Up untile the 1820`s Maesteg was mainly a small farming community. Working practices through Britian were slowly starting to change via the Industrial Revolution, and Maesteg`s Industrial Revolution happened to come in the 1820`s when an Iron Works and Coal mines were introduced to the valley. Jobs were being created and inevitable people moved to Maesteg and a new town was born.

By the 1840`s the population of Ireland raised to such a large number, that dire poverty began to set in. In the hope of finding a better life, many Irish men,women and children fled their homeland and dispersed in many directions. Some of those people were illegal immigrants landing at various beaches throughout the Glamorgan area of Wales and eventually began to move inland. Employer of the time suddenly found themselves with an influx of cheap labour. Once the Irish communitee had settled down they started to request the services of Catholic Priest. The Catholic Church in nearby Aberavon was open with Maesteg and Neath becoming "Mission Stations". The priest of the time would travel via houseback to service these stations.

By the 1870`s, a nobleman - the Third Earl of Dunraven - bequethed a some of £2.000 for the foundation of a Church, school and presbytery within Maesteg. In 1871 a plot of land was purchased, and by 1873 the First Church, School and Presbytery were completed in Ewenny Road, Maesteg.

**Taken from the Shamrock & The Leek, Mr. Gerald McCormack, 1993