At the beginning of the 20th century there were a few Catholics in the area, but these had to travel to Bridgend or Barry for Mass.
Not until May 1921 was the first official open Mass since the 16th century celebrated in Llantwit Major. It was made possible because Ham House was bought from the Nicholl family in 1921 by the Catholic, Lewis Turnbull. This Mass was celebrated at Ham House by Fr.Turnbull for a congregation of 47 people. Mass continued to be said at "The Ham" fairly regularly until 1931 when Mr.Lewis Turnbull died. As a consequence, from 1941 to 1948 a priest came each Sunday from Bridgend to say Mass in the Institute beneath the Town Hall.
However, by the end of 1948 the number of Catholics in Bridgend had increased so much that it became impossible to serve Llantwit Major Parish.
Mr. Gerald Turnbull gave about one acre of land in Ham Lane East to the Catholic Church, and on this was erected a small corrugated iron building, that had already seen sixty years use in Herefordshire, to act as a temporary church. Fr. Magner celebrated the first Mass in the parish's own church in November 1950. He lived in a caravan beside the church and travelled around by bike, first a pushbike and then his mother bought him a motorbike. He would carry his vestments with him in a haversack.
By 1962, the town had been growing rapidly with the addition of many new housing estates, and by then there were too many Catholics living in the area to be accommodated in the small church.
In December 1963 Archbishop John Murphy was approached for permission and financial assistance to build a new church
That same month work started on the new church at Llantwit Major, which was completed by July 1965. The design of the church was intended to take account of weather conditions, a low building being more feasible in view of the winter gales.
The main altar stone was taken from the ruined Ham House, so maintaining the link between the new church and Llantwit Major's first post-Reformation Mass celebrated at "The Ham" by Fr. Turnbull some 44 years before.
“If anybody would like to expand to this series please do, I would just ask that you could let Sadexploration know first at churchmicro@gmail.com so he can keep track of the Church numbers and names to avoid duplication. There is also a Church Micro Stats & Information page found via the Bookmark list”