IN ANCIENT TIMES
All entries in the registers and accounts for twenty-three years until 1860 are by curates and little attention appears to have been given to the repair and maintenance of the old church in the continued absence of the parish priest. When, therefore, the Rev. Gilbert Harries became rector in 1862, he was immediately faced with the problem of a church whose fabric was rapidly decaying.
Ffynnonau Duon farm at Pentwyn, together with Llwynau Iago farm at Fochriw, Pen-y Banc farm and Ffos yr Hebog (Falcons or hawk's ditch or trench) farm which is located on Gelligaer Common to the south of Fochriw and to the west of Deri, are all very old farms and used to pay tithes to Brithdir and Gelligaer churches.
The word "tithe" derives from the Anglo-Saxon word "Teodha" and represents a tenth of all produce that all farms, mills, mines and factory owners were required to donate for the upkeep of the Parish Churches. Farms, in particular, gave a tenth part of the crops that the soil produced and a tenth of any increase in the animal stock together with cheese, milk and wool that they might produce.
Farmers were required to "send their tithe into the chapel of the said hamlet at the time of Divine Service according to the custom" Bee keeping farmers would follow a similar pattern and send honey and bee's wax, the former was used as a sweetener in the making of mead and the latter was used to produce candles.
The local ancient origins of the "teodha" can be traced back to 1170 when "a gift of the first fruits of the Uwch Caiach" (of which Fochriw was part of the Lordship), was given to Griffith ap Ifor Bach to assist with the building of Margam Abbey.
Tithes were then to continue as a tax on produce almost to the current day. The arrival of non-conformism in the area in the 18 th century saw the beginnings of dissent against the tithe system come to the surface because of their objection in assisting the church establishment that they did not support. Meetings of non-conformists took place in the area of Ys Gwyddgwyn (it is, as, - presence, goose, wild, loom, plough, trees - white)(an area between Fochriw and Deri) and a steady resistance began against the Gelligaer and Brithdir diocese leading to an eventual phasing-out of the system of tithes.
A committee, which he called on the 29th August, 1866, to consider attention to the roof of the nave, were informed a week later that it had completely collapsed. The work of renewing the great stone roof was evidently put in hand immediately, for, on the 20th December in the same year its completion and the re-opening of the church were celebrated by a dinner in the Harp Inn for the choir and workmen.
Before 1800, the region was entirely rural and for centuries its inhabitants had made their living from the land. Because of the poor nature of the soil, there was only a small portion of arable