Circa 1900
2012
Looking at these two photographs, it is encouraging to see that the Guest Memorial Hall hasn’t changed all that much in about a hundred or so years. A rare survivor of of Merthyr’s heritage.
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of St Mair’s Church, seen standing behind the Guest Memorial Hall in the first photograph.
St Mair’s Church (or the Welsh Church as it was known), was the largest church in Dowlais, and built between 1871 and 1874 by the Dowlais Iron Company to accommodate the Welsh speaking members of St John’s Church.
The Church closed in 1962 and was demolished the following year.
