Although coal mining had been carried on in Cwmbran for many years, it became of prime importance in when the Patent Nut and Bolt Company opened up the main adit. In its peak in , 1. The mine was a major employer of labour until it closed in For the Irish families moving into the area, their only opportunity to attend Mass was to walk along the tow path of the canal to Pontypool or Newport. In an approach was made to Father Alzear, parish priest of Pontypool, to ask him if one of the Franciscan Fathers could travel to Cwmbran each Sunday to celebrate Holy Mass.
A promise was made that a priest would be provided if a suitable place for Mass could be found. The history of the Franciscan Missions in this area describes Cwmbran as. Life for these people was very hard. A visiting priest of this time talks of men working in slavish and almost brutal conditions. At first, Masses were said in a room in a Bakery at the end of Spring Street, but after a time this was found to be far too small.
The only room large enough to contain the congregation was the club room of the Forge Hammer Hotel where Catholics were made extremely welcome for the price of two shillings and sixpence per week. The reredos consisted of the backs of three tall chairs, covered with a piece of red baize: a clean linen altar-cloth, a crucifix, a couple of bright brass candlesticks, and a few vases of flowers, gave a devotional appearance to the contrivance.
Everything was in the extreme of poverty. The room was reached by a sort of ladder, the ceiling was almost on your heads, and it required great skill to get safely across the rickety floor. Underneath the room was an old stable inhabited by families of pigs, whose incessant grunting was somewhat disturbing, to say nothing of the unsavory odours rising through the broken floor.
The afternoon was devoted to teaching up to forty barely literate children who arrived in the room. In two young men walked over the mountain from Risca to hear Mass on a Sunday morning, and to ask the Franciscans if Mass could be celebrated in Risca. After two years of saying Mass in this club-room, a sudden inspiration came to the priest who served the Mission. As he was preaching one Sunday during Mass he said :.
The newly awakened Catholics of Cwmbran gave free labour to clear the ground and to dig the foundations. The sermon was given by the Very Rev. Vaughan, Prior of the Benedictine Monastery, Belmont.
With the Chapel now opened, one of the Franciscan Fathers would arrive early every Sunday morning and after celebrating two Masses, would remain in the Church until after evening Vespers. On weekdays the building was used as a school, the younger children being taught in the mornings, and the older in the afternoon. For a time, both teachers resided in a cottage at the back of the Church.
Later this cottage was occupied by one of the Franciscan Fathers and then by various families of the parish.
On 6th November, , Bishop Hedley O. It was designed by Mr. The streets were lined with large crowds of people. The choir was assisted by some members from St. Albans parish in Pontypool. A public tea was given in the Infant Schoolroom and later the people were entertained with a concert by the Abersychan Fife and Drum Band.
To commemorate the opening of the new Church, the parishioners donated a large framed picture of Our Lady, surrounded by Angels, to represent the name of the Church. This picture was hung above the Altar where it remained for over fifty years. The Sanctuary of the Church was surmounted by a large arch with folding doors which were closed on school days so that the building could also be used as a school.
There was also a Sacristy, Infants School and choir loft. The parish continued to grow in strength. In when Bishop Hedley visited Cwmbran to administer Confirmation, he remarked on the rapid growth of the Catholic faith in Cwmbran where thirty eight converts had been received into the Church in only a few years.
In , the Franciscans, who had worked so hard to establish the faith in this area, left the Friary in Pontypool to continue their work in other districts. Father Degen was appointed Parish Prior of St. Albans, Pontypool, from which Cwmbran and Blaenavon were to be served. For many years a young priest called Father Fitzpatrick traveled to Cwmbran every Sunday morning, celebrate Mass at 9 a.
He also visited Cwmbran once during the week to meet as many parishioners as possible. By the Catholic population had increased considerably and there was a feeling amongst the parishioners that the time had arrived when there should be a parish priest in Cwmbran. Four parishioners, Thomas Hopkins, William Love, Joseph Daley and Fred Stanley, were appointed to approach the Bishop and when guarantees had been given that the parish would support a priest, Father Denis Quigley was appointed the first resident Parish Priest of Cwmbran.
At his first official visit to the parish he met the teaching staff and school children and in the evening he was introduced by Father Fitzpatrick to his new parishioners at a concert in the Church.
One of his first duties was to present an illuminated address and a purse of gold to Father Fitzpatrick who had been appointed Parish Priest of All Saints Church, Ebbw Vale. The existence of a full-time Priest in the parish meant that the people of Cwmbran could have daily Mass with Rosary and Benediction on a Friday evening.
The church was still used as a school during the week and every weekend the school furniture had to be moved out and the benches and kneelers moved into the Church. There was always plenty of willing help however and Father Quigley remarked that he never had to ask the people of Cwmbran a second time for any work to be carried out.
Father Quigley quickly began to involve the people of the Parish in various societies and met with great enthusiasm.
A simple ball across the box was scuffed by a defender, sending the ball goalwards. The keeper did dive to his right to stop the ball going over the line, but after catching it somehow dropped it and let it roll over the line. There was still time for one more major cock-up the major cock-ups were scattered amongst a whole host of minor cock-ups. A suicidal backpass from the Newport defence put Cwmbran on the attack with the striker taking the ball around the keeper and then passing to his teammate to tap into an empty net no missing this time.
An entertaining game, but probably not because of the flowing football on show — clumsy and comical would probably be a more apt description. With train delays afoot, we ended up back at Wetherspoons with more Punk IPA, before we were eventually hopping back on the train to Cardiff with plans to visit the excellent Cambrian Tap.
We had also agreed to meet my pal Steve, who I felt deserved a double thumbs up photo on these pages having probably delivered the furthest away double thumbs up photo of them all. Being in the Navy, Steve has travelled the world, so I was particularly proud of his efforts in getting a double thumbs up photo in the seas of Antarctica. A good way to round off the day. Steve is back on Welsh soil these days though. At least the football proved entertaining in its own way.
Highlights: lots of Punk IPA drunk, glorious stand, funny game, the open goal miss. See all my photos from my day at Cwmbran here. They would have added a few more colourful words to your write up especially if you got invited to their sacred clubhouse. Good lord man are you on some kind of repentant quest for ill doings? My location is currently similar tho I guess.
Away from the bosom of The Branna. The decline of Cwmbran Town and its stadium is a sad story. As well as winning the league Cwmbran featured some decent players and players of note for fans of trivia, including Olympic athlete Darren Campbell, five years before won his m silver at the Sydney Olympics, and Logan Plant, son of rock legend Robert.
As you mention the stadium has seen better days, Colin Jackson and Jamie Baulch have not just trained there but competed. The stadium used to host the Welsh Games which was the highlight of the Welsh athletics season and hosted the British Championships on a number of occasions, with Zola Budd running at the I assume champs. As you mention the stand is now unusable but at one point the track itself was in danger of being condemned. Cwmbran Stadium is full of trivia. Loving the knowledge mate!
Thank you! I actually recalled the Welsh game debacle shortly after publishing — should have included. Cheers for reading though mate. I remember Daley. I was there. With my little pick and shovel. Got his autograph. Then sold it to a mate for a packet of PK chewing gum same day. What you also ignore is the cultural arts that The Stad as we call it has brought to us. Bloody live I tell you.
Shame they never repeated it again. Well all i know is that 30 seconds later he was very miserable as he got carried from the front of the crowd, unconscious with a few lumps here and there and his clothes ripped and a few splashes of claret here and there and then 5, people got miserable with him also as that was the end of the concert.
Then, life changed and took a monumentus leap forward and it got serious — The Prodigy graced Newport and played their dulcet tones across the city. Some things happen for a reason. Cwmbran Stadium shoulda-coulda been hosting Keith, Maxim and Liam as they started making fires and doing voodoo.
But alas, The Darts — was it. That yearned for step into popular music concert hosting, was just a dream. Probably because they lost a shedload as no one paid to watch we all knew the fence holes. Even 80yr olds were going through the fence.
One final accolade that we must not forget for The Stad. Is to remember remember the 5th of November. Still a grand tradition in present times. And they had a Defender arcade machine that conspired to help remove thousands of pounds of my money from my wallet. We would make a fuss somewhere in The Stad so that the receptionist would have to page him over the tannoy. I got to know Terry later and top bloke. The group also aims to promote local history to attract tourists.
The society is being formed as a result of public interest in the Ancient Cwmbran and Cistercians Community Archaeology Project. Cwmbran is mainly known for the post-war new town, but the area has been inhabited since Neolithic times. The Iron Age Silures tribe later held sway before being subdued by the Romans, and the area was later on an important pilgrim's route, the Cistercian Way. But the month community archaeology project proved that Cwmbran had a history stretching back to the Bronze and Stone Ages.
Mr Davies said the study had been "hugely successful", resulting in hundreds of finds, including a Bronze Age wall system and a women's bracelet.
0コメント