Being demolished for yet more housing in Kenfig Hill (May 2007) the vicarage has served the community for more than 125 years. Known locally as 'Bryn Eglwys' it was probably erected in 1882 before the church of St Theodore's alongside was built in 1889.

It didn't become a vicarage until 1923 when Kenfig Hill became a parish in its own right and the incumbent's tenure automatically changed from Curate-in-Charge of St Theodore's Church to that of Vicar. The foundation of St Theodore's Church begun as far back as 1878 and was born out of the vision and inspiration of one man, the Reverend Joshua Pritchard Hughes, MA, Vicar of Newcastle, Bridgend.

In 1847 Kenfig Hill as we know it today was called Cribbwr Village and was a part of the Parish of Newcastle. By 1876 and spawned by the Industrial Revolution it had become Kenfig Hill.

Still only a village with less than 800 inhabitants Kenfig Hill was an expanding community that was served by a branch line of the Great Western Railway with its own station called Cefn Station. It was into this parish that the Reverend Joshua Pritchard Hughes came in 1878.

He concluded that the spiritual needs of its growing population could only be fully satisfied by the establishment of organised Anglican worship and a church in Kenfig Hill. His ambitions were to be realized and fulfilled in the capable hands of his chosen disciple, the Reverend John Bangor Davies BA.

There was a need to provide a temporary but secure place of worship in the village; irregular services and Sunday school classes were already being held in Bryndu School, Kenfig Hill thanks to the generosity of Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot, MP, of the Margam Estate and owner of Bryndu Colliery.

The Reverend Hughes obtained permission from CRM Talbot to hold these church services on a regular basis. The first of these was held in this temporary church in the autumn of 1878. The standard for a well established routine of regular worship embracing services and Sunday school classes that was to continue in Bryndu School until the new St Theodore's Church was opened and dedicated on Whit Monday 10 June 1889.

The vicar turned his attention to the appointment of a suitable priest to reside in the village and to administer the gospel from his new-found, but makeshift pulpit in Bryndu School. The new post wasn't an attractive one; there was no church and the stipend was low but it did offer a challenge.

The Reverend Hughes travelled to Lampeter College to discuss his requirements with the principal. He explained his mission and it is understood that he stated he wanted a man that was ready and able 'to go through fire and water' - the virtue of tolerance was sadly lacking in the Kenfig Hill district at this time.

The principal Jayne had a student who he felt would be the ideal man for the job. He was John Bangor Davies, a trained and certified schoolmaster, who had held a headship at a school in Staffordshire.

The Reverend John Bangor Davies moved to Kenfig Hill with his semi-invalid wife and their four children in 1882. The Manse, 'Bryn Eglwys' would have been especially built for the first incumbent in Kenfig Hill, the entire cost of which had been borne by Miss Olive Talbot of the Margam Estate; a great benefactor of St Theodore's Church.

On July 23, 1898, four years after Olive's early death aged 52, her elder sister Miss Emily Charlotte Talbot, conveyed the freehold of the land on which the Parsonage had been built to the Governors of the Bounty of Queen Anne for the augmentation of the maintenance of poor clergy.

The porch around the front door of the building is decorated with two stone carved heads; these being of the Reverend John Bangor Davies himself, with the initials JBD carved below it and the other being of his wife, Mrs Rose Mary Davies, this being placed above the carved date of 1882. The year 1882 is also inscribed in the top hinge of the door.

On December 23, 1883, the Reverend John Bangor Davies was licenced as Curate to the Parish of Newcastle and at the same time ordained Deacon.

Reports published in the local press in the 1930's outlined the challenge faced by the vicar - for a long time his life was made unbearable. He, his wife and children were mobbed and people, especially women, disturbed his services at the school by beating kettles and pans. Not only children, but grown-up people also pelted the windows with stones and other missiles.

Despite having his spirit and will tested to the full, the Revd. John Bangor Davies won through and gained everyone's respect and esteem. His congregation grew and Bryndu School outgrew its usefulness - a permanent church was needed. His first approach was to the ever helpful CRM Talbot, MP.

A donation of £250 was made in addition of a promise to give a freehold site alongside Bryn Eglwys on which to build the new church. Mr Talbot was indeed a man of his word and he legally confirmed his promise for ground to be appropriated for the site of a new church to be called St Theodore's Church, in an Indenture of Conveyance dated August 6, 1888.

The Talbot family of the Margam Estate would prove over the years to be very generous benefactors to St Theodore's Church. In specifying the Theodore for the new church, CRM Talbot was honouring the memory of his only son and heir, who had died following a riding accident in June 1876.

Encouraged by his generous gift the Revd. Davies proceeded to gather the necessary funds for the building of the church. An architect was asked to prepare designs and a contractor commissioned for its erection. The site was cleared and prepared on Monday November 19, 1888. Miss Emily Charlotte Talbot laid the foundation stone which simply said.

The actual cost of building the church was £850 but the efforts of the Revd. Davies had so far failed to realize the full amount. He placed an advertisement in a London newspaper stating that a church in a poor colliery district required a certain sum of money to enable the building to be dedicated.

An unknown benefactor responded with a cheque sufficient to cover the outstanding deficit. With the building now complete, Whit Monday, June 10, 1889 was the day chosen for the Lord Bishop of Llandaff, Bishop Lewis, to formally open St Theodore's Church by performing the dedication ceremony.

St Theodore's was consecrated by the Lord Bishop of the Diocese on September 29, 1891 and licenced for the solemnization of marriages on February 29, 1892. The Revd. Davies served as Priest-in-Charge of St Theodore's Church until 1904 when he was appointed to the living of St James' Church, Pyle.

In Pyle, the Revd. Davies continued his ministry until he died in 1915, aged 72. He shares a grave in Pyle churchyard with his wife, Rose Mary, who pre-deceased him in 1893. The grave marker provides just a simple memorial to a life of devotion. However, the greatest epitaph to the Revd. John Bangor Davies is.

The Revd. Davies has also been remembered inside St Theodore's Church. In 1933, a new pulpit was installed and an engraved brass plaque above it records.

Lived to see his dreams realized, with not only a church being built in Kenfig Hill, but extended during his lifetime. As Lord Bishop of Llandaff, he had the ultimate satisfaction and fulfilment of dedicating the extention to St Theodore's Church in 1909.

St Theodore's Church still thrives although the Vicarage of Bryn Eglwys has reached the end of its life. It is being demolished for yet more housing in the area. The Vicarage Porch with its unique two carved stone effigies have been carefully removed together with the door and will be re-installed inside St Theodore's Church for posterity.

Bibliography

(1) Kenfig.org

(2) Keith E Morgan, Kenfig Society

(3) Bridgend Library & Information Services, Coed Parc, Bridgend

(4) The Recorder Newspaper (GEM), 2007

Webpage Author:

Mr Rob Bowen, Kenfig.org Local Community Group, 2008