Tag: Woodlands School (Quakers Yard))

Merthyr’s Bridges: A New Bridge at Quakers’ Yard

The article transcribed below appeared in the Merthyr Express 100 years go today…

QUAKERS’ YARD BRIDGE.

A GREAT AND MUCH NEEDED IMPROVEMENT.

MAYOR OF MERTHYR PERFORMS THE OPENING CEREMONY.

In the presence of about 5.000 people, the Mayor of Merthyr (Councillor F. A. Phillips) on Thursday afternoon opened the splendid bridge of reinforced concrete. built by the Corporation at Quakers’ Yard, by cutting a silken ribbon with a pair of silver scissors presented to him by the contractor. Major Rugg of Westminster. Afterwards the Mayor and his party of Aldermen Councillors and friends, drove across the bridge and declared the same open for traffic, after which the children of Woodland School passed across in procession carrying flags.

At a meeting subsequently held the Mayor said:-

Ladies and Gentlemen.—The history of the reinforced concrete bridge which I am privileged to open today dates back as far as 1909, at which time the Town Clerk received a letter from the Road Board stating that advances were available from the Development and Road Improvement Fund in respect of works to highways.

In December, 1910. Councillor Edward Edwards moved a resolution that the attention of the Corporation should he called to the state of the Quakers’ Yard Bridge, and the Borough Engineer, Mr. Harvey, was instructed to report upon a scheme for widening the old structure. In January, 1911, plans were submitted showing the widening of the bridge to 28 feet between the parapets at an estimated cost of £250, and the Council gave instructions for detailed drawings to be prepared, but the matter deferred owing to the difficulties experienced in negotiating with the land owners.

There was now a lapse of ten years before the question was revived, as in January, 1921, two schemes were submitted for the Corporation’s consideration. Scheme No. 1 was for a proposed widening of the old bridge on both sides, destroying the existing arch and constructing in lieu thereof a concrete decking over the river. This proposal was intended to lower the level of the roadway and thus improve the dangerous inclination towards Mill-street. The estimated cost of this work was £1,350.

Scheme No. 2 proposed to entirely divert the main road filling in the Friends Burial-ground and adjoining meadow, culverting the Taff Bargoed for the width of the roadway, together with the necessary masonry wing walls. This proposal was specially recommended to the Council, and sub-committee who visited the site unanimously adopted the same, and abandoned all former proposals as inadequate. The estimated cost of this work was £4,200, the intention being to carry out the necessary filling by tipping house refuse obtained from Treharris and Quakers’ Yard.

When the committee’s resolution was brought before the Council an amendment to the scheme was proposed anti carried on the grounds that the interference with the burial ground was objectionable.

The improvement was again deferred until July, 1922. when the Ministry of Transport intimated to the Corporation that they were prepared to consider schemes of road improvement which would find useful employment for the unemployed during the autumn and winter of 1922-1923. In the same month the Borough Engineer submitted plans and estimates for various road improvements and diversions. one of which was the subject of our meeting to-day.

In view of the trend of former discussions a new line of diversion was chosen and plans prepared showing the non-interference with the Friends Burial-ground, but which involved the removal of the dwelling known as Hawthorn Cottage. The scheme was approved by the Ministry of Transport, and tenders were invited for carrying out the work. The width of roadway was intended to be 30 feet, being 24 feet of carriage-way and one six feet footpath.

When considering the tenders the committee after careful deliberations came to the conclusion that a wider structure would be advantageous, and eventually a 39-feet unit carriage -way with two 5-feet paths, was definitely decided upon.

Messrs. Lewis Rugg and Co., whose tender for the narrower scheme had been provisionally accepted, were asked to quote for the widened structure, and after examples of their work had been seen and approved of they were entrusted with the contract.

The bridge, which has a length of 360 feet, is comprised of 10 spans, each of 30 feet. and one span over the Taff Bargoed of 45 feet, together with a skew span at the lower extremity. The height of the spans vary between 12 feet and 24 feet above the ground level, whilst the river span is 26 feet shove the normal flow of the water. The carriageway on the bridge has a gradient of 1 in 36, and the kerb level of the outer side of the curve is super elevated to the extent of 7½ inches.

The work was commenced in January of this year, so it will he observed that no time has been lost in getting ever many difficulties which have presented themselves. The structure was tested in presence of a Ministry of Transport Official yesterday, when the following trains were passed over the bridge at a speed of six mike per hour: No. 1. a train composed of two 13-ton steam rollers, two 11-ton steam rollers, and two 4-ton lorries; No. 2. two trains composed of two 13-ton rollers side by side, two 11-ton rollers side by side, two 4-ton lorries side by side: No. 3.  trains as in test No. 2, passing in opposite directions. the 13-ton rollers passing each other at the centre of the bridge. The deflection as observed by instrument at three points – one at the centre of the 45-feet span and two at the centres of the 30 feet spans, was negligible, which is highly satisfactory.

The general scheme was designed and the specification and conditions of contract prepared by Mr. A. J. Marshall, Borough Engineer, whilst Messrs. Lewis Rugg and Co., Westminster. were responsible for the carrying out of the work. The cost of the bridge and appurtenant work is £8,650.

Merthyr Express 3 October 1925

Quakers’ Yard ‘New’ Bridge. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

Quakers’ Yard – A Potted History

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson’s Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Quakers’ Yard like this:

“QUAKERS-YARD, a village in the E of Glamorgan; on the river Taff at the influx of the Bargoed, adjacent to the Taff Vale Extension railway, at the junction of the branch to Hirwain, 7½ miles S S E of Merthyr-Tydvil. It took its name from an old burying-place of Quakers; stands in a fine curve of the valley, engirt all round by hills; and has a station with telegraph at the railway junction.”

The village of Quakers’ Yard was originally known as ‘Rhyd y Grug’ or ‘The Ford of the Rustling Waters’, grew up at the confluence of the Taff Bargoed River and the River Taff, and the name was derived from the fact that the Taff was quite shallow here and there had been a ford crossing the river at this point. The village later became known by its more usual name because of the Quaker burial ground that was erected in the village (see previous article – http://www.merthyr-history.com/?p=5069).

Quaker’s Yard was, until the second half of the 19th century, a quiet rural spot. There was a corn mill, Melin Caiach and a small woollen mill on the banks of the Taff Bargoed, as well as a small scattering of houses. With the building of a bridge across the Taff to replace the ford, the village could even boast two inns – the Quakers’ Yard Inn and the Glantaff Inn.

Quakers’ Yard Bridge and Quakers’ Burial Ground. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

The Industrial Revolution, of course, changed all that. Soon the coal trade totally revolutionized the nature of the environment, creating booming and burgeoning communities like nearby Treharris and Trelewis. The link to Quakerism remained strong. Treharris was named after William Harris, a Quaker businessman whose family owned a fleet of steam ships, while streets in the new towns were named after famous Quakers such as William Penn and George Fox.

Religion in the village wasn’t confined to Quakerism. In 1831, members of Groeswen Chapel in Caerphilly broke away from their chapel and built and Welsh Independent Chapel called Soar in the village, The Welsh Independents also built Libanus in 1833 and the Welsh Baptists built Berthlwyd in 1841. There was also a Welsh Wesleyan chapel – Horeb, and a Primitive Methodist chapel – Ebenezer. Finally, in 1862, the Anglicans opened St Cynon’s Church at Fiddler’s Elbow.

In 1858 the Quaker’s Yard High Level station was opened. Together with the village’s Low Level station this created a lively and bustling railway junction where passengers could embark for places like Merthyr and Aberdare and coal could be dispatched down the valley to the docks at Cardiff. In 1840 the engineer – and guiding force behind the Great Western Railway – Isambard Kingdom Brunel began work on a six-arched viaduct across the River Taff. While the High Level station closed in 1964, the viaduct is still there, carrying traffic from Merthyr to Cardiff.

Quakers’ Yard Viaduct and Truant School. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive.

As the village grew so schools were built here or in the surrounding area. In 1894, the borough’s infamous Truant School was built in Quakers’ Yard, and in 1906, the Woodlands Junior School was built along the river Taff; 70 years later the building was used for a Welsh Medium Junior School, Ysgol Cymraeg  Rhyd y Grug. After the First World War, Merthyr Tydfil acquired some prefab buildings for a new secondary school and on the 2 May 1922 Quakers’ Yard Grammar School officially opened by Mayor David Davies, although this wasn’t actually situated in the village, but in Edwardsville.

Perhaps the most famous man to emerge from Quaker’s Yard was the world flyweight boxing champion Jimmy Wilde (right) who was born in the village in 1892. Known as ‘the ghost with a hammer in his hand’, Wilde fought an amazing 864 bouts, losing only four of them, and reigned as champion between 1916 and 1921 (see previous article – http://www.merthyr-history.com/?p=150).