Tag: Church Street
Education in Merthyr
From the Merthyr Telegraph 150 years ago today….
Family Firsts
by Barrie Jones
My paternal Grand-parents, Caradog and Margaret Jones, lived at number 12 Union Street, Thomastown, Merthyr Tydfil. Occasionally, in the early 1950’s when attending St Mary’s infant school in Morgantown, my grandmother would look after me in the late afternoon until my Mother or Father were able to call in and collect me for home. By then, my two older brothers were attending St Mary’s primary school in Court Street; presumably they were old enough to fend for themselves but not to look after me. So, instead of getting off the school bus to the stop at Penuel Chapel, Twynyrodyn, a short walk away from my house on the Keir Hardie Estate, I would get off at the stop by the Brunswick public house in Church Street, which was just around the corner from my grandparents house.
My Grandfather, (Dad), was born in Troedyrhiw and was a coal miner for all his working life. Firstly, for Hills Plymouth Collieries, and in the years close to his retirement in 1961 his last pit was Aberpergwm drift/slant mine, near Glyn-neath. In those later days, Dad was a haulier, guiding his pit pony that pulled the dram full of anthracite coal from the coal face to the pit surface. On one occasion when staying at Nan & Dad’s, I recall him being brought home by ambulance after having received a bump on the head from a minor roof fall at the mine. He was sitting in his chair by the kitchen fire with his head bandaged and with a vacant look on his face, which I now know to have been a severe case of concussion.
My Grandmother, (Nan), supplemented the family income by ‘taking in’ travelling salesmen and theatrical artists, (see ‘A Full House’ http://www.merthyr-history.com/?p=3526 & http://www.merthyr-history.com/?p=3527), as well as helping to pay towards the purchase of the house, this extra income allowed my grandparents to buy some luxury goods. Nan held accounts in several shops in the town.
One, in particular, was Goodall’s Ltd., which was located on the corner of Masonic Street and High Street, on the opposite corner to the Eagle Inn. In the 1940’s Goodall sold general merchandise but over the following decades concentrated more and more on electrical goods and lighting. Nan’s account there, allowed her to buy items on extended purchase and a number of what may be called prestige electrical items were bought over the years.
The most memorable item Nan purchased was a television set, fitted in a fine wooden cabinet with a ten inch screen, which was placed pride of place in the front sitting room. Staying at Nan’s meant that I could watch the BBC’s Watch With Mother fifteen minute programme for children, before being collected for home. ‘Watch with Mother’ was initially broadcast from 3.45 pm and marked the start of BBC’s television’s broadcast for the day. If I stayed later I would watch the older children’s programmes that were broadcast up to 6.00 pm. Up until 1956 there was a programme free slot between 6.00 and 7.00 pm, known as the ‘Toddler’s Truce’, from that year onwards the ‘Television Ratings War’ with commercial television had well and truly begun. Television was such a novelty then that even the ‘interludes’ would be watched avidly no matter how many times they were broadcast. Memorable interludes were the ‘potter’s wheel’ and the ‘kitten’s playing with balls of wool’. The first television in our house came much later in the 1950s, courtesy of Rediffusion’s wired relay network that was installed throughout the Keir Hardie Estate. Similar to my Nan’s, the set had a ten inch screen in a wooden cabinet on which we could sample the delights of commercial television’s advertisements and their jingles, such as Murray Mints, the “too good to hurry mints”.
I recall that my Nan’s next big purchase was a radio-gram, again installed in the front room, this was a large cabinet with the radio on the right hand side, and, on the left was the gramophone with a drop system for the single 78s, large heavy records that made a crashing noise when they dropped on to the turntable. Between the radio and gramophone was a compartment for holding a small number of records. Among the records there were some by the tenor singer Malcolm Vaughan (1929-2010), formally James Malcolm Thomas. Although born in Abercynon, he moved to 63 Yew Street, Troedyrhiw, when a young boy. This was not my first introduction to gramophones, in our house we had a large ‘up-right’ gramophone with built-in speaker and storage cupboard below. However, Nan’s was the first powered by electricity and her records were far more up to date!
Another of Nan’s luxury purchases was a Goblin Teasmade, which was placed on the bedside table in my grandparent’s bedroom, presumably on my Nan’s side of the bed! Apparently, still manufactured today but now far more sophisticated than the machine of the 1950’s. The Teasmade was a combined clock, kettle and teapot, the clock’s alarm would start the heating element in the water filled kettle, once boiled, the hot water would be transferred into the teapot, ready for that early morning cuppa. Strange that such a modern contraption was kept alongside a bed that hid a chamber-pot underneath.
Having a television on the day of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II (2nd June 1953) must have improved my Nan’s street cred. Then what family, friends and neighbours who could squeeze into the front sitting room, watched the televised ceremony. I was four at the time and probably I was more interested in the street party that followed and so I can’t recall watching the coronation itself. I can recall sitting with my mother, and my brothers and baby sister at the head of the long row of tables near to my grandparent’s house. All the children were given ‘Corona’ Red Indian headdresses and mine had fallen off my head just before the picture above was taken.
The street’s residents had decorated their front parlour windows with patriotic bunting and pictures, and the photograph to the right shows my mother standing by the decorated front window of number 13 Union Street, Mr & Mrs Bray’s house. I also recall that there were some street races for the children with small prizes given by one of Nan’s ‘regulars’ who was lodging at Nan’s house at the time.
It is more than likely that in the next decade another coronation will be held and I wonder if my grand-children will remember that ceremony in their later life.
Dr Solomon ‘Sammy’ Bloom
One of the most well-remembered characters in Merthyr between the 1930s and the 1970s was Dr Solomon Bloom, more commonly known as Sammy.
Solomon Bloom was born on 2 November 1898, one of seven children born to Eli and Sarah Bloom. Eli and Sarah (née Levine) were born in Riga, Latvia, but moved to Britain in the late 1800s, eventually settling in Merthyr in 1901 when Eli was appointed as the rabbi at Merthyr Synagaogue.
Sammy was educated at Cyfarthfa Castle School before going to study medicine at Cardiff University, and finishing his medical studies at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, graduating in 1922 as a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS) and Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians (LRCP). He began his medical career as an anaesthetist at the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport, but soon made the switch to become a surgeon.
In 1930, he returned to Merthyr to go into General Practice with his younger brother Myer (1905-1974), opening a surgery in Church Street; his older brother Abraham already having established himself as a pharmacist in the town, with premises in Victoria Street (right). Shortly afterwards, he was invited to become a member of the honorary medical staff at Merthyr General Hospital, and in 1940 he was appointed as consultant to the Merthyr Tydfil Corporation, working at St Tydfil’s Hospital.
His duties at St Tydfil’s included orthopaedics, obstetrics and gynaecology, and he also became obstetrician at Gwaunfarren Maternity Hospital and venereologist at the Merthyr special clinic. At the inception of the NHS in 1948, he became senior hospital medical officer at St Tydfil’s. As well as his hospital duties, he carried on his general practice until 1961, when he was given the status of consultant surgeon, a post he relinquished when he retired from surgical practice at the age of 72.
Those who worked with him remember him as a consummate professional and a perfectionist in surgery, gaining the reputation as one of the finest surgeons in the town. Short of stature, he would often have to stand on a platform to perform operations. Despite his elevated medical position and brilliance as a surgeon, his humanity always shone through, and he would always go out of his way to do the best for his patients, and to his colleagues he was simply “a lovely man”.
As well as his medical duties, Sammy Bloom was active in local medical politics, being chairman of the local medical committee and one of the representatives on Merthyr executive council for 14 years. He also served time as chairman of the medical staff committee and of the North Glamorgan Division of the British Medical Association. In addition to this he was appointed chief medical officer to the Welsh Boxing Board of Control, and officiated at many fights. He was also a volunteer for the St John’s Ambulance Brigade as the local corps surgeon, and in 1958, he was appointed an associate officer of the Most Venerable Order of St John.
Away from medicine, his religion meant a great deal to him. A devout Jew, he acted as president of the Merthyr Tydfil Hebrew Congregation for many years, and represented Merthyr on the Board of Deputies of British Jews.
In 1971, he moved to London with his wife Norah, but kept abreast of medical matters by discussing them with four of his five children – two doctors and two optometrists.
Sammy died on 17 August 1989, whilst on holiday. According to his obituary in the British Medical Journal, “typically, he had been playing roulette successfully the night before”. He was 90 years of age.
Evacuees in Merthyr
The article transcribed below appeared in the Merthyr Express 80 years ago today (8 June 1940).
Merthyr Welcomes Evacuees
Sixteen Hundred Arrivals
“You will get a square DEAL here, FOLK-stone”. This clever slogan on a banner at the main entrance to Merthyr Railway Station greeted 1,600 children evacuated from Deal and Folkestone when they arrived at Merthyr on Sunday.
Several thousand people lined High Street and Church Street to welcome the evacuees, who were accompanied by their teachers.
The children were met by Merthyr’s Mayor (Mr. J.W Watkin J.P.) and the Mayoress. Others present at the station were the Deputy Mayor (Mr. A.J. Brobyn), Ald. Wm Powell, Ald. Sam Jennings, Ald. David Jones J.P., Ald. John Williams, Ald. T. Edmund Rees, Councillors Andrew Wilson J.P., J. E. Jones J.P., B. J. Williams (chairman, education committee), Lewis Jones, F. J. Bateson J.P., T. J. Evans, John Harris, Mrs. Mary Thomas J.P., F. A. Phillips J.P., David Parry J.P, and D O’Driscoll; the Town Clerk (Mr. Edward Roberts) and Mrs. Roberts, Canon J. Richards Pugh (Rector of Merthyr), the Rev. Emlyn Davies (president, Merthyr Free Church Council), Mr W. T Owen M.A. (director of education), Dr. T. H. Stephens (medical officer of health), the chief constable (Mr. T A Goodwin), the Rev J. T. Rogers, the Rev H. Davies, Mrs Margaret Gardner M.B.E., Mr A. P. Thomas J.P., Mr T. E. Lewis (station-master), Mr J. Crossland (borough treasurer), Mr. G. A. Cook (public assistance officer), Dr. King (H.M. inspector of schools), Mr. T Longville Bowen (editor, Merthyr Express), Mr. David J. Owen (chief billeting officer), Mr. Israel Price, Mr. T. S. Evans (deputy food controller), Major T. R. Evans (A.R.P. officer) and others.
After the playing of “Hen Wlad fy Nhadau” by the Salvation Army Band at the Station approach, the children – many of the younger ones carrying dolls and toys, and all with their gas masks – were led by the Mayor and officials to the Miners’ Hall.
In extending a welcome on behalf of the townspeople, the Mayor expressed the hope that the children would be happy and well cared for at their new homes.
Coun. B. J. Williams and Mr. David Owen were in charge of the dispersal of the children from the Miners’ Hall.
After being allocated to the various wards, the children were taken to the St. David’s Hall, where they were medically examined by 14 local doctors. When the examinations were completed, buses were waiting to take the evacuees to the dispersal centres in the various wards. At these dispersal centres they were provided with a meal, and later they were conveyed to their new homes.
On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday Merthyr’s schools were closed while arrangements were being completed for the education of the evacuees, who are drawn from secondary, technical, elementary and infants’ schools. Throughout the borough the evacuees could be seen fraternising with the local children and “exploring” their new surroundings.
The slogan already referred to was thought out by Mr William Morgan, of Twynyrodyn, one of the ward billeting officers.
Troedyrhiw
Bridge Street, Troedyrhiw, was decorated with flags and bunting to greet Pentrebachthe children from Deal when they arrived at 9.30 pm, and crowds of people lined the streets to welcome them. The children, numbering 96, and varying in ages from four to fourteen, marched to the Welfare Hall, where they were provided with a meal.
The Rev. J. C. Bowen, during the proceedings, introduced the Rev. T Rees (vicar), who spoke to the children and said they were now among people who were kindly disposed to them, and were united to make them happy. On behalf of the people of Troedyrhiw, and also of the churches and chapels, he extended to them a warm welcome. Great credit is due to the chief billeting officer, Mr. D Rowlands, and his staff of assistant billeting officers for the smooth working of the arrangements for billeting the children. There was evidence of fine teamwork, which included the chairman, Coun. B. M. Davies; Mr. M.Morgans, secretary; and Mr. G. Bryn Jones J.P., treasurer. Valuable services were also rendered by the police and special constables, under the direction of Sergt. Pugh; also by the ambulance division (Capt. David Jones); the Auxiliary Fire Service, with Mr. Harry Lucas, officer in-charge; and the committee of the Welfare and Boys’ Club (chairman, Mr J. J. Palmer); and Mr Fred Bristowe (Boys’ Club secretary).
The members of the committees were busy on Monday writing letters to the parents of each evacuee child.
Abercanaid
Although the contingent of the evacuee children, numbering 65, for the Abercanaid and Pentrebach area, from Deal, arrived at a late hour on Sunday, the villagers crowded the streets to give them a welcome to the area. The chief billeting officer (Mr. D. W. Davies) had the arrangements so admirably planned, that within an hour of their arrival the children were in their new homes. The billeting and welfare committee were all out to attend to the provision of a meal at the Abercanaid schools, and parents of the children have been informed of their safe arrival, and with the assurance that they will be well cared for during their stay. Splendid services were rendered by the special constables, under the direction of P.C.’s Caleb Evans and R. Davies.
Merthyr Vale
Children evacuated from Deal arrived at the Gordon-Lennox Hall, Merthyr Vale, close on 9 p.m. Outside the hall hundreds of local residents gave them a rousing welcome. About 210 children, with their teachers and a few adults, were handed over to a competent staff of workers, drawn chiefly from the teaching profession, and the difficult task of placing the children in their new homes began. All the clergy and ministers of the village, together with local members of the St. John Ambulance Brigade and the local police (with Inspector Young in charge) worked as one, and many of the children brought letters of introduction from their clergy to those of their new home. Praise must be accorded the women helpers who served the children with a meal. All worked together, and tribute must be paid to Mr. W. J. Williams, headmaster of Pantglas Boys’ School, and Mr. A James, headmaster of Merthyr Vale Boys’ School, through whose energy the children were all placed in good homes.
Many thanks to Tracy Barnard for transcribing this article.
William Ewart Berry
by Laura Bray
In the series looking at the Berry Brothers, we conclude with a profile of William Ewart Berry, the second and middle son of John and Mary Anne Berry, who was born on 23 June 1870 at 11 Church Street, Merthyr.
The tale is told that William’s journalistic career began after he entered, and won, an essay competition, which so impressed the judge, W.W. Hadley – editor of the “Merthyr Times” – that he gave William a post as a reporter. William was just 14. William clearly had ambition – by the age of 19 he had left Merthyr and had a short term post as a reporter on the “Investor’s Guardian”, for which he was paid 35s a week. That, however, did not last long and William spent three months unemployed, walking the streets and trying freelance work before getting a job as a reporter for the Commercial Press Association. Then, in 1901, aged 22 and using £100 borrowed from his brother Seymour he launched a paper of his own, “Advertising World”. William wrote every word of that first addition. By the second edition he had been joined by his brother, Gomer, and the two were to forge a newspaper partnership that lasted for the next 35 years.
William and Gomer sold “Advertising World” in 1905 for a healthy profit and went onto found “Boxing” and other periodicals during the next few years, all of which they ran successfully. The brothers clearly had an eye for an opportunity – as can be seen in the fact that a seemingly insatiable seven-day demand for news from the western front after the outbreak of the First World War convinced them that the moment was right to acquire the “Sunday Times”, which they bought for £80,000. At the time, sales of the paper had slumped to about 20,000 a week – less than a tenth of “The Observer’s” circulation. By 1937 the “Sunday Times” was outselling its historic rival by nearly 70,000 copies a week.
The purchase in 1919 of the St Clement’s Press, and its City flagship the “Financial Times”, further raised the William’s profile. Not surprisingly, therefore, he and Gomer were assiduously courted by the circle surrounding the then prime minister, David Lloyd-George. One consequence was that in 1921 William Berry became a baronet.
Over the next few years William and Gomer established a vast and diverse media conglomerate; and yet it was not until 1927 that they finally acquired a major London-based daily newspaper. The “Daily Telegraph” and it was with this paper that William’s name was to become most firmly associated. The “Daily Telegraph” had been a great Victorian success story, setting high standards in its news reporting and attracting suburban middle-class readers.A commitment to solid Conservative values, plus a reputation for extensive coverage of both major sporting events and salacious court cases, ensured daily sales of nearly 300,000 by the early 1890s. By the late 1920s, however, sales had slipped to about 84,000, and the “Daily Telegraph” was in urgent need of modernization. Reluctant to invest, the paper’s chief proprietor, Lord Burnham, suggested a quick sale to Allied Newspapers, then owned by the Berry brothers.
Thus on 1 January 1928 William Berry at last assumed editorial responsibility for a ‘quality’ national newspaper with enormous potential. While retaining the “Telegraph”‘s unequivocal centre-right politics, William made key editorial and personnel changes, as well as updating the paper’s type and format. Sales slowly grew, and then doubled to 200,000 after the price was halved to 1d. on 1 December 1930. Within seven years circulation had reached 637,000, and on the eve of the Second World War it had increased to 750,000 by which time William had placed news items onto the front page – a radical, if not pioneering, step.
William was a supporter of Churchill during the late 30s and 40s and for a few weeks after the outbreak of war worked in the Ministry of Information as Chief Assistant to Lord MacMillan, then Minister and Controller of Press Relations. In 1941 Churchill made him Viscount Camrose, named for Camrose in Pembrokeshire where William’s father had been born. Such was the regard between Churchill and William that he was the only non-member of Churchill’s family to dine with him on V.E. Day in 1945. William was also instrumental in organising a “whip round” to buy Churchill his home, Chartwell, for £43,600 (well over a million today) and donated it to the National Trust with the provision that Churchill should live in it for the rest of his life.
In turn, it was Churchill who suggested that William should have a memorial in St Paul’s Cathedral and it was he who unveiled it in May 1956.
William died in 1954 in Royal South Hampshire Hospital, just short of his 75th birthday, from a heart attack. He left a widow, Mary Agnes, his wife of nearly 50 years, and 8 children.
James Gomer Berry – part 1
by Laura Bray
Rarely can one family be said to have produced three illustrious members in one generation, but that is exactly what happened to John and Mary Ann Berry whose three sons – Seymour, William and Gomer – became respectively Lords Buckland, Camrose and Kemsley, making millions in the process.
Gomer was the youngest of the three, born 7 May 1883 in 11 Church Street, Merthyr. His upbringing was of a normal sort – educated firstly at Abermorlais School and then at the County School. He began his working life as a draper’s apprentice in Manchester House – where Wetherspoons in Penderyn Square now stands, yet within 10 years he had left Merthyr and was living in Pinner, with a wife and child, and is recorded on the 1911 census as “Newspaper Proprietor”. How did such a change come about?
The story really starts when Gomer was 18 and moved to London to join his brother William, who was running a magazine called “Advertising World”, which he had founded in 1901, with a £100 loan from his brother Seymour. Gomer was to assist with advertising, sales and finance, areas in which he showed great flair. From all accounts, the two brothers got on well, sharing a house, a bank account, and indeed for the next 36 years their careers were closely linked.
The brothers ran “Advertising World” with success, so much so that in 1909 they sold it for the huge sum of £11000, (roughly £1.2m in today’s money) from which they set up a small publishing company called Ewart, Seymour and Co Ltd. This ran a number of periodicals including the popular “Boxing” – a good example of how the brothers were able to spot and exploit an opportunity; they took its circulation from around 100,000 in 1909 to over 250,000 a week in 1914.
In 1915 they bought the struggling “Sunday Times” for £80,000, with William acting as Editor-in-Chief, followed three years later by the “Financial Times”. By 1921 they owned the “Daily Graphic,” the profitable “Kelly’s Directories,” and had interests in the “Western Mail”, the “Evening Express”, the “Cardiff Weekly,” the “Merthyr Express” and the “Pontypridd Observer”. Surely there can be few enterprises that grow with such dazzling speed.
Now firmly established in his position as Newspaper Proprietor, Gomer felt confident enough to apply for the Freedom of the City of London in the Company of Stationers, which was granted on 8 May 1923. He was just 30.
The next move for William and Gomer was the purchase of the Hulton group of Manchester newspapers, which became the foundation, in 1924, of Allied Newspapers, with their partner, Edward Iliffe. This was followed by the purchase of the Amalgamated Press in 1926, which included a large number of non-political periodicals, a book section, two printing works and the Imperial Paper Mills.
In 1927 they bought Edward Lloyd, Ltd., one of the largest paper mills in the world, and also acquired the “Daily Telegraph”, with William again as editor-in-chief. They now controlled 25 newspapers, and about 70 periodicals.
Competition was fierce in the 1930s but instead of trying to attract readers with gifts, as other newspapers did, they decided to change the format of the “Daily Telegraph”, to maintain the quality of their news coverage, and to halve the price from 2d. to a penny; the circulation doubled immediately to 200,000 and grew to well over a million copies by 1949.
Outside of the publishing world, Gomer was being noticed politically too. He was created a baronet in 1928 (sadly just one week before Mary, his wife of 21 years, died) and was appointed as an Officer of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem in 1931. Five years later he was raised to the peerage as Baron Kemsley, of Farnham Royal in Bucks.
To be continued…..
A Full House – part 1
by Barrie Jones
My paternal grandparents lived in 12 Union Street, Thomastown, Merthyr Tydfil. My grandfather Caradog JONES was born in Troedyrhiw in 1896 and was one of five brothers who were coal miners, as was their father, grandfather and great-grandfather before them. Crad’s great-grandfather John Evan JONES was born in Abergwili, Carmarthenshire, in 1814, moving to Duffryn, Pentrebach, sometime in the 1840s to work in the local Plymouth Work’s mines.
By contrast, my grandmother Margaret Ann nee BAILEY was born in Merthyr Tydfil in 1898, her great-grandfather Abraham BAILEY, was born in Bristol, Gloucestershire, in 1804, arriving in Merthyr town with his extended family sometime in the 1850s. Abraham was a street hawker of earthenware goods, and for a while in the late 1850s to 1860s, ran a china and earthenware shop in 6 Victoria Street, Merthyr Tydfil. For the most part, he and his sons Abraham and Thomas, and his son-in-laws were street traders. My grandmother must have inherited the Bailey entrepreneurial gene, as to augment the family income and help purchase number 12 Union Street; she took in boarders, mainly ‘travellers’ and ‘theatricals’. My father once commented that coming home from school each day he was never sure where in the house he would be sleeping.
12 Union Street is one of 23 terraced properties in the northern portion of the long street that runs at right angles to the top of Church Street. The southern portion of the street contains the imposing Courtland Terrace. The dual terraces of Union Street leads off Church Street up to the boundary wall of the now derelict St Tydfil’s Hospital, formally the Merthyr Tydfil Union building, the ‘Workhouse’. A terrace numbered 1 to 11 on the left hand side and a terrace numbered 12 to 23 on the right hand side. All the houses were three bedroomed apart from numbers 1 and 23 which had extended frontages on Church Street and were much bigger properties. Number 12 being an end of terrace property was flanked by the lane leading up to Thomastown Park and thence on to Queen’s Road.
Union Street is in the Thomastown Conservation Area, the first area to be designated in Merthyr Tydfil. Built from the 1850s onwards on a grid-iron pattern, Thomastown has the largest group of early Victorian buildings in Wales. Built for the middle classes, the professional and commercial people of the town, its best examples are Church Street, Thomas Street, Union Street (Courtland Terrace) and Newcastle Street. This area (Thomastown) striking toward the higher and open ground of the ‘Court Estate’ was the first exclusively residential area to be created by those in the top stratum of Merthyr’s population. Thomastown was the forerunner of what was to occur at the end of the 19th century in the northern part of the town between the parklands of Cyfarthfa Castle and Penydarren House. These later developments contained even larger and more prestigious properties.
The two terraces of Union Street must have been one of the later developments. The 1876 Ordnance Survey Map shows only the single terrace of numbers 1 to 11. The 1881 census records both terraces but 7 of the 23 properties are shown as uninhabited, (numbers 3, 6, 7, 15, 16, 17 and 18), indicating that the development of the street was barely finished in 1881.
The census returns for number 12 clearly shows that the occupiers in the early years were part of Merthyr’s ‘middle’ class:
3rd April 1881 – Margaret PRICE, retired publican
5th April 1891 – James JONES, decorator
31st March 1901 – Thomas GUNTER, boot and shoe dealer
2nd April 1911 – Thomas GUNTER, boot and shoe dealer
(Thomas GUNTER was the manager of the Leeds Boot Warehouse, no. 33 Victoria Street and was a leading figure in both the Merthyr Chamber of Trade and St. David’s Parish Church.)
To be continued…..
Merthyr Memories: Tramroadside North Memories
by Christine Brewer (née Williams)
I was born on Tramroadside North during the War, and I spent all of my early life there. The Tramroadside North I remember from that time bares very little resemblance to the same area today – it has been developed beyond recognition.
The part of Tramroadside North that I am talking about, or ‘The Tramroad’ as it’s more commonly known, is the road that runs between Church Street and what was known as Harris’ Hill – roughly where the Tesco roundabout is today. When I was growing up, the road was much narrower and was lined on both sides with small houses and cottages.
On the side of the road nearest the Railway Station were also several ‘courts’ of houses: Joseph’s Court, Vaughan’s Court and Rosser’s Court. There was also a pub, The Tydfil Arms, and we also had a green-grocer’s shop and a small ‘front-room shop’ in one of the houses.
When I was a child I clearly remember the old tram-lines running down the middle of the road, the trams had stopped running years before of course, and I also remember the air-raid shelter near the lane up to Thomas Street. I often wondered how effective this would have been in an air-raid as it was quite a flimsy brick-built building just built at the side of the road.
Most of the families who lived on the Tramroad had lived there for generations, and we were a community all of our own. Everyone knew everyone else, and I could tell you who lived in almost every house. I was born in a very small two up, one down cottage – the youngest of five children, so when I was young I went to live with my aunt who had more room. She lived at the bottom end of the Tramroad, and had huge garden which stretched all the way back to the Station Yard. I clearly remember the animals being brought into the Station Yard before being taken to the abattoir, which was near the present day Farm Foods store.
There were, of course, some characters living on the Tramroad. One of our neighbours had a garden full of fantastic cabbages, and whenever anyone asked her about them, she would say that she had buried her husband’s ashes there, and that is what made them so big. Another lady, actually another one of my aunts, had a menagerie in her house. Whenever she came across an injured animal, she would take them in and care of them. Over the years I remember her having many wild birds, hedgehogs etc. At one time I even remember her having a fox-cub!
At the top of the Tramroad was Adulam Chapel. The chapel actually faced Lower Thomas Street, but the cemetery was on the Tramroad, and there was path to the chapel through the cemetery. I went to Adulam Chapel every Sunday, and I remember going to Sunday School in the vestry underneath the chapel and being taught the Lord’s Prayer in Welsh by the teacher Evan John Peters.
Also underneath Adulam Chapel were two very small houses that shared a kitchen and toilet. When I was a little older, my sister married and moved into one of these houses. I dreaded going to see her as I would have to walk along a path through the cemetery to get to the house; I remember one occasion walking down the path and a boy jumping out at me from behind a grave – he thought it was one of his friends and wanted to frighten him…..he certainly frightened me!
So much has changed. Most of the houses have been demolished, and all of the courts, the Tydfil Arms and Adulam Chapel have all gone. It’s sad to look back and see all I remember disappeared.
