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BARRY'S CORRUGATED CHRISTIANS Towards the end of the nineteenth century a great number of iron churches were built to satisfy the spiritual needs of the rapidly growing Non-Conformist element of people who came to Barry to find work. Many of these iron buildings were built with money donated from the meagre wages of the workmen, and some were redundant buildings given by benevolent employers. A number had more than one life, starting out on one site, and moving to be used elsewhere as the financial situation of the church and congregation improved, and more permanent structures were built in their place. Many of these buildings are still in use, some continuing to be used for worship or witness, some as community, youth or Scout halls. The first hall to be built and used as a mission hall was Cadoxton and Barry Mission Hall in Iddesleigh Street (now Main Street). This building was erected in 1865 as an engineers hut for the first Barry Railway Company. When that undertaking failed, it was used as a shop, stables, and lodgings for navvies, and in 1887, as a mission room forming part of St. Cadoc's ministry. In 1909, when the Theatre Royal and Palace of Varieties in Iddesleigh Street closed, the building was bought by the church. In 1910 it opened as St. Aidan's Church, and the old iron building was dismantled and sold in 1912 to Aberdare Football Club for use as dressing rooms. The Church of Christ, in Main Street, Cadoxton was built and used as a Christians' meeting house. It has since been used as a clothes shop, an upholstery workshop by Stan Cowie, and after extensive alterations, is now used as a garage. The Weston Hill Congregational Church building had many lives, firstly as the Welsh Tabernacle Church in Holton Road, from where it was sold to Tynewydd Road Congregational Church in Wyndham Street for £120 and in December 1900 it was dismantled and moved to Weston Hill. The cost of moving, re-building and furnishing, including seating and other accessories totalled £275. After the closure of the church it was bought by the Barry Amateur Boxing Club, who used it for many years. A great number of Welsh Champions, both amateur and professional, started their careers there. When the building became unfit for further use, it was demolished and Western Court built on the site. Bethel Baptist Church, in St. Nicholas Road, Barry, was opened in 1893. When numbers attending the iron church outstripped the accommodation, the building was dismantled and the present church built on the site. The iron church was re-erected at the top of Weston Hill at the junction of Everard Street and is now used as a Scout Hall by the 5th Barry Sea Scout Group. Forward Movement Presbyterian Church, Barry Island - In 1899 a Sunday school was set up in the Barry Island postmaster's garden in a wooden building. Mr Evan Richards appealed for a larger building when numbers attending outgrew the hall. A well-known ship owner, Mr Henry Radcliffe, donated a building that had been used as an office by the Barry Railway Company in Dock View Road. This building was used for many years on the Island before being dismantled, renovated, extended and re-built in Other Road (now Earls Crescent). Wyndham, the only son of Henry Radcliffe, opened it in February 1903. Another building from the same Dock office site was bought by Dr Pugh and re-erected in Splottlands, Cardiff in 1900. The Mission Hall, in Merthyr Street, Barry Dock, was built on the junction of Merthyr Street and Belvedere Crescent and used for a number of years by Reverend Coultas. In February 1900 it was acquired by the Forward Movement, but quickly proved to be too small to accommodate the rapidly growing congregation and was dismantled in 1903. A new hall was built on the site, seating 400 on the ground floor and 300 in the gallery. There was also a school hall with accommodation for 300. Much of the cost of building came from a donation to the Movement by Lord Davies of Llandinam, in gratitude for which the hall was named Dinam Hall. St. Baruc's Church, Barry Island - In 1881 an iron building was erected in Penarth as part of St. Augustine's Church, and this building was named St. Paul's. When the numbers attending grew too large for the building, it was decided to build a more permanent structure. The iron building was sold, dismantled by workmen from the earl of Plymouth's estate, and re-erected at Barry Island on a site in Plymouth Road. It was opened in 1909. It has since been demolished and St. Baruc's Court built on site. St. John's Anglican Welsh Church, in Court Road, Barry, first saw service in Penarth as "Playter's Tin Tabernacle". Reverend Playter was a curate of St. Augustine's with oversight at All Saint's, and preached controversial, but popular sermons, to which the Church authorities objected and deemed to be unacceptable, and he was asked to leave. In 1887 his many supporters decided to build a church for him to enable him to carry on his ministry. A few years later he was offered a post in London as a Unitarian minister and left Penarth. In 1891 Trinity Methodist Church bought the building and in 1897 it was sold to St. John's Anglican Welsh Church, and rebuilt on the Court Road site. In the 1950 it was used by the Loyal Order of Moose as a meeting place. After it was sold by the Order, it was altered and used as a stores. It was later demolished when fire gutted the premises, and flats are now situated on the site. The surrounding area contained over five other places of worship within 100 yards. The Priory (St. Paul's), in Broad Street, Barry - An Anglican Monastic Order set up to help sailors, built and opened it in 1894, and named it after their order. The Church remained open and overcame great financial difficulties until it closed in 1912. It was then re-opened as a Billiard Hall, one of four in Barry at that time. When this too was closed, it was refurbished and re-opened as a restaurant, later to become "The Four Lanterns", Some of the religious artefacts left by the Order are still on the premises. Barry Navvy Mission, in Harvey Street, moved to Webster Road (now Hilary Rise) and was later renamed "Luchana" after a town in Spain where the Minister and his wife, before they came to Barry, were missionaries. "Luchana" was part of the South Wales Bible College at Weston Square where, among others, Reverend Ian Paisley received his theological training. The Salvation Army Hall, in Webster Road, was used for many years until operations were transferred to the Citadel on the corner of Kendrick Road and Holton Road. The building was later used for a glove-making factory, and when that business closed, as a factory for the packaging of soft drinks for sale in cinemas, fairgrounds and fetes, etc. The building was later demolished to enable housing to be built on site. Reverend Reginald Lomas built St. Francis on the Hill at the Garden Suburb in the 1920's, after a disagreement with Windsor Road Church. It was used as a Church until 1955, with a few short breaks from 1935 - 1940. On its closure it became "Ysgol Sant Ffrancis", a Welsh medium school, which has since closed. It has recently re-opened as a Community Centre. There are many other buildings in the town, some still used for religious and other purposes of which very little written history can be traced, but are still fondly remembered by the older generation. Here is some of their names:-
© T. CLEMETT 1998
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