Eglwys Ilan, Glamorgan

Description
Eglwys-Ilan is a parish in Glamorgan, in the diocese of Llandaff. It is bounded by the rivers Taff and Rumney, and extends from Llanfabon on the N to within 8 miles of the town of Cardiff. It measures 8 miles in length by 5 in breadth, and contains 13,619 acres. The hamlets of the parish are Energlyn, Park, Hendredenny, Rhydyboithan, and Glyntaff. The Taff Vale and Rhymney railways flank the parish, and a branch of the latter penetrates the Aber valley up to the new town of Senghenydd. The population numbers about 16,000. Two ecclesiastical districts, viz.-Caerphilly and Glyntaff, have been cut off from the parish, and now form separate ecclesiastical parishes, with properly endowed churches and rectories for the incumbents. Caerphilly contains about 2000 inhabitants, and Glyntaff about 3500. Walnut Tree, Nantgarw, and Cilfynydd are colliery villages in the parish, with mission churches and curates in charge, and another colliery village called Senghenydd is fast springing up in the Aber valley. The parish church, dedicated to St Ilan, is built on an elevation about the centre of the parish, half a mile distant from the Aber station on the Rhymney branch, and 3 miles from Pontypridd, the market town. It is a hilly parish, agricultural, with colliery workings in the valleys. A chain and anchor works, and pottery works (the scene of the noted Nantgarw china pottery), also afford employment for a few hundred workmen. Among the places of interest may be mentioned Caerphilly Castle, Castle Coch, the healing springs of Taffs Well, St Ilan's, and St Mabon's, the Rocking Stone, and Pontypridd Bridge. The living is a vicarage in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of Llandaff, and is worth o£268 with residence and 12 acres of glebe. The church is ancient, but without any interesting feature about it.