Tag: Richard Trevithick

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.

But stay! there was a round building that must not be forgotten. It is probable that many are unacquainted with its purpose, for they are not in vogue now. It was a structure for the rolls not in use, or being attended to for making or repairing. It was built round so that a crane fixed in the centre would sweep around, so as to deliver or take up all within its scope. I should add the rolls were stored on their ends, the floor plates having the necessary circular holes for taking in the neck or bearing, and so keep them in vertical position.

As regards the individuality of Penydarren, Mr Richard Forman was the one time manager, and resided at Gwaelodygarth Cottage. When Mr Grenfell was manager he resided at Gwaunfarren, and it was so occupied by Mr Benjamin Martin after he became manager, previous to which he resided on the “yard”, or rather the road leading to it and to Caemarydwn (sic).

Mr Martin had five brothers and one sister that can be remembered. Two of his brothers, Joseph and Thomas, were in the works; Edward who became the registrar at Penydarren; John was the doctor, living near the Bush, in the High Street of Merthyr, and George, who is always remembered in Dowlais. The sister married and went to America, whence she returned, and lived in a house between where the Pontmorlais turnpike gate stood and the bottom of Penydarren Works.

The first millwright that can be recalled was Mr Thomas Davies, who went thence to Nantyglo. He was succeeded by John Watt, from Dowlais, who afterwards removed to Govan. James Roe, a younger brother of John P Roe, was there also, and I think he died there. Bye-the-bye, he married either the daughter or other relative of the Waunwyllt family. Adrian Stephens (left), the inventor of the steam whistle, was also there.

It was in the Penydarren Forge one of Trevithick’s engines and boilers was seen, and another also of his make was used for winding coal at Winch Fawr. The upper end of the forge was built of limestone, and the purest specimen of Doric architecture ever seen in South Wales. The chimney or stack of the roll lathe, not many yards thence, was a copy of the Monument on Fish Street Hill, but one fifth the size.

Now to return to the crossing of the turnpike road on the limestone tramroad. I have an idea that Mr Morgan, who lived close by there, and already alluded to, married a sister of Mr Benj. Martin, but she has not been mentioned with that gentleman’s other brothers and sisters as I am not positive respecting it.

There were houses almost continually from her to Dowlais. On the opposite (the left) side of the road there was a shop kept by the name of Williams – it was a son of his, I believe, who erected a flour mill, and opened a grocery and and provision place on the right hand side of Victoria Street and named it the Hong Kong Shop.

I have omitted to say that one of those living in the houses near Penydarren Office was a Mr Gibson; he was the cashier, and married a Miss Farmer, whose father was a gunsmith etc. in Cardiff. His shop was, as near as I can remember, where or near there is one one present, between the Bute estate offices and the Angel Hotel. He built a row of cottages on the left, opposite to where the road now turns to Dowlais, and thus avoids Gellyfaelog, which is known to this day as Gibson’s Row.

Gibson’s Row in the 1940s. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

A family named Waters also lived in the clump. John, the eldest son, became the furnace manager at Duffryn under Mr A Hill, in which position some years after he was succeeded by Mr John Place. Mr Evan Roberts, another of Mr Hill’s furnace managers, had charge at Plymouth after Mr Thos. Davies left.

To be continued at a later date…….

Merthyr Tydfil to Aber Cynon Tramroad – part 2

by Gwilym and John Griffiths

In October 1858, Rees Jones was interviewed by the Mining Journal. He assisted Richard Trevithick in the making of his locomotive. It worked very well but frequently its weight broke the tram-plates. On the third (see below) journey it broke a great many of the tram-plates. It was brought back to Pen y Darren by horses. The steam-engine was never used as a locomotive after this.

‘The Pen y Darren Locomotive’ added, without stating the source, that: Over the next few weeks the locomotive made numerous journeys over the tramroad and was later used as a stationary engine for pumping water, winding coal and driving a forging hammer.

The newspaper, Cambrian, reported the trial briefly: ‘Yesterday’, the long-awaited trial of Mr Trevithick’s newly-invented steam engine, for which he obtained His Majesty’s letters patent, to draw and work carriages of all descriptions on various kinds of roads, as well as for a number of other purposes to which its power may be usefully employed, took place near this town, and was found to perform to admiration all that was expected from its warmest advocates.

In the present instance, the novel application of steam by means of this truly valuable machine was made use of to convey along the tramroad ten tons, long weight, of bar iron from Pen y Darren Works to the place where it joins the Glamorgan Canal, upwards of nine miles distant; and it is necessary to observe that the weight of the load was soon increased from ten to fifteen tons by about seventy persons riding on the trams, who, drawn thither, as well as many others, by invincible curiosity, were eager to ride at the expense of the first display of the patentee’s abilities in this country.

To those who are not acquainted with the exact principle of this new engine, it may not be improper to observe that it differs from all others yet brought before the public, by disclaiming the use of condensed water, and discharges it into the open air, or applies it to the heating of fluids, as convenience may require. The expense of making engines on this principle does not exceed one half of many on the most approved plan made use of before this appeared. It takes much less coal to work it, and it is only necessary to supply a small quantity of water for the purpose of creating steam, which is the most essential matter. It performed the journey without feeding or using any water, and will travel with ease at the rate of five miles an hour. It is not doubted but that the number of horses in the kingdom will be very considerably reduced, and the machine, in the hands of the present proprietors, will be made use of in a hundred instances never yet though of for an instant’.

The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales, circa 1840, added extra bits of information: The first locomotive, though with toothed wheels, is said to have been started on the old Merthyr-Tydvil railroad in 1804, having been patented by Messrs Vivian and Co, in 1802; it was then stated to have drawn ten tons of bar iron at the rate of five miles an hour; but it did not come into anything like general use for the carriage of goods till ten years afterwards. The present (1840) noble species of locomotives, however, and railways, are of still more recent origin. There was clearly some conflict over the patent?

It seems likely that the authors must have made a mistake over ‘toothed wheels’: perhaps they were thinking of the cog-wheels on the engine itself?

We find it hard to believe that there was any need or purpose to construct the smaller tunnel near Plymouth Works in 1802, though this is the date so stated by Leo Davies in ‘Bridges of Merthyr Tydfil’, page 155, and the tunnel certainly existed by the time of John Woods’ 1836 Street Map of Merthyr Tudful. Richard Trevithick did not mention it in his letter describing the journey (but see below) yet, at only 8ft 4in high, it must have proved a problem for his steam locomotive with a stack of almost similar height? The second tunnel was apparently built around 1860 or 1862, per Leo Davies. Why was it needed? Why was it so much higher at 13ft 0in? The lower tunnel would have limited the height of any transport through it, a quarter of a century after the arrival of the Taff Vale Railway.

A Trystan Edwards, in ‘Merthyr, Rhondda and The Valleys’, page 163, apparently knew (from frustratingly unnamed sources but see above quote) that Richard Trevithick was assisted in the construction of the engine by Rees Jones of Dowlais and that the engine-driver’s name was Watkin Richards. He wrote that a collision with a bridge brought down both bridge and stack (though Trevithick himself made no reference to this accident in his account). Trystan Edwards recorded that the engine failed to return, a fact totally incorrect according to Trevithick’s own account written at the time.

According to Joseph Gross, ‘The Merthyr Tramroad’, in Merthyr Historian, volume 1, Anthony Bacon refused to make the award of the bet because Richard Trevithick had moved some sleepers in the tunnel near Plymouth Works to the middle to allow the funnel to pass. This was supposed to have changed the existing track, violating one of the conditions of the wager. The return journey of the locomotive was not completed because it was said the gradient was too steep. This, too, contradicts other sources.

Merthyr Tydfil to Aber Cynon Tramroad – part 1

by Gwilym and John Griffiths

Some sources have recorded that this tramroad (then called a dram road) was started around 1800 by agreement between William Taitt of Dowlais, Samuel Homfray of Pen y Darren and Richard Hill of Plymouth. They added that the construction, under the supervision of George Overton, was allegedly started in 1799 and finished in 1802. Yet see under Leases 1800 for a few of the early leases in summary. It seems that Richard Fothergill was much involved in setting up these leases. In addition, the route was always described as being from Morlais Castle to Navigation House.  The route was from Pen y Darren to Aber Cynon, 9½ miles, a fall of 341 feet. Brief details were recorded in The Pen y Darren Locomotive by Stuart Owen-Jones.

The tramroad was used briefly (three times or numerous times, see below) with a trial of Trevithick’s steam engine on Tuesday 21 Feb 1804, returning to Pen y Darren the following day, but shortly thereafter the tramroad reverted to horse power for many further years. The weight of the steam-engine apparently damaged the rails. However, Charles Wilkins, ‘The History of Merthyr Tydfil’, page 252, thought that the engine, ‘after serving a long time on the tramway, was removed to a pit called Winch Fawr (in the hamlet of Heol Wermwd not the one in the hamlet of Gelli Deg), and finally taken to the top of the incline owned by the Pen y Darren Company at Cwm Bargod.’ We are not so sure. Richard Trevithick himself recorded the event from which the following summary is appropriate:

  1. On Saturday 11 Feb 1804, the fire was lit in the ‘Tram Waggon’ and Richard Trevithick worked it without the wheels to try the engine.
  2. On Monday 13 Feb 1804, they put the waggon on the ‘Tram Road’. It worked very well and ran up hill and down with great ease and was very manageable. There was plenty of power.
  3. Between 13 Feb and 20 Feb 1804 the ‘Tram Waggon’ had been worked several times. They had tried loads of up to ten tons, and it worked easily. He was sure it could cope with forty tons. Richard Trevithick intended making a smaller engine for the tram road as the first one had too much power, and would be used instead to work a hammer.
  4. On Tuesday 21 Feb 1804 they made the journey with the engine. They carried ten tons, presumably of iron, in five waggons, with seventy men riding on them for the whole of the journey. He recorded, very clearly, that it took four hours and five minutes to cover the nine miles because they had to cut down some trees and remove some large rocks out of the tram road. No mention of the stack being knocked down by a bridge or any problem with the ‘tunnel’ by Plymouth Works. They returned, but a broken bolt released the water, and the engine did not arrive back at Pen y Darren Works until the evening of Wednesday 22 Feb 1804. No mention of broken tramway plates or of having to be hauled back to Pen y Darren by horse.
  5. Later they tried the carriage with twenty-five tons of iron, and found the engine was more than a match for that weight. The steam was delivered into the chimney above the damper. It made the draught much stronger by going up the chimney. Trevithick’s locomotive was the first to employ this very important principle of turning the exhaust steam up the chimney, so producing a draft which drew the hot gases from the fire more powerfully through the boiler.

In May 1854, some forty years later, Thomas Ellis, an engineer from Tredegar, wrote a letter describing the first journey the Pen y Darren locomotive took in February, 1804. His father was at Pen y Darren when the engine was made and tried. Samuel Homfray, proprietor of the Pen y Darren Works, Merthyr Tydfil, made a bet of 1,000 guineas with Richard Crawshay, of the Cyfarthfa Works, that Trevithick’s steam-engine could convey a load of iron from his works to the Navigation House, nine miles distant.

To be continued……

The Pioneers of the Welsh Iron Industry

Following on from the recent article about Charles Wilkins, here is a transcription of an article written by him for an issue of his publication ‘The Red Dragon’, which appeared 140 years ago this month.

It is a little over one hundred years ago, in May, 1782, when a messenger came from Wales into the neighbourhood of Stourbridge with great news. One Mr. Bacon had started an ironworks near a village called Merthyr, and he wanted a lot of men. There was a good deal of gossip caused by this. A recruiting sergeant coming into an English village to enlist lads for glory could not have made a greater ferment. Merthyr was “far down in Wales,” and Wales to many seemed as distant as America. “You have to go,” said the messenger, “to Gloucester in a boat, and then trust to the channel and work round as far as Cardiff, and then it is a couple of days’ journey up the mountains.”

There was, I repeat, a good deal of ferment, and no little hesitation, but at last the requisite number of hands was got, and away they went, bidding sorrowful farewells—many of them knowing  it may be for years or it may be forever.” It would not do, they thought, to take their household gods with them, but the pets—Bill’s dog, and Tom’s cat—could not be left behind. The Lees carried between them a wicker cage in which was a shining blackbird. Let us look at them a moment, for they were the pioneers of our old English residents, the Homfrays, Hemuses, Lees, Browns, Turleys, Wilds, Millwards, and they are worthy of more than a passing notice. Powerful men, all of them, trained to labour from youth, and full of hope and of determination. They are going as settlers amongst strange people, who speak a different language, and who may resent the incoming of strangers. Well, let them. The strangers are not only strong, but God-fearing men, and they take sturdily to the boat which tediously carries them down to Worcester.

So tedious was the journey that when Worcester was reached one or two of the men wanted to go back home again, but Homfray, the leader, would not hear of it, and his hand being hard, and his voice strong, they gave in. Gloucester was at length reached, and at that place a barge was hired and down the Severn they went, hugging the coast wherever they could. But somehow or other when night came on the barge drifted out into mid channel, and to their horror on came a storm.

Now everyone wished himself back at the village of Stewpovey, where most of them came from! How fiercely they looked at Homfray, who had led them into this trouble. Presently, however, the storm abated, and they found themselves under Penarth Head, and there was not much difficulty after that in landing at Cardiff. Very small, very insignificant was Cardiff then; a few streets clustering about the Castle, and only a little life there when the boat came once a week from Bristol. At Cardiff, waggons were hired and up the wayfarers toiled through the valley, reaching Merthyr at last.

One of the old pioneers, pipe in mouth and grandson on knee, used in his declining days to tell the wondering listeners his experience of the voyage, and the journey through Merthyr to Cyfarthfa. It was a small place, he said, was Merthyr; just a village like; small houses, fields, and gardens on one side or the other. The houses were thatched, and as the strangers rode by in their waggons their heads were on a level with the eaves. The old inhabitants used to think a two-storied house extravagance. What was the use of mounting upstairs to go to bed?

On reaching Merthyr the wanderers lodged where they could. The “Star” was the principal inn, the “Crown” was a thatched house. At the “Boot,” Ben Brown, being short of funds, sold his dog for ninepence. It was like parting with his own flesh and blood! Then with the morning they were up, and in consultation with Bacon, who had contracted with Homfray to’ build a forge. The work was done as quickly as possible, for the American war was raging, and guns were needed. In due time the forge was got ready. Every man, woman, and child from the village came up to the opening. Shonny Cwmglo was there with his wonderful harp. Shonny could play every tune, although he had never learned a note, and he played away till he was a hundred, or ever the silver strings were loosed, and, his feeble hands falling from the strings, he laid him down and died. The boys and girls danced, and the men and women raised their voices in gladness when the forge was started.

A species of delirium seized upon everybody, and the harper played like the fiddler of Prague, increasing the madness. Homfray seizing Hemus’s new hat, a wonderful thing, threw it under the hammer, and his own followed like magic. Ale houses did a great trade that day and night. Robert Peel’s policemen and “Bruce” were all in the far-off future at that time. Many of the pioneers died at a brave old age, long before- policemen came into existence.

For several years Bacon and the Homfrays worked well together, but one day there was a falling out, and a fight, and the friendship was never renewed on the old lines. Homfray did not care to go back again with the Browns and the Wilds, who were now getting settled. Some of them had fallen in love with the dark-eyed daughters of the village; and courting had been so pleasant to a few that others had followed. The broken English of the maidens was so pretty, and their eyes had such a fire in them. Many a girl, though, had to be won by fierce fighting, for the boys of the village had no love for the strangers. On Saturdays, when strangers and villagers met, drank, and fought, the village constable discreetly kept out of the way. Things have changed since then.

To understand the story of the starting of Penydarran we must turn back a page or two of the book of history. Homfray passing by the ravine on the right of the roadway as you ascend from Merthyr to Dowlais, was struck with its adaptability for the site of an ironworks, and rented it for £3 a year. He and two other Homfrays were joined by a Londoner, named Forman, who held some kind of office at the Tower, and had saved a lot of money. Then together they built a furnace, and went along swimmingly. In 1796 they built furnace No. 2, and brought another lot of men from Staffordshire. In that year they fairly eclipsed even Dowlais itself; for while Dowlais turned out 2,100 tons in the year, Penydarran could show a make of 4,100 tons, or nearly double. Penydarran was regarded as the more important centre in every way. We have only to turn to the rate books to see that while Penydarran was rated at £3,000, Dowlais was only rated at £2,000, and Plymouth at £750. By 1803 Penydarran made fifty tons of bar iron weekly. It is to John Davies, father of Mr D. Davies, J.P., of Galon Uchaf, and of the Morriston Tinplate Works, that is due the honour of rolling the first bar. The son afterwards arose to be the owner of the works. What Penydarran accomplished in after days and how under Trevethick its owners started the first locomotive that ever ran, must be left for another paper.

Merthyr’s Heritage Plaques: Richard Trevithick

by Keith Lewis-Jones

Richard Trevithick

Monument sited at CF47 0LJ
Frieze sited at Tesco car park CF47 0AP

Richard Trevithick from Camborne in Cornwall was carrying out work on the stationary steam engines at the Penydarren Iron Works for Samuel Homfrey. For some time he had been experimenting on self-propelled steam vehicles. Whilst at Penydarren, he had the opportunity to try his railway locomotive on the Penydarren Tramroad.

On 21st February, 1804, Richard Trevithick’s locomotive was used to haul a train of 10 tons of iron and 70 passengers along the Penydarren Tramroad from Merthyr to Abercynon (then known as Navigation), a distance of nearly ten miles. This was the first steam engine to haul a load on rails!

 

George Overton, Engineer

I’m sure we’ve all heard of Overton Street in Dowlais, but do we know about the person it was named after? George Overton, engineer, is a person who figures prominently in Merthyr’s History, but about whom very little is known.

Information about George Overton’s early life is very scanty, and sources differ as to his date of birth. Some sources state that he was born on 16 January 1775 at Cleobury Mortimer in Herefordshire (others say he was born in 1774), and the next 20 or so years remain a mystery. In his 1825 publication, A Description of the Faults or Dykes of the Mineral Basin of South Wales (right), however, he would describe himself as a practical man who had made and used tramroads “… during the greater part of the last thirty years … having surveyed and constructed roads of some hundred miles’ extent in different parts of the kingdom …”

By the turn of the 19th Century, he had moved to Merthyr, and worked on the Dowlais Tramroad, connecting the Dowlais Ironworks to the Glamorganshire Canal in about 1791-3. This new 4ft 2in gauge tramroad costing £3,000, allowed horse-drawn wagons moving coal and iron – his scheme enabling each horse to pull 9-10 tonnes going downhill.

Soon after this, Overton was working on the Merthyr Tramroad. Commissioned by the owners of the Dowlais, Penydarren and Plymouth Works to counter the control that Richard Crawshay of Cyfarthfa Ironworks held over use of the canal, the 4ft 2in gauge tramroad was nearly 16km long and ran between Merthyr Tydfil and Abercynon. The tramroad secured its place in history when Richard Trevithick’s steam test took place here in 1804, two years after Overton completed his supervision.

From 1803, Overton had an interest in Hirwaun Ironworks in the Cynon Valley, as a partner in Bowzer, Overton & Oliver. He constructed a tramroad from Hirwaun to Abernant (1806-8), followed by work on the Llwydcoed Tramroad for the Aberdare Canal Company, and Brinore Tramroad.

In 1805 Overton married Mary, and they would go on to have six children.

In 1818 he was consulted by mine owners in County Durham, beginning his involvement in the development of what became the Stockton & Darlington Railway. Two canal schemes had failed to materialise and Overton recommended a horse-drawn tramway. His survey detailed an 82km route that he costed at £124,000, and was the first ever survey for a railway. After difficulties with landowners and re-surveys in 1819 and 1820 to shorten the route, his work was taken forward to Parliament but on the passing of the Bill, steam railway pioneer George Stephenson (1781-1848) took over. Stephenson’s team undertook a new survey and the rest, as they say, is history.

Overton had very definite ideas about tramroads and railways and how to construct them. His design for wooden trams (wagons) was adopted across most of South Wales. His expertise in this field seems to have prevented him from fully appreciating the advantages of steam locomotion “… except in particular instances, and in peculiar situations.” His last project was Rumney Railway, a plateway from Rhymney Ironworks to the Monmouthshire Canal Tramroad near Newport. It opened a year after the Stockton & Darlington Railway.

In 1815 Overton and his family moved to Llandetty near Talybont-on Usk where he died on 2 February 1827.

Llandetty Hall – George Overton’s last home.

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.

There are two trivialities that must be stated about Penydarren before alluding to that which will perpetuate its memory for all time. (1) The end of the forge was a pure example of Doric architecture, (2) and the small stack of the roll lathe boiler was an exact model one-fifth the size of the monument on Fish Street Hill, London.

Penydarren Ironworks in the early 1800s. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

The Petherick family had positions in the early days of Penydarren, and Evan Hopkins, the author of “Magnetic Distribution of Metalliferous Veins” went thence to South America about the deposits there. It is, however, as the parent of the locomotive that Penydarren will ever be remembered. As there seem to be doubts about some things I will endeavour to put it clear, although not strictly within my own personal recollections.

Notwithstanding the great genius of James Watt, and the wonderful sagacity of Mathew Boulton, the idea of using steam in a cylinder to give motion to a piston, and allowing it then to escape into the atmosphere, was thought to be too dangerous, and the condensation of the steam was adhered to them.

Richard Trevithick (left), however, more daring, did not allow himself to be influenced by such fears, but towards the close of the 18th century began to put his thoughts into use. He made a road locomotive, and in 1802, injunction with Andrew Vivian, obtained the patent.

It is only my idea that the Pethericks were the means of introducing Trevithick to Penydarren, for one (a Mr John Petherick), wrote in 1858 that, “I perfectly remember when a boy, about the year 1802, seeing Trevithick’s first locomotive, worked by himself, come through the principal street of Cambourne”. But be that as it may, this, or another of Trevithick’s make, travelled to London, and often ran upon some ground near Bethlehem Hospital, and also where Euston Station now stands. It must be borne in mind that it was thought quite impossible to get sufficient grip between the wheels and a road to cause them to move the carriage forward.

It is clear Trevithick was in the neighbourhood about 1800, for stationary engines were made by him or from his designs both at Penydarren and Tredegar Works. These have been seen at work by me. His first locomotive was used about the works, and very probably hauled some of the cinders which for the tip alongside of the Morlais Brook and River Taff. The fact of an engine having cast iron wheels, running on an iron road being able not only to propel itself forward but draw a load after it was there demonstrated, and must have been a subject of controversy because a bet of £1,000 was made between Mr Homfray and Mr Crawshay as to the possibility of its taking ten tons of iron down to the basin and bringing the empty trams back.

The ten tons of iron was take to its destination, but for some cause the engine and the empties did not return to the works as satisfactorily as hoped for. The weight of the engine is stated to have been about five tons, and the gross weight altogether of 25 tons.

It seems as if Mr Homfray was an exceedingly hot tempered man, and it is clear that Trevithick had the same infirmity. This I have from one who was able to recall both personally. It would scarcely be proper to trace here how engines were designed by Trevithick, and did work elsewhere soon afterward, and how Trevithick himself having more enticing engagements allowed others to carry on the work he had begun.

To be continued at a later date…..

Merthyr’s Coat of Arms and St Tydfil

by Carolyn Jacob

Upon becoming a Borough in 1905, the Corporation commissioned one of the top Welsh artists of the day, Sir Goscombe John, R. A. to design a suitable Coat of Arms. (Goscombe John was fond of using traditional mythical  heroic images and in 1906 he also designed the Fountain to the Pioneers  of the South Wales Steam Coal Trade to celebrate the efforts of Robert and Lucy Thomas in the steam coal trade).

It was decided that the central figure of the coat of arms should be St Tydfil, as the whole parish is named after her and the original pre – industrial small town grew up around the church dedicated to her. The name Merthyr Tydfil means THE BURIAL PLACE OF TYDFIL.

St Tydfil as depicted in a stained glass window at Llandaff Cathedral

Legend has it that Tydfil was the daughter of a 5th Century Chieftain, Brychan, King of Breconshire. While visiting their sister Tanglwst in Aberfan, Tydfil and her family were massacred by a band of marauding Picts, who came over to Wales from Ireland. It is generally believed that she died on the site of the Parish Church, which bears her name, having defied the pagans and refused to give up Christianity. Tydfil had many brothers and sisters who became saints, including Saint Cynon.  One of her brothers, Cadoc, became the Patron Saint of Brittany. Miracles happened around her grave and the shrine of St. Tydfil the Martyr soon became a place of Christian pilgrimage.

In the Middle Ages a village grew up around the church. There was once a wooden statue in the church representing Tydfil which was probably carried out in a procession on her Saints Day on the 23rd of August. The Royal Charter was in fact formally granted only 6 days before the official Saints Day of Tydfil. This changed with the Protestant Reformation and the statue was possibly destroyed in the seventeenth century when Cromwell’s troops were drinking in the inn near the church.

It is significant that, although Merthyr Tydfil became a major centre of nonconformity and had no Roman Catholics until the Irish came in 1815, the town never abandoned the Celtic Saint, Tydfil although very little is known about her. There are in fact very few British towns named after a female Saint and the association with Tydfil is very special.

The later Merthyr Tydfil First World War Memorial has in its centre the same mythological figure of St Tydfil together with the images of a working miner and a mother and child. All these figures are emblematic of  sacrifice, St Tydfil was sacrificed for her religious beliefs, too often coal miners are sacrificed to the coal mining industry and mothers’ always make sacrifices  for their children.

The Borough Coat of Arms (right) bears a likeness of St. Tydfil as the central  motif. The heraldic description of the Borough Arms (formally granted on the 17th August 1906), is as follows:-

‘Azure a figure representing Saint Tydvil the Martyr, in Chief Two Crosses patee fitchee all Or’.

Tydfil is represented as a hard working saint because in her hands she has a distaff, which is used for spinning.  The placing of the distaff as an important symbol  in the coat of arms  is chosen to signify industry and to represent the proud industrial history of the new Borough of Merthyr Tydfil. The daggers on either side of her head are meant to indicate the martyrdom and to remind us of how Tydfil met her death and that her life was a sacrifice to God.

The motto on the coat of arms- ‘Nid Cadarn ond Brodyrdde’ is taken from an Old Welsh manuscript, ‘The Sayings of the Wise’ and means ‘Not force but Fellowship’.  There is nothing so strong as the bonds of brotherhood. This reflects the strength of Trade Union feeling and the strong political traditions here.

The Borough’s Seal incorporates the Coat of Arms and has three circles, each with individual illustrations, Morlais Castle (the ancient links with Norman Lords), Trevithick’s engine (the innovations and inventions pioneered here) and a blast furnace (the industrial nature of Merthyr Tydfil).

The Borough Seal. © Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales

Caedraw

by Carolyn Jacob

Following on from the last post here’s a potted history of Caedraw by Carolyn Jacob.

Caedraw means ‘the field beyond’, as it was just outside the traditional village of Merthyr Tydfil and a district beside the River Taff. Although in the eighteenth century it was just a field, as soon as Merthyr started to develop an iron industry this area had houses erected on it for workers and it soon became a built up area. Caedraw first started to have houses from 1800 onwards. Streets here included Taff Street, Upper Taff Street, Picton Street and streets with curious names, such as Isle of Wight and Adam and Eve Court. There was once an old woollen mill in Mill Street. This district was bordered by the River Taff and the Plymouth Feeder.

Caedraw from the 1851 Public Health Map
The same area in 1919

Along the banks of the river as well as a woollen mill there was a tannery, a laundry, a gas works, together with shops and public houses. The Taff was at its most polluted here, having industrial and household waste, together with the black waters of the Morlais Brook, ‘the Stinky’, carrying the filth of Dowlais and Penydarren Ironworks. Thankfully the herons on its banks find the river much cleaner today.

A hundred years ago Caedraw School was multicultural with English, Irish, Italian, Jewish and Welsh pupils. The old Caedraw School was built in 1872 and had some very famous ex pupils, such as the freeman of Merthyr Tydfil and miner’s leader, Arthur Horner. The school was situated by the old gas works.

Caedraw School with St Tydfil’s Church behind. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

Because the district was very near to the river Taff, the first laundry in Merthyr Tydfil was set up here but sadly the workers here succumbed to cholera in the 1849 epidemic and this resulted in the Parish publishing a newspaper advertisement to tell people not to boil their water. According to the 1881 census there was a woollen factory between numbers 37 and 42 Picton Street. There were a number of public houses, lodging houses, and a bakehouse in Vaughan Street.

This built up area consisting of lots of small courtyards was very densely populated. The houses themselves were very clean, but small and without any modern conveniences. The old rambling buildings along tightly packed streets of Caedraw became very old fashioned and in need of repair by the 1950s. Merthyr Tydfil Borough Council decided to redevelop Caedraw and build modern flats here to replace the old houses. From 1959 onwards old Caedraw was gradually pulled down but not without a certain feeling of sadness, despite a headline in the Western Mail on 24 April 1959, ’12 Acres of ugliness being razed, Merthyr’s biggest face lift. More than 200 houses, two shops, two pubs and a club were put under the sledge-hammer in one of the biggest redevelopment schemes in South Wales’.

An aerial view of Caedraw before it was redeveloped. Caedraw School can be seen in the bottom right hand corner with the gasworks in front of it, next to the river. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

The official opening of the Caedraw ‘Central Housing Redevelopment Project’ was on Thursday 22 April, 1965 by James Griffiths, Secretary of State for Wales. The Caedraw Scheme of 193 dwellings consisted of 66 one-bedroomed flats in the 12 storey point block. There are 64 two-bedroom maisonettes, 24 three-bedroomed maisonettes and 8 bed-sitting room flats in 8 4-storey blocks. The remainder of the accommodation is contained in two 3-storey blocks containing 19 two-bedroomed maisonettes, 9 one-bedroom flats and 3 bed-sitting room flats. The tender of George Wimpey and Co. Ltd. was accepted by the Council in January 1963 and work on the flats commenced four months later in April. The completion date in the contract was April 1965 but the scheme was completed and handed over six months ahead of this date.

Caedraw in 1965 after the redevelopment. Photo from the official ‘Opening’ programme of the Caedraw Project

Each block of flats was named after an important figure in the history of Wales. St Tydfil’s Court (the Celtic Saint buried here), Portal House (Portal wrote the report of the Royal Commission of 1935 into the state of Merthyr Tydfil), Wilson Court  (Harold Wilson was Labour Prime Minister when the flats were opened), Buckland House (Lord Buckland a wealthy financier born in Merthyr), Attlee House (Clement Attlee Labour Prime Minister after 1945), Hywel House (Hywel Dda was a Welsh King who had the laws of the country written down), Trevithick House (Trevithick was the first to use a locomotive to transport iron from Penydarren and unwillingly carried passengers too).