In 1793, a schism occurred at Zion Chapel, Twynyrodyn and a group of worshippers left the chapel and began worshipping in a house in Plymouth Street.
Within a year it was decided to build a chapel. A plot of land was acquired opposite the house where the congregation had been worshipping and a chapel which they called Ebenezer was built. Although the official name of the chapel was Ebenezer, for many years, it was known as Capel Isaf (Lower Chapel), with Zion known as Capel Uchaf (Upper Chapel).
Rev William Price, who had not been allowed to preach at Zion Chapel, became Ebenezer’s first minister. Following several prosperous years, Rev Price embarked on a number of collection tours around England on behalf of the chapel funds. As such he was allowed 25% of the funds towards his personal expenses, but questions arose over the authenticity of his expense claims.
Although it was never conclusively proved that there had been any malpractice regarding the funds, and the Baptist Association gave Ebenezer no authority to dismiss him, the congregation, led by a deacon named Evan Lloyd, excommunicated Rev Price and he left the chapel.
In 1808 Rev Maurice Jones was ordained as minister at Ebenezer, and in marked contrast with Rev Price proved to be very devout and popular amongst the members, and under his leadership the congregation grew steadily, and by the time of his death in 1830, it had become obvious that a larger place of worship was needed.
Following Rev Jones death, his assistant Abel Jones became minister and the members decided to build a new chapel. It was soon discovered however that the chapel could not be rebuilt in the same place as the lease on the original plot of land had become invalid due to Rev William Price illegally sub-letting the ground to build several cottages. A new piece of land was obtained for £30 and a new chapel was built in 1831 at a cost of £850
Ebenezer Chapel was plagued by a number of disagreements – in 1834, 52 people left the chapel and eventually established Tabernacle Chapel. In 1902 another serious schism occurred when a number of the congregation left to establish Jerusalem Chapel in Court Street.
In the 1930’s the chapel housed Merthyr’s first ever soup kitchens.
By the 1980’s the congregation had dwindled and the chapel closed. It remained derelict for several years until it was demolished to make way for the Trevithick Gardens housing estate.
Ebenezer shortly before demolition. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive
The blog article of the 27th November 2019 (http://www.merthyr-history.com/?p=3016) on the aerial view of Court Street in 1965 brought back memories of my school days in St Mary’s Catholic School and my recollection of Court Street during that time. I attended the school in the four ‘school years’ from September 1956 to July 1960, so I recall features of the street that had already disappeared by 1965.
Living in Twynyrodyn my usual route to school was down Twyn Hill so the first landmark on the street I would pass by was the Glove and Shears situated on the left hand side and corner of where the Tramroad crossed the Twynyrodyn Road.
Opposite on the right hand side of the road the last house of Twynyrodyn Road was a corner shop. I can’t recall ever going into the shop but I did spend many a time looking in the shop window. There on display were a variety of items in what must have been ‘dummy’ packets; dusty boxes of popular products of their day, even chocolate bars presumably made of wood or cardboard wrapped in foil etc. The shop’s display never seemed to change so the shelves and their goods were liberally sprinkled with dead flies and wasps.
Further down the street on the right hand side between Gospel Hall formally Twynyrodyn Unitarian Chapel and the railway bridge were a row of properties, some of which were shops. The one shop I remember in detail was an electrical goods shop with a large window displaying a variety of modern electrical appliances. Just inside the doorway of the shop were stacked lead acid batteries, the battery acid was held in thick glass containers with carrying handles. The batteries were used to power radios in those properties where there was no mains electricity supply. You could hire the battery and once the ‘charge’ had expired you returned the battery to the shop to be recharged and collected a newly charged battery in exchange.
After passing under the railway bridge by means of an archway on the right hand side of the road, you then passed by Jerusalem Chapel on the corner of Gillar Street. In Gillar Street on the left hand side there was a small row of houses that backed onto our school yard. The houses had no back gardens, just small courts that were separated from our playground by a low thick stone wall capped with flag stones. Inevitably many a football or tennis ball landed in one of the courts much to the annoyance of their occupiers.
The school building was probably built in late 1870 or early 1871 for both infants and primary age children with a capacity for approximately 460 pupils. On the 30th April 1870 the Aberdare Times reported that “the splendid schools now in the course of erection on the Maerdy Estate are proof of the success that has attended the Rev. Gentleman’s administrations”, (Father Martin Bruton). The ‘schools’ were built on the site of Maerdy House a large building with a sizable garden at its rear, which was now the school yard.
In October 1869 the Local Board of Health gave approval for new school rooms and additions to the house which may explain why the first floor was accessed by an exterior staircase only. The first floor may have been an addition or enlargement above the existing house’s structure. At the rear of the building there were unusual features such as a small arched recess built into the building that seemed to have no function other than as den for us to climb into during playtime.
The School’s boundary wall on the northern side of the school yard separated the school from Conway’s Dairies. This was formally the site of the Boot Inn, 22 High Street, Conway’s had acquired the premises in 1910 and its offices and plant were accessed from the High Street.
Conway’s Dairies. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive
From our yard could be seen towering above the high stone wall the cylindrical metal chimneys of the Dairy’s pasteurisation and bottling plants. The Dairy’s coal fired steam production must have taken its toll on the metal chimneys, as they were extremely rusty. When we turned up for school one morning we were greeted by the sight of one of the chimneys lying in our school yard. The chimney must have rusted through near its base and because of either the weight of metal or high wind it had collapsed during the night. At this time household milk was delivered by horse and cart and the Dairy kept the horses and carts in stables built in the arches of the railway bridge. The stables were accessed from the road leading off Court Street opposite the entrance to Gillar Street. Conway’s Dairies moved its main production to a new plant at the Willows on the other side of the River Taff in 1960/61, but retained use of its High Street plant for many years after but on a much reduced scale.
A Conway’s Dairies milk cart outside the old Boot Inn in the early part of the 20th Century. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive
As well as the Dairies’ chimneys, the other prominent features on the skyline were the clock tower of St Tydfil’s Church and the four storey high Angel Hotel. The parish clock was a useful timepiece for us boys when playing in the streets and alleys near the school during the lunch hour. Punishment for lateness for afternoon lessons could be a canning on the hand. In 1957 the Angel hotel was demolished and during playtimes we had a grandstand view of its progress. The walls of the hotel were very thick with over 400 windows that were deeply recessed with bench seats and the workmen could be seen walking along the top of the wall knocking away the brickwork at their feet with sledge hammers. A working practice that would making any health and safety officer wince, and of course it was not surprising that two men fell from the third storey when part of the wall they were standing on collapsed. Sadly one died and the other was seriously injured.
Opposite the school was a row of terraced houses, formally Maerdy Row, in the front window of one of the houses I can recall seeing a display of boxing trophies, cups belts etc. I don’t know whether they were for professional or amateur boxing or how long they were on display. The occupier of the house must have had some pride in the achievement to display them in their front window. The properties in and around Court Street were near their full life and in February 1960 number 2 Court Street and numbers 22 and 23 Gillar Street were issued with demolition orders. In the following month the County Borough Council approved a compulsory purchase order (CPO) for Court Street. The street was demolished together with the properties between the railway line and the High Street known as the Ball Court. The aerial photograph shows that Jones Bros Garage occupied the site in 1965.
At the end of Court Street as it joins the High Street on the left hand corner and behind the Star Inn was a slaughter house. We boys could climb the waste ground at the side of the building to look down through a window to watch the slaughter men working below. The smell and sounds of the slaughter house is something I will never forget.
By 1960 plans were in place to relocate St Mary’s to an alternative site in Caedraw and today the school in Caedraw is scheduled for closure with a new school planned for the Bishop Hedley School site in Penydarren.
Below is a marvellous aerial photograph of the Court Street area taken in 1965. Whilst a lot of the buildings shown remain, quite a number have gone. Some of the more important buildings have been labelled (many thanks to Christine & Kenneth Brewer, Keith Lewis-Jones, Carl Llewellyn & Joan Newman for clarifying a number of details).
