Did you know that today is St Tydfil’s Day?
To mark the occasion, here is short article by Rev Caroline Owen.
Coal magnate Sir William Thomas Lewis, (1837 – 1914), first Baron Merthyr, was born in Merthyr Tydfil. He married Ann Rees, grand-daughter of Lucy Thomas (‘mother of the Welsh coal trade’). They lived at Mardy House in Aberdare and in 1899 bought Hean Castle in Saundersfoot. Lady Lewis died at Hean Castle in 1902, and a window was dedicated to her in St Issel’s Church near their estate in Saundersfoot.
In 1921 their son the Honourable Trevor Gwyn Eliot Lewis, died and a window depicting St Tydfil and St Elvan was dedicated to him in St Issel’s.
The baron also commissioned stained glass windows in churches in Merthyr, Aberdare and in Llandaff Cathedral had one dedicated to St Teilo, St Tydfil and St Elfan.