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| Photos: Prince of Wales Inn, Kenfig | Steve Parker | www.tonkenfig.co.uk | Ton Kenfig, Bridgend | |||
History around the area - PyleReligionSt. James' Church
The Upside Down ChurchSt James Church - Pyle was erected as the new parish church and was dedicated to St James
as had been its predecessor in the abandoned town at Kenfig.
Pyle was the nearby village that became the new Borough of Kenfig - although in the Tudor period the
inhabitants styled themselves townsmen and appointed Aletasters in anticipation that the transfer
might still happen, it never did, and eventually the population resigned themselves to being just another
village on the main A48 thoroughfare from West Wales to London.
The one lasting and tangible memorial to these early high hopes is the village church and unlike most
medieval communities this was set away from the heart of the village.
Upside Down ChurchSt James' Church, Kenfig was demolished and much of the material sent to Pyle to be incorporated in the
new building of St James' Church, Pyle. A blocked-up priest’s door on the south side of the chancel is one such
element, but another legacy of this transfer is best seen on the outside of the south wall of the nave.
Contrary to normal building practice, the largest stones are at the top and the smallest at the bottom,
so it is in effect an up-side-down wall.
The reason for this is that as the demolition teams worked on the old ruined walls of St James' at Kenfig
naturally started from the top - these smaller stones were therefore the earliest materials received by the masons at Pyle.
Later when the workers at Kenfig began reaching the footings, the larger stones began arriving, and the
Pyle team had no option but to utilise them on top of the walls they’d already built.
Consistory Court Case - 1485The surviving Kenfig burgesses bitterly opposed the construction of this new church, claiming that the
one at Maudlam was older, stood within the enlarged boundary of the Borough and should therefore be accorded
the status of being the parish church.
This dispute reached a climax in 1485 when the people of Pyle actually took the Burgesses to court and
obtained an order forcing them to acknowledge the status of the new church.
The dispute rumbled on for centuries and in 1810 a Vicar of the parish who just happened to be a
burgess and who several times held the office of Portreeve, claimed that Maudlam was his parish church
and Pyle merely its chapel of ease.
St James' Church - PyleThe benefice of Pyle and Kenfig is a single parish benefice in the deanery of Margam - it is also known as Cynffig.
Bibliography
Source:
(1)Kenfig.org
(2)The Kenfig Society
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