The document below shows the scheduled rota for leave for the Merthyr Workhouse Infirmary from 110 years ago today.
Month: March 2021
Merthyr’s Chapels: Market Square Chapel
Market Square English Congregational Chapel
By the 1830’s the population of Merthyr was expanding rapidly, so there was need of a place of worship for the English speaking members of the Independent chapels. A group of Scotsmen began meeting in a small room in the Old Foundry in Lower High Street.
On 30 December 1838 a public meeting was held and it was decided to establish an English Independent Church. The foundation stone was laid on 11 June 1840 and the chapel was completed and opened for worship on 4 May 1841. Market Square’s first minister was Rev Edward Griffiths. Rev Griffiths son, Samuel went on to become Prime Minister of Queensland.
Over the years many improvements were made to the chapel including the installation of an impressive organ costing £120 in 1850, and the building of a schoolroom and new vestries in 1877 costing £400.
In 1893, the Christian Endeavour Society which was very active at Market Square Chapel started to hold open air meetings at Caedraw on Sundays, and later Caedraw Board School was obtained for services.At the beginning of Rev S R Jenkins’ pastorate in 1898, the chapel engaged an evangelist, Miss Ward, for a period of twelve months, and promised to build a Mission Hall. For various reasons the building of the Mission Hall was delayed, but it was finally completed and opened on 3 November 1904. The Caedraw Mission became a great success, and a full time missioner was installed there at a fixed salary. It remained an integral part of Market Square until it was demolished in 1961 to make way for the new road being built.
Caedraw Mission Hall in the background of this photo. Courtesy of the Alan George Archive
In 1912, Alderman J M Berry, who was a leading deacon of the chapel was elected Mayor of the Borough of Merthyr Tydfil, and his three sons would go on to be prominent citizens and all three would be honoured with peerages.
Henry Seymour Berry (1877-1928) acquired substantial holdings in steel, coal, transport, printing, and shipping and was made a Freeman of the Borough in 1923 and became Baron Buckland of Bwlch in 1926. William Ewart Berry (1879-1953) and James Gomer Berry (1883-1968) together built a vast empire of magazines, regional and national newspapers, including the Financial Times, The Daily Telegraph, and the Sunday Times. Gomer became Baron Kemsley in 1936 and Viscount Kemsley in 1944. He was made a Freeman of the Borough in 1955. William was made Baron Camrose in 1929 and a Viscount in 1941.
In 1938 Market Square Chapel celebrated its centenary; one of the appreciative gifts to the chapel was the installation of a new pipe organ. Lord Kemsley and Lord Camrose had shared their parent’s affection for the church of their boyhood days and made a gift of the organ in memory of their parents.
In 1961 it was announced that the chapel was to be demolished as part of the refurbishment of the town centre, and after many discussions, in 1966 it was decided to build a new chapel. The old chapel was finally demolished in 1969 and the foundations for the new chapel were laid the same year. The new chapel which is now situated in Salmon Street officially opened in 1971. The new chapel was designed specifically so that it could house the pipe organ donated by the Berry family, so the organ was put into storage until the new chapel was built and it could be installed.
In 1972, Market Square became a United Reformed Church, and in 1974 united with Hope Chapel and Trinity Chapel, Merthyr Vale. In 2008, it became apparent that the cost of running both Market Square and Hope Chapels was too high so that it was decided that one of the buildings should be closed. A vote was held amongst the members of the congregation, and it was decided that Market Square should be kept open, and it is one of the few chapels still holding services.
Merthyr: Then and Now
THEATRE ROYAL
The Theatre Royal was opened in May 1894 as the Theatre Royal and Opera House. It was designed by local Merthyr Tydfil architect T.C. Wakeling in a Neo-Classical style, and was equipped with a stage that was 28 feet wide and 22 feet deep, with six dressing rooms. It cost £8,000 and had a seating capacity of 1,800.
It was one of the premier theatres in Wales, and attracted many of the biggest stars who performed there. With the growing popularity of films in the 1920s, the theatre began to operate as a cinema, as well as presenting live performances.
The Theatre Royal closed in the late 1960s and was converted into a bingo club. The theatre closed as a bingo hall in 2006 and has been unused ever since. Plans for the site have been considered but never submitted. The building is now in a very poor state and on the “at risk” register.
The future of the building looks very bleak – as are several other building in Merthyr. I will probably be demolished, as so much of the town’s heritage has been in the name of ‘progress’.
War Weapons Week
From the Merthyr Express 80 years ago today…
Merthyr’s Heritage Plaques: Matthew John
by Keith Lewis-Jones
Plaque sited at Vulcan House, CF47 8LR
Matthew John (1807-1888) was the son of the Rev. David John, a Unitarian Minister.
In the 1830s Matthew became active in the Chartist Movement, and became one of the leaders in Merthyr alongside his father and Morgan Williams, the three leading marches of thousands of people.
Vulcan House, which had been set up as a foundry under Matthew, soon became the focal point for Chartist activities.
Highway Robbery
From the Monmouthshire Merlin 145 years ago today….
Queen’s Hotel, Merthyr
I have received an enquiry about the Queen’s Hotel in Merthyr. There are two references to it in the Merthyr Telegraph (below).
From the description, it looks like it was situated at the bottom end of the High Street, opposite St Tydfil’s Church. Both the original enquirer and I have searched through old maps and trade directories, but neither of us can find any record of it.
Can anyone shed some light on this mystery hotel?
Who was Lewis Cobden Thomas?
Lewis Cobden Thomas was born on 6 August 1865 in Merthyr Tydfil, the fourth son and fifth of eleven children of Thomas Thomas, an ironmonger, and his wife Gwladys, nee Jones. He was given the name of the radical liberal MP, Richard Cobden, who had fiercely opposed the Corn Laws, campaigned for their abolition and for an improved system of education.
He was educated at Merthyr College, Queen’s College Taunton, University College Aberystwyth and University College Cardiff where he obtained a 1st Division Certificate London Matriculation.
A natural sportsman, he played rugby as a forward for Cardiff in 12 matches and scored 7 tries in the 1883-84 and 1884-85 seasons. He was described in the South Wales Daily News in December 1884 as one of the best forwards in Wales. He won his two international caps against England and Scotland in the two matches played by Wales in the 1885 Championship. In the match against England at St Helen’s Swansea in front of a crowd of 5,000, in which the young Arthur Gould also won his 1st cap playing at full back, the first half was closely contested but the Wales team was well beaten in the second half by a strong English side who scored five tries to the two scored by Wales.
His second and final appearance for Wales was in the scoreless draw against Scotland a week later on 10 January 1885 at Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow in front of 3,000 spectators. The South Wales Echo wrote:
“The Welshmen were lighter than their opponents, but nevertheless held their own well in the scrums. L C Thomas played splendidly and was admirably supported by A F Hill and R Gould”
He played for the University College Cardiff rugby team against Neath on 24 October 1885 during the 1885-86 season, but the profile of the university club was far inferior to that of the Cardiff team he had played for in the previous two seasons so the chance of adding to his tally of Welsh caps was slight. The South Wales Daily News commented on 2 November 1886:
“By the way, what has become of the South Wales College team? They have lately dropped altogether into the background. Surely this is not creditable to a club which has possessed such sterling players as H M Jordan, L C Thomas and A C Davies.”
It is believed that a knee injury later in the 1885-86 season led to his premature retirement from the game as no further mention of him has been found in any of the Welsh papers in connection with his rugby career.
His rugby career was in effect only a distinguished interlude in a very full life. A strong swimmer he saved a man from drowning in the notoriously dangerous Blue Pool at Pontsarn in June 1887. This heroic act led to him being awarded The Royal Humane Society’s Certificate in Vellum for which the citation read:
“Lewis Cobden Thomas is justly entitled to this Honorary Testimonial of this Society inscribed in Vellum which is hereby awarded to him for having on the 19th day of June 1887 gone to the rescue of Cornelius Allen who was in imminent danger of Drowning in Pwll Glas, Pontsarn, and whose life he gallantly saved.”
He was articled as a solicitor to a firm in Merthyr and spent the last year of his articles in London with Schultz & Sons. Having qualified as a solicitor, he came to Neath in 1880 and joined in partnership with Samuel Thomas Evans practising in offices in St Thomas Chambers, Church Place. Evans left the partnership a year later to study for the bar and Lewis Thomas continued to practise on his own. He served on the Neath Borough Council from 1897 to 1903 and was Mayor of Neath in 1900-01, a memorable year in which he led the formal responses of the town to the death of Queen Victoria.
He assisted in the formation of a mining company, The Thomas Merthyr Colliery Co Ltd, in 1906 set up by two of his brothers. He remained a Director of the company until 1911 and the company survived the vicissitudes of the industrial climate between the wars before being nationalised with the Coal Industry in 1946.
Lewis Thomas devoted his main attention to his law firm for many years but his health was not good in the years after the war and he suffered from increasing deafness. He died in Neath on 14 April 1928 aged 63.
Article supplied courtesy of researcher Richard Steele and the World Rugby Museum, Twickenham.
Merthyr’s Lost Landmarks: Gwaunfarren Baths
Swimming has always been a popular pastime. Up until the late 1880s, however, the only place for anyone in Merthyr to enjoy a swim was in one of the many ponds dotted around the town. These were often dirty and un-hygienic and people would quite often find themselves swimming with goodness knows what.
In 1889, John Vaughan, a local solicitor, secured a piece of land in Gwaunfarren, and opened an open-air swimming pool there. Fed by a channel off the neighbouring weir, and with wooden decking along the pool’s edge, the new pool provided a safe venue for swimming set into the hillside amidst sheltering trees and bushes.
In February of the following year, John Vaughan set up a limited company, ‘The Merthyr and Dowlais Swimming Bath Company Ltd’, to formalise the formation of the new bathing facility. The company was registered with a capital of £800 in £1 shares, “to obtain a lease from Colonel Morgan of the swimming bath at Gwaunfarren, Merthyr Tydfil, for 60 years, at a rent of a peppercorn, when demanded, for the first 21 years, and £3 per annum for the remaining period”.
With this secured, John Vaughan embarked on developing a more permanent site with relevant facilities, and the new Swimming Baths were built by a local builder, Mr Matthew Warlow at a cost of £1,600, and were opened in 1891.
From the outset, the new baths were a success. A swimming club was started and competitions and swimming galas were held regularly at the baths.
One of the regular visitors to the baths, and one of its greatest patrons was David Alfred Thomas (Lord Rhondda), the Welsh industrialist and M.P. for Merthyr between 1888 and 1910. In 1915, Thomas was aboard the RMS Lusitania when it was sunk by German torpedoes, and a number of accounts say that he cited the years spent swimming at Gwaunfarren as a contributory factor in helping save himself from the disaster.
The impact of the First World War was catastrophic on the open-air baths and through a mixture of declining use, neglect of the fixtures and fittings, and even pilfering of parts of the wooden structure, the baths were closed.
Following the war, Henry Seymour Berry, Merthyr’s great benefactor, realising the Merthyr no longer had adequate swimming facilities, paid for a new, indoor facility to be built on the site of the old baths, and subsequently made a gift of the new baths to Merthyr County Borough Council.
The new building, which was built at a cost of over £8,000, was officially opened in a grand ceremony on 3 July 1924.
The baths were refurbished again at a cost of £67,000 in 1979-1980, and they remained open until 2007. The building was subsequently demolished.
Parry Broadcast at Merthyr
From the Merthyr Express 80 years ago today….
