Has anyone read R L Lee’s remarkable book ‘The Town that Died’? The town in question is Dowlais, and the book recounts his memories of growing up there.
Dowlais is not a bad place at all, but when you compare the town today to how it was – for a lot of people from cherished memories, for others, relying on photographs, you can see that the epithet is a just one.
Below is an excellent photograph of Dowlais taken in 1920’s from the mountain behind the Ironworks (the present day Goat Mill Road). You can see what a large and bustling it place it was. A lot of the more prominent buildings are numbered and identified beneath the photo.
| 1. Gwernllwyn Chapel 2. Hermon Chapel 3. Shiloh Chapel 4. Elizabeth Street Chapel 5. Bryn Sion Chapel 6. Dowlais Works |
7. Temple Buildings 8. Ivor Works 9. Elim-Tabernacle Chapel 10. Oddfellows Hall 11. Bethania Chapel |
Almost everything in the photograph has gone. Of the buildings numbered above, only Bethania Chapel still remains.
The Town that Died indeed.