Crown Inn – The Melting Pot

The Pioneers of the Welsh Iron Industry

Following on from the recent article about Charles Wilkins, here is a transcription of an article written by him for an issue of his publication ‘The Red Dragon’, which appeared 140 years ago this month.

It is a little over one hundred years ago, in May, 1782, when a messenger came from Wales into the neighbourhood of Stourbridge with great news. One Mr. Bacon had started an ironworks near a village called Merthyr, and he wanted a lot of men. There was a good deal of gossip caused by this. A recruiting sergeant coming into an English village to enlist lads for glory could not have made a greater ferment. Merthyr was “far down in Wales,” and Wales to many seemed as distant as America. “You have to go,” said the messenger, “to Gloucester in a boat, and then trust to the channel and work round as far as Cardiff, and then it is a couple of days’ journey up the mountains.”

There was, I repeat, a good deal of ferment, and no little hesitation, but at last the requisite number of hands was got, and away they went, bidding sorrowful farewells—many of them knowing it may be for years or it may be forever.” It would not do, they thought, to take their household gods with them, but the pets—Bill’s dog, and Tom’s cat—could not be left behind. The Lees carried between them a wicker cage in which was a shining blackbird. Let us look at them a moment, for they were the pioneers of our old English residents, the Homfrays, Hemuses, Lees, Browns, Turleys, Wilds, Millwards, and they are worthy of more than a passing notice. Powerful men, all of them, trained to labour from youth, and full of hope and of determination. They are going as settlers amongst strange people, who speak a different language, and who may resent the incoming of strangers. Well, let them. The strangers are not only strong, but God-fearing men, and they take sturdily to the boat which tediously carries them down to Worcester.

So tedious was the journey that when Worcester was reached one or two of the men wanted to go back home again, but Homfray, the leader, would not hear of it, and his hand being hard, and his voice strong, they gave in. Gloucester was at length reached, and at that place a barge was hired and down the Severn they went, hugging the coast wherever they could. But somehow or other when night came on the barge drifted out into mid channel, and to their horror on came a storm.

Now everyone wished himself back at the village of Stewpovey, where most of them came from! How fiercely they looked at Homfray, who had led them into this trouble. Presently, however, the storm abated, and they found themselves under Penarth Head, and there was not much difficulty after that in landing at Cardiff. Very small, very insignificant was Cardiff then; a few streets clustering about the Castle, and only a little life there when the boat came once a week from Bristol. At Cardiff, waggons were hired and up the wayfarers toiled through the valley, reaching Merthyr at last.

One of the old pioneers, pipe in mouth and grandson on knee, used in his declining days to tell the wondering listeners his experience of the voyage, and the journey through Merthyr to Cyfarthfa. It was a small place, he said, was Merthyr; just a village like; small houses, fields, and gardens on one side or the other. The houses were thatched, and as the strangers rode by in their waggons their heads were on a level with the eaves. The old inhabitants used to think a two-storied house extravagance. What was the use of mounting upstairs to go to bed?

On reaching Merthyr the wanderers lodged where they could. The “Star” was the principal inn, the “Crown” was a thatched house. At the “Boot,” Ben Brown, being short of funds, sold his dog for ninepence. It was like parting with his own flesh and blood! Then with the morning they were up, and in consultation with Bacon, who had contracted with Homfray to’ build a forge. The work was done as quickly as possible, for the American war was raging, and guns were needed. In due time the forge was got ready. Every man, woman, and child from the village came up to the opening. Shonny Cwmglo was there with his wonderful harp. Shonny could play every tune, although he had never learned a note, and he played away till he was a hundred, or ever the silver strings were loosed, and, his feeble hands falling from the strings, he laid him down and died. The boys and girls danced, and the men and women raised their voices in gladness when the forge was started.

A species of delirium seized upon everybody, and the harper played like the fiddler of Prague, increasing the madness. Homfray seizing Hemus’s new hat, a wonderful thing, threw it under the hammer, and his own followed like magic. Ale houses did a great trade that day and night. Robert Peel’s policemen and “Bruce” were all in the far-off future at that time. Many of the pioneers died at a brave old age, long before- policemen came into existence.

For several years Bacon and the Homfrays worked well together, but one day there was a falling out, and a fight, and the friendship was never renewed on the old lines. Homfray did not care to go back again with the Browns and the Wilds, who were now getting settled. Some of them had fallen in love with the dark-eyed daughters of the village; and courting had been so pleasant to a few that others had followed. The broken English of the maidens was so pretty, and their eyes had such a fire in them. Many a girl, though, had to be won by fierce fighting, for the boys of the village had no love for the strangers. On Saturdays, when strangers and villagers met, drank, and fought, the village constable discreetly kept out of the way. Things have changed since then.

To understand the story of the starting of Penydarran we must turn back a page or two of the book of history. Homfray passing by the ravine on the right of the roadway as you ascend from Merthyr to Dowlais, was struck with its adaptability for the site of an ironworks, and rented it for £3 a year. He and two other Homfrays were joined by a Londoner, named Forman, who held some kind of office at the Tower, and had saved a lot of money. Then together they built a furnace, and went along swimmingly. In 1796 they built furnace No. 2, and brought another lot of men from Staffordshire. In that year they fairly eclipsed even Dowlais itself; for while Dowlais turned out 2,100 tons in the year, Penydarran could show a make of 4,100 tons, or nearly double. Penydarran was regarded as the more important centre in every way. We have only to turn to the rate books to see that while Penydarran was rated at £3,000, Dowlais was only rated at £2,000, and Plymouth at £750. By 1803 Penydarran made fifty tons of bar iron weekly. It is to John Davies, father of Mr D. Davies, J.P., of Galon Uchaf, and of the Morriston Tinplate Works, that is due the honour of rolling the first bar. The son afterwards arose to be the owner of the works. What Penydarran accomplished in after days and how under Trevethick its owners started the first locomotive that ever ran, must be left for another paper.

The Crown Inn

by Carolyn Jacob

James Roberts, a freeholder and a dissenter opened the Crown Inn as one of his many business activities. In his book, ‘The Labyrinth of Flames’, Chris Evans writes that in the early 1790s the ironmasters hoped to install a landlord of their own choosing at the Crown Inn “as a competitor to Peggy Jenkins, the doughty if slapdash matriarch who ran the Star Inn. Each Company pledged £70 to their nominee, but little more was heard of the proposal thereafter.”

The Crown Inn is situated at number 28 on the Lower High Street, in the old ‘Village’ area of Merthyr Tydfil and dates from 1785, although there have been later alterations to the inn. It is a grade II listed building. The Crown Inn was built on the site of an earlier thatched property and was fully licensed to let post horses in the nineteenth century. The building has a simple 2 storey Georgian front with some interesting old features and is a fine example of a late 18^th century coaching inn. The Crown is contemporary with the time of Anthony Bacon, the first ironmaster. Following the building of the Cyfarthfa Ironworks visitors started to come to Merthyr Tydfil and the Crown provided essential refreshment and accommodation.

Before 1800 the first post-office was at the Crown Inn. An old woman brought letters from Brecon and these were put on a round table ready to be collected. Despite having undergone many changes, the building still retains many original features, such as the iron gates and carriage arch to the right hand side of the building leading to a cobbled courtyard where coaches from Cardigan were berthed.

The Merthyr Express of 28 July 1866 tells a tale of a traveller in the year 1806. He put up at the best hotel then, the Crown. He well remembered being taken by a friend to see the Castle Hotel, which was then in course of building.

One sunny afternoon, towards the close of the eighteenth century, two suspicions-looking travellers rode down through Twvnyrodyn, then the direct-road from Cardiff, passed the Court House and entered the village. They dismounted and entered the Crown Hotel. ‘In the queer old hostelry, then the principle inn, or at least equal rival to the Star’. The travellers were no other than the press gang, as Merthyr men would soon know to their cost. Coming at such a time the rumour about them spread quickly, terrified children hid them and one young fellow found a refuge in a large chimney at the Blast Furnace public-house. Never had such an alarm been caused before. A veritable panic seemed to have seized everybody, and the most ludicrous actions ensued to avoid these men. While all this commotion was going on in the little village the two travellers sat in the parlour quite at their ease and enjoyed the Crown’s best ale.

The Crown was a popular public house in nineteenth century Merthyr Tydfil and on Saturdays it was not unusual for a crowd of men to come out of the Crown or Star and for 2 of them to strip to the waist in order to have a public fight. Before the Glamorgan Constabulary was established there was only a village constable and he wisely kept well out of these occasions.

In the first half of the nineteenth century the market was outside the Crown Inn. The shops were crowded with customers and the fairs and markets were held in the open streets extending from the churchyard wall upwards, temporary stalls were erected along a poorly constructed pavement and the public highway itself was invaded by hand-barrows, baskets and panniers. These stalls sold clothes, boots, shoes, jewellery, gingerbread, sweets, Welsh flannels and so on. The butchering trade had its own area and small market in a side street.

In 1835 Pigot’s directory gives John Richards as the Inn Keeper of the Crown Inn and on the 1841 census Margaret Richards was the landlady living in the Crown with her daughters, Mary and Jane. In 1852 Slater’s directory lists Howell Davies as landlord.

In the mid nineteenth century the Crown was the most popular location for Friendly Societies to meet. Amongst those that met there were The Social Society, The Society of Gentleman, Tradesman and Mechanics, The Cambrian Friendly Society, The Star Brotherly Society and the Faithful Youths’ Society, according to the Merthyr Telegraph, Registered Friendly Societies, 26 September 1857.

A directory from 1889 shows John Davies to be the landlord here. The 1901 register of electors reveals that David Francis Williams lived in the Crown Inn. A trade directory of 1923 shows that D. Williams was still the Crown’s landlord at this time.

The Star Inn

by Carolyn Jacob

Not to be confused with the Star Inn in Sand Street, Dowlais, the old Star Inn was at number 19 Lower High Street, Merthyr town. Few people now remember the old Star Inn as it was demolished in 1960.

The Star Inn. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

In the nineteenth century there were a number of early coaching inns in Merthyr, the most famous being the Star Inn. The Star Inn was thought to be the oldest inn and the only one of any consequence for a long time; its position in the old ‘village’ area of Merthyr Tydfil and near to the parish church seems to confirm this. The first justice – room was at the Star. The earliest directory of 1792 shows that Margaret Jenkins was the landlady here. She is described as a doughty if slapdash matriarch by Chris Evans in ‘The Labyrinth of Flames’.

In July 1797 a special dinner for the local ironmasters was held in the Star Inn. The ironmasters were frequently at loggerheads with each other and this was a move towards better understanding. It was recorded in March 1800 that a group of ironmasters and coal owners met together in the Star Inn to petition Parliament for better security of their industrial enterprises.

William Hamilton visited Merthyr Tydfil in 1801 and was a guest of Richard Crawshay at Cyfarthfa House. He later wrote to Emma of this visit according to ‘Emma, Lady Hamilton’ by M. Hardwick. Sir William Hamilton, Lady Emma, Horatio Nelson and others visited Merthyr Tydfil in July 1802. Lord Nelson had begun a tour of South Wales and made a detour from the main route to Milford Haven to travel south to the Iron Works of Merthyr Tydfil, where the iron was manufactured for naval cannon.

He is reputed to have stayed at the Star Inn, near St Tydfil’s Church. It is said that a large admiring crowd gathered around the Inn where Nelson stayed. If he had hoped to have a quiet time in this ‘backwater’ with Lady Hamilton he was mistaken. Nelson was the main hero and idol of his day. An account says that whilst a band under his window played ‘Rule Britannia’; Nelson cheered and received’ three hearty cheers from the crowd’.

Pigot’s directory of 1835 lists John Richards as the Star’s landlord. John Griffiths, born in Crickhowell was the licensed victualler on the 1851 census. His 15 year old daughter, Tabitha, was the barmaid. As well as his wife, 4 sons and daughter, there were 2 general servants and another 2 visitors staying overnight in the Star. They included Llewellyn Williams, a harpist and a William Lewis a general labourer. Listed in directories in 1853, 1855 and 1857 John and Mary Griffiths and their children were still in the Star in 1861. The Young Britons Friendly Society met in the Star Inn at this time Slater’s 1889 directory lists Mary Griffiths as the landlady.

According to the 1901 census returns Octavius J. Davies was the licensed victualler of the Star. As well as his wife, two sons, daughter and cousin residing in the Star, there was a visitor, 7 boarders and a domestic servant. Among the boarders was Alfred Norton a circus proprietor and three music hall artists. By the 1911 census Octavius John had given up working as a landlord for work above ground in a colliery. According to the Merthyr Express, 28 August 1909, Thomas Henry Hamer, who was landlord of the Star Inn in 1909, seems to have been rather slack in his control and he was fined 40s. and costs for permitting drunkenness. The Merthyr Express recorded on 6 November 1909 that John; Humphreys, a North Walian, was summoned at the Merthyr Police Court for being drunk at the Star Inn, Merthyr, on Sunday, October 3rd. P.C. Rees said that with Detective Evans he visited the house, and saw several men there. Two said they came from Aberfan and two from Senghenydd.

In July 1910 there was a sale of freehold ground rents at Merthyr at the Bush Hotel, Merthyr, Messrs. J. M. Berry and Son offered for sale by public auction a number of freehold ground rents on the Llancaiach Estates. There was a large attendance of bidders. £30 per annum secured upon the Star Inn, High-street, Merthyr, together with the slaughter-houses and yard at the rear, the premises being subject to a lease of 30 years, from September 1901. According to Kelly’s 1923 trade directory William D Jones was the landlord then. An old photograph of The Star was given to Merthyr Library by the fashion designer Julien Macdonald, whose family once ran the pub. Sadly The Star Inn was demolished on 12 March 1960, and today only the Crown Inn remains of the original first ‘coaching inns’.

The Star Inn being demolished in 1960. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

Merthyr’s Chapels: Zoar Chapel

Zoar Welsh Independent Chapel

In 1794 a group of worshippers dissatisfied with the form of worship at Ynysgau Chapel left to start their own cause, and met in the Long Room of the Crown Inn; paying £6 a year for the hire of the room. In 1797 the congregation asked Mr Howell Powell of Newport to come and minister to them, and within a year they decided to build their own chapel.

An extensive piece of land was acquired to build a new chapel and the building began in 1798. The land that was acquired stretched from the main road to the Morlais Brook, and was leased for the sum of 12 guineas per annum, but the congregation could not pay that sum of money. Consequently, Mr Henry Thomas or Harri’r Blawd as he was frequently called, took the lease from them and gave them the land on which the present chapel is now built for a rent of £3.7s.

Despite this, the congregation still struggled to find the money to build the chapel, but thanks to a number of donations, the chapel was finally completed in 1803. With the new chapel completed, the members asked Rev Daniel Lewis to become their first minister.

From the outset of his ministry, Rev Lewis was determined to clear the chapel’s debt and thus travelled to London to raise money. On his return however, he presented the chapel with a list of his expenses incurred during his trip. Several of the members objected to the amount of the expenses and instigated an investigation by several ministers from other church. The investigation exonerated Rev Lewis, but those members who had instigated the investigation were unhappy the result and left to start their own cause, which eventually became Bethesda Chapel.

Within two years of this controversy, Rev Lewis decided to leave the chapel, and in 1810 Rev Samuel Evans (right) was ordained as minister, and it was under his ministry that the chapel began to prosper and eventually became one of the most important chapels in the area.

With Rev Evans’ influence the congregation grew rapidly, and in 1825 a new chapel was built at a cost £600. The membership increased steadily, but sadly Rev Samuel Evans died on 27 June 1833 at the age of 56.

For two years following Rev Evans’ death the chapel was without a minister as the members felt that it would be impossible to find someone qualified enough to fill the place of “twysog a’r gwr mawr oedd wedi syrthio” (the prince and great man who had fallen).

However, before the end of 1835, Rev Benjamin Owen (right) from Pembrokeshire was invited to become minister of the chapel. Rev Owen proved to be a worthy successor to Samuel Evans, and the chapel went from strength to strength.

By 1840 the congregation had once again grown considerably and it was decided to once again build a new chapel. Rev Owen was himself a gifted architect, and he designed the new building. The stonework was completed by Messrs Thomas Williams and David Richards, and the woodwork by John Gabe. The new chapel, one of the biggest in Wales, was completed in 1842 at a cost of £2300.

In 1849 Merthyr was hit by a devastating cholera epidemic in which 1,682 people died in Merthyr and Dowlais alone. In the aftermath of this, a religious revival occurred in the town and hundreds of people joined the congregation at Zoar, with 120 people actually being accepted into the church on one Sunday alone.

Due to the increase of numbers, in 1854 it was decided to build two schoolrooms at a cost of £800 – one in Caedraw and one in Pwllyrwhiad. In 1867 another large schoolroom was built in front of the chapel. Two houses were bought to make room for the building and the schoolroom was built at a cost of £550. In 1907, another large schoolroom was built at Queens Road at a cost of £750.

By 2009, the membership of the chapel had dwindled to just six people, and it was reluctantly decided to close the chapel.

The chapel is now listed Grade II, as being of Special Architectural and Historic Interest.

The future of the chapel is ensured as it has been bought by Canolfan a Menter Gymraeg Merthyr Tudful and has been given a grant pledge of £527,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to transform the Chapel and Vestry buildings into a centre for performing arts and community activities. The project has also been supported with £300,000 from the Heads of the Valleys programme.

The new complex opened in 2011 and it is now a highly regarded and very important hub in the town.

The interior of Zoar Chapel just before it was converted into Canolfan Soar

Merthyr Historian Volume 30

The Merthyr Tydfil Historical Society is pleased to announce the publication of Volume 30 of the Merthyr Historian.

There will be a book-launch for the new volume on Tuesday 3 December at 2.00pm at The Red House (The Old Town Hall), and all are welcome.

The cost of the book will be £10. If anyone would like a copy, please get in touch via the e-mail – merthyr.history@gmail.com and I will pass on any orders.

The contents of Volume 30 are below.

Volume 30 (2019) ISBN 978 0 992981 0 6 Eds. Christine Trevett and Huw Williams

An Editorial Statement

A tribute to Dr T. Fred Holley at 90

Three Merthyr Artists (with particular Reference to William Gillies Gair) by T.F. Holley and J.D. Holley
The Crown Inn, Merthyr, in the Nineteenth Century by Richard Clements
Facets of Faenor (Vaynor) by Lyndon Harris
David Irwyn Thomas of Treharris (1923-2018): a Story of Wartime Survival and Search by David Irwyn Thomas
‘Yr Aberth Fwyaf’ (‘The Greatest Sacrifice’): Words, Images, Messages and Emotions in the First World War Memorials in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough by Gethin Matthews
Sir Pendrill Charles Varrier-Jones (1883-1941): The Papworth Medical Scheme and the Fight Against Tuberculosis by Huw Williams
J.D. Williams Jeweller, High Street, Merthyr and an iconic building by Carl Llewellyn
Merthyr Tydfil and industry – decline and commemoration, 1859 and 1899 (transcriptions and photograph) by Stephen Brewer
Rhyd –y-Car, Wales’ most popular cottages: a success in Preservation by Clive Thomas
Penry Williams: from Georgetown to Rome – Journey of an Artist by Ben Price
From Zero to Hero: William Thomas, Brynawel (1832-1903), Mining Engineer by T. Fred Holley

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.

From the work room of Mr Wm James, not only was there no storage or openings on that side of the High Street, but with the exception of three small shops adjoining the one on the corner of Glebeland Street, there was not a building of any kind.

The nearest i.e., the one first come to on the way up was the shop of a hairdresser named Davies. If I remember rightly, Bears Grease was considered the best one used on the human hair, and this Davies, upon one opening, had a bear hung up outside his shop, after the manner of butchers hanging calves brains was afterwards to be had, but whether the result of his enterprise was advantageous I know not.

Either in the next, or following shop above, a Mr McGregor sold garden seeds, and the corner shop belonged to Mr Edward Morgan, grocer, who had a wholesale trade too. Mr Morgan resided on the other side of the High Street. He was connected by marriage, I think, with the Jones’s and Evans’s of the Bank.

The Post Office was on the corner of Glebeland Street and High Street, on the same site as at present, but before describing it, or going further up we will return to Gillar Street and come up on the right hand side of High Street.

First there was a grocer’s shop, and then the Crown Inn – a Mrs Richards was the landlady. Above this was the druggist’s shop kept by Mrs Jenkins, the mother of the late Dr T J Dyke. She also had two sons of the name of Jenkins. John, a clergy-man, who went to Natal, was Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford, a canon of the Church, and became vicar of Aberdare. He was the most charitable of men, but the most absent-minded as a boy. Upon asking what he intended being, his reply, in all earnestness, was “the Bishop of Merthyr”. His brother James became a Roman Catholic priest, but did not live many years.

An advert from 1835 mentioning Mrs Jenkins’ Druggist shop

Next above was a draper’s shop. Mr John James kept it, and made money enough to go into the wholesale trade in Manchester, but returned in a few years to Merthyr, and built a large premises opposite which is Victoria Street and called the Cloth Hall.

The Cloth Hall. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

There was a yard with wooden doors, and on the other side a grocer’s shop was kept by Mr Christopher James. Upon Mr James’s removal this business went into the hands of Mr John Jones, who had been with Mr James for some time. Mr James himself the for a while carried on a wine and spirit business near the Bush Hotel, but only for a short time, as he removed to Swansea, and went into the coal trade.

This Mr Christopher James was a brother of the Mr William James already alluded to, and another brother was Mr Job James, a doctor living in Pontmorlais, one of whose sons, Mr Frank James, was for so many years clerk to the Merthyr Union. Mr Christopher James has several sons. Vice-Chancellor William Milbourne James was, I think, the oldest (see http://www.merthyr-history.com/?p=3084). Another was Mr David James, a tanner living on the side of the tramroad in Bethesda Street or Pontstorehouse.

Another son, Christopher, was in the shop with his father, and upon giving up a building on the canal bank which had been used as a storehouse for flour etc., 60 guineas were found hidden there, reputed to have belonged to him. Another son was the harbour master of Swansea 40 years ago, and his son succeeded him in that capacity for a short time. One of this Mr James’s daughters married a Mr Brock, the minister of the Unitarian Chapel in Swansea, and another Mr Joseph Henry Rowland, of the bank in Neath.

To be continued at a later date……

Merthyr’s Chapels: Ynysgau Chapel

Following on from the previous article, the next chapel we are going to look at is Ynysgau Chapel – the oldest and arguably most important chapel in the town.

Ynysgau Chapel in the early 1900’s. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

As has mentioned in an earlier entry (http://www.merthyr-history.com/?p=301), the early Non-Conformist worshippers had been meeting in a small chapel in Cwm-y-Glo. In 1749 the lease at Cwm-y-Glo expired, and due to the ever-growing congregation, it was decided to build a new chapel in the centre of Merthyr Tydfil.

It is said that the land which lies between the site of the Old Iron Bridge down to Swan Street was offered to the Non-Conformists at that time for the sum of £5 per annum “as long as a stone remains in the Taff river bed”. However, the members lacked enterprise and instead, bought the land on which the chapel stood in February 1749, and the first Ynysgau chapel was built with Samuel Davies being ordained as the first minister.

In 1785, Daniel Davies, a student from Carmarthen Presbyterian College was ordained as minister of the chapel. Although remaining for over twenty-five years, Davies’ ministry was not a successful one. The congregation at this time was still a mixture of various groups, and due to dissatisfaction with Davies’ style of preaching, the various groups began to split apart. One group left in 1788 to start a Baptist cause which would eventually lead to the formation of Zion Chapel in Twynyrodyn, and in 1794 the Calvinists left to start their own cause which led to the formation of Pennsylvania (later Pontmorlais) Chapel. The remaining worshippers became an Independent church, but even so, a number of the congregation thought that Daniel Davies’ ministry wasn’t rousing or evangelical enough for their tastes and split away from Ynysgau to hold their own meetings at the Crown Inn. This was the nucleus for Zoar Chapel.

In 1811, during the ordination of a subsequent minister, Rev Thomas Benjamin Evans, the gallery of the chapel collapsed due to overcrowding. Luckily everyone escaped from the accident. The ministry of Rev T B Evans wasn’t an entirely successful one. Following a promising early part of his ministry, Thomas Evans soon lost the confidence of his congregation due to his fondness for alcohol, and the congregation dwindled to almost nothing.

In an attempt to save the cause, 60 members of Zoar Chapel came to Ynysgau to boost the membership. Following Rev Evans death in 1851, Rev James Morris was inducted as the minister. The chapel flourished, and in 1853 it was decided to build a larger chapel.

Ynysgau Chapel in the 1960s. Photo courtesy of Tony Hyde

The new chapel was officially opened in Easter Week 1854, and remained a successful cause well into the latter half of the 20^th Century.

The chapel was forced to close and was demolished in 1967 as part of the redevelopment of the town centre, and it has often been said it was a sad decision to demolish such an important part of Merthyr’s history, especially as nothing stands on the site of the chapel.

There was a graveyard, inaugurated in 1750 attached to Ynysgau. The graveyard was one of the oldest in Merthyr with some tombstones dating back to 1773 and 1776; when the Chapel was demolished the remains of those buried at Ynysgau Chapel were exhumed between 10 – 27 October 1969, and re-interred at the Ffrwd section of the Cefn Cemetery. Further unidentified human remains were found at the site during excavation for a new road and were re-interred at Cefn Cemetery on 6 March 1998.

If you would like to learn more about Ynysgau Chapel, there is a fully-illustrated booklet available detailing the history of the chapel.

It costs £5 including postage and packing. All proceeds go towards the running of this blog.

If you would like to purchase a copy of the booklet, please contact me at: merthyr.history@gmail.com.