We’ve gathered a list of questions and answers to cover the most common things we get asked regarding the plans for St John’s on Llantrisant Road, Tonyrefail. If you have other questions then please let us know via email or via the comments section of this blog post.
Q). Where is St John’s?
A). It’s a fair question since you may not know of it by that name. We are talking about the disused old graveyard and Boy Scout building on Llantrisant Road.
Q). Who owns the land on St John’s?
A). It was sold to the Community of Tonyrefail by the Church of Wales and put in the trust of a newly formed group called The Friends of St John’s.
Q). Who are the Friends of St John’s group?
A). Led by local councillor Dan Owen-Jones, it’s a small group of local people who want to make the land usable by the community of Tonyrefail.
Q). Are you planning to build houses on the site?
A). No. Not now, not ever. At one time there was talk of a developer purchasing this land but the Church of Wales did not sell it and since that time, several years ago now, the trustee’s of the Friends of St John’s group have been discussing the ownership of the land with the Church of Wales and they’ve successful bought it for the Community of Tonyrefail.
Q). How do I join this group and volunteer my time?
A). Our next meeting is in Tonyrefail Rugby Club at 6:30pm on 21st February. You are more than welcome.
Q). What are the plans for this land?
A). We would like to transform this land to become a place that the community of Tonyrefail can enjoy. We have plans for a Memorial Park, Historic Centre and Community Area. All of this requires funding and up until this point that’s where the focus of the Friends Of St John’s trustees time has been spent. We’ve been putting the structure in place to become a UK Charity alongside applying for grants and lottery funding to make our plans a reality.
Q). What if I have an idea of something I’d like to see in St John’s?
A). Come along to one of our regular meetings to discuss it, email it or add it to the comments on this blog post. We would love to hear it. St John’s is for all of Tonyrefail.
Q). What about the graves and gravestones?
A). We’ve been spending a lot of our time on this subject. We’ve spent the last year cataloguing the graves and tracing back to living relatives. This is obviously a sensitive area and the most critical part of the development of the area. We are going to be using the services of specialists to make sure the stones are preserved and in some cases repaired because a lot of them are in a poor state.
In regard to the actual graves, our records show that the last burial was over 56 years ago and the vast majority of burials happened over 100 years ago. You can be assured that we are treating each grave with the utmost respect and researching each burial in order to tell some of the incredible stories of the people who were laid to rest here.
We will not be having the same situation that happened in the park next to the Workingman’s Club where stones were moved and then smashed.
The stones will form the basis of a memorial wall and walkway which will cover much of the side near the Pretoria Road lane. We will need to move the stones to make way for work to occur, but it is our promise that stones will be respected.
Q). When will all this be completed ?.
A). We are starting in the next few weeks with the first phase of the work which will be the removal of the bank running parallel to the lane at the back of Pretoria Road. This will allow us to secure the site because its currently dangerous with some gravestones leaning significantly.
The rest of the work will occur as funding is acquired. We will keep everyone up to date via this website and social media pages.
