Tag: Cefn Coed

Merthyr’s Chapels: Moriah Chapel, Cefn Coed

Moriah Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Chapel, Cefn Coed

At the end of the 18th century a Mr Rowland Pugh came to Cefn Coed from North Wales. He became a member of Pennsylvania (Pontmorlais) Chapel, and in time became a deacon there.

Within a few years he started a Methodist Society in his own house at Cefn Isaf, Cefn Coed and as the cause grew it became apparent that a more suitable place of worship was required and the first Moriah Chapel was built in 1807. The congregation increased and a new chapel was built in 1830, and two branches were established that became Bethlehem Chapel, Caepantywyll and Carmel Chapel, Clwydyfagwyr.

By the 1880’s it became obvious that a new chapel was needed, so the chapel was again rebuilt and was opened on 21 March 1886. A small notice of the chapel’s reopening appeared in the Merthyr Express on 3 April 1886 which is transcribed below:

“MORIAH CALVINISTIC METHODIST CHAPEL

The Opening services of this chapel were held on the 21st and 22nd ult. when the Revs J Lewis, Cilgerran; T Davies, Treorchy and T C Phillips, Abercarn preached eloquent sermons to large congregations. Collections were made in each service towards the building fund which amounted to over £200. The church at Moriah now posess undoubtedly the neatest and prettiest place of worship in the place.”

In 1908 a controversy occurred. The minister at Moriah at the time, Rev D Watts-Lewis, officiated at the memorial service for Rev Dr Thomas Rees, former minister at Pontmorlais Chapel and a very eminent man in the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Church. However, shortly after this he announced his intention to resign as minister of the chapel and the Calvinistic Methodist Church and join the Church of England. He was accepted into the Church of England in June 1908 and immediately became a curate at Skewen.

The membership at Moriah declined steadily after the Second World War, and by the mid 1960’s the chapel closed. The building was demolished in 1972.

Baptisms in the River Taff

by Alan Davies

So ran the headline in the Merthyr Express, a local newspaper published on 23rd January 1932. The article continued by referring to it as an “unusual scene “when new members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints were baptised” by immersion”. The scene was witnessed by a crowd of onlookers despite the rain storm on the day. The article concludes “It is understood that more of these baptisms are to take place.” Were they right to say that?

The Millennial Star[i] reported the following during 1932:

Millennial Star 11th February:

“Five persons were baptised by Elders Evan Arthur and Leon Whiting at a baptismal service held near Merthyr Tydfil Sunday January 10th. They were confirmed[ii] members of the church the same day by Elder Edward Rowe, Clarence Taylor, Evan Arthur, Marion Olsen and Elman Woodfield.”

Millennial Star 31st March:

“Onlookers numbering over two hundred and fifty were deeply impressed by a baptismal service held in the waters of the River Taff. Nine baptisms were performed ….and immediately after the new members were confirmed.”

Church records show the baptisms took place on 10th March 1932.

Millennial Star 14th July:

“Elder Frank Miller baptised two converts in the River Taff at Cefn Coed, near Merthyr Tydfil 18th June.”

Millennial Star 18th August:

“Elders Olsen and Butcher baptised three candidates 23rd July at Cefn Coed, near Merthyr Tydfil.”

Millennial Star 13th October:

“An impressive baptismal ceremony was held 17th September, near Merthyr Tydfil, in the River Taff, under the shadow of the huge railroad viaduct at Cefn Coed. Four candidates fulfilled the ordinance. Confirmation took place immediately afterwards during a service conducted in an adjoining cottage.”

The following year the Millennial Star issued on 9th February 1933 reported there had been 23 convert baptisms in the Welsh District in 1932. All are included in the separate reports above.

Not only was the original article correct to say “more of these baptisms are to take place,” it also reported that the baptismal scenes were witnessed by crowds of onlookers. A recently discovered photograph taken by the missionary Elder Donald K. Ipson[iii] impressively captures the baptismal scene on 17th September 1932 when the last four candidates were baptised.

In the mid-1800s missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints experienced considerable success in gaining news converts, but so many emigrated to join the main body of the Church in America, local congregations had disappeared by 1900. But after a quiet start for the church in Merthyr Tydfil at the beginning of the twentieth century, 1932 proved to be a turning point.
[i] UK publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints from 1840 to 1970

[ii] After baptism, membership in the church is ‘confirmed’ by hands being laid on the head of the newly baptised person and a blessing being pronounced on them.

[iii]Donald K. Ipson mission collection, 1876-1934, available online at: https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org

Merthyr Tydfil in 1803 – part 3

From: The Scenery, Antiquities and Biography of South Wales, from material collected during two excursions in the year 1803. Volume 1, by Benjamin Heath Malkin (1807)

Pages 268 – 272

In such a review of the increasing wealth and population, which these important manufacturers are yearly conferring on the country, we may well exclaim with Jago,

Hail, native British ore! of thee possess’d,
We envy not Golcenda’s sparkling mines,
Nor thine, Potosi! nor thy kindred hills,
teeming with gold.  What! though in outward form
Less fair? not less thy worth. To thee we owe
More riches than Peruvian mines can yield,
Or Montezuma’s crowded magazines
And palaces could boast, though roof’d with gold.

This town, as it may properly be termed, is now by far the largest town in the whole principality. Its population, in the year 1802, was found to be upwards of 10,000; and it is supposed that it amounts at this time, December 1803, though at the interval only one year from the date of the numeration to considerably more than 11,000; and this is to be understood without the including the suburbs, as we made denominate it correctly enough, of Coed y Cymmer, on the Breconshire side of the River, the population of which is at least 1,000. Swansea, heretofore the largest town in Wales, exceeding every other town by at least 1,000 inhabitants, is now nearly, if not quite, doubled by Merthyr Tydfil. It is true, external appearance of Merthyr Tydfil is not to be compared with that of Swansea.

The House of Mr. Homfray at Penydarren is large and elegant, with fine and well planted gardens, greenhouses, hot-houses, and all the accommodations befitting the residence of a wealthy family: but the splendours of Merthyr Tydfil begin and end with this mansion. When the first furnaces and forges were erected, there could not exist the slightest glimmering of prescience, that this little obscure Welsh village would, in less than 40 years, grow up to such a magnitude, as to be far more populous than any other town in Wales.

The first houses that were built were only very small and simple cottages for the furnacemen, forgemen, miners, and such tradesmen as were necessary to construct the required buildings, with a common laborers who are employed to assist them. These cottages were most of them built in scattered confusion, without any order or plan. As the works increased, more cottages were wanted and erected in the spaces between those that had been previously built, till they became so connected with each other, as to form a certain description of irregular streets, very much on the plan of Crooked Lane in the City of London. These streets are now many in number, close and confined, having no proper outlets behind the houses. They are constantly very filthy for the most part, and doubtless very unhealthy. Some streets, it is to be observed, have within these few years being built, and more are building, on a better plan; in straighter lines, and wider, having decent houses, with commodious outlets, and other necessary attentions to cleanliness and health.

In some of the early, and rudely-connected streets, we frequently see the small miserable houses taken down, and larger and very respectable buildings erected in their stead. Such improvements are increasing with some degree of rapidity. Shopkeepers, innkeepers, forge-men, some of them at least, and in no inconsiderable numbers, are making comfortable fortunes, and consequently improving their dwellings. Mr. Crawshay, however, is more conspicuously qualified to set them an example of industry rather than elegance. His house is surrounded with fire, flame, smoke, and ashes.

The noise of hammers, rolling mills, forges, and bellows, incessantly din and crash upon the ear. Bars and pigs of iron are continually thrown to the hugely accumulating heaps that threatened to choke up every avenue of access. It is more humourously than truly said in the neighbourhood, that such scenery is most congenial to the taste, such sounds most lulling to the repose of the owner. The fact however is, that the situation of the Master’s dwelling was fixed long before Mr. Crawshay came into it; and when it is considered how conveniently it lies for the superintendence of the business, few men, brought up in the habits of commercial prudence, would consult agreeable prospects and domestic elegance, at the expense of that best security, the ever-watchful eye of a principal. The machinery of this establishment is gigantic; and that part of it, work by water, among the most scientifically curious and mechanically powerful to which modern improvement has given birth.

The most remarkable piece of mechanism in Merthyr Tydfil is the great water wheel made by Watkin George. Its diameter is 50 feet, and it has the power of 50 horses. It has the advantage of water from above, on its centre, and beneath it; or, in other words, it possesses all the forces of an overshot, breast, and undershot wheel. I apprehend it to be the largest in the Kingdom. Watkin George and William Aubrey, with the two principal engineers, and they are both natives of this country. Watkin George in particular, who planned and executed this immense undertaking, was a common village carpenter. Owing to his success in these mechanical inventions, he got forward by degrees, and became at last so useful to Mr. Crawshay, as to obtain a share in his works. He has lately quitted the concern with from thirty to forty thousand pounds in his pocket. This is one among the most remarkable instances of wealth acquired by the untutored ingenuity of natural faculties.

Lucy Thomas

Following on from the last post here is a bit more about Lucy Thomas.

Lucy Thomas was born in Llansamlet, the daughter of Job Williams and his wife Ann Williams (née James). Her exact date of birth is not known, but records show that she was baptised on 11 March 1781. Very little is known about her early life, but on 30 June 1802, she married Robert Thomas, a contractor of a coal level producing fuel for Cyfarthfa Ironworks.

In 1828 Robert Thomas took up an annual tenancy from Lord Plymouth for the opening and mining of a small coal level at Waun Wyllt, near Abercanaid, south of Merthyr. The contract forbade Robert Thomas from trading with the four local ironworks which were under the ownership of Lord Plymouth. Although little was expected from the level, it was the first to hit the ‘Four Foot Seam, a rich deposit of high quality steam coal. The mine initially sold its coal to local households in Merthyr and Cardiff, with a tramline being constructed from Thomas’ level to the Glamorganshire Canal to allow transportation to Cardiff Docks. Within a couple of years of the level being opened Robert was in contract with George Insole a Cardiff trader. In November 1830 Insole had agreed the shipment of 413 tons of steam coal from Waun Wyllt to London.

Abercanaid House – the home of Robert & Lucy Thomas. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

In 1833 Robert Thomas died. Lucy Thomas and their eldest son Robert were granted probate and from that time Insole’s payments for the coal dispatched were paid to them. Through Insole a contact was written with Messer’s Wood and Company to supply the London-based coal merchants for a quantity of 3,000 tons of coal per year. These early deals with the London markets helped establish the reputation of Welsh coal and how Thomas became known as ‘The Mother of the Welsh Steam Coal Trade’. Although Thomas and her son Robert were credited with this success, it is now believed that much of this success was down to Insole.

The embellishment of Thomas’ achievements are today attributed to Merthyr historian Charles Wilkins, who wrote an account of Thomas in 1888. Wilkins had a penchant for imaginative touches and his work gave the impression of Thomas as an enterprising woman who looked to set up new markets, whereas evidence now suggest that this work was conducted by her agents. Further research has also shown that coal had been shipped to London from Wales before either of the Thomas’ began extracting coal from their level, with shipments from Llanelli and Swansea being exported to the capital as early as 1824.

In the mid-1830s the lease for the Waun Wyllt level was terminated and Thomas instead leased the neighbouring Graig Pit which also exploited the ‘Four Foot Seam’.

In September 1847 Lucy Thomas contracted typhoid fever and died two weeks later on 27 September 1847 at her home in Abercanaid. She was buried at the family plot in the cemetery of the Hen Dy Cwrdd chapel at Cefn-Coed. Despite this evidence available today, the myth of a sole woman engaging in a near-total male dominated industry has endured. This myth was given further credence with the construction of a fountain on the High Street of Merthyr Tydfil in commemoration of Lucy Thomas and her son Robert. It was part funded by her granddaughter’s husband, William Lewis, 1st Baron Merthyr.

All of this being said, Lucy Thomas was indeed a remarkable woman who forged the way for women in industry.

The Mystery of Dr Gabe – part 2

by Lynette Rees

Merthyr had three large ironworks at the time: Cyfarthfa, Dowlais and Plymouth, and there were many coal pits in the area which would tie in with the fact her husband had been a collier.

These are the facts I could find out about John Bernard Gabe from a 1908 Welsh newspaper:

  • He’d had a serious illness which had overtaken him eighteen months beforehand, but he had still attended his duties and died the eve before his birthday
  • He’d never fully recovered from that illness
  • He’d been ill for two to three days before his death
  • He’d been out motoring with friends the week before his death in North Wales
  • He died from congestion to the bowels
  • He was living in Morriston Swansea at the time
  • He was a native of Cefn, Merthyr, being the ONLY surviving son of the late Mr. John Gabe.
  • He died aged 55 years of age
  • He received his education at London and Cork Universities and become fully qualified at Glasgow University.
  • He came to Morriston while a young man, as assistant to the late Dr. Henry Davies, whom he afterwards, succeeded.
  • At the point of his death he was in partnership with Dr. Morgan.
  • He was patron of the Loyal J. B. Lodge [Order of Shepherds]
  • He left behind a widow [unnamed] and five chidren sons: Howel, Leslie and Vincent and two daughters Beryl and Thaisa?
  • His son Howel was completing his studies to follow his father into the medical profession.
  • The deceased was a brother-in-law of the Rev. T. Sinclair Evans, Swansea

I think this information proves that John Bernard Gabe is not the same person as John Rees Gabe as some people seem to think. John Rees Gabe ended up in Mecklmeurst Square in London. It says in the article that John Bernard was the only surviving son of Rees Gabe which would imply the other Doctor [John Rees] Gabe was dead, but that isn’t so, as the article was printed in 1908 yet, John Rees didn’t die until 1920. So perhaps they weren’t even brothers but related.

Though, I strongly believe that both were brothers, but the one who attended the Miller’s Court murder of Mary Jane Kelly was ‘Joseph’ Gabe, who for some reason changed his name when he turned up in London. Don’t forget he’d been involved in several high profile inquiries that had hit the newspapers, maybe he didn’t want people to know when he moved away. He settled in London with his family at 16 Mecklenburgh Square St. Pancras.

Now the other curious thing about this is that if say, this John Rees Gabe, was nothing to do with John Bernard Gabe [though one heck of a coincidence both are listed as doctors!] then why is there evidence of a John Rees Gabe from Merthyr being with a Rachel M. Gabe. Rachel M. Gabe can be found on the census showing Rees Gabe as her father.

The 1881 Census shows a 27-year-old John B. Gabe as being a General Practioner, LSA, etc born in Merthyr Tydfil but by then married to a woman called ‘Annie’ and living in Llangefelach Road, Clase. Going by the other names mentioned [including his mother-in-law] then his 22-year-old wife Annie, was originally a Rosser by birth. The couple are childless so far in this census. See source here:

Dr. John B. Gabe

1891 Census return for 16 Mecklenburgh Sq, St Pancras:

  • John R Gabe (Head), 39, born Merthyr Tydfil. Registered Medical Practitioner
  • Marion LS (Wife), 35, born St Helens, Lancashire
  • Caroline M (Daur), 10, born London, Spitalfields. Scholar
  • Winifred A (Daur), 7, born London, Spitalfields. Scholar
  • Ivor S (Son), 5, born London, St Pancras
  • Rachel M (Visitor), 23, born Merthyr Tydfil [John’s sister]
  • Frederick G Foniham (Visitor), 37, born St Helens, Lancashire. Woollen Agent
  • Ellen F Cobb (Servant), 28, born Plymouth. Domestic Servant

The only thing I can think of that makes any sense is that Joseph [John Rees] and John Bernard were brothers from Merthyr, who trained to become doctors. John Bernard moved to the Swansea area where he married and lived the rest of his life as a successful well-respected doctor. Joseph went to London where he also worked as a Medical Officer as he did at St Tydfil’s Workhouse, but he changed his name! Now why do that? Was it because he came under suspicion for any wrong doings at the Workhouse? Was he either Joseph Gabe or John Rees Gabe or even John Jones Gabe [see later explanation for this.]

I’ve also found mention of the Doctor Gabe at Merthyr returning from Cardiff several times where there was also an Infirmary. Mary Kelly was said to have entered an Infirmary and moved to London afterwards.

Did both Doctor John [Joseph?] Gabe and Mary Jane Kelly know one another before they both set off for London? Did he change his name? If so, why do that? And why was Doctor John Rees Gabe one of the first doctors on the scene when he was known to be a gynaecologist? Why was there an obstetrician there too? In fact, I’ve read reports that state in all, six doctors were present at the scene.

There are more questions than answers, that’s for sure….

And now this afternoon, I just found evidence that the Doctor J. Gabe working at St Tydfil’s was still there on the Board of Guardians in 1881/1882 when John Bernard was registered on the census living in the Swansea, it seems this must surely be John Rees Gabe, except in certain articles the name is referred to as J. J. Gabe and I even found him referred to as John Jones Gabe. It seems unlikely to me there would have been 3 doctors with the name John Gabe working in Merthyr. At that time there were only about 15 Gabes registered in the area.

Curious!

Many thanks to Lynette for allowing me  to use this. To read the original article please see

The Mystery of Doctor Gabe from Merthyr

The Mystery of Dr Gabe – part 1

by Lynette Rees

Doctor Gabe, who is reputed to be one of the first doctors on the scene of the final Jack the Ripper murder of Mary Jane Kelly, is one of the persons mentioned, apart from Mary herself, who I find most intriguing of all in the case. Not just because he was born and bred in my home town of Merthyr Tydfil, but because of his movements during that period of time.

Gabe, was reported as living in Merthyr Tydfil, where his father was reputed to be the landlord, Rees Gabe. Now this is where the confusion and mystery begins…there appears to be a Doctor John Bernard Gabe listed as being Rees Gabe’s son of Merthyr. John Bernard Gabe did exist as I’ve found a newspaper clipping of his death, complete with a photograph, [see above].

In the article in the newspaper called ‘The Cambrian -10th July 1908‘,  it says that John Bernard’s father was Rees Gabe, but it appears to say John Bernard previously resided in Cefn [there is a Lord Raglan pub which is still operational in Cefn Coed, Merthyr Tydfil.. I have found mention of 3 such pubs, one in Glebeland Street, Cefn Coed and Dowlais] But which one was it really? I’ve also found an article in a Welsh newspaper where Rees Gabe from the Lord Raglan Glebeland Street, had bales of hay stolen and had taken someone on in court for the offence.

Not only is the pub an enigma, so is Doctor Gabe as there is a Doctor John Bernard Gabe mentioned and more often Doctor John Rees Gabe in connection with the case of Jack the Ripper. Now, John Rees makes complete sense as being the son of Rees Gabe as names were often handed down to sons. Yet, on the Census there is only a boy called John and a boy called Joseph that could be brothers who were doctors. There are three other brothers, William age 13, Benjamin 7,  and 1-year-old Henry.

Joseph’s age fits best the year John Rees Gabe was born which was said to be around 1852 [he might have been almost 9 when the census was taken so could have been born in 1852.] So was that name changed at some point from Joseph to John?

Also curious is the fact that John Bernard isn’t on that census, though the newspaper report says Rees Gabe was his father. If he was 55 years of age in 1908 when he died, then he was born circa 1853. So was he Joseph? Was there only one year between John Bernard and John Rees? It doesn’t make sense. Of course the one called John on the census there was 6 at the time, which would have made his birth year around 1855, that doesn’t tie in with any dates either.

1861 Census return for the “Lord Raglan”, Merthyr Tydfil

  • Rees Gabe (Head), 38, born Llangathen, Carmarthenshire. Innkeeper
  • Anne (Wife), 35, born Llangathen, Carmarthenshire. Innkeeper
  • Mary Anne (Daur), 11, born Merthyr. Scholar
  • William (Son), 13, born Merthyr. Scholar
  • Joseph (Son), 8, born Merthyr. Scholar
  • Benjamin (Son), 7, born Merthyr. Scholar
  • John (Son), 6, born Merthyr. Scholar
  • Elizabeth (Daur), 6, born Merthyr. Scholar
  • Henry (Son), 1, born Merthyr
  • Anne Williams (Servant), born Carmarthen Town. House Servant
  • Mary A Williams (Servant), 15, born Pontypool, Monmouthshire. House Servant

I’ve also discovered a Doctor J. Gabe who worked as a medical officer at St, Tydfil’s infirmary/workhouse in Merthyr Tydfil. A newspaper article mentions him one night working with ‘his brother’. So did Rees Gabe the publican have two sons who were doctors? One called John Bernard and one called Joseph Rees [who later changed his name to John Rees when he arrived in London?]

The Doctor J. Gabe who worked as a Medical Officer at the workhouse/ infirmary seemed to be a colourful character who got involved in certain inquiries held by the hospital board where he came under suspicion of various misdeeds. One was about giving a ward sister a lot of grief, who seemed to dislike him intensely! He was often spoken of as having an extremely bad temper by staff at the infirmary.

To add to his mystery, several Ripperologists have mentioned that Mary Jane Kelly, was at one time living in Merthyr Tydfil herself. Mary was said to have married young to a man with the surname ‘Davies’, but sadly her husband got killed in a pit disaster. [This information is derived from an account by Joseph Barnett, her London lover, who told police this information after her death]. There is a 16-year-old ‘Mary Jane Davies’ listed as residing at the Brunswick Hotel in Thomas Street, not that far away from St. Tydfil’s Infirmary.

Mary, although described as ‘Irish’ is known to have spoken the Welsh language. Her father was said to have worked at the ironworks [again this information came from Joseph Barnett].

To be continued…..

Many thanks to Lynette for allowing me  to use this. To read the original article please see

The Mystery of Doctor Gabe from Merthyr

The Railways of Romance – part2

The engines of the “Rhymney” Railway do not stand out clearly in my memory. I fear that, in my enthusiasm for the “Taff”, I never did justice to a line that dared to compete by taking folk to Cardiff. It had its advocates, however, and I recall that it was commended for an honest turn of speed. The “London North Western” also suffered the same injustice. In those days of restricted geographical knowledge we were unable to put the credit of the “London North Western” its importance on the way from London to Lancashire. As I remember it then, in its black coat and sleek contours, the “London North Western” engine carried an air of restraint and culture, suggesting, perhaps, an elegant curate. It came among us kindly, but it was never really of us.

But there was one engine that we classed apart from all others. It was the dear old “Brecon and Merthyr” in its faded coat of brown. What degree of precision that line has now acquired I do not know. Since those old days it may have grown meticulous, and, like the “Cambrian”, begun to sub-divide its breathless minutes. But in the period of which I speak nobody ever asked the “Brecon and Merthyr” to run to time. It was not even expected. People were, in the main, quite satisfied if it came in on the proper day. It had, no doubt, good reason for its tardiness; and when it arrived at last the general relief was so charged with fine emotion that pity and forgiveness floated easily to the top.

A train on the Brecon and Merthyr Railway approaching Torpantau in the 1940s. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

Looking back I am driven to believe that, for us small boys, the “Brecon and Merthyr” fulfilled a literary purpose quite outside the intentions of its directors. In that stage of literary taste we were, most of us, given to the assiduous study of Deadwood Dick and the whole fraternity of Canyon, Gulch and Bowie Knife. All our young romanticism, which otherwise might have hung loose in the air, centred about the “Brecon and Merthyr”. It was our stage-coach, moving through the terrors of the wild and woolly West. The other railways went through the civilized and ordered belts of Glamorgan; but the “Brecon and Merthyr” wound its way through lonely places in the frowning hills. When, long after the appointed time of arrival, it had not even been signalled, who knew that some “foul-play” had befallen it? Desperadoes might have sent it crashing into the lake at Dolygaer, or it might be that at Cefn masked men had boarded it, covering the driver with their “derringers”, while others looted whatever the guard’s van held as the equivalent of the gold nuggets of our literature.

Many of those who, in that long ago, kept with me the vigil of the trolleys are now staid citizens with small boys of their own. It may be that, with the hypocritical virtue of age, those old companions now chide their youngsters should they come home a little late, bringing with them a faint odour of fish and vegetables. But it may be, too, that if any of those little boys of former time chance to read what is here written they will temper paternal judgement with new mercy, for so they must do if they can remember the thrill of those dark winter evenings when, from that far romantic void, the “Brecon and Merthyr” came home at last – with driver and stoker lit by the glow of boiler-fires to the semblance of heroes more than mortal.

This article was transcribed from the book ‘The Legend of the Welsh’, an anthology of J. O. Francis’ writings published in 1924.

I would recommend anyone to try to track down a copy of the book – it’s a fantastic collection of some of the short works by one of Merthyr’s best, but sadly forgotten. writers.