Rev Robert Rickards became Vicar of Llantrisant in 1767 and Portreeve of the Borough in 1785. He was an incredibly powerful individual in the town during the last quarter of the 18th century.

Rickards was a member of a minor gentry family of Radnorshire and during his encumbency he was responsible for creating a new vicarage – or parsonage house. At this time parishes possessed very few and those in existence were dilapidated. The cost of building it would have been made by the vicar himself either from his own resources or from “dilapidations” that he was able to claim from estate of his predecessor.

Rickards action was one of generosity and it enabled him to reside in reasonable comfort in the parish with his wife Hester Hawker (1738-1811) of Dudridge, Gloucestershire.

The Vicarage, also home to a large household staff, was demolished in 1965 while Rev Edwin Davies was Vicar and a new house built nearby.