Tag: Town Hall

Merthyr Central Library

by Carolyn Jacob

A ‘flourishing’ library existed in the Merthyr Tydfil Parish from 1846, although it consisted of only two dozen volumes collected by Thomas Stephens and Charles Wilkins. The books were originally for their ‘conversational club’ and believed to have been in the Temperance Room behind the Merthyr Market. Gradually a number of libraries developed in Merthyr Tydfil, Abercanaid, Aberfan, Dowlais, Penydarren, Thomastown, Treharris, Troedyrhiw and, outside the Parish, Cefn Coed. The ‘central’ library was located in the Town Hall from 1901 but transferred to two vacant shops in the Arcade by 1907. By 1918 The Arcade Library had a reference section and a sizeable number of books. In 1930 the Corporation had to find new premises for the Library and moved to 136 Lower High Street at an annual rental of £100. The Library was known as the Town Reading Room and both this library and the Thomastown Library closed in 1935 when the new Central Library opened.

Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

The Central Library, in a fine renaissance rectangular style, is a protected grade II historic building, it was purpose built and has always been a library. It was placed on vacant ground, given by the Council, which was once the site of the former St David’s School. The foundation stones were laid in 1935 and the building completed using money from the American Steel millionaire, Andrew Carnegie. The Carnegie Trust donated £4500 on condition there was an adequate book fund and that a properly trained and competent Librarian be appointed.

The Library was designed by Councillor T. Edmund Rees (of Messrs Johnson, Richards & Rees, architects of Merthyr) and built by Messrs Enoch Williams and Sons, contractors of Dowlais at a cost of £8,500. The exterior is in an Arts and Crafts Modern style with Portland stone, hipped Cumbrian slate roof swept to wide eaves. An attractive feature is the large central doorway and Tudor arch in moulded surround to entrance. The interior has a panelled wooden entrance-hall, although sadly the original oak wood, which is a wonderful feature of this building, was painted during refurbishment in 2011. The stained glass as you enter the building commemorates the Urdd National Eisteddfod which was held in Merthyr Tydfil in 1987. The building was opened in 1936 by the Mayor, Lewis Jones who became the first borrower of a book from Merthyr’s new Library.

The first librarian, Mr E. R. Luke received a salary of £330 a year and not only spoke Welsh fluently but he also had a working knowledge of French, German and Latin.  Merthyr Libraries have always provided a free library service for residents and visitors. The new library was a great success and the number of registered borrowers rose from 1400 in March 1936 to 10,765 by February 1940. As a child the historian Gwyn Alf Williams made ‘daring raids into alien territory in Merthyr Library’.

In 1946 Merthyr Tydfil became the first Authority in Wales to appoint a woman as Borough Librarian and an English woman at that – Margaret Stewart Taylor. She also became curator of the Cyfarthfa Castle Museum and was a remarkable local historian. Miss Taylor wrote 23 books on a wide variety of topics, a classic work on library cataloguing and classification, biography, local history such as ‘The Crawshays of Cyfarthfa’, travel writings based on her own experiences and romantic fiction set in a fictional town which was a thinly disguised Merthyr Tydfil. She compiled and edited ‘Fifty Years a Borough, 1905-1955’ to commemorate the incorporation of the Borough of Merthyr Tydfil. She set up a school library service and established local history as important in both the Library and the Museum. Margaret Stewart Taylor demanded high standards from her staff and would personally inspect the library shelves to make sure the books were all in strict order. A book incorrectly shelved would be left in the middle of the floor.

Margaret Stewart Taylor

The Plaque on the exterior of Merthyr Tydfil Library by the doorway is dedicated to Richard Lewis, (Dic Penderyn). At the time of the 1831 Merthyr Rising he was a miner in Merthyr Tydfil. He was charged with feloniously wounding Donald Black of the 93rd (Highland) Regiment. He was found guilty and sentenced to death. Despite a petition of 11,000 names for his reprieve, he was hanged at Cardiff on 13 August 1831. His last words on the scaffold were reported to be ‘O Arglwydd, dyma gamwedd’ – ‘O Lord, what injustice’. He is buried in Aberavon. Later in the century another man confessed to the crime for which Lewis had been hanged.

There is also a plaque on the front of the Central Library dedicated to Ursula Masson, who was born Ursula O’Connor in Dowlais, and became a leading Welsh academic and writer who worked closely with Jane Aaron and Honno Press/Gwasg Honno, the Welsh Women’s Press, on the imprint Welsh Women’s Classics – to bring back into print the works of forgotten Welsh women writers of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Outside the Library, the Statue and Plinth to Henry Seymour Berry are Grade II Listed monuments. The statue stands at the centre of a semicircular forecourt in front of the Library, and it was designed by W. Goscombe John RA and erected in 1931. It consists of a bronze figure in full robes with a cocked hat in the crook of his left arm and a parchment grasped in left hand.  The inscription:

Henry Seymour Berry, Baron Buckland of Bwlch, Hon. Freeman of the Co. Borough of Merthyr Tydfil.
Born 1877 – Died 1928.
Erected by public subscription.

There are recent plaques attached to the statue to mark the achievements of his two younger brothers. James Gomer Berry, Viscount Kemsley and William Ewert Berry, Viscount Camrose.

The 1901 National Eisteddfod in Merthyr

by Laura Bray

It was Tuesday 6 August 1901 – 120 years ago today. The weather was undecided, threatening rain but holding off. The town was looking festive, with banners and streamers hung across the High Street, coloured lights put up around the Castle Hotel door, hotels gaily festooned with paper flowers and even houses decorated to catch the eye. The train station was busy all day, carrying people to Merthyr from all over, and 18,000 people made their way to the magnificent Pavilion in Penydarren Park, for the opening of the 1901 Eisteddfod.

South Wales Daily News – 6 August 1901

The planning for the Eisteddfod had begun in February 1899 when a sub-committee of the Cymmrodorion Society, who were meeting in a care-takers room in the Town Hall, were discussing the Dewi Sant banquet and it was suggested that the National Eisteddfod might be invited to Merthyr in 1901 or 1903. The idea caught on, was discussed by “The Great and the Good” of Merthyr society and by 14 June 1899 it had been unanimously agreed that an application would be made to the Gorsedd Committee for either 1901 or 1903. The invitation for the Eisteddfod to come to Merthyr was accepted for 1901 and fundraising commenced apace. Some members of the committee had been part of the 1881 Eisteddfod, the last time it had come to the town, others were new and all came to together to decide that the Penydarren Park site, used in 1881, would again be ideal for the 1901 event.

The Penydarren Park site was, in 1901 as in 1881, a large open field with plenty of room for the Pavilion and space for the crowds outside the barriers so that the streets did not become too busy at the entrances. A refreshment tent was set up, a fruit stall and adjacent to that, a Post Office. Everyone wanted to come and by the time the Eisteddfod opened before midday it was packed, and by the afternoon, there was standing room only. The band played and the mornings proceedings were chaired by the Lord Tredegar, and conducted by “Gurnos” (Gurnos Jones) and “Mabon” (Abraham Williams).

Weekly Mail – 10 August 1901

The event spanned the week and was a great success. On the final Saturday, the sun shone and the Archdruid conferred Druidic degrees on the Rev Dr Rowlands, America; the Rev David Owen, Llanfair Muallt; Miss Annie Rees M.D., New York; Miss S.M Lewis, Dr. Hughes, Dowlais and others. The next Eisteddfod, to be held in Bangor, was also proclaimed. Merthyr did itself proud with prizes – Miss Edith Matthews won £2 for the best paper on counterpoint and harmony in four parts; Tom Price won £3/3- for the best oboe solo; Harry Llewellyn won £3 for the cornet solo, and came second in the bass solo; The Merthyr Orchestral Society won the prize of £40. In the Arts and industries section, Zechariah Watkins from Dowlais won the prize for a set of six panels imitating marbles; J Westacott from Merthyr won the best painted and varnished door and David Thomas in Merthyr the prize for one white shawl.

South Wales Daily News – 7 August 1901

“Dyfed” (Evan Rees from Aberdare ) was chaired as Bard, having already won five National Chairs, including that of the Chicago Eisteddfod.  The Crown went to John Jenkins of Gwili

What was interesting about the Eisteddfod was the huge coverage it received from the Press – way beyond anything you would get today – and the distances people travelled to attend.  Hotels in Merthyr were booked up well in advance and there are reports of visitors from as far afield as America. Ticket sales alone brought in £3343 10s 9d and subscriptions another £1100. The cost to the town of hosting it was calculated at £4200, which meant that there was a surplus of £843 10s 9d – around £106,000 in today’s money – no mean achievement.  This was the last time the National Eisteddfod came to Merthyr (although the Urdd Eisteddfod came in 1987).  Perhaps we are due another visit!

Earthquake in South Wales

Most people will know about the terrible earthquake that devastated San Francisco on 18 April 1906, but did you know that another, much less powerful, earthquake actually hit Merthyr later that year, 115 years ago today?

At 9.45 am on 27 June 1906, a powerful earth tremor was felt across much of South Wales, its epicentre being placed just offshore of Port Talbot. The quake, which struck just a few weeks after the devastating San Francisco earthquake, was felt as far afield as Ilfracombe, Birmingham and southwest Ireland. Measuring 5.2 on the Richter Scale, the quake was caused by movement in the ‘Neath Disturbance’ and ‘Swansea Valley Disturbance’, two fault lines in the South Wales area.

A headline from the Evening Express on 27 June 1906.

Although there were no fatalities, and only minimal minor injuries sustained by falling masonry, people were terrified by the unexpected tremor.

In Swansea, there was damage to St Andrew’s Church, Swansea Prison, the Board of Trade offices and the gasworks, and the Mumbles Lighthouse was said to have ‘rocked on its foundations’. In Llanelli, the town hall clock stopped and people in Ammanford were convinced there had been a huge pit explosion, and colliers from several pits in South Wales were hurriedly brought to the service due to concerns over the stability of the mines.

The tremor hit Merthyr about five minutes after the original quake. Chimneys on two houses on the Tramroad were dislodged and crashed to the street, a similar fate befalling a house at Bryn Sion Street in Dowlais, and the plasterwork in several buildings cracked. Apart from these incidents, there were several incidents of pictures and clocks falling off walls, and crockery was smashed as it fell from shelves and tables. Yet again, however, people were terrified.

At Abermorlais School, the glass partitions between the classrooms ‘shook like leaves’, and it was only due to the calmness of the teachers in reassuring the terrified pupils that panic didn’t ensue. At Twynyrodyn and St David’s School, windows rattled and the blackboards swayed alarmingly. Yet again it was only due to the presence of mind of the teachers that panic was avoided.

A rumour quickly spread that the roof of the school at either Abercanaid or Pentrebach had collapsed injuring many of the pupils, but luckily this was not the case. At the Dowlais Gas and Coke Company, the offices were shaken with such force that the staff there feared that one of the gasometers had exploded. The staff at the Town Hall were also greatly alarmed, and they described two shocks being distinctly felt, one gentleman present remarked however, that he thought that “the Ratepayers Protection Association had commenced its work”.

Merthyr’s Heritage Plaques: James Keir Hardie

by Keith Lewis-Jones

James Keir Hardie
Plaque sited at the main entrance of the Old Town Hall, CF47 8AE

James Keir Hardie, (1856-1915) was born in Lanarkshire. He worked as a miner and journalist before, in 1893, founding the Independent Labour Party.

In 1900, he stood as a candidate in the Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare Constituency and won one of the two seats.

He is recognised as the leading founder of the Labour Party in 1906. His determination and sincerity provided the basis for the early growth of the Labour Party in the South Wales coalfield and Britain.

A New Merthyr

The following article by the renowned Merthyr-born architect Arthur Trystan Edwards appeared in the Merthyr Express 70 years ago today…

Merthyr Express 10 February 1951

Merthyr’s Chapels: High Street Chapel

Our next chapel is one of Merthyr’s most famous chapels – High Street Chapel.

The oldest English Baptist cause in Merthyr started in 1807 and from 1813 was originally housed at Bethel Chapel in Georgetown (see http://www.merthyr-history.com/?p=2963). By 1840 the congregation had grown, so a new site was acquired in the High Street and a chapel designed by T H Watt of London was built at a cost of £2000, and the new chapel opened on 8 June 1841.

A painting of High Street Chapel completed at around the time the chapel opened

Around 1858 a disagreement occurred regarding the appointment of Rev George Ward Humphreys as minister and a number of the congregation left to set up their own cause eventually becoming Ainon Chapel in Georgetown. In 1885, a further disagreement occurred and a number of the congregation left High Street Chapel. They went on to start their own cause at Morlais Chapel.

The chapel was home to many organisations at this time: a Christian Endeavour, Band of Hope and Sunday School.  There was a young ladies sewing class, and the ladies of the Dorcas Society at the chapel made baptismal gowns. Tonic Sol-fa lessons were also held which led to the formation of the church choir. The chapel members were also at the forefront of charitable organisation, supporting, among others: the Merthyr Tydfil Mission Fund, the Children’s Hospital, the Deaf & Dumb and Widows & Orphans fund, the Indian Famine Fund and the Baptist Foreign Mission.

In 1899, it was decided to renovate the chapel. Meetings were held and on 8 June 1899, the tender from Mr John Jenkins Canal Wharf, of £1.592.10d was accepted for the renovation of the building. A new pipe organ was also installed at this time built by Messrs Harrison, Durham at a cost of £400.

The interior of High Street Chapel showing the magnificent Harrison organ

The cost of the renovation would eventually cost £2,300. Fundraising events and collections were held, but only realised a fraction of the cost. The remainder was met by mortgaging the building. While the renovations were being done, the congregation met in the Town Hall.

In 1928, it was decided to build a large school room behind the chapel. Four cottages were bought for £365, and the school room was built by Mr Warlow at a cost of £939.4s.8d, and it was formerly opened on 4 July 1929.

Members of High Street Chapel outside the School Room in 1981. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Collection.

High Street Chapel continues to prosper today.