joseph (Jesus' father) in 1871, and had a regular congregation of 300.

Cwmaman became a Parish in its own right in 1920. The Reverend Isaac J. Williams was made the first vicar of the Parish of Cwmaman on June 20th 1920.

During the second world war, the first set of iron gates and railings were taken down in order to aid the war effort.

The bell tower at St. Joseph's survived two world wars, only to be taken down in 1991, when it was agreed that it was too dangerous to leave the bell up in the bell tower. The old iron bell is currently kept in the DT rooms of St. John Baptist High School in Aberdare.

In 1946 Rev. E.Emrys Hughes introduced the offetory envelope system which still exists today in St. Joseph's.

Rev.G.H.Bowen became Parish Priest in 1965, and was the first vicar of the Parish to wear vestments during the service and hold midnight mass on Christmas Eve. After he left the Parish in approxiamately 1994, it was decided that Cwmaman could no longer be a seperate parish, and so Fr. Robert Donkin became the first vicar of what is now the Parish of Aberaman and Abercwmboi with Cwmaman.

When Fr. Robert moved to Penarth in 1998, he was replaced by Fr. Dean Atkins, who left after two years to become diocesan youth Chaplain. His replacement was Fr. David Way, who is currently our Parish Priest.

In 2006/7 the church was fully renovated and re ordered and is a building now equipped for the future, being the first church in Wales to be Solar Powered.

These floor plans,for new nave and vestry, chancel having already been built,were drawn in 1889-1890 by the architect Edwin Montgomery Bruce Vaughan of Cardiff.

Here is a copy of the original plans. (source: Lambeth Palace Library Church Plans Online project)

Further plans for the addition of north and south aisles with westward extension of nave were drawn from 1914-1917 by James Thomas Jenkins of Glamorganshire. (source: Lambeth Palace Library Church Plans Online project)

History of St.Peter's Church which once stood in Cromer Street, Abercwmboi. The members of this church have since joined with the congregation at St. Margaret's, Aberaman.

May 22nd 1946 saw the Golden Jubilee of St.Peter's Church in Abercwmboi, and a special booklet was published giving details of the Church...from which the following has been taken:

Rev.D.R.Jones wrote:

I am indebted to the late Mr.H.Burrows for so many years devoted caretaker of St.Margaret's Church,Aberaman, for an authentic record of the beginning of St.Peter's Mission, Abercwmboi.

Sanction was given by the then Bishop of Llandaff, Bishop Lewis, for Divine Service to be held in a room set apart at the local Inn,the familiar Cap Coch.

Services were first held on Sunday May 22nd, 1896;there was a celebration of Holy Communion in English at 8 a.m., 17 people making their first Communion. Morning Prayer was sung in English at 11a.m., and Evening Prayer in Welsh at 6p.m.

The mission was then attached to the Mother Church of Aberaman. A little later a galvanised iron building was erected on a site adjoining the main road. The bricks for the foundation having been bought through the demolition of a school in Cwmdare.

Both building and site were unworthy of a House of God, and in 1918 the Powell Duffryn Company presented the Parish with a site in Cromer Street, where the Church of St.Peter was erected and, and also gave £500 towards the cost of a new building. The position is not an ideal one, but beggars cannot be choosers, and in a parish as this, one has to make the most of what amenities are available.

In 1922 the Church was extended and in 1926 it was rebuilt. For this a considerable sum of money had to be borrowed from the Diocesan Board of Finance, and it was not until September 1944, that the debt was finally liquidated.

The following gifts have also been dedicated:

The organ, a good two manual reed organ, with foot pedals, electrically blown, was dedicated in 1943. The gift of Mr.G.Herbert Lewis(Vicar's Warden), Mr.Howard Lewis(former Warden) and Mr.Arthur Brown. The valuable Altar Missal was presented by Mr.Lewis and Mr.Horton(Churchwardens) to the Church.

Processional Cross was given by members of the Sunday School.

In the Autumn of 1944 a 11 a.m. Mass expressly for children was begun and ever since then there is an average of 80 children at this service on Sundays and Festivals.

We are glad to say that a Junior Training Corps of the Church Lads' Brigade is now firmly established, there being about 30 boys on the roll.

It is no small thing that 2 Priests now serving the Diocese are former boys of St.Peter's, where they received their early training and inspiration. The Rev.Douglas Rawlins and the Rev.Glyn Bowen.

The dedication is signed:

D.R.Jones, Your priest and friend in Christ.