Although the Church was opened some twenty-nine years previously, in 1902 Fr.James Marcus Kelly, the Parish Priest of the time, could see that with more Irish families appearing in Maesteg, the Church was getting too small. Due to the size of the current site of the Church, Fr.Kelly had no choice but acquire land from Mr.John O`Brien (an Irish man from Kilarney).The site already had a house all that would be needed was the new Church and a new school. To undertake this task, Fr.Kelly had to borrow a sum of £9.300 from the Abbot and Council of Douai Abbey.
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Phase
One - The Church
The new Church was officially dedicated
by Bishop Hedley on the 12th November 1907 during
a traditional sung High Mass. In the pomp and
ceremony of the time a procession was lead from
the old Church in Ewenny Road, to the new Church
with full band accompaniment, banners etc.
Following the opening of the new Church, the
site at Ewenny Road was to be used by the school
untile phase two was complete.
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The
Church was designed by Messers Pug and Pugin
and was built by John O`Brien himself. The foundation
of the Church was laid in 1906 and work continued
untile the new Church was completed in 1907.
The Church was designed with seating capacity
for a congregation of 405. It was designed in
a Gothic Style and was built out of local stone
with an overlay of Bath Stone.
At the time of opening, the Sanctuary area of
the Church comprised of the high alter and two
side alters, one to Our Lady and one to St.Patrick.
The table of the high alter was constructed
out of Yorkshire stone supported by pillars
made from Connemara marble. |
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Phase Two - The School
Once the new Church had been completed and opened, all that remained was to build the new school to keep up with the growing number of children. The foundation was laid in 1908, and construction was completed in 1909. The school was opened with capacity for 260 pupils. The old site at Ewenny Road was then converted into what is now the Parish Hall.
**Taken from the Shamrock & Leek, Mr. Gerald McCormack, 1993.
These
are old postcards
This
was how the High Altar was in the begining.
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