View source for St Fagan's Church, Trecynon

{{Short description|Church in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[File:Trecynon St Fagans Church by Aberdare Blog.jpg|thumb|190px|St Fagan's Church]]
'''St Fagan's Church''' ({{langx|cy|Eglwys Sain Ffagan}}) is a Grade II-listed [[Church in Wales|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 architecture|Gothic Revival]] style, but burned down a few years later and was rebuilt.
==History==
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.<ref name=blb>{{cite web|url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/wa-10892-st-fagan-s-church-windsor-street-trecynon |title=St Fagan's Church, Windsor Street, Trecynon, Aberdare |publisher=British Listed Buildings |accessdate=28 February 2016}}</ref> Both of these costs were met by [[Harriet Windsor-Clive, 13th Baroness Windsor|Lady Harriet Clive]] (by 1856 widowed and known as Harriet Windsor-Clive, Baroness Windsor)<ref>{{cite news|url=http://search.findmypast.co.uk/bna/viewarticle?id=bl%2f0000914%2f18691113%2f039 |title=Death Of The Baroness Windsor |work=The Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian |date=13 November 1869 |page=5 |via=[[British Newspaper Archive]] |url-access=subscription }} "When Aberdare grew rapidly from the opening of the collieries of the district roundabout, she erected a church in the district of St. Fagans in that parish. Scarcely had it been completed when the overheating of a flue caused the timbers to take fire, and the whole building was quickly reduced to ashes. The Baroness, however, at her sole expense, built the church a second time."</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=John Newman |title=The Buildings of Wales: Glamorgan |publisher=University of Wales Press |year=1995 |pages=94, 133|isbn=0-14-071056-6 }}</ref> of [[St Fagans Castle]] near [[Cardiff]].
The building had a southwest tower added in 1909. It received a heritage [[Listed building|listing]] of Grade II on 1 October 1991.<ref name=blb />
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.<ref>{{cite news|author=Lee Glendinning |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/mar/15/ukcrime.wales |title=Vicar found stabbed to death in village churchyard |work=theguardian.com |date=15 March 2007 |accessdate=28 February 2016}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/6518431.stm |title=Hundreds attend vicar's funeral |work=BBC News |date=3 April 2007 |accessdate=28 February 2016}}</ref> His killer had had [[paranoid schizophrenia]] and had lived in a flat overlooking the churchyard.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/6671011/Health-failings-over-schizophrenic-who-stabbed-to-death-vicar.html |title=Health failings over schizophrenic who stabbed to death vicar |work=The Telegraph |date=27 November 2009 |accessdate=28 February 2016}}</ref>
==Description==
The church, in a Decorated Gothic style, has snecked Duffryn rubble walls with [[bath stone]] dressings, stepped [[buttress]]es with a slate roof, [[gable]]s with [[parapet]]s and [[crucifix]] [[finial]]s. The interior has an [[aisle]]d four-bay [[nave]] and a three-bay [[chancel]] with circular columns.<ref name=blb />
==References==
{{reflist|30em}}
==External links==
* [http://www.stfagansaberdare.co.uk/ The Parish of St Fagans Aberdare]
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[[Category:19th-century Church in Wales church buildings]]
[[Category:Church in Wales church buildings in Rhondda Cynon Taf|Trecynon]]
[[Category:Aberdare]]
[[Category:Churches completed in 1853]]
[[Category:Grade II listed churches in Rhondda Cynon Taf]]