Author: merthyr.history@gmail.com

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.

After Dowlais House there was, I think, a house, but it was enlarged for Mr George Martin, who lived there some years after. Then came the surgery, and the entrance to the furnace yard beyond. The railroad for bringing the limestone from the quarries crossed the turnpike here, and cottages continued for some distance on the road to Rhymney.

The road to the Ivor Works runs alongside the old limestone road, and just on the corner is the residence of Mr E. P. Martin, his brother, Mr H. W. Martin, occupying the smaller one adjoining.

An extract from the 1851 Ordnance Survey Map showing the two houses in question.

The first was built for Mr John Evans, and occupied for some years by him, but Mr Joseph Lamphier, who occupied the smaller, moved to Cwmavon, and both he and his sister (for he was a bachelor) rest in a grave there. My first visit to Mr John Evans’ house was when he resided at Gwernllwyn Isaf. His brother, Thomas, lived near, and also the rector, Rev Thomas Jenkins. There was also a school there – small, very small in comparison with the present, but there it was.

A short way further, and the Ivor Works are come to, but a road crosses leading up to the houses behind the works. These were built just after the starting of the works in ’33 or ’39, and several of them were the quarters of the military stationed there after the Chartist Riot at Newport. The captain had been abroad, and brought a coloured nursemaid back. This girl was was an object of curiosity to the tip girls, and, they being so much so, took an opportunity of inspecting if that was actually the colour of her skin beneath her clothes.

Instead of turning to the right, if we turned left we should be on the continuation of the road which is mentioned as turning up the side of the Dowlais Inn. Proceeding along this, we come to the stables on one side and the Market House on the other. The church is a short distance further on the same side as the stables.

An extract from an the 1851 Ordnance Survey Map showing the area in question

With the introduction of the railways, no doubt there has been some improvement, but the impression yet existing is that there is more squalor – perhaps less care for appearances. That some feeling of this kind did exist is shown by what was done when a great personage was there.

There was a large order for rails in the market, and the high position of the firm stood them in good stead. To understand my meaning, it is proper to state the town residence of Sir John Guest (8 Spring Gardens) was celebrated; it was here the episode of the balance-sheet took place as described in Roebuck’s “History of the Whigs”. The order was secured, and a Russian prince was coming to see the works. Between the entrance to the works, opposite the Bush and Dowlais House, on the left side of the road going up, were a lot of cottages. They were somewhat above the average at that time, but the gardens in front were not tidy, so Mawdesley, the engineer of the Ivor Works, was called on to design and erect an iron railing which was done.

To be continued at a later date…….

Merthyr’s Chapels: Moriah Chapel, Cefn Coed

Moriah Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Chapel, Cefn Coed

At the end of the 18th century a Mr Rowland Pugh came to Cefn Coed from North Wales. He became a member of Pennsylvania (Pontmorlais) Chapel, and in time became a deacon there.

Within a few years he started a Methodist Society in his own house at Cefn Isaf, Cefn Coed and as the cause grew it became apparent that a more suitable place of worship was required and the first Moriah Chapel was built in 1807. The congregation increased and a new chapel was built in 1830, and two branches were established that became Bethlehem Chapel, Caepantywyll and Carmel Chapel, Clwydyfagwyr.

By the 1880’s it became obvious that a new chapel was needed, so the chapel was again rebuilt and was opened on 21 March 1886. A small notice of the chapel’s reopening appeared in the Merthyr Express on 3 April 1886 which is transcribed below:

“MORIAH CALVINISTIC METHODIST CHAPEL

The Opening services of this chapel were held on the 21st and 22nd ult. when the Revs J Lewis, Cilgerran; T Davies, Treorchy and T C Phillips, Abercarn preached eloquent sermons to large congregations. Collections were made in each service towards the building fund which amounted to over £200. The church at Moriah now posess undoubtedly the neatest and prettiest place of worship in the place.”

In 1908 a controversy occurred. The minister at Moriah at the time, Rev D Watts-Lewis, officiated at the memorial service for Rev Dr Thomas Rees, former minister at Pontmorlais Chapel and a very eminent man in the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Church. However, shortly after this he announced his intention to resign as minister of the chapel and the Calvinistic Methodist Church and join the Church of England. He was accepted into the Church of England in June 1908 and immediately became a curate at Skewen.

The membership at Moriah declined steadily after the Second World War, and by the mid 1960’s the chapel closed. The building was demolished in 1972.

The Dark Side of Convict Life – part 13

by Barrie Jones

Chapter X. Henry describes the searching system and discipline in Portland Prison.

The Dark Side of Convict Life (Being the Account of the Career of Harry Williams, a Merthyr Man). Merthyr Express, 26th March 1910, page 11.

Chapter X

In this chapter I wish to deal with the searching system. A great deal has been said concerning this, but the practice is still carried on. What is more degrading than for a man to be forced against his will to undress, as naked, as he was born, and then submit to be examined. I can well remember a case some years ago. When we marched to the bathroom to go through the form a search. One man absolutely refused to take anything off beyond his over-clothing and boots, and when ordered to take his shirt off by one of the officers, he replied. “No, I have too much respect for myself to expose myself in that manner.” “Take them off,” said the officer, “or I will take them off for you.” Still he refused, whereupon other officers were summoned and they took him by force, and tore them clean from off his back. They then dragged him to the cells. The following day he was brought before the Governor, and sent to be tried before the Director on a charge of incitement to mutiny; and finally, he was awarded fifteen day’s bread and water, together with a forfeiture of ten week’s remission. It matters not whether it is a shovel, chisel, wheelbarrow, or a ladder that is missing, this system of searching is carried out, and in full view of officers and prisoners. The same thing goes on once a fortnight, in the convicts’ cells, where everything is overhauled from a piece of soap to a single sheet of paper. Should a convict happen to have more than one piece of soap, or more than his quantity of paper, or even a small loaf of bread over his day’s rations, he is at once reported and punished with bread and water, and other forfeitures. For instance, a needle; found in a convict’s cell or possession, is at once reported and the man punished. Sometimes convicts are obliged to place a button on one of their garments, and the way they do it is by making two small holes with  a slate pencil, then tying the button with a piece of string. Even, this is considered a punishable offence, yet they are denied a needle to sew buttons on with.

I was once reported for having a small piece of soap in my pocket, when searched on parade, and for this I forfeited three days of my ticket of leave. Another convict was awarded three days’ bread and water, merely for feeding the sparrows through the ventilator of his cell window. For having a single spot of dirt or dust on any of his utensils, or to disarrange them or his bedclothes, or to neglect polishing up his shoes to perfection, a man is punished. An offence which is considered rather serious in convict prisons, but which, in the majority of cases, cannot always be avoided, is to be caught sleeping with the head covered up. Of course, it is considered unhealthy, but this is not the reason why this habit is prohibited. The night watchman has to look through each observation glass into the cell once every fifteen minutes during the whole of the night-watch, in order to see that the convict is safely within the cell. I can well remember one night a convict escaped through his cell window, and he so artfully arranged his mattress and pillow that when the officer looked into his cell the dummy appeared for all the world like the head of the convict, and he got clear away, in spite of the civil guards who were patrolling to and fro outside the prison walls. I remember being in the next cell to an old man who was nicknamed “Snorer” owing to the noise he made during sleep. One night he was watched by an officer, and when he was seen to have his head covered, the officer kicked his door and ordered him to remove his bedclothes from his head, remarking that if he caught him again he would report him to the Governor. He got three day’s bread and water. The man tried to defend himself by saying that he never knew that he was breaking the rules, neither was he aware that he had covered his head; but all the Governor said was, “A man of your age ought to know better.” The Director visits convict prisons once a month, for the purpose of listening to complaints, and to try convicts for serious offences. In recent years, instead of a Directors, a Visiting Committee have done this.

During my sentence of nine years, I have known over thirty officers who have been dismissed from the service for sleeping during night duty, and they often report a man every time they are on night duty, in order to throw off suspicion from themselves. One officer used to give tobacco to a convict for watching for him while he stretched himself on a mattress outside the convict’s cell door. When the convict heard the senior night officer coming through the doors he would just put his hand underneath the door, and give the officer a good shake to wake him. He would then quickly jump to his feet, when, like a flash of lightening, the mattress would disappear into the cell, and when the senior officer put his head into the hall doorway the officer would be ready with a salute and “All correct, sir.”

To be continued…

Potatoes

By Laura Bray

Following on from an earlier post, which discussed the scarcity of fish in 1943 (https://www.merthyr-history.com/?p=7863), the Merthyr Express of the same month (February 1943) printed a “potato plan”.

Potatoes were not rationed, as from 1939 farmers had been encouraged to increase potato production, and potatoes had also been a key message in the Dig for Victory campaign, with the caveat that they should be planted as part of the official cropping plan and not at the expense of other vegetables.

It is not surprising then that there was a lot of information available about innovative and interesting ways to cook potatoes.

The Express’s “Potato Plan” came up with five ways of using them:

  • Serving potatoes for breakfast on three days a week
  • Making your main dish a potato dish once a week
  • Refusing second helpings of other foods, rather filling up on potatoes
  • Serving potatoes in other ways than plain boiled
  • Using potatoes to save flour by using one third potato, two thirds flour, a combination which could be used when making pastries, puddings and cakes.  Potatoes were boiled or baked then mashed with a fork till they looked like flour and you were encouraged to cook them the day before or throw in a few extra when you were using the oven.

It seems that this advice was used by the Express from that provided by the Ministry of Food as the same photo and plan crops up in other papers from elsewhere in the country.

The message was clear: “Bread costs ships. Eat home grown potatoes instead” and it would appear that the Merthyr public did just that.