Tag: Merthyr Telegraph

Jem Mace in Merthyr

by Peter Rogers

James ‘Jem’ Mace (8 April 1831 – 30 November 1910) was an English boxing champion, primarily during the bare-knuckle era.

He was born at Beeston, Norfolk, and although he was nicknamed ‘The Gypsy’, he denied Romany ethnicity in his autobiography. Fighting in England, at the height of his career between 1860 and 1866, he won the English Welterweight, Heavyweight and Middleweight championships, and was considered one of the most scientific boxers of his era.

Most impressively he held the World Heavyweight Championship from 1870 to 1871 while fighting in the United States.

The following article is transcribed from the Merthyr Telegraph of 11 June 1864.

JEM MACE’S VISIT

LOSS OF A VALUABLE HORSE

The members of the prize ring – if they happen to be at all distinguished – can certainly make no complaint that their peculiar merits are overlooked, even in quarters by no means vulgar or uninfluential. We had an instance of this last week, when Jem Mace and some others of the bruising fraternity, paid us a flying visit, and delighted the roughs by an exhibition of fistic prowess. Jem, however, bad higher patrons than the boisterous admirers who crowded to see himself and “The Wolf” set-to at the circus, and one gentleman carried his enthusiasm for the champion so far as to invite him to his residence*, order his band out for his entertainment, and we need not add, treated him there with the fullest hospitality. It is with regret that we have to relate that his appreciation of the manly qualities of Jem, should have cost the gentleman in question rather dearly, as he lost in consequence a fine carriage horse, worth some 70 or 80 guineas.

After having entertained his guest, and given honour where he deemed honour to be due – when the hour of Jem’s departure arrived Mr Crawshay, with great consideration, ordered his coachman to drive the pugilistic hero to the circus, where he was to perform. The well appointed vehicle was accordingly got ready, one of the horses harnessed in, and off they went at a truly slapping pace. In due time the champion was brought to his destination, and after a decent interval, the coachman set out to return.

There are malicious stories abroad that he must have offered sacrifice to one of the divinities, as he picked up a ‘navvy’ or labourer on the road, to whom he transferred the reins – and on whose knees – evidently in playful mood, he rather nonchalantly took his seat. The new Jehu was however not very skilful at driving, and soon got off the road upon a tramway, where the wheels of the trap somehow became entangled in the rails, causing the spirited animal suddenly to plunge and grow restive.

The first result of this was to fling the coachman from his perch headlong on the road, but by the good fortune which often attends somnambulists he suffered no serious injury. Not so with the poor horse however -he at once started forth at full speed, but came in contact with a wall, against which he broke the trap, and in the collision received such injuries that to be killed on the spot.

*Cyfarthfa Castle

Dan y Castle Farm

by Alison Davies

With the proposed water treatment works at Dan y Castle Farm I have been inundated with messages asking for the history of the farm.

Dan y Castle , Llwyn Molgoch.

Dan y Castle Farm – or, to give it, its original name Llwyn Molgoch is a farmstead below Pontsarn Road, it nestles in the summer shadows, southwest of the Brynar and Morlais Castle hill.

With the building of a new road alongside the heads of the valleys, the land it is now visible from the roadside.

The site of the farm with Morlais Castle to the right

There has been a farmstead on this site since at least the 1500s, with earliest records naming it as Tir Llwyn Molgoch as part of the original Tir y Gyrnos Farm in 1640s with it eventually being sold in the early 1700s.

The original name Llwyn Molgoch was translated as ‘Bush of the red summit’, by Charles Wilkins, 1904.

Wilkins wrote, that, ‘tradition at the farm was, that Molgoch was a warrior, who, when escaping his enemies, sort shelter in a bush, where he was captured and killed’.

While, John Griffiths, writing about The Farms in the Merthyr Valley in 2011 gave two possible explanations, one, of Molgoch as, either, meaning’ Red Hill’ or secondly ‘the farm at ‘Molgoch Grove’ where he gives Molgoch as a name, or nickname. Griffiths further questioned, that, in some Welsh directories Moloch meant terror or dread.

There are a variety of spelling variations for Llwyn molgoch.

Lloyne moyle Goch – 1756 Gyrnos sale

Llwynmoelgoch – 1839 Merthyr Telegraph.

Glamol Yoch – 1850s Tithe map.

While, I am neither able to prove, or disprove its early origins, we will look at its significance and growth as one of the most important estate farm lands throughout the 1800s in Merthyr, and, how it became an integral piece of Merthyr’s history.

By the early 1800s Llwyn Molgoch had been separated from the original Gyrnos farm and was now part of the Penydarren Ironworks Estate land.

It was here at Llwyn Molgoch on May 13th 1813 that David Davies was born. He would grow up to be one of the most influential businessmen in 19th century South Wales.

While of interest is that his father, Thomas, rolled the first Iron rail at the Penydarren Ironworks and in South Wales.

David began work at Penydarren iron works firstly as a door boy at a young age, then training as a cutter man. Through his skill as a cutter, he was noted to have improved the manufacture of nail iron at Penydarren.

David left Penydarren works to take on the College Lock Ironworks in Llandaff, Cardiff.

By the early 1860s, he had then become the general manager at Gadlys Ironworks until 1863, when, he was drawn back to his native Merthyr. With his business partner, Thomas Williams he purchased the Penydarren estate and its works where he lived until 1884. From there, he became a partner, and later sole proprietor of the famous Beaufort Tinplate Company in Morriston, and Alderman, JP Swansea.

David Davis died September 1894 aged 81 years. The newspapers of the day ran extensive tributes to his achievements.

He is buried alongside his first wife in Cefn Cemetery.

By the 1830s Llwyn Molgoch was now in the ownership of the Crawshay family, and part the Cyfarthfa Estate. In the farmhouse where David Davies was born, now lived one of the first gamekeepers to the Crawshay family Thomas Havard who later moved to the newly built Gurnos Model Farm.

A succession of gamekeepers went on to live at Llwyn Molgoch. There was an ongoing problem with poaching on the Cyfarthfa Estate. From the front door, just two fields away, stood a folly, a stone tower known as the ‘keepers Tower’. It still stands today but is now surrounded by houses in New Gurnos, near to Pen y Dre School.

Keepers Tower

From this tower the gamekeepers would patiently wait for the poachers and their dogs, this elevated view allowed the gamekeepers to track the poachers across the land. Looking at Ariel photos today you can still see a well-trodden pathway leading from Llwyn Molgoch to the tower.

The land here is a pre industrial landscape undeveloped.

The history of the Cyfarthfa Estate is too important to be brushed aside, too important to be ignored, forgotten and built over. The act of preserving or preservation isn’t for the here and now . It’s for the future, a gift of preservation of our heritage for a generation or generations to come.

In 2025 , to mark the 200th year of Cyfarthfa Castle, Merthyr Historical Society and Cyfarthfa Castle produced a book called Cyfarthfa Castle and Park 1825 -2025. A people’s History. Here on page 41 is an article by Christine Trevett. This article, titled Class, clashes and Crawshay Land. The article formally acknowledges the history, and the importance of the Cyfarthfa estate and its lands. It was chosen, I’m sure by the author for its weight of significance.

In writing about it, she shows how very important this landscape is.

Now acknowledged in print, its history stands for the future. Its future should be preserved, therefore, now is the time, time for, Merthyr Historical Society, Cyfarthfa Castle, Cyfarthfa Foundation and Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council to stand up for our history, and Heritage.

To see more of Alison’s fantastic research about Pontsarn and Vaynor, please follow this link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/747174317220437

Merthyr’s Historians: Charles Wilkins

Over the years, Merthyr has produced some excellent historians, and I would like to introduce a new feature celebrating some of them. To mark the 110th anniversary of his death, we kick off with Merthyr’s first ‘official’ historian – Charles Wilkins.

Charles Wilkins was born on 16 August 1830 in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, the second of nine children of William Wilkins, a Chartist bookseller, and Anna Maria Wilkins. In 1840 the family moved to Merthyr, with William Wilkins opening a shop on the High Street (opposite the current Lloyd’s Bank), and eventually becoming postmaster at the post office adjoining his business. At the age of fourteen, Charles left school to work with his father as a clerk at the post office.

In 1859, Charles married Lydia Jeans and they settled at Springfield Villa in Thomastown. The (by contemporary accounts) idyllic marriage was shattered in 1867 when Lydia died giving birth to their third child.

Cardiff Times – 8 June 1867

The following year, Charles married Mary Skipp in Topsley, Herefordshire, and she would bear him two further children.

In 1871, William Wilkins died, and Charles took over as postmaster.

Merthyr Telegraph 27 October 1871

From 1846 to 1866 he was also librarian of the Merthyr Tydfil Subscription Library of which Thomas Stephens was secretary.

From the age of fourteen, Charles began writing articles for local and national Welsh newspapers, and in 1867, he published ‘The History of Merthyr Tydfil’, the first ‘official history of the town. It was subsequently extended and re-published in 1908.

As well as writing some fiction, he also wrote several other major historical works including:-

  • Wales, Past and Present (1870) (The History of Wales for Englishmen)
  • Tales and Sketches of Wales (1879, 1880)
  • The History of the Literature of Wales from 1300 to 1650 (1884)
  • The History of Newport (1886)
  • The South Wales Coal Trade and Its Allied Industries (1888)
  • The History of the Iron, Steel, Tinplate and Other Trades of Wales (1903)

In 1877, he was “initiated into the mysteries of the Druidic lore”, and at the 1881 National Eisteddfod, held in Merthyr Tydfil, he won a £21 prize (approximately equivalent to £2,100 in 2019) and gold medal for the best “History of the Literature of Monmouthshire and Glamorganshire from the earliest period to the present time.” In 1882 he founded ‘The Red Dragon: The National Magazine of Wales’. That same year, it was reported in the Western Mail (7 December 1882) that, “after careful examination of the various works written by Mr. Wilkins”, he was “unanimously elected to the super graduate Degree of Literature (Lit. D.)” by the Druidic University of America and its affiliate in Maine.

Charles Wilkins retired as postmaster at the end of 1897 after almost 50 years of service. He died at Springfield Villa on 2 August 1913 and was buried at Cefn Cemetery.

Although his history of Merthyr contain some inaccuracies; bearing in mind when it was written, and that a lot of it was based on oral history; it is a remarkable work, being the first of its kind to chronicle Merthyr’s history, and it is an invaluable resource to use as a starting point for further research.

You can download the 1867 version of Wilkins history of Merthyr here:

https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_History_of_Merthyr_Tydfil/FWk1AQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0

The 1908 revision is available here:

https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/_/A_YRnQEACAAJ?hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiBkKbRz7OAAxXvX_EDHX-LDaAQre8FegQIAxAc

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 18th 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.