HISTORY OF THE PARISH FROM THE
20th CENTURY TO THE PRESENT
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Page 3 of 8
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The
parishioners were waiting anxiously to know to whom the
Archbishop was going to dedicate the Church. Having
announced the name "St. Cadoc", the Archbishop then spoke of
the life of St. Cadoc and how he was a pioneer of
Christianity in the Vale of Glamorgan. His Grace made the
comparison with Fr. Magner who had become the first Parish
Priest in Cowbridge and LLantwit Major since the
Reformation. Following the service, there was a luncheon at
Verlands, the Williams family home. |
| Initially the altar was positioned against the east end,
when Mass was celebrated by the priest with his back to the
people. A canopy was suspended over the altar and both altar
and canopy were draped with burgundy red brocade hangings,
brought back from Northern Ireland by Fr. Morris. After
Vatican II, the high altar was removed and the altar table
moved from the wall to the centre of the sanctuary. The
tabernacle remained positioned on the east wall to the south
of the altar. |
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The top of the canopy was only removed when
the present renovation work started. The statues of the
Sacred Heart (given by Mr. and Mrs. Muir) and Our Lady (
given by Mrs. Kathleen Hinde) remained on plinths facing the
people each side of the sanctuary arch.
Meanwhile in Llantwit Major, a presbytery was built beside
the church, and in 1962 Fr. Morris was succeeded by
Fr. Driscoll. The town had been growing rapidly with the
addition of many new housing estates, and by then there were
too many Catholics living in the area to be accommodated in
the small church. |
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In December 1963 Archbishop John Murphy
was approached for permission and financial assistance to
build a new church. He had already consented to the building
of a new church at Rhoose, and work on that began in July
1964. In September of the same year, Rhoose was separated
from Llantwit Major and Cowbridge, to become affiliated to
the new Colcot parish, Barry. |
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That same month work started on the new church at Llantwit
Major, which was completed by July 1965. The architect was
the same Mr. T .G. Price of Bates, Son and Price of Newport who
had designed Cowbridge church, but the builder was
Mr. C. Williams of Newport. The design of the church was
intended to take account of weather conditions, a low
building being more feasible in view of the winter gales.
The main altar stone was taken from the ruined Ham House, so
maintaining the link between the new church and Llantwit
Major's first post-Reformation Mass celebrated at "The Ham"
by Fr. Turnbull some 44 years before. |
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Parish History - Page 2
Parish History - Page 4  |
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