St Elli’s is the Anglican (Church in Wales) church which serves not only the village of Gilwern but also the wider Clydach Gorge area including Maes Y Gwartha, Clydach , Llanelly Hill and lots of places in between. Our lovely, historic church is on the hillside above Gilwern and Clydach.
However we also have a modern building, St Elli’s Parish Centre, on Abergavenny Road in Gilwern. The Parish Centre has a well-fitted kitchen and toilets including disabled facilities and baby-changing unit. It is wheelchair accessible and available for hire with a small car park and also a public car park close by.
Our services mainly follow the traditional Church in Wales pattern but on the first Sunday of each month there is a more informal service of Family Matins in the Parish Centre. The Parish Centre is also used for all our Sunday services in January and February. There is also a Sunday School which runs during school term time.
We are an active, village church with lots of things going on and many of us are very involved in our community. We have a mid-week service of Holy Communion on Wednesdays at the Parish Centre and a Bible study group meeting on Monday evenings. There are also two informal prayer groups in the parish, one in the Lower Common area of Gilwern and the other in Llanelly Hill.
St Elli’s also runs a Coffee Drop In on Saturday mornings at the Parish Centre which is also the venue for a Tots group on Thursday mornings.
Together with friends from other churches, each month we provide a simple time of worship at Glaslyn Court, a local residential home. St Elli’s has a group of licensed Pastoral Visitors who care for the elderly and housebound in our church family and wider community.
Our Altar Guild team care for our church building and provide beautiful flower arrangements throughout the year. We have an active bell-ringing group who work with others from St Peter’s, Llanbedr.
St Elli’s also has good links with other churches in the Gilwern area, notably in providing ‘Open the Book’ assemblies in the local school and in working together for the Women’s World day of Prayer.
Our large and very hilly parish includes the Cwm Clydach National Nature Reserve and is bordered by the Blaenavon Unesco World Heritage Site. It is within the Brecon Beacons National Park, and the lovely Monmouthshire and Brecon canal goes through the lower part of the parish in Gilwern. We are truly blessed by living, working and worshipping in such an amazing place!
Find out more about us on our website and Facebook page.