6544. I see you mention a mission service at Tylorstown in the colliers' reading room? - Yes; when I first came to the district of Ferndale there was only one church in the whole valley from Mardy down to Cymmer. I was the only apology for a clergyman in the whole Valley. Then I held duties in the existing iron church at Ferndale, and my peope asked me to extend the cause of the Church down to the village of Tylorstown, about a mile away. I had the use of a small colliers' reading room to hold services on Sunday afternoons at Tylorstown, instead of attending my Sunday school at Ferndale, in order to collect a congregation together at Tylorstiwn, with a view of building a new church.....and the result of it was that Holy Trinity Church was built at Tylorstown in 1883....

6560. 'Mission services at Mardy held in a coffee tavern'? - Yes. A church was built at Tylorstown, and a curate was supplied to carry on the services there, and I was asked to open a mission service at Mardy, about two or three miles above Ferndale, in the upper part of the Valley. I rented a bar of a coffee tavern and held services there for some time to collect people together instead of attending my Sunday school at Ferndale.......there was a hall in connection with one of the hotels built there. I found that hall larger and more convenient, and I removed from the coffee tavern to this hall.....and afterwards we formed a Building Committee under the direction of my vicar, Canon Lewis of Ystradyfodwg, and the church was built there, which is called All Saints', Mardy. It was built in 1886...

6580. In 1887, Tylorstown, Mardy and Ferndale were formed into an ecclesiastical parish. You know that I suppose? - Yes, there are two other churches that we built; I do not know whether your Lordship will allow me to mention them here before we go on. After Christchurch, Ferndale, in 1888, we built an iron church at Mardy for the Welsh people, called St. Luke...