Note 2: In 1868, the preacher the Rev D Saunders, accepted an invitation to Lady Llanover's chapel at Abercarn. The church there, under his care, prospered greatly, and he succeeded also in having the building and the endowment transferred to the Calvinistic Methodist Body, and to render the service more acceptable to Nonconformists.
[Source: GENUKI website]

Note 3: In 1853 Sir Benjamin Hall gave Abercarn a Welsh Anglican church. It was to serve the needs of the Welsh speaking Anglicans, but when a dispute arose with the vicar of Mynyddislwyn [the mother parish], who wished to introduce one English service weekly, Sir Benjamin transferred the building and its parsonage (and the Capel Cae Celynen) in 1862 to the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists. [Quoted by Fred Hando from Glimpses of West Gwent by Rex Pugh]
I then had a glimpse of [the church's] picturesque lines from the vicarage garden. In company with the vicar—the Rev David Brunning—I journeyed up the tree-lined drive to the west facade of the church. Over the porch I read the stone inscription 'A B H 1853', indicating that the church was a joint gift of husband and wife [Augusta and Benjamin Hall]. The inpressive western gallery bore the arms, in full colour, of Queen Victoria and of Benjamin and Augusta Hall. Twenty-seven pews suggested that congregations of more than 200 were expected; the handsome three-decker pulpit was surmounted by a brass commemorating Lord Llanover, and this, like all other inscriptions, was in Welsh. I should record that the stonework throughout, the timbers of roof and pews and pulpit, the delicate tracery of the windows, bear tribute to the loving care bestowed on this beautiful sanctuary. Its memory will remain with me as of a gem set in upland sylvan serenity.
[Source: Fred Hando in Hando's Gwent - Volume I, by Chris Barber (ed), Blorenge Books, Aber-gavenny, 1987; ISBN 0-9510444-5-1]

Note 4:    South Wales Argus, 21 July 2011
Churchgoers in Abercarn are being urged to attend a public meeting tonight that could help decide the fate of the village's last remaining place of worship. The meeting, at 7pm at St Luke's Church, Abercarn, will gauge support in Abercarn for its Welsh Church, which faces an uncertain future due to the imminent end of a sharing agreement. St Luke's, built in 1853, is owned by the Presbyterian Church of Wales, but since the 1980s has been used by the Church in Wales. That sharing agreement comes to an end next February however, and the Church in Wales has been offered a lease on the building. But St Luke's, as the Argus reported in April, needs considerable investment, having endured the twin hardships of vandalism and the rigours of time. If St Luke's were to close, the worshippers' next nearest church is in neighbouring Cwmcarn.
[Source: South Wales Argus website]