Month: April 2018

Merthyr’s Bridges: Quakers Yard Viaduct

Twelve years ago today, two plaques in Welsh and English were unveiled on Quakers Yard Viaduct to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s birth.

The Quakers Yard Viaduct was constructed as part of Brunel’s single-track Taff Vale Railway that connected Merthyr Tydfil to the docks at Cardiff. It carried the railway over the River Taff just south of Treharris.

The Taff Vale Railway was the first in Wales to be powered only by locomotives and the railway company that constructed it appointed Isambard Kingdom Brunel as engineer for the line and its structures. Its original track was standard gauge (4ft 8.5in or 1.435m). The northern section, from Abercynon to Merthyr Tydfil, opened on 12 April 1841, and the first rail traffic crossed Quakers Yard Viaduct on 21 April 1841.

Quakers Yard Viaduct during construction

The viaduct is slightly curved in plan and set at a skew angle to the river. Overall, it is 32.3m high, with six arches of 15.2m span each. The masonry is pennant sandstone, which has tooled detailing on all visible faces.

Brunel was concerned about the potential for damage the foundations of the river piers. To minimise this, the piers are octagonal in plan, aligned with their sides parallel to the river’s axis. This was an innovative idea, removing sharp corners that could obstruct river flow and possibly lead to cavitation. Substantial pediments cap the piers and the rounded arches have deep chamfers, echoing the angled pier faces.

The railway’s gradient between the Quakers Yard Viaduct and nearby Abercynon was too steep (up to 1 in 19) for the locomotives of the 1840s, so trains were cable-hauled by a stationary steam winding engine, which was located at the southern end of the viaduct.

In 1861-62, the structure was widened as part of the project to make the Taff Vale Railway double track throughout. Engineer John Hawkshaw (1811-91) designed the new work, which is of plainer masonry, with unchamfered arches and rectangular piers, and located immediately adjacent to the original against its outer curve, on the downstream (north) side.

In 1864, the cable-worked incline south of the viaduct was reconstructed at a shallower gradient (1 in 40). In addition, trains of the 1860s had more pulling power and did not require the winding engine.

In April 1988, the structure was Grade II* listed.

Quakers Yard Viaduct

Our Lives in Their Hands

by Irene Janes

Nurse Lillian Dailey

This particular woman may have sent shivers down the spine of pregnant ladies in our town, but not in bad way – it was the realisation they were about to go through the experience of child birth.

Nurse Dailey’s father was an army guard. Lillian qualified and did midwifery in London. She had the good sense to marry a Welsh man and move to Merthyr Tydfil where they lived in the Dowlais and Penydarren area. In her time, she delivered over one hundred babies.

Mrs Hazel Davies brought Lillian to my attention. Although Hazel was under the hospital with her two pregnancies, Lillian looked after her when she was having her two sons, who were Lillian’s great grandsons.

Thankfully, this was not Lillian’s only skill and passed onto Hazel the craft of crochet. The blanket of three hundred squares is safe in Hazel’s home along with happy memories of Nurse Dailey.

I nearly forgot to mention that this grand, proud lady lived to be one hundred years old.

Midwife Alice Ann Sussex

Here is another one people may remember. Alice covered the area of Troedyrhiw and surrounding areas. Although not a nurse, Alice was a fully trained midwife. The last baby she delivered was the sender of this information Mrs Sheila Sussex. In 1952, midwife Alice re-registered so she could help deliver Sheila, which is her granddaughter, and the last baby to be delivered by her. Thank you Sheila Sussex for sharing this with us.

I must add every one of us owes a huge debt to midwives from Merthyr Tydfil and beyond, we salute you all. We were all babies once and without them, perhaps we wouldn’t be here.

Shop Floor Collapse

Below is a transcription of an article that appeared in the Weekly Mail 110 years ago today (4 April 1908):

SHOP-FLOOR COLLAPSE

OYSTER-BAR MISHAP AT MERTHYR

There, was an alarming occurrence at an oyster saloon in Glebeland Street, Merthyr, yesterday, the stone flooring of the shop giving way and several persons having narrow escapes from being killed.

Mrs. Flower, the occupier, was out at the time, and a servant-maid, named Flye, was standing behind the counter talking to her brother, and there were three other lads also in the shop. The boys were precipitated into the cellar below, but Flye saved himself from falling by clinging to the counter, which remained intact.

One of the lads, who lives in Paynters Terrace, Bethesda Street, was rather badly hurt, and was taken home in a cab, but, beyond shock, the others escaped injury.

On the surface of it this is a simple article, but it is also an fascinating study of social history. For instance – who knew that there was an oyster bar in Glebeland Street? Indeed, who knew that there was an oyster bar in Merthyr at all? Also, there are some interesting facts there for family historians and genealogists.

I think that so much can be learned from looking at old newspapers – sometimes you can learn far more from papers than from reading a serious history book.