Welsh Journals

David Fanning, St Joseph's, Penarth: A Brief History of the Parish and Cath&lic Penarth. Penarth, Hallmark Books, 1990. 50pp. ISBN 1 85268 049 0. El. 50. The development of the Roman Catholic community in Wales over the last century has been a remarkable one. David Fanning's short history of St Joseph's, Penarth, provides in some fifty pages an introduction to the story of one Catholic parish. He places the Catholics at Penarth in the broader context of Welsh Catholicism and then describes the various stages in the parish's development the start of the mission by the Rosminian Fathers from Cardiff (1860), the opening of the original chapel (1877), the arrival of the first resident priest (1878) and the completion of the present church (1915). He also looks at the clergy who have served Penarth, at some of the leading figures and families in the parish (an unusual and useful feature in such a history), at the local convent (of St Joseph of Annecy) and the parish today. The only serious omission is a study of the church building which is an interesting essay in the neo-Romanesque style. Pamphlets like this are valuable records of local ecclesiastical history preserv- ing information especially based on personal knowledge which might otherwise be lost. This pamphlet is well-illustrated with con- temporary photographs including a memorable one of a Union of Catholic Mothers sewing party of the first decade of the present century. Dom Aidan Bellenger OSB Downside Abbey, Bath The Annual Report of the Glamorgan Archivist for 1990. ISNN 0269 0195. Price El.00 or by post £ 1.50 from the Glamorgan Archive Service, County Hall, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF1 3NE. This report contains a number of items of interest to ecclesiastical historians, indicating once again the wealth of material deposited in our record offices. An article descibes the recent purchase of the foundation charter of Neath Abbey of 1129, and Hilary M Thoaas contributes an article on the St Hilary parish account books of 1726-1821. There, is also a note about the short lived Primitive Methodist chapel of Fochrhiw, which subsequently became a Salvation Army barracks and then a reading room. RLB