Gurnos – The Melting Pot

200 years of history at Gwaunfarren – part 1

by Brian Jones

At the junction of Alexandra Road and Galon Uchaf Road is a triangular piece of land on which are sited ten houses named as Gwaunfarren Grove at postal code CF47 9BJ. Of extra significance is an additional older property named “Gwaunfarren Lodge” positioned at the entrance to the much newer residential development. The location comprises a modern housing development on land which has undergone considerable change in the last 200 years. A review of the history of this small portion of the Gwaunfarren locality reveals a sequence of events which mirror cultural and social changes in pre- and post-industrial Merthyr Tydfil. This article plots the timeline of the land use played out between the latter years of the eighteenth century and the present day.

The Medieval Hamlet of Garth comprised of land stretching from Morlais Castle to Caeracca, then south to Gellifaelog, Goytre, Gurnos, Galon Uchaf, Gwaunfarren, Gwaelodygarth and Abermorlais. Some of this land was occupied by both yeoman and tenant farmers with pasture for sheep and cattle. The freehold ownership of the land, with its few farms, passed from family to family and at the geographical centre of the Hamlet was a parcel of land then called Gwaun Faren. In 1789 Gwaun Faren was mapped by William Morrice who noted that both farms, Gwaun Faren and the adjacent Gwaelod Y Garth, had been purchased by Mr William Morgan of Grawen in 1785. That map was redrawn in 1998, and annotated, by Griffiths Bros and show in detail the fields comprising Gwaun Faren farm. This revised map conforms to the 1850 Tithe Map and particular attention is drawn to the field marked C annotated as Cae Bach (little field). This field now relates to post code CF47 9BJ which is the locus for Gwaunfarren Grove.

The 1850 Tithe Map shows field number 1901 as the homestead identified as “The Dairy” at the centre of a number of fields which made up the farm named as Gwaun Faren. The name has varied over time to include Gwaun Varen, Gwain Varen, Gwaun Faren, Gwaun Farren to the present-day spelling of Gwaunfarren. There is some debate as to the meaning of part of the name: “Gwaun=meadow” however there is some uncertainty as to the origin of “faren/Farren”. The Welsh-English Dictionary “Y Geiriadur Mawr” does not have a translation for this word and there is some speculation that it may have originated in the Irish word “Fearann” pronounced “Farran” meaning “pasture”. The book “Merthyr Tydfil – A Valley Community” (1981) published by The Merthyr Teachers Centre Group records the name as “Gwaun=meadow” and “Farren= warren” thus “Warren Meadow”.

In 1850 the freeholder of the farm was Mary Morgan the widow of William Morgan and the farmland was leased to the Penydarren Iron Company. That ironworks was less than half a mile away and the roads accessing the general locality conform in major part to the present-day road system. These were trackways and subsequently they became the present-day Alexandra Avenue and Galon Uchaf Road. There is no evidence of coal mining on the Gwaunfarren farmland however it is likely that iron stone and coal transited the adjacent trackways into the nearby iron works. The 1850 map identifies the farm homestead as “The Dairy” and it is probable that the farm produced milk, butter and cheese for the growing industrial population. The nearby Penydarren Ironworks opened in 1784 in the ownership of the Homfray family and George Forman. This was the smallest of the four local ironworks and in due course it made the cables of flat bar link for the Menai Straits Suspension Bridge. The works closed in 1857 followed shortly thereafter by the Plymouth Ironworks in 1859 whilst the two larger works at Cyfarthfa and Dowlais remained open.

Field number 1901 on the 1850 Tithe Map configures with the 2-acre piece of land that is now identified as post code CF47 9BJ. This land was leased in 1862 to William Simons for 25 years and he funded its redevelopment He was the first of two successful wealthy individuals and their families who lived there in succession until the 1920s. William was a barrister practising in Castle Street and he lived in the house with his wife and children from 1862 until 1888. He purchased the farmhouse and set about making substantial changes to that building, laid out a new garden, driveway and built a Lodge at the main entrance to the drive. His great grandson, Graham Simons later recounted a story detailed by one of Williams daughters, Phoebe, that some of the walls of the house were 4 feet thick and this perhaps indicates that some of the original farm building had been incorporated in the new house identified in the 1850 Tithe Map as “The Dairy”. A plan of the new house and garden is shown below. Note that the architect identified the house as “Gwain-faren” later named as “Gwaunfarren House”.

Parts of the old farmhouse were retained, the building substantially increased in size and an impressive new facade was built based on a Victorian style of architecture much in vogue at the time as demonstrated in an early photograph of the new house.

Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

Margaret Stewart Taylor did not include the house in her essay titled “The Big Houses of Merthyr Tydfil” published in the inaugural edition of the “Merthyr Historian Volume I” in 1976. However this was indeed a large house necessary to accommodate the first large family to reside there. The 1871 census shows that in addition to William Simons and his wife, Clara, there were 8 children and 7 staff: a governess, nurse, nursemaid, cook, laundress and 2 housemaids. Ten years later the family had increased to 11 children making a compliment of 20 family plus staff. It is suggested that there were legal disputes between William Simons, the leaseholder, and the freeholder of the land which played a part in the move of the Simons family to Cardiff in 1888.

To be continued…….

Merthyr’s Chapels: Park Chapel

Park English Baptist Chapel

In 1881, a disagreement occurred at Pontmorlais Chapel, and a number of the members left there and began their own cause, eventually building a small chapel next to the Morlais Brook at the bottom of the ‘British Tip’, calling it Abermorlais Chapel. By 1885 however, the dispute was resolved and the congregation at Abermorlais Chapel returned to Pontmorlais.

At this time, about 70 members of the congregation left High Street Chapel to form their own church. When the Methodists decided to return to Pontmorlais Chapel they sold the building to the Baptists for £1,060 who established Morlais Chapel on 27 September 1885. In June 1886, the church was accepted into the Glamorgan and Carmarthen English Baptist Association.

In 1899, Rev E Aubrey (right) was inducted as the new minister at the old Morlais Chapel. Under his ministry the congregation prospered, and it soon became apparent that the congregation at the old Morlais Chapel had grown to such an extent that a new chapel was required.

Land was acquired in The Walk and a chapel, designed by Messrs George Morgan & Sons of Carmarthen was built at a cost of £2750, with the organ, furniture and fittings costing an additional £1750. The work was carried out by Mr J Morgan of Blaenavon. £700 of this amount was raised from the sale of Morlais Chapel to the Salvation Army.

As the Salvation Army, having no permanent place of worship, were keen to move into Morlais Chapel it was decided that the school room at the rear of the chapel should be completed first so that services could be held there pending completion of the chapel.

The schoolroom was completed in January 1904, and on 17 November 1904, Park Chapel was officially opened by Mr D A Thomas, later to become Lord Rhondda. On the day of the opening, the members processed from Morlais Chapel to the new chapel.

In August 1906, Rev Aubrey decided to leave the chapel, and the following year Rev J Lloyd Williams was inducted as minister in May 1907, having led two very successful services at the chapel following Rev Aubrey’s departure. During his 29 years as minister, the congregation continued to go from strength to strength, and during his ministry the entire debt on the chapel was paid off.

In 1950, Rev Iorwerth Budge came to Park Chapel to preach and he was inducted as the minister the following year. Rev Budge was destined to remain as the minister of Park Chapel for 45 years. Rev Budge immediately showed a great interest in the work of the Sunday School, and it was through his interest that Sunday Schools were set up in the new housing estates that were being built in Merthyr. The first was built in Galon Uchaf and was opened on 19 September 1959, and a second was built in the Gurnos Estate and was opened on 31 January 1976.

In 2004 it was discovered that three culverts that ran beneath the chapel had, over many years, washed away most of the foundations of the chapel. A meeting was held to decide whether to demolish the chapel or to undertake extensive renovation work to stabilise the chapel. It was decided to carry out the renovations. The culverts were diverted and the foundations strengthened.

The schoolroom at the rear of the chapel had to be demolished and a new room was constructed at the rear of the balcony. These renovations cost almost £500,000.

Park Chapel still has a thriving, and indeed growing congregation.

The Meaning of ‘Gurnos’

Gurnos
by Carl Llewellyn

Some time ago I read an article in an old edition of the Merthyr Express. It was written by a J.R. Evans of Aberdare who complained that many local Welsh place names were incorrectly spelt; he then gave his interpretation why places in our locality were so named. Many Welsh place names were bestowed centuries ago and were often descriptive of their pictorial detail. Perhaps because these place names were seldom written, and again because of the inability of the English to pronounce Welsh words, in some cases these words become so changed in form they become unrecognisable and unintelligible, with the original signification being entirely lost.

Examples of the mutilation of Welsh place names can be found in “Lechwedd” (meaning a slope) has become “Leckwith” near Cardiff, and “Rhaiadr” (water fall) becoming “Radyr”. When referring to the name “Gurnos”, it immediately brings to mind one of the UK’s largest Housing estates situated near Prince Charles Hospital to a majority of people but most of them are not aware of its origin and translation. We often find the name of parts of the body are used in place names. For instance we speak of head or top of a hill, for instance Penydarren, (pen, head or top; y, of the; darren, a rocky hill) also Troedyrhiw (troed, foot; y, of the; rhiw slope). So the word “Cern” meaning “side of the head”, is applied similarity to the side of the hill, which perhaps has an even surface resembling earth moulds protruding on the side of the hill. There is a diminutive plural suffix “os”, when appended to “Cern” gives us “Cernos”, The placing of the letter “y” before the word modifies it into “Y Gernos”, meaning the lower side of the hill. In the opinion of J.R. Evans “Y Gernos” has been incorrectly spelt by some as the “Gurnos”. I tend to agree with J.R. Evans over the centuries it’s possible the word has been corrupted either by incorrect spelling or pronunciation. On the site of Gurnos Housing Estate once stood the “Gurnos” farm whose name aptly describing its location.

Gurnos Farm by Penry Williams. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

Charles Wilkins in his History of Merthyr Tydfil calls the farm “Gyrnos” and gives it derivation as “Carn-nos” (carn, a heap of stones; nos, night), signifying “Night Watch Beacon” stating that it may have reference to the warfare day of the district. You the reader must make up your own mind on the explanations for the Welsh word “Gurnos”. I concur that Charles Wilkins reference is a romanticised version while J.R.Evans interpretation has more of a down to earth explanation.

These differing points of view reminded me of a television series, “The Dragon Has Two Tongues”, where Wynford Vaughan-Thomas, and Professor Gwyn Alf Williams gave their own passionate satire about Wales.