Month: June 2021

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 Chapels: Carmel Chapel, Cefn Coed

Carmel Welsh Baptist Chapel, Cefn-Coed

In the early part of the 19th Century, Rev Rees Jones, the Minister of Zion Baptist Chapel, Twynyrodyn preached at Cefn Coed, holding missions in the village.

By 1833 there was a small branch of Zion meeting regularly for week-night services and a Sunday School in a local schoolroom. As this proved such a success the worshippers decided to build a chapel. A local legend says that the chapel was built by the members who carried stones from the river.

The cause continued to be a branch of Zion until it became a chapel in its own right in 1855 and Rev Edward Morris was inducted as its first minister.

In March 1895, a water pipe burst under the front wall of the chapel and flooded the building. The interior was totally destroyed and the front wall, as well as one of the side walls was very badly damaged. The two damaged walls had to be rebuilt and the interior of the chapel was totally renovated, and the opportunity was taken to increase the capacity of the chapel from 280 to 400. The chapel was closed for almost seven months and was reopened on 29 September 1895. The cost of the repairs was over £500.

By the 1970’s the chapel had fallen into a very poor state of repair and services were held in the vestry. However, due to the dedication of the members, £20,000 was raised towards the refurbishment of the chapel which eventually cost £45,000, and the chapel was re-opened following the refurbishment in 1983

Due to the rapidly dwindling congregation, the chapel was forced to close in 1986, and the Grade II listed building has since been converted to a private house.

Merthyr Memories: The Last Days of Georgetown School

I was one those people lucky enough to attend Cyfarthfa School on all three of its sites – Georgetown, Cyfarthfa Castle and Cae Mari Dwn. In fact, I was in the very last intake of pupils to go to Georgetown before it closed its doors forever.

Georgetown School was in fact a cluster of several buildings. The two main buildings – in my day ‘The Main Block’ and ‘The Art Block’, were the original school buildings – formerly Georgetown Girl’s School built in 1905 and Georgetown Boy’s School built in 1907. These subsequently became Georgetown Secondary Modern School, with the ‘Main Block’ being the the Boys and girls school, now joined by a corridor whilst the ‘Art Block’ was Georgetown Infants School.

An extract from a 1922 map of Merthyr showing the original layout of Georgetown Schools. From left to right – the Boys School, The Girls School and the Infants School.

There was also a wooden building, dating from the days when Georgetown was a Secondary Modern, known in my day as ‘The Annexe’, housing the metalwork workshop and the domestic science room on the ground floor, and the chemistry/biology lab and the physics lab on the first floor. There were also two ‘huts’ – one housing the language lab, and one the woodwork workshop.

Georgetown School. Left to right – the ‘Annexe’, the ‘Main Block, and the ‘Art Block’. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

With the coming of the comprehensive system, Georgetown merged with Cyfarthfa Castle Grammar School to become Cyfarthfa High School. Georgetown served as the lower school – housing forms 1 and 2.

It is fair to say that, by the time I went to Georgetown in 1980, the school had seen better days. One of my lasting memories is seeing various types of mushrooms growing out of the walls in several of the classrooms….a new experience for me!!!!! There were also one or two classrooms with broken windows (health and safety wasn’t such an issue in those days). Granted, the windows were quite high up…but there was no escaping the arctic blasts of wind that would regularly infiltrate the classrooms and reach the parts that other breezes could not reach!!! To be fair, the school was on the verge of closure, so I’m sure material repairs were low on the list of priorities.

Going to Georgetown was a major upheaval for all of us. Up until then, we had all had the same classmates for many years, in my case through infants and junior school in Twynyrodyn, but going to Georgetown we would be mixing with people from OTHER SCHOOLS – Caedraw, Cyfarthfa, Gellideg and Heolgerrig…what’s more, we’d all be mixed up in different classes. It was unbelievably traumatic to think that we would be wrenched from our friends and thrown in with strangers, and we just knew that we would NEVER mix with these others. Within a few weeks however, new friendships were forged.

The other big difference was that, in Twyn School, we had one classroom and one teacher (the incomparable Eddie Humphries in my case). In Georgetown we would have different teachers for different subjects, and we would move from one classroom to another. What’s more, we were doing subjects we’d never even dreamt of – French, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Metalwork & Woodwork. It was all a great adventure.

Georgetown School in 1982, shortly before being demolished, showing the ‘Main Block’ and the two ‘huts’ that housed the woodwork workshop and the language lab. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

For me though, the bane of my existence in Georgetown were the compulsory PE lessons, especially when we had to trudge up to the Wern Field in Ynysfach in all weathers. Even now, after all of these years, I come out in a cold sweat at the thought of it.

Wern Field in Ynysfach. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

Another, and indeed happier memory springs to mind – I remember the whole school assembling in the playground to watch, on a quite a small TV screen, the launch of the first ever Space Shuttle – the Columbia, on 12 April 1981. I remember that there was great excitement, but what we could actually see of the launch on such a small screen, and outdoors, I can’t remember, but the fact that I can remember the occasion must mean it had special significance.

At the end of my first year at Cyfarthfa High School, everything changed. The new Cyfarthfa School at Cae Mari Dwn was ready, and from the next school year, the lower school would be moving to Cyfarthfa Castle. For me, and I think for most people, this was really exciting…..going to school in the famous Cyfarthfa Castle – so we all blithely left Georgetown, not even giving it a second thought – far more exciting prospects lay ahead.

During that summer holiday, the wooden Annexe was destroyed by fire, and within a few years, the rest of the school was demolished. Nothing remains of Georgetown School – except the memories, and they are, on the whole very pleasant ones. I think I was lucky to go there – albeit briefly.

Georgetown School being demolished in 1982. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

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.

Professor Herbert Nicholas

Today marks the 110th anniversary of the birth of  Professor Herbert Nicholas – yet another Merthyr boy who worked hard to make it to the top of his profession.

Herbert George Nicholas was born on 8 June 1911 in Treharris. He was the youngest of seven children born to Rev William D Nicholas, minister of Bethel Chapel, and his wife Mary (née Warren), daughter of Samuel Warren, one of the foremost businessmen in Treharris, who opened Warren’s Drapery in Perrott Street.

At an early age, Herbert contracted rheumatic fever, which prevented him from attending school until he was 11. During this time he was educated at home by his eldest sister Evelyn, who had become a teacher. When he became well enough to attend school, Evelyn arranged for him to attend a small school in Cardiff run by a remarkable deaf lady, Miss Maud Humphries. Having travelled back and forth to Cardiff daily for three years, Herbert won a scholarship to the prestigious Mill Hill School in London. Mill Hill School was set up in 1807 by merchants and ministers from non-conformist backgrounds in order to provide a place of learning for the boys from their communities, as the “ancient” public schools at this time required all their pupils to belong to the Church of England.

Following his, not altogether happy, days at Mill Hill, Herbert won a place at New College, Oxford to read Greats. For the whole of his time at Oxford, his sisters supported him financially. The sums spent on him were carefully noted by Herbert however, and his sisters were duly repaid later. He graduated in 1934 with first-class degree.

The following year, Herbert acquired a Commonwealth Scholarship to travel to America to study history at Yale University. Originally concentrating on 17th Century history, he became more and more fascinated by contemporary American history, and he developed a huge admiration for the policies of President Franklin D Roosevelt. Upon his return to Britain in 1937, having managed to live off earnings for occasional articles he wrote as a freelance journalist for several months, he accepted a job lecturing in 19th Century History at Exeter College in Oxford.

Having spent two very happy years at Exeter College, the idyll was cut short by the outbreak of the Second World War. Classified as unfit for military service due to his bout of rheumatic fever as a child, Herbert joined the American Division of the Ministry of Information, where he had, as he later wrote: ‘…an indecently enjoyable war. I vastly enjoyed the work which was a natural extension of my academic interests, I had the company of singularly agreeable colleagues….’

In 1944, Herbert was elected as a fellow of Exeter College, and in 1946, following the cessation of hostilities, he returned to his post at the college. In 1948 he published his first book ‘The American Union. A short history of the USA’. In 1951 he published his only book about a British topic ‘The British General Election of 1950’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That same year, he was invited back to New College to take over the position of tutorial fellow in politics. Although holding fellowships in other colleges (Exeter and Nuffield), New College would remain his base. In 1959 he published ‘The United Nations as a Political Institution’, which would eventually be published in five separate editions. In 1969 he was elected Rhodes Professor of American History and Institutions at Oxford, and in the same year he was elected to the British Academy, becoming vice-president in 1975-6.

Soon after his election as Rhodes Professor, he moved to Headington to look after his elderly sisters Evelyn and Doris, devoting nearly all of his time to their welfare. During these years he did find the time however, to write two more books – ‘The Nature of American Politics’ (1980) and ‘Washington Despatches, 1941-45 (1981). The first of these books is still used prominently in University courses on both side of the Atlantic.

When Evelyn died in 1987 (Doris having died previously), Herbert returned to college life, delighting friends, colleagues and ex-pupils with his sharp wit, punning one-liners and gifts as a raconteur. His favourite story being of how, in 1950, he, slight and bespectacled, together with his middle-aged schoolmistress sister, went with his pupil, Stansfield Turner, later a US admiral and head of the CIA, to hear a speech by the general secretary of the Communist Party, Harry Pollitt, who was fighting for a seat in South Wales. For their parts they found themselves denounced in the Daily Worker as ‘a bunch of American rowdies with their gangster’s moll trying to wreck the meeting.’ Most importantly, though, he never forgot his roots in Treharris, and spoke fondly of his youth there.

Herbert’s activities were curtailed when he suffered a stroke in 1991, but he recovered sufficiently to still be a major part of New College until his death on 3 July 1998 at the age of 87.