St Donat’s celebrates its 125th anniversary this year.
Located on Cardiff Road, at its junction with Aberdare Road, the church was designed by architect G. E. Halliday of Cardiff. Construction began in 1897 and was completed the following year.
Interestingly, because of the sloping ground on which it sits, St Donat’s is aligned North to South, not, as is more common, West to East. This unusual alignment was chosen because it was the cheapest and easiest way to accommodate the sloping ground.
On the 16th of September 1898 the Bishop of Llandaf, Rev. Dr Lewis, dedicated St Donats Church for public worship.
St Donats church takes its name from St. Donat’s Castle, Llantwit Major. The castle was the home of the Stradling family until 1738 when Sir Thomas Stradling was killed in a duel. Amongst their many assets, the Stradling family once owned the Carne Park estate, on which much of Carnetown including St Donat’s church sits.
Abercynon became a parish in 1908 and is still served by St Donats and its smaller, sister church St Gwynnos.
The Abercynon history blog 
It is little known that the rough road from the church up to Salisbury Rd is called Stradling Street. It too was part of the estate and as such was never adopted by the council. This is why it is not tarmacadam. Residents have applied to the council for them to adopt the road and upgrade it, without success.
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Hello. I’m David.I left Abercynon in the late 1950,s. My church was the Mission Room at the end of Lock St. Glancynon. I only went to St.Donats once and from there I went to see the recently opened Drift Mine in the nearby hillside. The mention of ..Carnepark brings back memories of visiting a house near the Carnepark Hotel to see the Coconut that had arrived by post from the West Indies. I have often wondered if there are others in the area who can remember the interest in Wartime of such an unusual event. Whilst attending Sunday School in the Mission-room the Police arrived and the elders were told to take us kids home as there was a report that escaped German POW,s from Bridgend could be in the area. Thanks for the …..Newsletter. David. Sent from my iPad
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