Tag: Merthyr Vale

Scheduled Monuments in Merthyr

I recently received an enquiry asking whether there were any Scheduled Monuments in Merthyr Tydfil. The following is transcribed from Wikipedia:-

Merthyr Tydfil County Borough has 43 scheduled monuments. The prehistoric scheduled sites include many burial cairns and several defensive enclosures. The Roman period is represented by a Roman Road. The medieval periods include two inscribed stones, several house platforms and two castle sites. Finally the modern period has 14 sites, mainly related to Merthyr’s industries, including coal mining, transportation and iron works. Almost all of Merthyr Tydfil was in the historic county of Glamorgan, with several of the northernmost sites having been in Brecknockshire.

Scheduled monuments have statutory protection. The compilation of the list is undertaken by Cadw Welsh Historic Monuments, which is an executive agency of the National Assembly of Wales. The list of scheduled monuments below is supplied by Cadw with additional material from RCAHMW (Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales) and Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust.

Name Site type Community Details Historic County
Gelligaer Standing Stone Standing stone Bedlinog A 2 m (6.6 ft) high stone on open moorland. Probably Bronze Age and with the possible remains of a Bronze Age burial alongside. An inscription on the stone, now mostly illegible, is described as either post-Roman/Early Christian or Early Medieval. Glamorganshire
Coed Cae Round Cairns Round cairn Bedlinog Located in a cairnfield with at least 19 stony mounds, the scheduling consists of a group of eight Bronze Age burial cairns. Glamorganshire
Gelligaer Common Round Cairns Round cairn Bedlinog A group of eleven Bronze Age burial cairns. Glamorganshire
Carn Castell y Meibion ring cairn Ring cairn Cyfarthfa

Troed-y-rhiw

 A ring cairn, possibly dating to the Bronze Age, with a 8 m (26 ft) diameter and surrounded by a 3 m (9.8 ft) wide stony ring bank. Glamorganshire
Brynbychan Round Cairn Round cairn Merthyr Vale, A Bronze Age circular cairn with a diameter of 18 m (59 ft). There is an OS triangulation pillar on the site. Glamorganshire
Cefn Merthyr Round Cairns Cairnfield Merthyr Vale Glamorganshire
Morlais Hill ring cairn Ring cairn Pant Glamorganshire
Tir Lan round barrow cemetery Round barrow Treharris The remains of six Bronze Age round barrows, three to the north-west and three to the south-east of Tir Lan farm. All six remain substantially intact despite being reduced by ploughing in the past. Glamorganshire
Garn Las Earthwork Round cairn Troed-y-rhiw The remains a circular burial cairn measuring 14 m (46 ft) in diameter, probably dating to the Bronze Age. Glamorganshire
Merthyr Common Round Cairns Round cairn Troed-y-rhiw A group of six Bronze Age burial cairns ranging from 5 to 19 m (16 to 62 ft) in diameter. Glamorganshire
Carn Ddu platform cairn Platform Cairn Vaynor Glamorganshire
Cefn Cil-Sanws ring cairn Ring cairn Vaynor Glamorganshire
Cefn Cil-Sanws, Cairn on SW side of Round Cairn Vaynor Brecknockshire
Coetgae’r Gwartheg barrow cemetery Round cairn Vaynor Glamorganshire
Garn Pontsticill ring cairn Ring cairn Vaynor Glamorganshire
Dyke 315m E of Tyla-Glas Ditch Bedlinog The remains of a later prehistoric/medieval dyke with a clearly defined bank and ditch running east-west across a ridge top. The 3 m (9.8 ft) wide ditch is 1.5 m (4.9 ft) deep at its east end. Glamorganshire
Cefn Cil-Sanws Defended Enclosure Enclosure – Defensive Vaynor Brecknockshire
Enclosure East of Nant Cwm Moel Enclosure – Defensive Vaynor Glamorganshire
Enclosure on Coedcae’r Ychain Enclosure – Defensive Vaynor Glamorganshire
Gelligaer Common Roman Road Road Bedlinog Glamorganshire
Nant Crew Inscribed Stone (now in St John’s Church, Cefn Coed ) Standing stone Vaynor A 1.5 m (5 ft) high square-sectioned pillar stone thought to date to the Bronze Age. A Latin inscription on the west face and cross incised on the north face are from the 6th and 7th-9th centuries. Holes in the stone indicate that it had been used as a gatepost. Brecknockshire
Platform Houses and Cairn Cemetery on Dinas Noddfa House platforms (& Cairnfield) Bedlinog Medieval house platforms, also prehistoric cairnfield Glamorganshire
Platform Houses on Coly Uchaf Platform house Bedlinog Glamorganshire
Morlais Castle Castle Pant The collapsed remains of a castle begun in 1288 by Gilbert de Clare, Lord of Glamorgan. The walls enclosed an area of approximately 130 by 60 m (430 by 200 ft). It was captured during the 1294-95 rebellion of Madog ap Llywelyn and may have been abandoned shortly afterwards. Glamorganshire
Cae Burdydd Castle Motte Vaynor A 3 m (9.8 ft) high motte and ditch dating to the medieval period. The diameter of 23 m (75 ft) narrows to 9 m (30 ft) at the top. Brecknockshire
Cefn Car settlement Building (Unclassified) Vaynor Glamorganshire
Gurnos Quarry Tramroad & Leat Industrial monument Gurnos Glamorganshire
Sarn Howell Pond and Watercourses Pond Town Glamorganshire
Abercanaid egg-ended boiler Egg-ended Boiler, re-purposed as garden shed Troed-y-rhiw Glamorganshire
Cyfarthfa Canal Level Canal Level Cyfarthfa Glamorganshire
Cyfarthfa Tramroad Section at Heolgerrig Tramroad Cyfarthfa Glamorganshire
Iron Ore Scours and Patch Workings at Winch Fawr, Merthyr Tydfil Iron mine Cyfarthfa Glamorganshire
Ynys Fach Iron Furnaces Industrial monument Cyfarthfa Glamorganshire
Penydarren Tram Road Trackway Merthyr Vale Glamorganshire
Iron Canal Bridge from Rhydycar Bridge Park Glamorganshire
Pont-y-Cafnau tramroad bridge Bridge Park An ironwork bridge spanning the River Taff constructed in 1793. The name, meaning “bridge of troughs”, comes from its unusual three tier design of a tramroad between two watercourses, one beneath the bridge deck and the other on an upper wooden structure which is no longer present. Pont-y-Cafnau is also Grade II* listed. Glamorganshire
Merthyr Tramroad: Morlais Castle section Tramroad Pant Glamorganshire
Merthyr Tramroad Tunnel (Trevithick’s Tunnel) Tramroad Troed-y-rhiw Glamorganshire
Cwmdu Air Shaft & Fan Air Shaft Cyfarthfa Glamorganshire
Remains of Blast Furnaces, Cyfarthfa Ironworks Blast Furnace Park Glamorganshire
Tai Mawr Leat for Cyfarthfa Iron Works Leat Park Glamorganshire
Deserted Iron Mining Village, Ffos-y-fran Industrial monument Troed-y-rhiw Glamorganshire

Please follow the link below to see the original:-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scheduled_monuments_in_Merthyr_Tydfil_County_Borough

Aberfan’s First Tragedy

by Brian Jones

Visitors to the cemetery in Aberfan can be forgiven for not recognising a military monument dedicated to the memory of seven young local men who perished a few years after the construction of the Merthyr Vale Colliery which opened in 1876. They were volunteers, part of the Volunteer Army, originally a citizen army of part time soldiers created as a popular movement in 1859. This army was later integrated with the British Army after the Childers Reform of 1881, and then became the Territorial Army in 1908. Volunteer soldiers were required to train for up to four weeks each year and this included two weeks at “Summer Camp”.

The Martini-Henry single shot became the standard issue rifle for the army in 1871 and thereafter all full and part time soldiers trained with this issue. These military and equipment changes coincided locally with the rapid increase of population as Welsh and English workers and their families moved into the South Wales valleys. Deep coal mines were opened and work began to divert the River Taff and sink No.1 shaft at the Taff Vale Colliery in 1869. The first coal was brought to the surface more than six years later and in time the mine was renamed as the Merthyr Vale Colliery. The terraced communities of Mount Pleasant,  Aberfan and Merthyr Vale were constructed and the first places of worship opened in 1876 with Bethania Welsh Independent and Aberfan Calvinistic Methodist chapels. In that same year the eight acre cemetery at Bryntaf (Aberfan) was opened.

The steep hilltop cemetery is now dominated by the graves and monument to the 144 souls who perished in the Aberfan Disaster of October 1966. However visitors to the cemetery can easily fail to notice a 10ft monument near the main cemetery entrance. This is topped by three bronze Martini-Henry rifles on a varied stone base weighing 25 tons. The monument was designed by Lieutenant C.B.Fowler of Llandaff and constructed by Messrs Corfield and Morgan of Cardiff. A bronze Cypress wreath marks this as a tribute to seven young soldiers of “E Company” of the Welch (Welsh) Regiment’s Third Volunteer Brigade who drowned in the Bristol Channel, between Lavernock and Penarth, on 1 August 1888.

Photo courtesy of David Pike

The ceremony to dedicate the monument over the graves was held on Sunday 30 March 1890, attended by dignitaries and officers and men numbering 1,118 of the 3rd Volunteer Brigade (Welch Regiment) accompanied by the Cardiff Band and Dowlais Band to the Regimental tune of “The March of the Men of Harlech”. An inscribed shield of marble bears the names of the deceased:

Henry Brown 18 years

John Walter Webber 17 years

Willie Colston 20 years

Fred J. James 17 years

James Simons 18 years

Pryce James Potter 18 years

Thomas Hughes 18 years

Three of the deceased were colliers, one a fitter, three building tradesmen and two of the seven were from the neighbouring area of Treharris. These two were thought to be from the Nelson Company of the Volunteer Brigade. All seven were likely friends at the Summer Camp going out to celebrate not knowing of theirpending fate.

Michael Statham has provided a detailed account of the tragedy (on the website www.historypoints.org), based on records from the inquest as follows:

“Seven volunteers drowned off the coast here (Lavernock) in a boating accident in 1888. The Merthyr Vale detachment of the Welch Regiment’s Third Volunteer Brigade was on a summer camp in Lavernock. On the evening of Wednesday 1 August, 10 soldiers hired the boat MAGGIE to take them to Penarth. The boat was operated by Joseph Hall, aged 31.

It was almost high tide when the boat passed Ranny pool, where several fishing poles were located and a reef caused a strong current. Joseph tried to pull clear of a fishing pole which was submerged by the tide, but the heavily-laden boat struck it. Reacting to the collision, the passengers became agitated, stood up and moved about. Their movements caused the boat to ship water and eventually capsize.

Four soldiers tried to swim to shore but were drowned. The rest managed to right the craft, but it capsized again as they scrambled to get back into it. This happened a number of times. At one point Joseph was lucky to extricate himself from beneath the upturned boat.

By the time help arrived, three more soldiers had drowned. Joseph was saved along with three of his passengers: Albert Williams, William Dowdeswell and Watkin Moss. The drowned men’s bodies were recovered the following week: two on Monday, two on Tuesday and the remaining three on Wednesday. Most were recovered close to the accident scene but the last to be found, James Potter was picked up off Barry, c.6 miles away.

At the inquest it was noted that the MAGGIE was licensed to carry eight passengers. Joseph said that he had taken the 10 men because they had told him that he must take them all or none of them would go. He was found guilty of Gross Neglect. He was severely reprimanded by the Coroner but exonerated from guilt of a criminal offence”

The hamlet of Lavernock (Larnog) is seven miles from Cardiff and as this tragedy fades into history it is also overshadowed by the experiment conducted by Marconi on 13 May 1897. He transmitted the first radio message (morse code) over water from Lavernock Point to the small offshore island of Flat Holm.

Contrasting Fortunes of War

Today marks the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Denmark Strait, one of the most infamous naval battles of the Second World War.

On 18 May, the new German battleship Bismarck, at the time the most powerful battleship in the world, embarked on her maiden voyage, accompanied by the heavy-cruiser Prinz Eugen. Their mission was to attack the convoys bringing much-needed supplies to Britain from America.

Battleship Bismarck. Photo courtesy of Bundesarchiv, Bild 193-04-1-26 / CC-BY-SA 3.0

In response, the Admiralty deployed as much of the British Fleet as possible to intercept the Bismarck. On the evening of 23 May, the British heavy-cruisers HMS Norfolk and HMS Suffolk spotted the German ships passing through the Denmark Strait – the passage between Iceland and Greenland. The two cruisers, being totally out-gunned by the German ships did not engage then enemy, but reported their position to the Admiralty to enable them to send in bigger ships, able to engage the enemy with heavier fire-power. The cruisers continued to track the ships using radar throughout the night.

The nearest British ships capable of tackling the Germans were the brand-new battleship HMS Prince of Wales, and the Home Fleet flagship, and pride of the British Fleet – HMS Hood. Despite its immense size and reputation, and armed with eight 15-inch guns (the same as the Bismarck), the Hood was an old ship, having been launched in 1918. Furthermore, the Hood had been designed as a battlecruiser – a ship with the fire-power of a battleship, but with the speed of a cruiser. The extra speed was attained by sacrificing the strong armour of a traditional battleship, especially on the deck. This left the Hood very vulnerable to plunging fire.

HMS Hood

At approximately 05.35 on the morning of 24 May, a lookout aboard  the Prince of Wales spotted the German ships. The British ships turned towards the enemy to engage in battle, and at 05.50, Admiral Lancelot Holland, commander of the British taskforce, aboard HMS Hood, ordered the British ships to open fire when in range, and two minutes later, HMS Hood fired the first salvoes of the battle.

Within 8 minutes however, the unthinkable happened. A shell from the Bismarck struck the weak deck of the Hood and plunged through the ship, exploding in the armament magazine. The whole ship erupted in a fireball, broke in two, and sank immediately. From a crew of 1,418, there were three survivors.

The loss of the Hood, would send shockwaves around the world.

In the meantime, the Prince of Wales was being pounded by enemy fire, and unable to continue the battle alone, retreated. The admiralty, devastated by the loss of the Hood, made the immediate decision that the main priority was now to destroy the Bismarck at all costs.

After a thrilling chase across the Atlantic (the details of which are too complex to go into on this blog), on the morning of 27 May, the Bismarck, which had by this time been crippled by a torpedo from a Swordfish plane from the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, was finally cornered by ships of the British fleet. The battleships HMS Rodney and HMS King George V devastated the Bismarck with gunfire, and the heavy-cruiser HMS Dorsetshire finished off the stricken ship with torpedoes. Of Bismarck’s 2,131 crew, there were 115 survivors.

Now we get to the Merthyr connection. Below are two cuttings taken from the Merthyr Express dated 21 June 1941 highlighting the two sides of the battle.

Merthyr Express – 21 June 1941
Merthyr Express – 21 June 1941

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To read more about the Battle of the Denmark Strait, please visit http://www.hmshood.com/history/denmarkstrait/index.htm

Merthyr Historian Volume 31

The Merthyr Tydfil Historical Society is pleased to announce that, despite all of the difficulties due to Covid-19, volume 31 of the Merthyr Historian is now for sale.

Merthyr Historian Volume 31 – Contents
Chapter 1 Penydarren born Frank T Davies, 1904-1981, pioneer, geophysicist and polar explorer Roger Evans
Chapter 2 Science at the cusp: Caedraw 1887 and education in Merthyr John Fletcher
Chapter 3 ‘Whom the gods love, die young’: the frail genius of Harry Evans, conductor T Fred Holley & John Holley
Chapter 4 ‘Kathleen Ferrier slept in my bed’: musical celebrities and wartime Merthyr Vale Mair Attwood
Chapter 5 Robert Rees: the Morlais Nightingale Stephen Brewer
Chapter 6 The female drunkard in the mid nineteenth century Barrie Jones
Chapter 7 Cefn Glas: a forgotten colliery Clive Thomas
Chapter 8 Emlyn Davies, Dowlais Draper: a family flannel and local business history Alan Owen
Chapter 9 Merthyr relief and social work in the worst of times: Margaret Gardner (1889-1966) Christine Trevett
Chapter 10 Appeal and response, Merthyr’s need 1930-31, from The Skip Collection Clive Thomas & Christine Trevett
Chapter 11 Pulpit and platform, revival reservations and reforms: the work of the Rev John Thomas (1854-1911) at Soar, Merthyr Tydfil Noel Gibbard
Chapter 12 The Rev G M Maber, Merthyr and the poet Robert Southey’s Welsh Walks Barrie Jones
Chapter 13 The drums go bang, the cymbals clang. Three bands, Troedyrhiw 1921 T Fred Holley & John Holley
Chapter 14 The railways of Pant and Dowlais towards the end of steam Alistair V Phillips
Chapter 15 Book Review: Merthyr Tydfil Corporation Omnibus Dept. Keith L Lewis-Jones
Chapter 16 From Dudley to Dover and Dowlais: Black Country tram sales and their brief second careers Andrew Simpson
Chapter 18 ‘Here’s health to the Kaiser!’ Patriotic incident at Treharris, 1914 Christine Trevett
Chapter 19 Lady Charlotte and Sir John: the Guest family at large. A review essay on recent books Huw Williams
Chapter 20 Dr Brian Loosmore (1932-2019).  An Appreciation T Fred Holly
Chapter 21 ‘Rather less than four pence’: A case of benefits in Merthyr Tydfil in 1933 (transcribed)

John Dennithorne

It is a mammoth volume at350+ pages long and priced at £12.50 (plus postage & packing).

If anyone would like a copy of the book, please contact me at merthyr.history@gmail.com and I will forward your request to the appropriate person.

How well do you know Merthyr? The answers

Here are the answers to the questions I posed you last week. How did you do?

  1. What was the name of St Tydfil’s father?

King Brychan Brycheiniog

  1. Who founded the Cyfarthfa Ironworks in 1765?

Anthony Bacon

  1. Who was Merthyr’s first Labour M.P.?

James Keir Hardie

  1. What was the name of the first chapel to be built in Merthyr town?

Ynysgau Chapel

  1. What was the name of the pub that Lord Nelson stayed in when he visited Merthyr in 1800?

The Star Inn in Caedraw

  1. Nixonville in Merthyr Vale is named after whom?

John Nixon, the founder of Merthyr Vale Colliery

  1. Who has ‘God Forgive Me’ inscribed on his grave?

Robert Thompson Crawshay

  1. Where was the Olympia Skating Rink?

In Pontmorlais, just further up than the Theatre Royal

  1. Which Merthyr-born boxer won the WBC World featherweight title in 1968?

Howard Winstone

  1. Where would you find St Matthias Church?

Treharris

  1. The Bwthyn Bach Inn is missing from the Old Merthyr Tydfil list of pubs, where was it situated?

At the corner of what was known as the Broad Pavement, opposite was the name given to a street built behind the Palace Cinema.

  1. Where was Tai Harri Blawd?

Behind the Theatre Royal and bordering the old Tramroad

  1. What is the area known as Daniel’s Waterloo?

The area now known as the Grove

  1. Where was the Merthyr Tydfil clay pipe factory?

In Vaughan Street, Caedraw

  1. What did the factory next to Factory Cottages make?

Factory Cottages were alongside the old Drill Hall and given this name as they adjoined a flannel factory.

  1. How did Storey Arms get its name?

The first landlord there was a Mr Storey

  1. Where was Pendwranfach?

A narrow street by the Fountain …… turn left at the bottom of the High Street

  1. What is the real name of the pub often called The Spite?

The Farmer’s Arms, Mountain Hare

  1. Who was Miss Florence Smithson and what building is she associated with?

A famous actress associated with the Theatre Royal

  1. Why was an area by St Tydfil’s Church named Lle Sais?

Its name is derived from the fact that most of the English people brought in to the area to work in the Penydarren Ironworks lived here