Tag: Mardy Farm

by Barrie Jones

Chapter One

Tir Ysgubornewydd (New Barn Farm)

Ysgubornewydd farm was part of the Morlangau Estate; a prominent estate which extended south and east of the village of Merthyr Tydfil. In earlier times its owners were a younger branch of the family of Edward Lewis of the Van. Morlangau covered 172 acres of land already split between two farms: the Mardy and Ysgubornewydd. The earliest reference to an occupier of Tir Ysgubornewydd is the 1715 Rental which shows two occupiers of Tir Morlangau, Nicholas David and John David, possibly brothers and probably John David occupied Tir Ysgubornewydd. The Davids’ were related to Nicholas the brother of Gwenllian David wife to Lewis William of Tir Castell Morlais, and it is possible that a succession of Nicholas Davids occupied Tir Morlangau from 1666 to 1718.

In 1719 the lease of Morlangau was granted to Thomas Richard, who subsequently purchased the freehold from the Lewis of the Van family in 1727, the sale was precipitated by the hefty fine imposed on the Lewis family following their support of the failed Jacobite rebellion. At this time, 1719, probably his son, Lewis, occupied Tir Ysgubornewydd. Thomas’s other son David had ownership of Morlangau from 1749 to his death in 1780, after which ownership passed to his son William (ap David, afterwards known as Davies). Prior to his death in 1820 William may have been living at Tir Ysgubornewydd.

The Mardy farm was twice the size of Ysgubornewydd but being nearer to Merthyr village, the main road and the emerging Plymouth works by 1850 it had already lost a significant portion of its land to housing and industrial waste and had ceased to function as a single farm, its remaining fields being leased to numerous individuals. It is probable that the Mardy farmstead was located near to the main road and perhaps close to the Court and their adjoining boundary, hence its exact location yet not being known.

Prior to 1844 the Morlangau estate was held ‘under trust’ by Jane, wife of William Thomas of the Court, during that time it consisted of Ysgubornewydd Farm and eight other meadows let out to different people. The importance of the farm was already diminished by so much of it being fragmented by separate tenancies. In 1841 this is further evidenced by the farmstead being occupied by a merchant and mine workers while the farmer, Aaron Lloyd, was living off site in nearby Plymouth Street. The leasing of land for housing and industrial waste demonstrates that the estate’s owners and trustees were determined to maximise rental returns from the land rather than holding any preference for agricultural use.

By 1850 the farm estate covered an area of fifty-four acres of meadow, pasture, wood, and waste.  However, only 39 acres of the farm was tenanted by Aaron Lloyd.  Already the owners had allowed the incursion of waste tipping along its boundary with the Nant Blacs and the tramroad that ran from Pen Heol Ferthyr to the Plymouth Iron Works.

Ysgubornewydd Farm:

Map Ref.	Description	Cultivation	Acres	Roods	Perches
1389	Cae Jenkin Hopkin	Meadow	3	1	24
1390	Cae Lewis Thomas	Meadow	1	3	16
1391	Cae Pen Twyn	Meadow	3	–	18
1392	Waste	–	–	2	–
1393	Rubbish and Waste	–	3	3	8
1394	Y Waun	Pasture	2	2	4
1395	Cae Main	Pasture	2	2	23
1396	Cae Pwdwr	Meadow	2	2	4
1397	Road and Waste	–	2	1	12
1400	Cae Sgubor	Meadow	2	2	20
1401	Cae Dan y Ty	Meadow	1	2	7
1402	Homestead	–	–	1	8
1403	Coed Sgubor Newydd	Pasture & Wood	1	2	–
1404	Part of Coed Sgubor Newydd	Pasture & Wood	2	–	–
1404a	Cae Pant	Meadow	4	3	18
1405	Cae Ishaf Y Cwm	Pasture	3	3	22
1406	Part of Cae Ishaf Y Cwm	Pasture	5	–	24
1398	Cae Thomas Rosser	Meadow	6	3	10
1399	Cae Cant Llaeth	Meadow	2	3	4
	Total Measurement		54	0	22
Source: 1850 Tithe Schedule (see tithe map below, area edged red)

In 1851 the farm was further reduced in size by the construction of the Dowlais Railway through the fields Cae Lewis Thomas, Cae Jenkin Hopkin, Cae Main, Cae Sgubor, and Cae Cant Llaeth.  Thus, the Dowlais Railway (“Incline”) cut off a sizeable portion of the original farm estate from the farmhouse, an estimated area of over twenty-four acres, making the later development of the Twynyrodyn side of the incline more practicable. By the time Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council purchased the remaining farm in 1947 the area between the Incline and Gilfach Cynon was already a fully established community of houses, shops, chapel, and school.

Despite this significant loss of acreage, the records show that up to its sale in 1947 the farm’s tenants farmed an area of between 40 and 50 acres. It is likely that a portion of the already fragmented Mardy Farm estate also ‘cut off’ by the ‘Incline’ was incorporated into the Ysgubornewydd farm. This area comprised four fields to the southwest of the Coed Sgubor Newydd and Cae Ishaf y Cwm fields:

Map Ref.	Description	Cultivation	Acres	Roods	Perches
1407	Coed y Banner	Pasture & Wood	6	1	38
1408	Caia Wolridge	Pasture & Meadow	3	0	0
1409	Caia Wolridge	Pasture & Meadow	2	3	36
1410	Cae Daniel Stephens	Meadow	2	0	8
	Total Measurement		14	2	2
Source: 1850 Tithe Schedule (see tithe map above, area edged blue)

In 1906, 4½ acres was purchased for the construction of the Mardy Hospital further reducing the amount of farmland. The hospital largely occupied the fields Caia Wolridge (1409) and Cae Daniel Stephens (1410). At no time since 1820 does there appear to be a period of settled tenancy of the farm with change nearly every decade or so. There is no family continuation usually associated with farms and generally the new tenants were not local to the area as highlighted in the following list of occupants:

Year	Tenant	Occupation	Place of Birth
1841	Aaron Lloyd (living off site)	Farmer	Merthyr Tydfil
1851	Aaron Lloyd	Farmer (39 acres)
1861	David Morgan	Farmer (50 acres)	Llanbedr, Brecon
1871	David Morgan	Farmer
1881	Edmund Gibbs	Farmer (40 acres)	Framton, Glos.
1891	James Bolton	Horse slaughterer	Tewkesbury, Glos.
1901	James Bolton	Horse slaughterer
1911	John Jones	Farmer	Rhymney, Mons.
1919	John Jones	Farmer
1929	W Price	Farmer (42 acres)
1947	W Price	Farmer (44 acres)

 Sources: Merthyr Tydfil Census Returns, 1941-43 MAF Farm Survey, and MTBC Council minutes.

The tithe map of 1850 shows that field use on the farm was largely a mix of pasture and meadow (88%), so the farm was almost exclusively engaged in rearing livestock, although whether this included sheep is not known. Close to the farm’s demise in 1947 it was run as a dairy farm with thirteen cows and probably the milk was sold for local consumption which in those days was from a pony and trap.  Since 1850 there has been little change in the total area of land cultivated for pasture and meadow.  The Ministry of Agriculture (MAF) survey in 1943 records a small amount of land (two acres) was farmed for root crops, such as turnips, swedes, and mangolds, mainly for fodder, and over seventy fowls were reared.

Despite the gradual erosion of its acreage from the early 1800’s through the activities of both the Plymouth and Dowlais iron works, the expansion of the community of Twynyrodyn and improvements in health care, the farm was able to maintain an optimum size to ensure an agricultural livelihood. However, with the requirement that milk should be pasteurised or bottled under approved conditions under new regulations introduced in the 1950’s, it is very unlikely that a farm so small, although “well run”, could have modernised its dairy production and hence would have ceased to continue as a dairy farm. In 1947 the farm’s uncertain future may already have been anticipated. After over 150 years of industrial and urban pressure the final phase in the farm’s history was completed when through the increasing need for more and better housing the County Borough Council acquired the remaining 43.9 acres of freehold land at a cost of £3,100 plus fees.

To be continued…..