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A HISTORY OF HOLY TRINITY CHURCH, YSTRAD MYNACH, 1857-1957. by Hywel Davies. H. and J. Davies, Ystrad Mynach, 1996. Pp. x,68. No price. Hywel Davies has produced, by desk-top publishing, an attractive and informative history of the church of which he has been a member for many years. The study is based on manuscript, printed, and oral sources. The first chapter, with excellent illustrations, looks at the building from its opening in 1857, through its consecration in 1890 and its extension in about 1906. In the second chapter there is an abundance of social history as Mr. Davies writes about church, clergy, and congregation. The final chapter is devoted to a fascinating study of the long relationship between the church and the family of its founder, the Rev George Thomas, squire and coalowner. This was not without tensions. The Rev R. H. Davies refused to follow the custom of communicating the family before any other members of the congregation, on the grounds that 'social standing did not count' at the Lord's Table, and this led to a temporary withdrawal of patronage by the family. The next vicar, however, restored the previous close links. Appendices list clergy and officers in 1957, provide names of curates, church-wardens, choir-masters, and organists between 1890 and 1957, and give interesting extracts from the minutes of the parochial Church Council between April 1920, in the immediate aftermath of disestablishment, and February 1957, when details of the centenary celebrations were announced. One hopes that Mr. Davies will continue his account of this lively church from 1957 to the present day, and one hopes also that his enterprise will inspire other local historians to follow his example in other parishes in Wales. D. T. W. PRICE Lampeter