Tag: Clement Attlee

Caedraw

by Carolyn Jacob

Following on from the last post here’s a potted history of Caedraw by Carolyn Jacob.

Caedraw means ‘the field beyond’, as it was just outside the traditional village of Merthyr Tydfil and a district beside the River Taff. Although in the eighteenth century it was just a field, as soon as Merthyr started to develop an iron industry this area had houses erected on it for workers and it soon became a built up area. Caedraw first started to have houses from 1800 onwards. Streets here included Taff Street, Upper Taff Street, Picton Street and streets with curious names, such as Isle of Wight and Adam and Eve Court. There was once an old woollen mill in Mill Street. This district was bordered by the River Taff and the Plymouth Feeder.

Caedraw from the 1851 Public Health Map
The same area in 1919

Along the banks of the river as well as a woollen mill there was a tannery, a laundry, a gas works, together with shops and public houses. The Taff was at its most polluted here, having industrial and household waste, together with the black waters of the Morlais Brook, ‘the Stinky’, carrying the filth of Dowlais and Penydarren Ironworks. Thankfully the herons on its banks find the river much cleaner today.

A hundred years ago Caedraw School was multicultural with English, Irish, Italian, Jewish and Welsh pupils. The old Caedraw School was built in 1872 and had some very famous ex pupils, such as the freeman of Merthyr Tydfil and miner’s leader, Arthur Horner. The school was situated by the old gas works.

Caedraw School with St Tydfil’s Church behind. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

Because the district was very near to the river Taff, the first laundry in Merthyr Tydfil was set up here but sadly the workers here succumbed to cholera in the 1849 epidemic and this resulted in the Parish publishing a newspaper advertisement to tell people not to boil their water. According to the 1881 census there was a woollen factory between numbers 37 and 42 Picton Street. There were a number of public houses, lodging houses, and a bakehouse in Vaughan Street.

This built up area consisting of lots of small courtyards was very densely populated. The houses themselves were very clean, but small and without any modern conveniences. The old rambling buildings along tightly packed streets of Caedraw became very old fashioned and in need of repair by the 1950s. Merthyr Tydfil Borough Council decided to redevelop Caedraw and build modern flats here to replace the old houses. From 1959 onwards old Caedraw was gradually pulled down but not without a certain feeling of sadness, despite a headline in the Western Mail on 24 April 1959, ’12 Acres of ugliness being razed, Merthyr’s biggest face lift. More than 200 houses, two shops, two pubs and a club were put under the sledge-hammer in one of the biggest redevelopment schemes in South Wales’.

An aerial view of Caedraw before it was redeveloped. Caedraw School can be seen in the bottom right hand corner with the gasworks in front of it, next to the river. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

The official opening of the Caedraw ‘Central Housing Redevelopment Project’ was on Thursday 22 April, 1965 by James Griffiths, Secretary of State for Wales. The Caedraw Scheme of 193 dwellings consisted of 66 one-bedroomed flats in the 12 storey point block. There are 64 two-bedroom maisonettes, 24 three-bedroomed maisonettes and 8 bed-sitting room flats in 8 4-storey blocks. The remainder of the accommodation is contained in two 3-storey blocks containing 19 two-bedroomed maisonettes, 9 one-bedroom flats and 3 bed-sitting room flats. The tender of George Wimpey and Co. Ltd. was accepted by the Council in January 1963 and work on the flats commenced four months later in April. The completion date in the contract was April 1965 but the scheme was completed and handed over six months ahead of this date.

Caedraw in 1965 after the redevelopment. Photo from the official ‘Opening’ programme of the Caedraw Project

Each block of flats was named after an important figure in the history of Wales. St Tydfil’s Court (the Celtic Saint buried here), Portal House (Portal wrote the report of the Royal Commission of 1935 into the state of Merthyr Tydfil), Wilson Court  (Harold Wilson was Labour Prime Minister when the flats were opened), Buckland House (Lord Buckland a wealthy financier born in Merthyr), Attlee House (Clement Attlee Labour Prime Minister after 1945), Hywel House (Hywel Dda was a Welsh King who had the laws of the country written down), Trevithick House (Trevithick was the first to use a locomotive to transport iron from Penydarren and unwillingly carried passengers too).

V.J. Day – a Contemporary Account

by Laura Bray (née Bevan)

Following on from the account of V.E. Day from Glyn Bevan’s diary which appeared on this blog in May (http://www.merthyr-history.com/?p=4691), to mark the 75th anniversary of V.J. Day, here is an account of the days leading up to V.J. Day and the day itself from Glyn’s diary.

13th August
We put up all our flags and streamers yesterday and have listened to every news today to hear the official announcement of the end of the war. None of us have much doubt about it although it is believed that the Japs in Burma may fight on whether Japan capitulates or not. Rumours all day about peace and premature celebrations all over the U.S., Canada and Australia. Stayed round the supper table talking for ages and then washed up. Continued talking in the drawing room until 01.00.

14th August
All up rather late. Decided to go to Tintern and Symonds Yat before dinner. Came on through the Forest of Dean (where a red squirrel crossed the road) to Monmouth, and then went on down the lovely Wye Valley to Tintern. Unfortunately it was shut but we walked all round the outside of it. A very lovely place and in very good repair. Came on through Chepstow, Caerphilly and Nelson. Celebrations all the way up, several bonfires and a few rockets, floodlighting and illuminating V’s etc. Rumours all day. We fully expected the official announcement on the 9.00 o’clock news. Now we are waiting for Attlee to broadcast at midnight. We are all expecting Japan to agree to our terms of course, and that means peace.

……….

PEACE

Attlee has just announced that Japan has accepted our surrender terms and that tomorrow and the next day will be celebrated as victory days throughout the country. A very matter of fact speech with none of the drama that old Churchill would have put into it. The whole Empire must be sorry that he couldn’t make the announcement. We toasted the new peace with whiskey and wine and cake. Rockets started exploding singly and there was a little shouting. From the bedroom window we could see about 15 bonfires – but none really large. Later on crowds in town sang and danced and prayed until 3.00 o’clock in the morning. Hooters went as well and engines in the station blew their whistles. Several church bells rang including ours (people thundered on the door of the Vicarage, woke the Vicar and pretty well told him to ring it) and there was a peal of bells from the Parish Church. Town filled rapidly and there were crowds there for hours.

15th August
Rain last night, and after a week of very dry weather and the air was cold and clean with smoke drifting up and the sound of church bells in the valley. Very calm and peaceful, fresh and sweet, like a Sunday morning. I read most of the morning and nearly all the afternoon. Listened to a description of the King driving down Whitehall to open Parliament and also went to town where the shops were open till about 10.30. Then came home to find they had all gone to a Thanksgiving Service in Cyfarthfa so we down town to see if there was anything doing. There seemed to be a lot of troops about (nearly all army) but things were fairly quiet. Plenty of flags and streamers. Came back via Thomastown and up the Tramroad in time to hear the King at 21.00. We all went down to the bonfire on the allotments after the news (for which we supplied most of the heavy logs). About 20 good bonfires in the valley and lots of rockets and fireworks but no bells tonight.

Residents of Tramroadside North celebrating V.J. Day

16th August
Spent the morning doing little odd jobs that I wanted to clear up before going away. Read after dinner till 15.00 when we decided to go down to Cardiff to see Terence Rattigan’s play “While the Sun Shines”. Play very good. Museum floodlit. A large crowd was dancing and singing in front of the Civic Centre. Bonfires all the way up the valley but not on the same scale as Coronation night.  Came through Pontypridd where they had coloured lights strung along both sides of the main streets for about a mile and a well made crown fixed over the bridge. Very poor fireworks, but it is amazing that people have any at all. Saw lots of street teas on the way down.

The Forgotten ‘Merthyr Tydfil Judgment of 1900’

by Roger Evans

Poverty, and hardship went hand in hand with worker exploitation during the industrial revolution, accompanied by disease and starvation. As a measure of help for the destitute, Poor Law Unions were established under the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, administered by the local Board of Guardians. Many of these Unions, including that of Merthyr, continued in operation until 1930 when they were replaced by local authority Public Assistance Committees. After 1945 the Poor Laws were replaced by Welfare State legislation brought in by the post war Attlee Government.

In 1898 South Wales miners went on a prolonged and historic strike. It was an attempt by the colliers to remove the sliding scale, which determined wages based on the price of coal. There was widespread agreement that Merthyr Board of Guardians had no choice in law but to support destitute strikers, even though they had voluntarily withdrawn their labour.

The strike quickly turned into a disastrous lockout which lasted for six months and ultimately resulted in a failure for the colliers. There were some concessions but the sliding scale stayed in place.

The strike however was viewed as an important landmark in Trade Union history as it saw the true adoption of trade unionism in the coalfields of The Valleys. The South Wales Miners’ Federation  union originated from this dispute. As a result, coal companies took the Merthyr Board of Guardians to court, as they did not want to see striking workers gain any financial support.

In the subsequent famous High Court ruling in 1900, the Master of the Rolls (the equivalent of today’s Supreme Court), ruled the policy of relieving the strikers had indeed been unlawful.  The Guardians were allowed to help dependents of strikers if they were destitute. Unmarried strikers however, had no access to poor relief whatsoever.  The high court verdict became known throughout Britain as ‘The Merthyr Tydfil Judgment of 1900’.  Often cited in subsequent strikes elsewhere in the country, including the 1926 General Strike.

Historians viewed the ruling as part of the employers’ counteroffensive against the labour movement of the 1890’s and 1900’s.

The 1834 Poor Law Act was replaced by The Local Government Act, 1929.  Workhouses were abolished and The Board of Guardians dissolved, functions being transferred to the Public Assistance Committee. The Merthyr Judgement effectively rendered null and void.