St Gabriel's | church-wales-cwmbran

St Gabriel's is located on the north side of Commercial Street at its junction with Clomendy Street. It is a large decorated church, the chancel as high as the nave, with lean-to aisles and a west porch. It is built of rock-faced grey Pennant sandstone, and Bath stone dressings, and was designed by F.R.Kempson. The chancel with south chapel was built in 1907-8, the first two bays of the nave in 1914-15, and the remaining two in the 1950s with the development of the New Town. The interior is spacious and stately, an affect achieved by the width of the aisles and the wide spacing of the octagonal nave piers. The chancel is vaulted with transverse arches. Fittings include a full width chancel screen of the 1950s, with a cove, and a neo-Norman font.

History

1876 – 1880 Cwmbran booming! At the end of the decade there were 222 baptisms Llantarnam, 214 of which were from Cwmbran. A United Free Mission Church was established in a large rented room.

1881. Due to increasing population and the success of the Mission, an ‘iron church’ was erected on the present site at a cost of £500. It was built on a field given by a Miss Griffiths of Gloucester, probably part of the Wentsland Estate, large landowners in the area.

1902 Due to further expansion of the village, plans were made to build a new ‘stone’ church

1907 On October 17th, Viscount Lord Tredegar laid the foundation stone. The new church was completed as far as the present day Chancel and linked by an arch to the iron church that remained as the new nave. It was to be the daughter church of the Parish Church of St Michael’s, Llantarnam.

1914 The iron nave was in such bad condition that it had to be replaced. Available funds, £1, £100, only allowed the building of another two bays. With a West Wall of corrugated iron and a wood and iron plate porch, the extension was completed within the year

1915 The new St Gabriel’s consecrated – fully licensed except for weddings (not allowed here until 1976!)

1961 Finally the last two bays were built. St Gabriel’s as it is seen today was consecrated

1971 The Benefice of Cwmbran was created and St Gabriel’s became the Parish Church of Cwmbran.

Points of Interest

The organ is the official War Memorial commemorating the Men of Cwmbran and Llantarnam who died in the Great War of 1914 to 1918.

The names of the Men who died in the Second World War from 1939 to 1945 are inscribed on the Rood Screen which is the Memorial for that War.

The Church, as far as the Chancel, was the initial part to be built onto the existing iron church forming the first two bays of the nave.

Looking up at the ceiling of the nave, the joining of the final part of the Church can be clearly seen.

The door in the South Aisle does not go anywhere! At one time, it was to be the main entrance as shown in the plans of 1912 but when the Church had been completed in 1961, a new porch had been erected in the West Wall. Thought was given to the erection of a Bell tower alongside the South Aisle through the door but unfortunately the ground was not sufficiently stable to support such a tower – the two corner pillars in dressed stone can be seen from the inside, ready and waiting!

The Rectorial Benefice of Cwmbran was created in 1971 and comprised the whole of Cwmbran, apart from one area, called Pontnewydd. Cwmbran was an old mining village where the Church of St Gabriel’s is sited but in 1949 under the New Towns Act, Cwmbran started to be built. The original Benefice consisted of St Gabriel’s (the Parish Church in Old Cwmbran, St Michael’s, Llantarnam (which was the old Parish Church) and St Mary’s, Croesyceiliog . In 1981, St Peter’s Church, Henllys (an little country church) also came into the Benefice and in 1989 the school hall of the Henllys Church in Wales School became used as The Worship Centre on Sundays. 2016 saw the Benefice expand to include Holy Trinity Church Pontnewydd.

Email contact:- Nick.perry1@btinternet.com