St Fagan's Church (Welsh:Eglwys Sain Ffagan) is a Grade II-listedAnglican church in the village ofTrecynon nearAberdare,Rhondda Cynon Taf,Wales. It was originally built in the mid-nineteenth century in theGothic Revival style, but burned down a few years later and was rebuilt.
The church was designed by the architectThomas Talbot Bury ofLondon (a former pupil ofA. W. N. Pugin) and built between 1851 and 1853 at a cost of £1,795. However, it burnt down on 12 January 1856 and had to be rebuilt at a cost of £5,000.[1] Both of these costs were met byLady Harriet Clive (by 1856 widowed and known as Harriet Windsor-Clive, Baroness Windsor)[2][3] ofSt Fagans Castle nearCardiff.
The building had a southwest tower added in 1909. It received a heritagelisting of Grade II on 1 October 1991.[1]
In March 2007 the church made the national news headlines when the vicar Rev. Paul Bennett, who lived in the Vicarage behind the church, was found stabbed to death in the churchyard.[4] Bennett had taken the services in the three parish churches and played thechurch organ too. 500 people attended his funeral at the church on 3 April 2007.[5] His killer had hadparanoid schizophrenia and had lived in a flat overlooking the churchyard.[6]
The church, in a Decorated Gothic style, has snecked Duffryn rubble walls withbath stone dressings, steppedbuttresses with a slate roof,gables withparapets andcrucifixfinials. The interior has anaisled four-baynave and a three-baychancel with circular columns.[1]
51°43′25″N3°27′35″W / 51.72362°N 3.45974°W /51.72362; -3.45974