Tag: Second World War

Beer, Brewing and Public Houses in the Merthyr Tydfil Locality – part 2

by Brian Jones

Prior to the early 19th century public houses, coaching inns, hotels and hostelries sold beer of variable quality in vessels of various sizes and without restrictions on opening times. Governments did not interfere in the trade however the “Gin Riots”  in England, particularly in London, of the early 18th century prompted legislation spread over many decades in order to standardise units of measures, pub opening times and the legal definition of beers, wines and spirits. Premises had to be licenced, pub landlords needed to apply for licences and it was necessary for them to keep their pubs in good order for fear of losing their licence. Licensed Victuallers, or pub landlords, became more professional and local licensed victualler Associations were formed. Some important Acts of Parliament were:-

  • 1824 British Weights and Measures Act which defined the imperial measurements for (amongst others) the pint and half pint.
  • 1830 Beerhouse Act which sought to encourage the establishment of pubs with more supervision plus the promotion of beer sales as a more wholesome beverage than gin and other spirits. This Act resulted in a significant increase in the number of public houses.
  • 1921 The Licensing Act made permanent the World War I restriction on alcohol sales, establishing standard opening hours for licensed premises.
  • 2003 Licensing Act aimed to pull a host of previous legislation together and covers the production, advertising, sale and taxation of products based on their alcohol by volume (ABV) Alcohol is now defined if it exceeds 1.2% ABV.

In 1835 ironworks were the major employer in the locality whilst the coal industry still remained relatively small scale. The population was less than 14,000 and “Pigot’s Directory” described Merthyr as a market town. His listing of the local businesses has the characteristics of a growing urban population with bakers, blacksmiths, booksellers, boot makers, hardware dealers, hairdressers, tanners etc. The directory also lists over 50 pubs and retailers of beer. Nearly all of the pubs no longer exist with a few exceptions such as The Crown and The Vulcan, both in the High Street, the Wyndham in Glebeland Street and the Glove and Shears (now a fast food outlet)  adjacent to the Labour Club. It is remarkable that these premises still exist after nearly 200 years!

Courtesy of the Alan George Archive

The local pubs in the era of the iron aside from selling beer, also served as centres of trade and mischief. Most of the ironworkers were not employed by the Ironmasters but by contractors, and their gangmasters would pay workers in the pubs, initially in tokens, and after the Truck Act of 1819 in coin of the realm. These men were captive customers and in the decades that followed drunkenness became a significant social problem. Local press was littered with stories of assaults, thefts and public indecency whilst under the influence of alcohol, and such was public concern that alcohol became political in nature. It transpired that the Beerhouse Act of 1830 had been too lax and a rift emerged between the political parties; the Conservative Party represented Brewers and Licensees and the Liberal Party represented those groups seeking to reduce the effects of “demon drink”. In Wales this came to a head in 1881 when pressure from Non-Conformists forced the prohibition of the sale of alcohol on Sundays. In time the national Liberal Party supported a 3 year Royal Commission into Liquor Licensing because of concerns about alcohol consumption, public order and social progress. In 1908 a Licensing Act sought to reduce pub licenses and opening hours and a later Act in 1921 reinforced changes in the laws.

Deep Coal mines were sunk in the 1880s and a surge in the transport of coal by the improved rail transport, coincided with immigration into the coalfield and a second rapid increase in population. Tom Hier produced a significant piece of work set out in the Alan George archives, He listed in alphabetical order more than 500 pubs in the Merthyr locality and these establishments became important economic and social centres The list starts with Aberfan Hotel and finishes with the Zebro in Mary Street, Dowlais and spans the economic history of the locality from farming to the Iron works era, through the railway age and then coal mining. Here are a few examples of the number of pubs with similar names:-

  • 12 Plough /Farmers Arms
  • 7 Rolling Mill/Puddlers Arms/Blast Furnace
  • 12 Railway/ Locomotive /Station
  • 12 Miners/Colliers Arms

There were also a small number of pubs with curious names which mirrored the makeup of the population. Greyhound racing had been a popular pastime and there were at least 10 pubs named the Greyhound. The Irish communities of both Merthyr and Dowlais had their own Shamrock pubs at Bethesda Street and Cross Street respectively whilst the leather tanners at “The Skinyard” near Jackson Bridge had the Tanyard pub in Bethesda Street.

The Tanyard Inn. Courtesy of the Alan George Archive

Throughout  the 19th and into the 20th century the beer trade expanded however most breweries confined their sales to premises within a relatively short distance because the mode of transport was a limiting factor. Beer wagons were drawn by sturdy horses who could manage heavy loads on the flat or slightly sloping ground but not the steep climbs from one valley to the next one. That was to change at the end of World War I with the manufacture of petrol driven lorries. Prior to 1914 The Rhymney Brewery company had bought out local breweries however they were now able to expand their transport fleet and this enabled them to further economise by closing the local brewers and concentrate production at their brewery in Rhymney. In addition their sales outlets increased with the acquisition of freehold premises and now they owned more than 70 pubs in the Merthyr locality and the “Hobby Horse” reigned supreme adorning pubs such as:-

Eagle Inn (right). Courtesy of the Alan George Archive
The Aberfan Hotel. Courtesy of the Alan George Archive
The Glamorgan Arms in Abercanaid. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

To concentrate on the ownership of pubs as part of the real estate owned by the breweries can diminish their importance as part of the social fabric of 19th and 20th century communities. It was not all about beer sales and beer drinking! In the first 100 years after the opening of the four local ironworks pubs were the centres for trade, conversation, smoking and music. Welsh was the dominant language and the Welsh harp was the principal instrument played. The singing voice accompanied the 3 string harp in the men only pubs often described as “spit and sawdust” places. Clay pipes would be given to customers and sometimes these would bear the name of the pub.

In the next 100 years Government legislation and “good order” gained the upper hand. The increased efforts of local government, licensees and the police saw pubs change their character, more English was spoken, women were allowed to enter “The Snug” but not the bar! The pub no longer became the working man stronghold and respectability saw increased use by the middle and professional classes. By way of example Cyfarthfa Castle Grammar school teachers met in the Lamb Inn in Castle Street each Friday evening and the Football Referees Association held their meetings tin the Narrow Gauge, Glebeland Street. The laws of Association and Rugby football had been codified and clubs were formed in pubs especially after World War II. Some examples are a rugby team at the Lamb and a football team at the Iron Horse, Galon Uchaf. Pub darts was popular with darts leagues whilst table games included cribbage, dominoes and cards.

The Lamb Inn. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

Selling alcohol, keeping good order and resolving disputes were the job of both landlords and landladies however they also raised families and a brief note is made of some of these. Thomas Stevens served in “B” Company at the battle of Rourke’s Drift (1879) and his family kept the Robin Hood pub in Dowlais. Aladdin Gibb  (1874-1939) followed his more famous father as an accomplished player of the Welsh harp and he was the landlord at the Rose and Crown in the Quar and later the Brecon House, Brecon Road. Some ex-professional footballers looked to retire to life behind the bar. Shenkin Powell (of the thunderous shot) played for Merthyr Tydfil after World War II and he was the landlord of the Brunswick in Church Street. The father of Lynn Mittell MBE kept the Royal Oak pub in old Caedraw, sited near to St. Tydfil’s Church, it was demolished in the 1960’s as part of the redevelopment of Caedraw.

Royal Oak Inn. Courtesy of the Alan George Archive

The pub trade of the 21stcentury bears no resemblance to that of the previous 200 years. Pubs are no longer the centres of public life, considerably fewer in number and now cater for the younger generation with less draught beer, more bottle and draught lager produced by a few national brewers. Supermarkets now sell a substantial volume of liquor for consumption in the home. Catering is a major part of the trade and gone are the days of pork scratchings, peanuts and pickled eggs. Those of us from the post 1945 generation remember the significant part that pubs played in the social and economic life of the youth, middle aged and older population,. All of that was played out beneath the sign of the man on a barrel sometimes identified as a jockey on a “Hobby Horse”.

Beer, Brewing and Public Houses in the Merthyr Tydfil Locality – part 1

by Brian Jones

People living in the Merthyr Tydfil locality shrugged off the trauma of World War II and looked to an ever brighter future. Gone were the hardships of hot physical work associated with the iron works and the burden faced by coal miners, was eased, with mechanisation of that recently nationalised industry. Employment now centred on the new ‘lighter’ industries adapted from wartime production. The new Hoover factory was at the centre of the increasing prosperity and this was reflected in the increase in footfall in the High streets as a consumer society began to emerge. The retail sector thrived and weekend shoppers flooded the centres of the town and nearby villages, although supermarkets and shopping malls were a long way in the future.

Aside from food, furniture and clothing shops the town centres, and villages, were littered with public houses and ‘drinking culture’ became more respectable.  Unsanitary pubs were demolished and money invested  to brighten their appeal as suitable, and sober, places for both men and women. Sales people strove to market the tied pubs owned by the breweries and their signs were prominently displayed. The dominant sign was that used by Rhymney Brewery, with that of the William Hancock Brewery a poor second.

Courtesy of the Alan George Archive

Today this sign hangs outside the Royal Oak, Nelson, which is still trading, whilst a faded painted image can be seen on the gable end of a private house in Quakers Yard, previously named as the Victoria Inn.

Malting is the germination of grains such as barley, wheat or oats which are soaked in warm water to allow germination and that germinating grain is heated in a kiln in order to to increase the alcohol content. In areas where soil was less fertile barley was used and that drink was referred to as ale. The more water in the mixture the weaker the ale and the lighter the colour, the less water the stronger, darker and richer the ale. In rural areas farms and taverns made their own ale which was sold in malthouses. In Medieval times ale/beer was an important source of nutrition mainly served as small beer, table beer or mild beer. It contained just enough alcohol to act as a preservative without causing intoxication and could be drunk by children. In broad terms beer has an alcoholic strength between 0.5 % to 4% alcohol by volume (ABV) although some craft beers can exceed this.

Change came with the entry of business men who opened numerous iron works along the northern edge of the South Wales valleys. Labour flowed into the area and they acquired new skills in hot blast furnaces, puddling the pig iron and this  proved to be thirsty work. The workers could not trust the quality of either drinking water, nor barley water, so they sought refreshment firstly in ale, but later more increasingly in beer which is malted from hops. Beer was readily available and its importance for hydration was recognised by the Ironmasters some of whom took to investing in a more economic way of providing a consistent and safe liquid refreshment. A number of breweries were opened in the locality and these provided extra employment and a number of these were:-

  • Rhymney Brewery, Rhymney
  • Taff Vale Brewery, Georgetown, Merthyr
  • Taff Vale Brewery, Dan Y Parc, Merthyr
  • Six Bells (Heolgerrig), Merthyr
  • Pontycapel Brewery, Cefn Coed
  • Merthyr Brewery, Brecon Road, Merthyr

From the mid 18th century there was a race to build new iron works and  four were established in Merthyr with others at Hirwaun, Tredegar, Rhymney and Blaenavon. Many  of the men and women worked in the open air, mining ironstone, limestone, clay and coal in adits and comparatively small drift mines. In the summer this proved to be thirsty work. Those in the iron works faced hot conditions all year round and sought drink in the many pubs  and publicans began to brew alcohol for their customers. The Brewers Arms and the Clarence Hotel in Dowlais were small scale brewers, however some iron companies saw the potential to make safe and consistent quality beers in substantial quantities. A classic example was the Rhymney Iron Company which morphed from the Union Iron Company in Rhymney Bridge, and the Bute Ironworks. In 1838 it was decided to build a brewery for its workers and a year later a Scotsman, Andrew Buchan, became the brewery manager. For some decades the beers were sold as Buchan’s beers brewed and bottled at the brewery in the centre of Rhymney.

Andrew Buchan died in 1870 however, the brewery continued to use his name until 1930 when they acquired the Western Valleys Company in Crumlin, owned by D.F. Pritchard Ltd. In that purchase they also acquired the Pritchard logo and they decided to use the Hobby Horse with “The Man on a Barrel”. This clearly distinguished Rhymney Beers and the Rhymney Company from its competitors. The brewery at Rhymney was to become the largest in South Wales. Their beers dominated the market in Merthyr and their tied pubs became a common sight from Treharris to Cefn Coed and Dowlais. The company was taken over by Whitbread in 1966 and production ceased in Rhymney in 1978. The company name “Rhymney Brewery” and logo were resurrected in 2005 in Dowlais before production  moved  to its current brewery in Blaenavon. One of its many beers is the historic “Rhymney Hobby Horse”.

Taff Vale Brewery at Dan-y-Parc. Courtesy of the Alan George Archive

The largest of the local Merthyr breweries was the Taff Vale first located adjacent to the canal near the Old Iron Bridge close to where Merthyr college is today. It opened in in the 1840s and in 1904 moved to a new building in Dan Y Parc, to the south of Thomastown Park. The company was acquired by the Rhymney Brewery in 1936 and brewing ceased at that site. The Rhymney Brewery grew in importance as the dominant brewer and owner of public houses in the locality and in this same year(1936) it bought out a large Pritchard brewery in Crumlin and the last of the Merthyr brewing companies ceased production. In parallel with these 1936 acquisitions the William Hancock brewery in Cardiff purchased the Merthyr Brewery located on the Brecon Road and brewing also ceased there.

At the end of World War II the empty building at Dan Y Parc accommodated O.P. Chocolates and chocolate production continued there until 1963 when the company moved to a brand new factory in Dowlais which still operates today.

Six Bells Brewery. Photo Courtesy of the Alan George Archive

The Six Bells pub had served the people of Heolgerrig however many  may be surprised to learn that a large brewery once stood alongside the original pub. The Heolgerrig Brewery was founded in the 1840s by Thomas Evans until it was destroyed by fire in 1888. He then erected a new building which continued to brew beer until 1916 when it was Purchased by D.F. Pritchard Ltd. of Crumlin. The acquisition of breweries by larger companies became a trend where the new owners closed down local brewing in order to concentrate production at their own brewery. Some years later D.F. Pritchard Ltd. was bought out by the Rhymney Brewery who acquired the “Hobby Horse” trademark as part of that purchase.

Pontycapel Brewery. Photo Courtesy of the Alan George Archive

The Pontycapel Brewery was founded in the early 1800’s by Robert Millar and was later purchased by James Pearce when it became Pearce and Shapton in 1871.It was described as the most picturesque brewery in the country, sited in a wooded area it predated the construction of the Cefn Viaduct which was completed in 1866. Shortly thereafter the name changed to the Cefn Viaduct Brewery especially  known for Star Bright XXXX Pale Ale and production continued until 1921 when there was a post World War I economic downturn.

Photo Courtesy of the Alan George Archive

The Giles and Harrap’s Merthyr Brewery was located on the Brecon Road. An adjacent road was named Brewery Street in an area which was the centre of the Merthyr Irish community and St. Mary’s Catholic church was built a short distance away. In 1936 the brewery was taken over by the William Hancock Company based in Cardiff although the buildings continued to be used as a warehouse and distribution centre for beer and spirits until the Borough Council bought the site. The brewery was the oldest in the locality when it opened in 1830 and so predated the Taff Vale Brewery by about 30 years. Richard Harrap lived in Gwaunfarren House, which later became the Gwaunfarren Maternity Hospital. Both partners built up the business to rival the Rhymney Brewery although in time the Rhymney Brewing Company grew to be larger buying out other brewers. Both companies managed a large number of tied public houses in Merthyr and also sold beer in a large number of local freehold pubs. The Merthyr and Rhymney breweries were to dominate the beer market and their large number of pubs were to have a prominent visual impact in main and side streets spread throughout the locality.

To be continued…….

The Italians in Merthyr Tydfil

By Carolyn Jacob

The story of modern Italian immigration began with a tide of economic migrants in the 19th century. The majority coming from the mountain villages of the North, often as seasonal workers walking overland to French ports. Gradually more stayed and either saved enough to bring their families here or married local women and started families here. They encouraged other family members and friends from their villages to join them in a classic pattern of chain migration. The 20th century saw another wave of immigration, predominantly from the South of Italy and Sicily. A significant number passed through London and branched out to establish communities in South Wales.

Charlie Speroni wrote that leaving the family farm and vineyards in Italy was a major upheaval. As a child in 1927 he arrived in Wales unable to speak a word of English but he was made to feel very welcome. As well as attending school he was expected to work in the family business. During the depression the family rented a fish and chip shop in Penydarren and Charlie was in full time employment working on the chip carts in the winter and the ice cream carts in the summer months. He worked in London for a few years but always returned to Merthyr. Charlie never returned again to Italy and said that “The sky may not be so blue in Wales, but the friendliness of its people make it home.”

Tom Protheroe standing with Mr. Speroni’s Ice Cream cart. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

The Galleozzie family are a Merthyr family! They have been living in Merthyr Tydfil for over 130 years, since Luigi moved here in the 1870s. Martyn Galleozzie, a former Welsh ABA featherweight champion in the 1970s was definitely Welsh.

Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

Dominico Basagelao arrived in South Wales in the early 1860s and finding himself in Pantywaun on a snowy winter’s evening he took lodgings with Mr and Mrs Thomas of the Royal Arms Public House. He found work in as a colliery in the South Tunnel Drift Mine. Although a poor Italian and a stranger, he married into the rich Jones (Ceffyl Gwyn) family who were Welsh speaking chapel people.  John Martin Basagelao born in 1868 became a wealthy man. He was the landlord of the Tredegar Arms and the former Red Lion public houses at Dowlais Top.

At the start of World War II Italian nationals were interned as enemy aliens, which many felt to be extremely harsh treatment as they themselves were fiercely  anti-Fascist. Just prior to the Second World War a number of Italian residents in the Borough decided that the time had come to make important decisions and a number made the big step of applying for and achieving British citizenship. Among their number was Giovanni  Bracchi from Troedyrhiw, Giovanni  and  Giuseppe Opel from Treharris and lastly Cesare  Cordani, Merthyr Tydfil  in April 1940.

From the 1880s the Berni family had a café in Pontmorlais, and then John Berni  had a temperance bar and high-class confectionery at 91 High Street.

The Berni Brothers’ Berni Inn at 13 Pontmorlais. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

Mr Barsi  was at one time an electric tram driver but later he ran a fish and chip shop in Penydarren. He was thankfully not interned during the Second World War, having served his adopted country well during the First in the Welsh Regiment.

Mr Barsi in his fish and chip shop at Matthias Terrace, Penydarren. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

The Provini’s came to Cefn Coed from Tredegar and kept the Corner Cafe for many years, there was the Provini fish-bar in Georgetown and they also kept the Wellington in Bethesda Street. Frank and Tony Viazzani  in the Station Café, John Street  were the ticket agents for all  local boxing tournaments and the  walls of the café are  still decorated  by many boxing photographs of Howard Winstone.

Vincent Charles Arthur Giardelli MBE, artist, 1911 to 2009 – part 1

by Christine Trevett

Part One: Coming to South Wales 

“When the train finally pulled into Merthyr, I felt I’d come home”
(Arthur Giardelli to Meic Stephens)

There were, a few years ago, still people of very mature years around Merthyr Tydfil who remembered Arthur Giardelli as a teacher of music and language in Cyfarthfa Castle secondary school. One or two I met did not know that he was also (or especially) an artist, and a significant one in the history of 20th century art in Wales. They knew him only as a Cyfarthfa teacher. In 1940 he had arrived in Merthyr with his school as an evacuee teacher, coming from Folkestone. It was the start of a remarkable story for the man who made Wales his home and who had loved Wales ever since family holidays in Pembrokeshire in his teenage years.

Arthur Giardelli was a Londoner, son of an English mother and an Italian father, a father who had become determinedly ‘English’ and had abandoned things ‘continental’. His son Arthur was highly intelligent and talented. He studied modern languages at Oxford and in parallel did some study at Ruskin School of Art. He was also passionate about music and  would use his viola and piano  playing skills (and those of his first wife Phillis, a very talented pianist) to good effect in due course. Unlike his father’s indifference, Arthur became steeped in knowledge of the European scene and of avant garde art. Above all he was a good communicator and widely read, a man who wanted to see the arts appreciated by everyone and accessible to all. Art in Wales would gain from that passion.

In 1940 his wartime pupils from Folkestone’s Harvey Grammar School shared Cyfarthfa Castle school with the local classes on a ‘split day’ basis. Arthur Giardelli soon found himself  unemployed, though, a married man with two young children, sacked by Folkestone Education Authority. This was due to being  a pacifist  and an  admirer of Gandhi and now declaring himself a conscientious objector (C.O.). Fortunately the Dowlais Educational Settlement was on his doorstep and it had been involved in adult education and social care since 1929. Giardelli had been volunteering there. Its Warden, the sculptor and Londoner John Dennithorne was a Quaker, pacifist and fellow admirer of Gandhi. With the agreement of the Settlement’s Quaker committee he took the Giardelli family into Trewern House (the Settlement base), provided a maintenance grant while the result of the teacher’s Tribunal appearance was pending and employed him as a teacher. In Merthyr Central Library, in one of the boxes housing the John Dennithorne papers is a copy of the letter Dennithorne wrote on April 10th 1941, to the the Chairman of the Appeals Tribunal at Cardiff.  He was advocating Giardelli’s unconditional exemption from service because he was valuable as an educator and on other fronts. Through the Settlement, for example, he had oversight of a newly-formed mixed-sex social club for young factory workers; he led members of Settlement classes in a new allotment scheme in which produce would  also be shared with the elderly, infirm and those feeling the loss of their gardening menfolk who were now away at war. As he reported himself, Arthur Giardelli was also a part time fireman. Interestingly, in his letter John Dennithorne made no reference to Giardelli as an artist, for that was not how he was known at the time.

Arthur was exempted from war service. It would be some time before he regained a teaching post, in Cyfarthfa school where he taught music, languages and English. At the time there were objections to the Education Committee from people who felt someone who had been a C.O. should not be given such employment.

Through the war years Giardelli with his wife provided very regular classical music recitals and recital lectures at The Armoury, Dowlais (advertised in the Merthyr Express, free entry but contributions welcome to defray expenses), and with Mervyn Fry (another Settlement employee) provided recorded music sessions, lectures about musicians, painters and the interrelation of music, painting and literature, while John Dennithorne the Warden gave scheduled lectures on the theory and practice of sculpture. It was all part of the morale building activity which the government wanted to see. Significantly during the war Arthur Giardelli also worked with CEMA (Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts), the forerunner of the Arts Council. It sent art exhibitions and theatrical performances around the country at this time, including to Merthyr and Dowlais, with very well known artists and performers. Among the artists exhibiting were Cedric Morris, who was already part of the story of the Dowlais/Merthyr art scene in other ways, and he had encouraged Giardelli.

In 1940 Dowlais must have seemed an unpromising place for an evacuee but there, Giardelli said,  he had encountered ‘a whole mixed body of people’, not just evacuated teachers and Merthyr’s middle and professional classes but miners who gathered to view art, ‘people of all classes’, as he recalled in an interview included in Derek Shiel’s 2001 published study of him (Arthur Giardelli: Paintings, Constructions, Relief  Sculptures, Bridgend: Seren).  In Dowlais, though, his own art work and move to a professional artist’s life had been encouraged.

To be continued…..

Remembering Professor Gwyn A. Williams (1925-1995) on the centenary of his birth

by Mary Owen

Gwyn Alfred Williams was born on September 30th, 1925 in Lower Row, Penywern, Dowlais. His parents, Thomas John and Gwladys, were schoolteachers. The family attended Gwernllwyn Independent Chapel, where they worshipped in Welsh and where young Gwyn and his friends, the ‘Gwernllwyn Chapel Gang’, absorbed the scriptures and played a lively part in social activities. He was educated in Cyfarthfa Castle Grammar School, where he enjoyed school life and many successes, becoming Head Boy and winning a David Davies Open Scholarship to study History at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth.

Sadly, he was unable to begin these studies immediately because, as Geraint H. Jenkins wrote in his 18-page tribute to Gwyn on behalf of the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies 1996, ‘the demands of war took him instead to the battlefields of Europe where he learnt a great deal about human suffering. Indeed, the experience of wartime service stayed with him for the rest of his days. Having witnessed the liberation of Paris and stood amongst the ruins of Berlin, he was then persuaded that he should help to build a better world in Yugoslavia, where he joined gangs of labourers who built a road linking Zagreb and Belgrade.’

His belated studies began ‘at the feet of Francis Treharne, Professor of History since the 1930s and a fellow native of Merthyr’ who veered Gwyn to specialise in medievalism. He graduated with an ‘outstanding first-class honours in 1950 and ‘was showered with prizes.’ A master’s degree and a doctorate followed and in 1954 Gwyn was appointed to teach Welsh History at the College. Jenkins states, ‘It is entirely appropriate that we in Aberystwyth should pay tribute to Gwyn for it was here that he served his apprenticeship as a historian and made his reputation as a scintillating lecturer. His senior colleagues ‘were rather staid, undemonstrative and solemn lecturers… lacking improvisation and lightness of touch…It was all clearly too dull and complacent for the young ball of fire from Dowlais. In his classes Gwyn was erudite and entertaining and his penchant for irreverent statements meant that the classroom where he delivered lectures to first year students was always filled to the brim.’

The strong views and quick wit of Gwyn’s early lecturing days  had been evident in his 1940s school days and honed to perfection when  I once heard him recall, in a Prize-giving event in the 1970s at Cyfarthfa High School, when he told us of the day when Miss Davenport, Head of  the Girls’ Section, based upstairs, where the boys were not allowed to tread, asked him (then the Head Boy) to come to see her.

‘Mr Williams’, she said, ‘There are boys hanging about upstairs. I want you to do something about it.’ His reply to her complaint was:

‘Miss Davenport, what do you want me to do about it? Cut them down?’

His early research as a keen medieval historian widened and Jenkins relates, ‘he became obsessively interested in the French Revolution and in the Atlantic world. Nor was the early history of Merthyr Tydfil, the cradle of the Industrial Revolution in Wales, ever far from his mind. Indeed, the first articles of Welsh history -published in 1959-61 were devoted to the Merthyr Riots of 1831.’ All helped to make this historian ‘the people’s remembrancer’ he wished to be.

Gwyn’s fame spread and in 1963 he was invited to become Reader in History at the new University of York ‘a major turning-point in his career.’ Two years later he was awarded a Chair and for the next eleven years, the swinging sixties! the young professor enjoyed furthering his career with his own exhilarating, modern style of teaching, delighted by classes, again ‘filled to the brim’.

In 1974 he returned to Wales to become Professor of History at Cardiff University. It was a sea- change: his aim to liven up and modernise the study of Welsh History was met with indifference by senior colleagues, who did not share his left-wing values and enthusiasm for the need to focus on the evils of capitalism and the struggles of the exploited working-class of 19th and 20th century industrial South Wales. His new post brought friction and bitter disappointment to the ambitious 49-year- old Welshman. His health suffered and, after battling against the odds for five years, he was persuaded to retire.

Nevertheless, there was life after academia, and he was saved by his need to research, write and to impart his views and his knowledge via active political work and then through radio and television. In 1979 his book, The Merthyr Rising of 1831 was an outstanding success, displaying his scholarship and masterly command of language and written in his fast and furious style. It still has a place on many a bookshelf in Merthyr Tydfil and elsewhere. Revolutions, riots and risings in France, Italy and Spain became favoured topics of his writings. Gwyn, who had already relearnt his Welsh, was a gifted linguist, reading and translating from original documents, often studied in those foreign countries. He won great success as a broadcaster too. His passionate performance in the 1988 TV series, The Dragon has Two Tongues, (A History of the Welsh) proved that the ‘ball of fire from Dowlais’ was still blazing.

He died of cancer on November 16, 1995.

My Street – Part 5

by Barrie Jones

Chapter Four

Wheatley Place

Wheatley Place was the last street built in this the first phase of the Keir Hardie Estate building programme. The programme commenced in late 1946 and the first house in the development, number one Aneurin Crescent was let in January 1948. Tenants of Wheatley Place moved into their new homes in the summer of 1948.

The street comprises of twenty-two properties, three concrete, (Wimpy No Fines), and nineteen prefabricated, (BISF). The houses are numbered from one to forty-three, odd numbers only, perhaps in anticipation that the ‘green’ opposite would be built on sometime in the future. The street is unusual in so far as that number one is one half of a semidetached concrete house, the pair of which is number thirty-four Glasier Road. The house is tucked around the corner from Wheatley Place, so there must have been some confusion when persons were trying to find number one. In fact, before the estate was completed the Housing Manager obtained approval to have house numbers fitted to the doors of all the estate’s houses to avoid this sort of problem. Located at the top of the street are numbers three and five, the remaining two concrete houses in the street. The street descends from its junction with Jowett Avenue levelling off as it approaches number thirty-three. The last house in the street, number forty-three, is a prefabricated house paired with number thirty-seven Aneurin Crescent.

The following families were first allocated houses in Wheatley Place in 1948:

 

House Number Tenant  Housing List Number
One Davies 3025
Three ? –
Five ? –
Seven Richards 692
Nine Jones 2479
Eleven Scriven 3051
Thirteen Curtis 1005
Fifteen Pratt 2772
Seventeen Johnson 2634
Nineteen Egan 779
Twenty-one Moran 2631
Twenty-three Chamberlain 1189
Twenty-five Davies –
Twenty-seven Coombes Key Worker
Twenty-nine ? –
Thirty-one Regan 3048
Thirty-three Bowen 859
Thirty-five O’Neill 1556
Thirty-seven Jones 2222
Thirty-nine Howells 3259
Forty-one Thomas 2023
Forty-three Richardson 3031

In August 1948, my parents with my two older brothers moved into number thirty-seven. My father was demobbed from the Royal Navy in June 1946 and my two brothers were born in 1946 and 1947, respectively. At that time, my parents were living with my father’s parents in number twelve Union Street, Thomastown. My father recounted that to better his chance of securing a council house he paid a visit to Councillor Claud Stanfield at his home in Troedyrhiw. My grandfather was born in Troedyrhiw and many of my father’s aunts and uncles lived in the village and so the family were known to Councillor Stanfield. As well as being the Troedyrhiw Ward councillor, he was also the local insurance agent for a Friendly Society, which would involve calling on numerous families in the village. It is not certain that my father’s lobbying had any influence in securing a council house, his waiting list number was quite low, 2222, but Councillor Stanfield may have hastened the housing allocation. Two months following the move, my mother gave birth to me in the front bedroom of number thirty-seven. So, I may have been the first born on Keir Hardie Estate.

In July 1948 the Home Office, in consultation with the Ministry of Health, offered an additional allocation of twenty houses to meet general housing needs on the understanding that twenty houses on various sites in the borough were made available for occupation by police officers. Number one Wheatley Place was selected for one such police house and Police Constable (PC) Davies was the first police tenant; later PC Vernon Conway assumed the tenancy.

The County Borough’s expansive post-war house building programme occurred during a time of industrial relocation and growth and new housing was essential for key workers as well as new families and it was the Council’s policy to ensure suitable housing for such workers. In May 1947, the Housing Committee re-emphasised its intention that one in ten new council properties would be allocated to key workers. On the Keir Hardie Estate this ratio was not achieved with only eighteen first lettings from a total of two-hundred and seventy-six houses. Number twenty-seven Wheatley place was allocated to Mr E. F. Coombes, of Hoover Ltd., who moved in with his wife and two children. Sometime later, Mr Coombes purchased a property elsewhere and moved out of the street, when older his son Ernest (Ernie) joined the Merthyr Borough Police Force.

Growing up in the 1950s, the Second World War was still fresh in the memories of those living on the estate and Mrs Richardson of number forty-three was a war widow. Her husband Ernest had been killed soon after the Normandy landings (1944), leaving Mrs Richardson to raise her children, twins Eric and Eileen, on her own. Being one of the older boys in the street, Eric would take the lead in some of our street activities, especially the construction of our November the Fifth bonfire which was always built on the green space between the boundary fence of the Mardy Hospital and the rear of numbers fifty-two and fifty-four Aneurin Crescent.

In 1948 the National Service Act introduced peacetime conscription into the armed services. From the 1st of January 1949 all healthy males between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one were required to serve a period of service of eighteen months. Men working in ‘essential services’: mining, farming, and the merchant navy were exempt from call up. National service ended gradually from 1957 with the last national service man leaving service in May 1963. I recall that two boys on either side of our house were called up; Mr O’Neill’s son from number thirty-five went into the army, and Eddie Howells from number thirty-nine went into the Royal Navy.

One of the characters in the street was Mr Davies of number twenty-five, known to us ‘locals’ as Dai Brecon. Dai took great enjoyment in annoying our pet dog, Peg, who would bark at him every time he passed our house. Other than chasing motor bikes, Peg never barked at anyone else in the street.

My father relaxing in the back garden of number thirty-seven with our pet dog Peg by his side.

The green between Jowett Avenue and our street was an ideal play space for us children with trees to climb etc. The road around the green, the “block” was used as a cycling and running track and races were a favourite pastime with the finishing line by the lamppost on the flat stretch near our house.

My mother sitting in the front garden of number thirty-seven, in the background is part of the ‘Green’ and above that part of Jowett Avenue.

Conclusion

As stated in my introduction Wheatley Place does not have as long a history as other streets in Merthyr Tydfil, just under seventy-seven years, nevertheless, it has a story to tell. Also, my account only covers the street up to 1980 and a lot more has happened in or near the street since then; a murder in Greenwood Close and more expansion of the Estate on the remaining part of the ‘Green’ are just a few examples. Others may accept the baton to tell more of the story of Wheatley Place, whilst after reading my account others may wish to tell the story of their own street.

Although prefabricated buildings have a long life, they are not expected to remain standing as long as those built under more traditional methods, my only hope is that Keir Hardie Estate and Wheatley Place in particular, have more years before and more stories to tell.