Pant – The Melting Pot

David Davies J.P.

By J Ann Lewis

David Davies was born in July 1857, the youngest of ten children.

His father died when David was just seven years of age, and at the age of ten, he began working at a candle factory at Caedraw. When the factory closed, David returned to school for a short time before gaining employment at another candle factory in Victoria Street. When he was 18 he began working at the Plymouth Works Rolling Mills, and after their closure, he found employment at the Ifor Works Rolling Mills.

In 1878 he became a conductor on the London and Northwest Railway omnibuses which connected the train passengers with the Brecon and Merthyr Railway at Dowlais Central Station. When the Morlais Tunnel opened in June 1879, the buses were no longer required, so he became a porter and later signalman. He married Mary in 1881 and moved to Pant, and the couple had six children – Annie, Albert, William, Arthur, Frank and Bryn, Albert losing his life in the First World War.

A man deeply involved in local politics, fighting for an improved living standard for others, he organised a large demonstration at Cyfarthfa Park, asking for 2,000 new houses to be built. He was also a J.P., served on the Board of Guardians for nine years, was one of the founders of the Dowlais Co-operative Society (later becoming its chairman), and he was also a founder member of the Dowlais Railwaymen’s Coal Club, which had its own wagons, and by cutting out the middle-man, saved the profits for its members.

In 1919, he was the official candidate (Dowlais Ward) for the Merthyr Trades Council and Labour Party. Points of his campaign were:-

Free medical and nursing care for infants.
Clean, plentiful, cheap milk; managed by the people for the people and thus eliminating private profit.
Free meals for hungry children.
Free medical treatment for the needy and sick.

He was elected mayor in 1925-26.

David died in 1940, his principal aim in life having been to leave the town of his birth a better place than he found it.

Captain Nelson Morris Price C.B.E., J.P.

by J Ann Lewis

A Merthyr Express headline 60 years ago today, on 18 August 1962 read “Captain Nelson M. Price: the Man Who Stopped a King is Dead”.

The headline referred to an event in 1936 during the visit of King Edward VIII. Captain Price had organised an unofficial parade of his former colleagues in the old Fifth Welsh Battalion in front of the Castle Cinema. As the procession passed, the Royal car stopped, and Captain Price told the King “These men want you to see them, in the hope that you may be able to bring new industries to the Borough so that they may find work”. The King got out of the car, to the astonishment of his ministers, and spoke to the 52 men on parade. The King again departed from the official programme and paid a visit to Dowlais, and it was there that he made the famous remark, “Something must be done”.

Nelson Price was born on 22 May 1892 near Bethesda, North Wales, and when he was quite young, his family moved to Dowlais, settling in Broad Street. Within a few years however, his father died, leaving a widow and eight children.

Nelson volunteered for service on 4 August 1914, the very day that the First World War was declared. He served in Gallipoli, Egypt and Cyprus before being discharged as no longer being fit for service, and he returned to working in the collieries, where he had been studying to become a mining engineer prior to the outbreak of the war.

Following the armistice, he decided to become involved with welfare work relating to the war disabled, war widows and orphans. He was a founder member of the Royal British Legion, becoming the first Chairman in the Wales Area. He also worked tirelessly for the War Pensions Advisory Committee, and was appointed Chairman of the North East Glamorgan War Pensions Committee, being acknowledged as an authority on War Pensions Regulations. He was a champion for the War disabled for over 42 years, and his work was recognised when he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1939, Officer of the Order in 1946 and Commander of the British Empire in 1960.

It was during his time as Chairman of the British Legion in Wales, that he was instrumental in negotiating the gift of Buckland House in Bwlch (the former home of Henry Seymour Berry, Lord Buckland) to the British Legion as a home for ex-servicemen.

During his lifetime, Nelson Price was also appointed Chairman of the Merthyr Magistrates, Chairman of the Lord Buckland Trust, Lifetime President and Honorary Secretary and Treasurer of the Merthyr and District Angling Association. He was also a lifetime member of the Cardiff Athletic and Rugby Club.

At the time of his death in 1962, he was living in Caeracca Villas in Pant, in a house named ‘Cilfoden’ – the village of his birth. His wife Jane Ann survived him by two years.

Scheduled Monuments in Merthyr

I recently received an enquiry asking whether there were any Scheduled Monuments in Merthyr Tydfil. The following is transcribed from Wikipedia:-

Merthyr Tydfil County Borough has 43 scheduled monuments. The prehistoric scheduled sites include many burial cairns and several defensive enclosures. The Roman period is represented by a Roman Road. The medieval periods include two inscribed stones, several house platforms and two castle sites. Finally the modern period has 14 sites, mainly related to Merthyr’s industries, including coal mining, transportation and iron works. Almost all of Merthyr Tydfil was in the historic county of Glamorgan, with several of the northernmost sites having been in Brecknockshire.

Scheduled monuments have statutory protection. The compilation of the list is undertaken by Cadw Welsh Historic Monuments, which is an executive agency of the National Assembly of Wales. The list of scheduled monuments below is supplied by Cadw with additional material from RCAHMW (Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales) and Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust.

Name	Site type	Community	Details	Historic County
Gelligaer Standing Stone	Standing stone	Bedlinog	A 2 m (6.6 ft) high stone on open moorland. Probably Bronze Age and with the possible remains of a Bronze Age burial alongside. An inscription on the stone, now mostly illegible, is described as either post-Roman/Early Christian or Early Medieval.	Glamorganshire
Coed Cae Round Cairns	Round cairn	Bedlinog	Located in a cairnfield with at least 19 stony mounds, the scheduling consists of a group of eight Bronze Age burial cairns.	Glamorganshire
Gelligaer Common Round Cairns	Round cairn	Bedlinog	A group of eleven Bronze Age burial cairns.	Glamorganshire
Carn Castell y Meibion ring cairn	Ring cairn	Cyfarthfa Troed-y-rhiw	A ring cairn, possibly dating to the Bronze Age, with a 8 m (26 ft) diameter and surrounded by a 3 m (9.8 ft) wide stony ring bank.	Glamorganshire
Brynbychan Round Cairn	Round cairn	Merthyr Vale,	A Bronze Age circular cairn with a diameter of 18 m (59 ft). There is an OS triangulation pillar on the site.	Glamorganshire
Cefn Merthyr Round Cairns	Cairnfield	Merthyr Vale		Glamorganshire
Morlais Hill ring cairn	Ring cairn	Pant		Glamorganshire
Tir Lan round barrow cemetery	Round barrow	Treharris	The remains of six Bronze Age round barrows, three to the north-west and three to the south-east of Tir Lan farm. All six remain substantially intact despite being reduced by ploughing in the past.	Glamorganshire
Garn Las Earthwork	Round cairn	Troed-y-rhiw	The remains a circular burial cairn measuring 14 m (46 ft) in diameter, probably dating to the Bronze Age.	Glamorganshire
Merthyr Common Round Cairns	Round cairn	Troed-y-rhiw	A group of six Bronze Age burial cairns ranging from 5 to 19 m (16 to 62 ft) in diameter.	Glamorganshire
Carn Ddu platform cairn	Platform Cairn	Vaynor		Glamorganshire
Cefn Cil-Sanws ring cairn	Ring cairn	Vaynor		Glamorganshire
Cefn Cil-Sanws, Cairn on SW side of	Round Cairn	Vaynor		Brecknockshire
Coetgae’r Gwartheg barrow cemetery	Round cairn	Vaynor		Glamorganshire
Garn Pontsticill ring cairn	Ring cairn	Vaynor		Glamorganshire
Dyke 315m E of Tyla-Glas	Ditch	Bedlinog	The remains of a later prehistoric/medieval dyke with a clearly defined bank and ditch running east-west across a ridge top. The 3 m (9.8 ft) wide ditch is 1.5 m (4.9 ft) deep at its east end.	Glamorganshire
Cefn Cil-Sanws Defended Enclosure	Enclosure – Defensive	Vaynor		Brecknockshire
Enclosure East of Nant Cwm Moel	Enclosure – Defensive	Vaynor		Glamorganshire
Enclosure on Coedcae’r Ychain	Enclosure – Defensive	Vaynor		Glamorganshire
Gelligaer Common Roman Road	Road	Bedlinog		Glamorganshire
Nant Crew Inscribed Stone (now in St John’s Church, Cefn Coed )	Standing stone	Vaynor	A 1.5 m (5 ft) high square-sectioned pillar stone thought to date to the Bronze Age. A Latin inscription on the west face and cross incised on the north face are from the 6th and 7th-9th centuries. Holes in the stone indicate that it had been used as a gatepost.	Brecknockshire
Platform Houses and Cairn Cemetery on Dinas Noddfa	House platforms (& Cairnfield)	Bedlinog	Medieval house platforms, also prehistoric cairnfield	Glamorganshire
Platform Houses on Coly Uchaf	Platform house	Bedlinog		Glamorganshire
Morlais Castle	Castle	Pant	The collapsed remains of a castle begun in 1288 by Gilbert de Clare, Lord of Glamorgan. The walls enclosed an area of approximately 130 by 60 m (430 by 200 ft). It was captured during the 1294-95 rebellion of Madog ap Llywelyn and may have been abandoned shortly afterwards.	Glamorganshire
Cae Burdydd Castle	Motte	Vaynor	A 3 m (9.8 ft) high motte and ditch dating to the medieval period. The diameter of 23 m (75 ft) narrows to 9 m (30 ft) at the top.	Brecknockshire
Cefn Car settlement	Building (Unclassified)	Vaynor		Glamorganshire
Gurnos Quarry Tramroad & Leat	Industrial monument	Gurnos		Glamorganshire
Sarn Howell Pond and Watercourses	Pond	Town		Glamorganshire
Abercanaid egg-ended boiler	Egg-ended Boiler, re-purposed as garden shed	Troed-y-rhiw		Glamorganshire
Cyfarthfa Canal Level	Canal Level	Cyfarthfa		Glamorganshire
Cyfarthfa Tramroad Section at Heolgerrig	Tramroad	Cyfarthfa		Glamorganshire
Iron Ore Scours and Patch Workings at Winch Fawr, Merthyr Tydfil	Iron mine	Cyfarthfa		Glamorganshire
Ynys Fach Iron Furnaces	Industrial monument	Cyfarthfa		Glamorganshire
Penydarren Tram Road	Trackway	Merthyr Vale		Glamorganshire
Iron Canal Bridge from Rhydycar	Bridge	Park		Glamorganshire
Pont-y-Cafnau tramroad bridge	Bridge	Park	An ironwork bridge spanning the River Taff constructed in 1793. The name, meaning “bridge of troughs”, comes from its unusual three tier design of a tramroad between two watercourses, one beneath the bridge deck and the other on an upper wooden structure which is no longer present. Pont-y-Cafnau is also Grade II* listed.	Glamorganshire
Merthyr Tramroad: Morlais Castle section	Tramroad	Pant		Glamorganshire
Merthyr Tramroad Tunnel (Trevithick’s Tunnel)	Tramroad	Troed-y-rhiw		Glamorganshire
Cwmdu Air Shaft & Fan	Air Shaft	Cyfarthfa		Glamorganshire
Remains of Blast Furnaces, Cyfarthfa Ironworks	Blast Furnace	Park		Glamorganshire
Tai Mawr Leat for Cyfarthfa Iron Works	Leat	Park		Glamorganshire
Deserted Iron Mining Village, Ffos-y-fran	Industrial monument	Troed-y-rhiw		Glamorganshire

Please follow the link below to see the original:-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scheduled_monuments_in_Merthyr_Tydfil_County_Borough

The Dowlais Sanitary Laundry Company

by J Ann Lewis

At a meeting held in September 1901 at Cambria Chambers, North Street in Dowlais by the Sanitary Laundry Company Ltd, it was decided to open the Dowlais Sanitary Laundry Company in Pant, with a capital of £3,000 in 300 shares at £10 each.

The ground near Caeracca Villas, described as an excellent site, was leased on 1 November 1901 from Mr Edward Davies, Machen, for a period of 999 years at a reduced rent of £14 per year while it was used as a laundry. It was formally opened on 14 September 1904, with Miss Wood being the first manageress.

Upon receipt of a postcard, a horse drawn van would collect the parcels. All British machinery was used and the water came from a fresh water spring a few hundred yards up the mountain.

After the Laundry closed (unfortunately I have been able to find the exact date of its closure), on 22 September 1933, the then owner, Miss Bertha Jenkins (Consett), gave the building to Christ Church to be used as a much-needed church hall.

On 23 November 1942, as part of the war effort, the hall became a British Restaurant – the first to be opened in the area. This restaurant formed a link in the chain of communal feeding in South Wales, with the policy that people should never again lack food, and that the food eaten should be the kind to make them strong and healthy.

The feeling was that the restaurant was ‘a bit out of the way’, but some thought the bus service was such, that the hall’s position would be of no hindrance to its success. It was opened by Mr E Hill-Snook (Divisional Food Officer), with about 200 people attending the opening ceremony. As well as the meals served on the premises, an outdoor scheme was introduced so that people wishing to take cooked dinners home could do so for the sum of 8d per head.

After the war, the hall was returned to the church until the cost of the upkeep proved too great. By September 1959, the church had leased the hall to Webber’s Cake Factory. Three men, Charlie Webber, K Hill and Bob Roberts opened the factory, and were joined a year later by Bill Healey and Mr Clark, all five becoming managing directors. The factory employed 12 full-time workers, and several part-time workers during busy periods. At their peak they had three vans on the road, selling cakes wholesale, but due to the economic slump in the 1960s, the first was forced to close in December 1966.

The hall remained empty for a while until a group of local residents approached the directors of Webbers Cake Factory asking to buy the building to open a social club, and in 1968/9 the new Pant Social Club opened. The club had a large dance hall, a separate bar and a snooker room with two well used snooker tables. The club proved a great success, and over the years, hundreds of pounds were raised by the members for charity, but by the end of the millennium, membership had fallen and the club closed in 2000. With the building of The Rise, the building was demolished to make way for the new houses.

Memories of Old Merthyr

We continue our serialisation of the memories of Merthyr in the 1830’s by an un-named correspondent to the Merthyr Express, courtesy of Michael Donovan.

Taliesin Williams by Joseph Edwards. ©Photo courtesy of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales

The Rev J Carroll, the Catholic priest, resided on the Glebeland. He used to write a political letter to the Silurian weekly. Taliesin Williams’ residence was in Castle Street, but the schoolroom entrance for pupils was in Castle Field Lane. He had the most prominent school and the reputation for being somewhat too strict. My recollection of him, however, is quite clear, that he did not punish severely without great provocation. I can acknowledge that he gave me a slap once, and once only, but that it was also fully deserved must also be acknowledged.

As far as can now be recalled not one of his pupils can be named as alive now, except the writer. The late Mr Thomas Jenkins, of Pant, was supposed to be the last – but I am still left. The last of the family of that generation, Miss Elizabeth Williams, died about a year ago in the vicinity of London.

A Mr Shaw also had a school on the other side of the same lane. His son was an artist. John Thomas (Ieuan Ddu) can also be hazily recalled as keeping a school, but more vividly as a bass singer.

Mr John Millar, who, in conjunction with his brother Robert, carried on the brewery at Pontycapel, kept the Wheat Sheaf for many years, and afterwards moved to the Lamb. There was also a weaver, of the name of Wilkins, about the Glebeland, one of whose daughters married Mr W E Jones, the artist. The other daughter married and emigrated. The Merthyr Library and Reading Room started in the house at the corner of Castle Street and Glebeland.

Upon coming up to the Brecon Road from Caepantywyll, if we had gone on to Gwaelodygarth it would have led us past the entrance to the “Cottage” and Penydarren farm yard, past which the road leads to Penybryn and Pant, but keeping around by the Penydarren Park wall we came to the road to Dowlais close to the Penydarren turpike gate.

Mr Richard Forman, when manager of the Penydarren Works, resided at the “Cottage”. Mr William Davies, of the firm of Meyrick and Davies, lived there subsequently, and then Mr John Daniel Thomas, many years the high bailiff of the Merthyr County Court. Mr Grenfell, when the manager of Penydarren, resided at Gwaunfarren. Mr Benjamin Martin followed him (moving from the yard there) when becoming manager. Prior to this I always heard it called the Dairy. Occasionally one of the partners remained a short time at Penydarren House, but the gardener (named Price) used to sell the produce raised there.

Gwaelodygarth Fach a.k.a. “The Cottage”. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

It was at Penydarren Ironworks that the first iron rails were rolled. They were known as the “fish-bellied” pattern. Tredgold, the authority upon the strength of iron, had a piece of iron supplied him with “Penydarren” upon it, by a firm of merchants in London, to whom he applied for a specimen of Welsh iron for experimental purposes. This fact is recorded in his treatise on the strength of iron.

To be continued at a later date…..

The Pant War Memorial

by J Ann Lewis

Ninety-five years ago today, on 4 July 1926, General Marden unveiled the Pant War Memorial, with about 1,300 people in attendance and with loud speakers and microphones were in place for the event. Pant was the second village in the area to erect a memorial to the men killed in the First World War.

The Memorial Committee was inaugurated in 1920; house-to-house collections were organised and many promises of weekly contributions were made, but due to the coal strike of 1921, and the trade depression that followed, the final cost of £800 was not quite met. The local inhabitants had paid the bulk of the money, and the school-children contributed largely through the many concerts organised by the staff. Also mentioned for their donations were: Merthyr Football Club, the directors of the Victoria Cinema and the Oddfellows Hall (where the concerts were held).

Mr F. J. Bateson released the ground he had rented from Messrs Guest, Keen and Nettlefold, enabling them to give the ground, previously owned by Daniel Thomas, stonemason, for the memorial. Before the memorial could be erected, the urinal built in 1906 had to be moved to the other side of Caeracca Bridge.

The Memorial is built mainly of Portland stone, with the side wing walls and steps leading to the cenotaph of local limestone. The bronze plate centrepiece reveals the names of local men who were killed during the conflict.

Designed by Mr C. H. C. Holder, a curator at Cyfarthfa Museum, the sculpture is a monument to the skill of Councillor F. J. Bateson from Pant and his assistants. The Mayor, Alderman D. Davies J. P., another Pant resident, accepted the deed as a gift from Mr S. J. Lloyd, Secretary of the Memorial Committee. The mayor had actually lost his son in the War, and his name is commemorated on the plaque.

General Marden, in his response, thanked the Dowlais Male Voice Party for “the most wonderful singing he had ever heard”. The march to Pant was led by the Municipal Band and the G.K.N. Dowlais Silver Band.

A second plaque was added to the memorial to honour the men of the village who died during the Second World War.

Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

To the left hand side of the main memorial is another plaque honouring the men who had been employed at the I.C.I. Factory at Dowlais who died in the Second World War. These were:

Simon Davies
William Evans
Thomas John Davies
Norman Ernest Freshwater
Cameron Meredith
Glyndwr Price
Frank Wills

Merthyr Historian Volume 31

The Merthyr Tydfil Historical Society is pleased to announce that, despite all of the difficulties due to Covid-19, volume 31 of the Merthyr Historian is now for sale.

Merthyr Historian Volume 31 – Contents
Chapter 1	Penydarren born Frank T Davies, 1904-1981, pioneer, geophysicist and polar explorer	Roger Evans
Chapter 2	Science at the cusp: Caedraw 1887 and education in Merthyr	John Fletcher
Chapter 3	‘Whom the gods love, die young’: the frail genius of Harry Evans, conductor	T Fred Holley & John Holley
Chapter 4	‘Kathleen Ferrier slept in my bed’: musical celebrities and wartime Merthyr Vale	Mair Attwood
Chapter 5	Robert Rees: the Morlais Nightingale	Stephen Brewer
Chapter 6	The female drunkard in the mid nineteenth century	Barrie Jones
Chapter 7	Cefn Glas: a forgotten colliery	Clive Thomas
Chapter 8	Emlyn Davies, Dowlais Draper: a family flannel and local business history	Alan Owen
Chapter 9	Merthyr relief and social work in the worst of times: Margaret Gardner (1889-1966)	Christine Trevett
Chapter 10	Appeal and response, Merthyr’s need 1930-31, from The Skip Collection	Clive Thomas & Christine Trevett
Chapter 11	Pulpit and platform, revival reservations and reforms: the work of the Rev John Thomas (1854-1911) at Soar, Merthyr Tydfil	Noel Gibbard
Chapter 12	The Rev G M Maber, Merthyr and the poet Robert Southey’s Welsh Walks	Barrie Jones
Chapter 13	The drums go bang, the cymbals clang. Three bands, Troedyrhiw 1921	T Fred Holley & John Holley
Chapter 14	The railways of Pant and Dowlais towards the end of steam	Alistair V Phillips
Chapter 15	Book Review: Merthyr Tydfil Corporation Omnibus Dept.	Keith L Lewis-Jones
Chapter 16	From Dudley to Dover and Dowlais: Black Country tram sales and their brief second careers	Andrew Simpson
Chapter 18	‘Here’s health to the Kaiser!’ Patriotic incident at Treharris, 1914	Christine Trevett
Chapter 19	Lady Charlotte and Sir John: the Guest family at large. A review essay on recent books	Huw Williams
Chapter 20	Dr Brian Loosmore (1932-2019). An Appreciation	T Fred Holly
Chapter 21	‘Rather less than four pence’: A case of benefits in Merthyr Tydfil in 1933 (transcribed)	John Dennithorne

It is a mammoth volume at350+ pages long and priced at £12.50 (plus postage & packing).

If anyone would like a copy of the book, please contact me at merthyr.history@gmail.com and I will forward your request to the appropriate person.

Memories of Old Merthyr

We continue our serialisation of the memories of Merthyr in the 1830’s by an un-named correspondent to the Merthyr Express, courtesy of Michael Donovan.

An extract from the 1851 Public Health Map showing a more detailed view of the area covered in this article.

We must now start from the Dynevor Arms towards the Iron Bridge. A curriery premises was erected and for some time carried on a little way down on the right hand by Messrs M. Davies and Wayne. This was one of the Davies’s of Pantyscallog and a Wayne of the Gadlys, but Mr Wayne migrated to the Carmarthen Tinplate Works, which he carried on for many years.

Anterior to the curriery there was in this very locality a nailmaker working by the name of Samuel Jones. At this time all nails were made by hand (cut and wire nails not yet known). They were all made of slit rods, a process that, as far as South Wales works are concerned, has entirely ceased, and the making of a nail was really a good specimen of the handicraft. There was a small bellows blowing upon the point of the nail, and the work was always carefully held so that the air current passed up the rod. The why and wherefore of this has many a time been thought over, and I acknowledge that no satisfactory solution has ever been found.

Lower down was the residence of of Mr Coffin, who, in addition to curriery, was, or had been, the clerk of the Small Debts Court, and thus became very obnoxious to some, so that at the time of the Merthyr Riots his house and furniture suffered damage at the hands of the mob. One of his daughters afterwards married Mr Thomas Wayne, and resided at Glancynon, near the Gadlys. The other married a Mr William Llewellyn, of Abercarn, the then mineral and other agent of the Llanover Estates. There was a jeu d’esprit in the Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian in or about the time of Mr Wayne’s marriage, showing how very careful he had been, for he not only obtained a wife, but a coffin also.

The British Schools followed Mr Coffin’s garden, and then the Three Horse Shoes Inn, kept by a Daniel Stephens. The next and adjoining was the premises of Mr John Bryant, whose curriery was (as Mr Coffin’s was also) across the road, and Mr Bryant also took Pride’s storehouse for his trade purposes after the railway had rendered canal traffic obsolete, or rather obsolete as far as shop goods were concerned, to Merthyr at that time.

The Three Horse Shoes Inn. Next door is the Kirkhouse, built on the site of the British School. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive.

Close to Mr Bryant’s house is a way to Aberdare, which joins the road up from the Dynevor Arms, close beyond Mr Jeffries’ house. On the opposite side of this opening was the Cyfarthfa Surgery. Mr Edward Davies was the head, and in physique always reminded me of the Emperor Nicholas of Russia. Years after, Dr Davies lived at the Court House, and practised after he had left Cyfarthfa. The Miners’ Arms was adjoining. The residences coming next were built by a Mr Teague subsequently.

Bridgefield Terrace with the Miners’ Arms at the centre. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive.

To be continued at a later date…….

Merthyr’s Chapels: Beulah Chapel, Dowlais

Beulah English Baptist Chapel, Dowlais

In the early part of the 1800s, the growing population of Dowlais included many English speaking people. Many of these followed the Baptist cause, but as there was no provision for them in the town, they had to travel into Merthyr to attend High Street Chapel.

By 1850, the English Baptist population in Dowlais had become large enough to encourage them to make a request to the members of Caersalem Chapel to hold services in English. The elders agreed and these were held in the vestry of Caersalem Chapel, the services being taken by Rev Thomas Davies of High Street Chapel.

The venture proved a success and before long a house in North Street was bought to hold services, and a Sunday School was also set up. As the congregation grew it became evident that they needed a proper place of worship, so they decided to build a chapel in Victoria Street.

A small chapel to seat 200 was completed at a cost of £400, and officially opened on 1 February 1857 and named Beulah. The chapel continued to be a branch of Caersalem until 23 January 1859 when it was recognised as a cause in its own right.

When Beulah became independent of Caersalem, 40 members of High Street Chapel moved to the new chapel and the congregation grew steadily. By 1869 the building was too small and a new chapel was built by Mr Evan Jones at a cost of £1,100. It was opened on Christmas Day 1869.

Shortly after this, a schism occurred at Beulah and the minister, Rev Alfred Humphreys and 34 of the congregation left and started their own cause and called it Tabernacle.

Despite this schism, the cause at Beulah continued to prosper and the chapel opened a schoolroom in Pant and also established Mount Pleasant Chapel in Penydarren.

Today, despite ever-falling numbers, Beulah survives as one of the very few chapels still holding services in Dowlais.

I remember that…..

by Margaret Dooley née McLenahan

I lived in Pant and one of my earliest memories is the smell of baking bread from Jenkins’ bakehouse. I was often dispatched to get a loaf, which would still be warm. By the time I got home I would have eaten half the crust. Delicious, never tasted bread like it since.

I remember walking to school in the snow (to Cyfarthfa) as the buses wouldn’t be running. If Mr. Lee, a teacher who lived in Caeracca, could get there, then we were expected to as well.

The Castle Cinema on Saturday night. The last bus to Pant went at 10.30 so if it was a long film you had to choose between seeing the end or a long walk home.

On the same note, ABC minors and getting a bag of chips in newspaper on the way home.

The Castle Cinema ABC Minors Christmas Party in 1959. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

Going shopping in Dowlais with my grandmother (when I was about 8 or 9) and it seeming to take hours as she knew everybody and stopped to talk. I was expected to stand still and not interrupt. Did hear some juicy bits of gossip though!

Happy days!!!

If you would like to submit an article for the ‘I Remember That’ series, please get in touch at merthyr.history@gmail.com