Month: March 2019

Merthyr’s Lost Landmarks: Dowlais House

by Carolyn Jacob

Dowlais House in 1899. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

It is probable that John Josiah Guest had Dowlais House built around 1818, possibly as a home for his bride Maria Rankin. It was a large, solid, well-proportioned structure.  Her early death left him a widower until his marriage to Charlotte, daughter of the Earl of Lindsey, in 1833. Better known as Lady Charlotte Guest, she described her first visit to Dowlais House in her diary.

‘ By the time we had reached the House it was quite dark and the prevailing gloom gave full effect to the light of the blazing furnaces, which was quite unlike all I had ever before seen or even imagined. The interior of the house was precisely what Merthyr’s sketch of it had taught me to expect. My first impulse was to establish myself in the library, by far the pleasantest room in the house. We walked out as far as the limits of the garden, round the house and stood without the gate – the furnace gate-upon the steps leading to the Works’.

It is here that she succeeded in translating the Welsh tales the Mabinogion into English and within the short space of thirteen years she also gave birth to ten children in Dowlais House. No doubt it was partly on their account that she encouraged her husband in 1846 to buy Canford Manor in Dorset. Cholera in Dowlais made it essential for the young family to move from Dowlais House. However, on his death bed, John Josiah Guest insisted on returning to Dowlais House in 1852, so that he could die where he was born – in his beloved Dowlais.

Dowlais House in the 1860s. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

Dowlais House then became the Dowlais residence of G. T.  Clark, Esq. who took over as the manager of the Works. Dowlais House was converted to offices in 1894 after G.T. Clark retired from the business residence. The alterations which followed destroyed most of its older features as a private house, with the exception an attractive balustrade running up a stairs. Its proximity meant that the House featured in many photographs of  the Dowlais Works.  Prior to its demolition in the early 1970s, it was used as the employment exchange.

Dowlais House being demolished in 1973. Photo courtesy of the Alan George archive.

Memories of Old Merthyr

Whilst looking through back issues of the Merthyr Express, local historian Michael Donovan came across a remarkable feature which ran across several editions of the newspaper in 1901. The article concerns  reminiscences of Merthyr dating back to the 1830’s. Unfortunately, there is no indication who the person who wrote these memories is. Michael has passed copies of these articles on to me to feature on this blog. I will post extracts periodically, starting with the transcription below.

Merthyr Tydfil, erstwhile the metropolis of the iron manufacture, although that proud distinction no longer applies, is yet progressing and prosperous. Being able to recall it as was so many years ago, it is my intention to describe things that can be remembered, and to say in a gossiping garrulous manner what may instruct and amuse the present generation.

I think it was in 1834 I first saw Merthyr, coming by coach from Cardiff. The impression upon me was strange, for until then all ideas of existence had been gathered in a city, and the transition from such to a long, straggling village was very great. From Cardiff one set of horses ran to the Bridgewater Arms, and another on to Merthyr. The starting place in Cardiff was the Angel Hotel, which stood about the position of the Bute Estate Offices at the present, and the finish was at the Castle Hotel, or the booking office which was adjoining it on the Pontmorlais side. The coach stopped at the Bush Hotel to set down some passengers, and unless memory plays me false, the coachman’s name was Howells.

The Castle Hotel in Merthyr in the mid 1800’s

There was a great dearth of houses. Anything except workmen’s cottages were very few, and, as a rule, occupied by their owners. Just call to mind what Merthyr would be without Thomastown and Twynyrodyn, the site of the present Market-house and its surrounding streets a field, a field where the present station is (Cae Gwyn), a market garden where the lower part of the station yard is, no water except what could be had from a well here and there, no drainage, no police, and I almost think no gas works.

Further afield, Troedyrhiw had few houses, Pontyrhun was not, except a pumping engine and residence for the attendant. His name was Gibbons, and the engine supplied the Glamorganshire Canal from the river. Not above a dozen houses in Abercanaid; and as for Cefn, if you could find a cottage to spare, provided any means were used to come to Merthyr, no less than three turnpike gates would have to be passed through, to two of which a toll would be paid; and if, instead of turning round to enter the ‘village’, anyone went a short distance up the road to Penydarren, another toll would be demanded.

The old Penydarren Toll House (front) at the bottom of The Avenue. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

And yet with these conditions and surroundings –

“Content could spread a charm,
Redress the place, and all its faults disarm.”

To be continued at a later date…..

School days of old

Here are a couple of photographs from the 1930’s* and 1950’s at the Castle School. It is almost impossible to imagine scenes such as these in a secondary school these days.

*Many thanks to Joe England for confirming that the first photograph is actually from the 1930’s, not the 1940’s as originally stated.

Have times changed for the better? What do you think?

Photos courtesy of the Alan George archive.

Florence Smithson

Today marks the 135th anniversary of the birth of one of Merthyr’s brightest musical stars – Florence Smithson.

Although born in Leicester, Florence spent most of her childhood and formative years in Merthyr. She was the daughter of Will Smithson, a well-known provincial theatre manager, who had settled in Merthyr to take over the running of the Theatre Royal. She made her stage debut at the age of three in pantomime. After leaving school she studied at the London College of Music. Various singing engagements followed, and while she was touring with a small opera company in Donizetti’s opera La Fille du Régiment, she was spotted by the impresario Robert Courtneidge. Under his management she toured in 1904–05 as Nanoya in The Cingalee and Chandra Nil in The Blue Moon.

In August 1905 she made her first appearance in the West End repeating her role in The Blue Moon and making an immediate success. From then until the First World War she made occasional variety appearances and played in a series of musical comedies, and created the role of Sombra in The Arcadians.

In July 1914, she sailed for Australia, but the outbreak of war curtailed her tour. Returning to England in 1915 she toured in variety theatres and played pantomime seasons in London. Australian and South African tours followed in the 1920s, and she returned to England in 1927.

Throughout this period, she never forgot her roots in Wales, and performed frequently throughout the country, and made regular appearances in Merthyr. One of her last engagements was in a national tour of The Gipsy Princess.

Florence Smithson died on 11 February 1951 in a nursing home in Cardiff after undergoing a serious operation.

She had a singing voice of great purity, and audiences waited expectantly for her trademark pianissimo high notes. The operatic star Adelina Patti dubbed her “the Nightingale of Wales”, and Dame Nellie Melba was quoted as saying of her “They say the birds taught her to sing; I think she taught the birds”.

Merthyr’s First Synagogue

by Carl Llewellyn

With scant records regarding the Jewish migration to Merthyr Tydfil, I decided to research the beginnings of the Jewish community in the town. It has been reported that there has been a Jewish presence in Merthyr Tydfil since the 1820s. One example is Polish born Solomon and Leah Bloom, whose eldest daughter Ann was born in Poland in 1826, with their eldest son Abraham being born in Abercanaid in 1828. Subsequently all of Solomon and Leah Bloom’s other children were born in Merthyr Tydfil. Therefore Solomon and Leah Bloom came to Merthyr Tydfil around 1827.

With the rapid expansion in the iron industry in Merthyr, in the 1830’s another Jew named Joseph Barnett came to the town from Swansea. Joseph and his wife Sarah were born in Poland, all of their children were born in Swansea. Joseph Barnett opened a shop on Merthyr High Street – on the 1841 census it describes Joseph Barnett as a shopkeeper but in reality he was Pawnbroker. The 1841 census indicates there were at least 21 Jews living in Merthyr Tydfil.

With four iron works dominating the Merthyr Tydfil locality, more Jews escaping the persecution in the Russian controlled countries became attracted to Merthyr Tydfil, with business prospects either as Pawnbrokers, Hawkers or Glaziers.

By the late 1840’s the number of Jews trebled. Up until now the Jewish religious services may have been held either at Solomon Bloom’s or Joseph Barnett’s houses, it was rumoured a synagogue was located in the area of Bethesda Street and Brecon Road, but there is no evidence of this whatsoever. However a synagogue did exist at the rear of No 28 Victoria Street – Joseph Barnett’s pawnshop. Below is an extract from an 1851 map of Merthyr showing this synagogue.

The usual date given for the establishment of the Merthyr Hebrew Congregation was 1848, but statistics for Merthyr Tydfil dated 1846 clearly states that a Jewish place of worship existed with 30 seats and 25 in attendance at services. As the statistics were published in 1846 it could be determined the figures were probably collated in 1845. Yet in T. E. Clarke’s guide to Merthyr Tydfil dated 1848 it does not mention the existence of a synagogue in Merthyr Tydfil.

At that time there was a Rabbi by the name of Barnett Asher Simmons. According to Ben Hamilton’s article “The Hebrew Community” he visited Merthyr Tydfil and officiated at services for the Merthyr Tydfil Hebrew congregation before the arrival of Rabbi Harris Isaacs from Ipswich, in 1850.

Harris Isaacs, a widower, had served the Jewish community at Ipswich for 27 years before coming to Merthyr, and living at 53 Glebeland St. His calling as a Rabbi did not provide him with living wage so he opened a Pawnshop to supplement his income.

By 1852 the number of Jewish families in Merthyr Tydfil had grown considerably, and congregants were in want of a larger place of worship. An appeal was sent to the Jewish Chronicle for assistance with funding for a new synagogue, Adverts appeared in the Jewish Chronicle dated 27 February 1852, 12 March 1852 and 9 April 1852. Below is the notice which appeared in each edition giving a list of donations, which included 18 members of the Merthyr Hebrew congregation.

When sufficient money had been collected, the Jewish elders of Merthyr Tydfil began making preparations for acquiring a site and requesting quotations from builders to build a new synagogue. The laying of the foundation stone for the new synagogue, which was situated behind the Temperance Hall, took place on 28 May 1852, and it took another eight months for the new synagogue to be completed. The Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian Glamorgan Monmouth and Brecon Gazette dated 19 February 1853 mentioned the inaugural ceremony took place 22 February 1853, when the Chief Rabbi A. L. Green of the Great Synagogue, London officiated on the occasion. Sadly there are no newspaper reports giving a detailed account of the opening of the Synagogue, but it was reported that there was accommodation for 93 persons, with 60 seats reserved for Jewish gentlemen, and 33 seats for Jewish ladies. Seat rentals ranged from £5.4s to £1.6s per annum.

An excerpt from an 1860 map of Merthyr showing the second synagogue

Merthyr: Then and Now

In the latest post in our ongoing series we have a couple of photographs of the area just outside the gates of St Tydfil’s Church.

In the first photograph, taken in the early 1900’s we can clearly see the famous Star Inn, where Admiral Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton stayed when they visited Cyfarthfa Works in 1800.

Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

The second photograph, taken in 2012, shows the area completely changed.

That’s progress for you – an important part of Merthyr’s history replaced by an advertising hoarding.