Tag: Libanus Chapel (Quakers Yard)

Quakers’ Yard – A Potted History

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson’s Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Quakers’ Yard like this:

“QUAKERS-YARD, a village in the E of Glamorgan; on the river Taff at the influx of the Bargoed, adjacent to the Taff Vale Extension railway, at the junction of the branch to Hirwain, 7½ miles S S E of Merthyr-Tydvil. It took its name from an old burying-place of Quakers; stands in a fine curve of the valley, engirt all round by hills; and has a station with telegraph at the railway junction.”

The village of Quakers’ Yard was originally known as ‘Rhyd y Grug’ or ‘The Ford of the Rustling Waters’, grew up at the confluence of the Taff Bargoed River and the River Taff, and the name was derived from the fact that the Taff was quite shallow here and there had been a ford crossing the river at this point. The village later became known by its more usual name because of the Quaker burial ground that was erected in the village (see previous article – http://www.merthyr-history.com/?p=5069).

Quaker’s Yard was, until the second half of the 19th century, a quiet rural spot. There was a corn mill, Melin Caiach and a small woollen mill on the banks of the Taff Bargoed, as well as a small scattering of houses. With the building of a bridge across the Taff to replace the ford, the village could even boast two inns – the Quakers’ Yard Inn and the Glantaff Inn.

Quakers’ Yard Bridge and Quakers’ Burial Ground. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

The Industrial Revolution, of course, changed all that. Soon the coal trade totally revolutionized the nature of the environment, creating booming and burgeoning communities like nearby Treharris and Trelewis. The link to Quakerism remained strong. Treharris was named after William Harris, a Quaker businessman whose family owned a fleet of steam ships, while streets in the new towns were named after famous Quakers such as William Penn and George Fox.

Religion in the village wasn’t confined to Quakerism. In 1831, members of Groeswen Chapel in Caerphilly broke away from their chapel and built and Welsh Independent Chapel called Soar in the village, The Welsh Independents also built Libanus in 1833 and the Welsh Baptists built Berthlwyd in 1841. There was also a Welsh Wesleyan chapel – Horeb, and a Primitive Methodist chapel – Ebenezer. Finally, in 1862, the Anglicans opened St Cynon’s Church at Fiddler’s Elbow.

In 1858 the Quaker’s Yard High Level station was opened. Together with the village’s Low Level station this created a lively and bustling railway junction where passengers could embark for places like Merthyr and Aberdare and coal could be dispatched down the valley to the docks at Cardiff. In 1840 the engineer – and guiding force behind the Great Western Railway – Isambard Kingdom Brunel began work on a six-arched viaduct across the River Taff. While the High Level station closed in 1964, the viaduct is still there, carrying traffic from Merthyr to Cardiff.

Quakers’ Yard Viaduct and Truant School. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive.

As the village grew so schools were built here or in the surrounding area. In 1894, the borough’s infamous Truant School was built in Quakers’ Yard, and in 1906, the Woodlands Junior School was built along the river Taff; 70 years later the building was used for a Welsh Medium Junior School, Ysgol Cymraeg  Rhyd y Grug. After the First World War, Merthyr Tydfil acquired some prefab buildings for a new secondary school and on the 2 May 1922 Quakers’ Yard Grammar School officially opened by Mayor David Davies, although this wasn’t actually situated in the village, but in Edwardsville.

Perhaps the most famous man to emerge from Quaker’s Yard was the world flyweight boxing champion Jimmy Wilde (right) who was born in the village in 1892. Known as ‘the ghost with a hammer in his hand’, Wilde fought an amazing 864 bouts, losing only four of them, and reigned as champion between 1916 and 1921 (see previous article – http://www.merthyr-history.com/?p=150).

Merthyr’s Chapels: Ebenezer Chapel, Trelewis

The next chapel in our regular feature is Ebenezer Welsh Independent Chapel in Trelewis. Today is an apt date for featuring Ebenezer Chapel, as 130 years ago today (30 September 1889), the foundation stones of the chapel were laid.

In 1870, members of Libanus Chapel, Quakers Yard started a Sunday School in Trelewis, firstly at Penygroesheol and then at Pontsquire.

In 1875 a schoolroom was built on a piece of land belonging to Bontnewydd Farm, and in 1877 the cause was instituted as a branch of Libanus Chapel under the pastorate of Rev G B Williams.

Within two years however, the Deep Navigation Colliery opened and the town of Treharris was built. When it was realised that Treharris was developing more quickly than Trelewis, a number of the members of the congregation wanted to move the chapel to Treharris, and in April 1880 about 40 of them founded Tabernacle Chapel in Treharris.

Ebenezer was then left with only thirteen members, but they were determined to carry on and the congregation gradually began to grow again. By 1883, the congregation had grown to over forty people and Rev John Evans, minister at Penuel Chapel, Nelson became minister of Ebenezer in a joint pastorate with Penuel.

By 1889 the congregation had grown to an extent that it was decided to build a more substantial chapel, and the foundation stones of the chapel were laid in September 1889 by Sir Alfred Thomas M.P. (Lord Pontypridd), and Thomas Williams of Merthyr. The chapel was designed by Mr John Williams of Merthyr and the builder was Mr D Jenkins of Dowlais.

The total cost of the building was £900, a large amount of which was raised at a grand bazaar in 1890.

The chapel was a very successful cause for many years, but like nearly all the chapels in the borough, numbers dwindled after the Second World War, and the chapel eventually closed and was demolished.