Window 1. for St.Paul than St. Peter).

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1 The foundation stone for St. Catherine's Church was laid in 1866, the land having been offered to the Church by Mr G.W.G.Thomas and Miss Clara Thomas. Clara Thomas lived at Gelliwastad Farm (now Gelliwastad Institute) and was a Calvinistic Methodist. Penuel Chapel (now demolished) was of this denomination and was situated at the bottom of Penuel Lane which was the driveway to Gelliwastad Farm. When previous Churches in Wales had been built it was with English money and the Welsh looked on the Anglican Church as the Church for English people and the Chapels for Welsh people. Lady Uanover may have had some say in the building of this church and there is a portrait of her in the vestry. There is another portrait in the vestry and this may be of John Norton, the Victorian Architect of St. Catherine's Church. He was also the architect for a number of other churches in South Wales. At the time when St. Catherine's was built it was the first time that there were any Welsh industrialists with money and that is probably the reason for the windows showing the early Christian Church when England was still pagan. L1antwit Major (490/500 A.D.) as a place of Christianity predates lona and Canterbury by a century. There was Christianity in Wales before the Bishop of Rome became the Pope and it was five hundred years before the Celts acknowledged the pope. IIltyd, Padarn, Teilo, Cadog and David - most of these had died before Augustine arrived in Britain. The windows on the wall facing you as you enter the Church (Iit.north) depict Celtic Christianity in South Wales. There are three other sets of windows depicting Celtic Christianity in South Wales, namely at L1andaff Cathedral, the Parish Church in Neath and St.E/vans, Aberdare. Window 1 St. Paul preaching to the Gentiles. 'I will go unto the Gentiles.' (Celts more for St.Paul than St. Peter). Caractacus - Prisoner. in Rome (Caraetacus was converted by St. Paul). It is said that some of Caraetacus' family returned to Wales bringing Christianity with them. Dedicated October 19th 1878 to Sir William Thomas Lewis Bart. (Lewis Merthyr Colliery) for his merciful escape from the railway accident at Pontypridd. I

2 Window 2 British Bishops' Council of Aries A.D. 314 IIItyd at L1antwit Major (490/500 David. A.D.) teaching Padam, Teilo, Cadog and Dedicated 1912 by Gladys and Evelyn Ross. Window 3 - St. David preaching at Uanddewi Brefi British Bishops consulting a hermit concerning visit of St. Augustine. Dedicated Easter 1903 to the children of the Parish. Window 4 Archbishop Baldwin preaching the crusade in Wales. Bishop Morgan delivering Welsh bible to people. Dedicated OCtober 27th 1907 in memory of William Seaton of Jacobsdal Window 5 Preaching deliverance to the captives (Boer/Zulu Wars?). 'All Nations shall come and worship before me.' I Dedicated 1901 to the glory of God and in memory of Sgt.Thomas Henry Perks of the 3rd VB. Welsh Regiment St. Michael and All Angels The window facing the main altar features the four patron Saints of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales and the remaining show various scenes from the Bible Bells probably cast at Brown Lennox. St.Catherine's was opened for public worship on 7th September 1869.

3 ~elly's Directory of Monmouth and S. Wales 1891 P.413 St.Catherine's is an ecclesiastical parish, formed from GIyn-Taff September : the church, on the western side of the town, and erected at a cost of 5,000., is an edifice in the Early Decorated style, built of native stone with Bath stone dressings, and cost upwards of 7,000: it consists of chancel, nave, aisles, the north having been added in 1885, south porch, vestry, organ chamber and a tower with spire, the height of which is 162 ft., and containing 8 bells: the site was given by the Thomas' family of Ystrad-Mynach. This town did not possess a church until 1868,the nearest at that time being the district church of GIyn-Taff, more than a mile distant, divine service in the town being held in a licensed room: there are 600 sittings. The register dates from the year The living is a perpetual curacy, yearly value 200., with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of L1andaff, and held since 1888 by the Rev. Henry John Williams B.A. of Lampeter, surrogate.

4 >\:~i~,,;r':-', '...j St.Catherine's Church. Pontypridd By the middle of the nineteenth century the population of Pontypridd had increased rapidly until there were between four and five thousand people IMng in the area. Pontypridd had by then developed into a market town with its own gas and water works, a county court hall, a workhouse, several banks, a synagogue and eight chapels, but there was no Anglican church within easy distance for the inhabitants, the nearest being St.Mary's Glyntaff. In the early 1860's members of the Church of England, as it was then, were still holding cottage services in Taft Street, below the shop of John Charles, and later in Morgan Street. When the new Penuel Chapel was opened in 1860 the building this congregation had used in Temperance Place (which later became part of the site occupied by Greatrex Builders' Merchants Yard) was no longer required, and it was offered to the Church people for their use. This 'Church' in Temperance Place was the last in which Church people worshipped before St.Catherine's was opened. There is an extremely interesting description of it by Mrs. Gertrude Hughes-Williams, former Pontypridd librarian, who said: limy father described this as unsightly and unimposing. There was a boys' school in the lower part, and the church and girls' school above. Inside the church a large stove supplied the warmth and a prmleged few sat near. The seats in front, being velvet-cushioned, were reserved for the aristoaacy who walked to their seats with quick and deliberate steps, while the old dame serving as verger very respectfully curtsied acknowledgment of their entry. Wearing a turnover shawl, black apron and lace cap, and clasping a handkerchief in one hand, and as prim as the pewter collection-plate of that day, she looked, could we but see her now, the last of her race." For a number of years people had felt the need for a permanent building for church worship in the town. The Rev. George Thomas of Ystrad Mynach often expressed a strong desire to assist in the erection of a church, and his brother the Rev. G. Thomas also owned land in the town. Unfortunately, they both died before a site offered by the Rev. G. Thomas could be accepted and plans drawn up for it by his brother. It was left to the children of these two, G.W.G.Thomas, the son of the Rev. G.Thomas, and Miss Clara Thomas, his cousin, to fulfill their parents' desire. It was in 1866 that the present site was jointly offered by them for a church. The foundation stone was laid that year in 1866, but it was to be another three years before even part of the building was to be used for worship. Uke many of the ecclesiastical structures of that time, the style selected was Gothic or very Early English and was to be composed of what was known as "Newbridge Stone", with dressings of Bath stone. The day when the foundation stone was laid was eagerly awaited by church and townspeople alike. The whole town was in festive mood; the Union Jack was flown from the New Inn, streamers and bunting waved everywhere and the principal shops were closed. A well-known Jewish trader at that time, Mr. Goodman, had put up outside his shop banners which read: "SUCCESS TO THE CHURCH" and "MAY DIFFERENCE OF OPINION NEVER CAUSE BAD FRIENDS". Shortly after this occasion a carp~nter. working on the church was killed and buried at Saron Churchyard, Treforest. The Bishop f

5 of Uandaff had said at the cermony of laying the foundation-stone that they should trust and have fatih no matter what might happen. He mentioned that accidents might happen to workmen and strangely enough his words came true. The church was later ftt by massive gas fights that hung from the roof and the aisle walls. Arrangements were made that the church should be opened for public worship on 7th September 1869 and people came from Merthyr, Aberdare and Rhondda and a special train came up from Cardiff bringing people interested in church extension work. In its early years the church was only a skeleton of what was originally planned, because a lack of funds had forced the parishioners to leave much of the building to a later date. In 1885 the church as it is known today began to take shape, but still differed from the present St. Catherine's. The building of a vicarage was completed in One of the chief events of the Sunday service in the church's history was the "Gravers' Parade". This consisted of Colonel and Mrs. Grover, their three daughters - all of whom had beautiful long flowing hair, five boys, visitors to Clydach Court, as well as the governors, who would usually make their entrance between the Venite and the Psalms. The Rev. D. W. Wilfiams, Fairfield (or the "Squire of Fairfield" as he was sometimes called) had a passion for punctuality and one Sunday morning, seeing the procession of the Grover family making its entrance, he could contain himself no longer. He left his position and walking into the aisle stopped Colonel Grover and in a loud booming voice said: "Grover, it's ten minutes past eleven!" In 1951the church spire was fully restored after a public appeal was launched when an alarm was raised over the depredations in its structure by death-watch beetles. Centenary services were held in September 1969, when the preacher was the oldest surviving incumbent of the church, the Rev. George Shilton Evans, then in semi-retirement at Weston-super-mare. Celebration services continued until St.Catherine's Day (November 25th) at which preachers included the Archbishop of Wales, Dr. Glyn Simon, and the Bishop of St.David's, the Right Rev. J.R.Richards - a former vicar of St.Catherine's.!