Month: March 2024

Merthyr’s Chapels: Moriah Chapel, Cefn Coed

Moriah Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Chapel, Cefn Coed

At the end of the 18th century a Mr Rowland Pugh came to Cefn Coed from North Wales. He became a member of Pennsylvania (Pontmorlais) Chapel, and in time became a deacon there.

Within a few years he started a Methodist Society in his own house at Cefn Isaf, Cefn Coed and as the cause grew it became apparent that a more suitable place of worship was required and the first Moriah Chapel was built in 1807. The congregation increased and a new chapel was built in 1830, and two branches were established that became Bethlehem Chapel, Caepantywyll and Carmel Chapel, Clwydyfagwyr.

By the 1880’s it became obvious that a new chapel was needed, so the chapel was again rebuilt and was opened on 21 March 1886. A small notice of the chapel’s reopening appeared in the Merthyr Express on 3 April 1886 which is transcribed below:

“MORIAH CALVINISTIC METHODIST CHAPEL

The Opening services of this chapel were held on the 21st and 22nd ult. when the Revs J Lewis, Cilgerran; T Davies, Treorchy and T C Phillips, Abercarn preached eloquent sermons to large congregations. Collections were made in each service towards the building fund which amounted to over £200. The church at Moriah now posess undoubtedly the neatest and prettiest place of worship in the place.”

In 1908 a controversy occurred. The minister at Moriah at the time, Rev D Watts-Lewis, officiated at the memorial service for Rev Dr Thomas Rees, former minister at Pontmorlais Chapel and a very eminent man in the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Church. However, shortly after this he announced his intention to resign as minister of the chapel and the Calvinistic Methodist Church and join the Church of England. He was accepted into the Church of England in June 1908 and immediately became a curate at Skewen.

The membership at Moriah declined steadily after the Second World War, and by the mid 1960’s the chapel closed. The building was demolished in 1972.

The Dark Side of Convict Life – part 13

by Barrie Jones

Chapter X. Henry describes the searching system and discipline in Portland Prison.

The Dark Side of Convict Life (Being the Account of the Career of Harry Williams, a Merthyr Man). Merthyr Express, 26th March 1910, page 11.

Chapter X

In this chapter I wish to deal with the searching system. A great deal has been said concerning this, but the practice is still carried on. What is more degrading than for a man to be forced against his will to undress, as naked, as he was born, and then submit to be examined. I can well remember a case some years ago. When we marched to the bathroom to go through the form a search. One man absolutely refused to take anything off beyond his over-clothing and boots, and when ordered to take his shirt off by one of the officers, he replied. “No, I have too much respect for myself to expose myself in that manner.” “Take them off,” said the officer, “or I will take them off for you.” Still he refused, whereupon other officers were summoned and they took him by force, and tore them clean from off his back. They then dragged him to the cells. The following day he was brought before the Governor, and sent to be tried before the Director on a charge of incitement to mutiny; and finally, he was awarded fifteen day’s bread and water, together with a forfeiture of ten week’s remission. It matters not whether it is a shovel, chisel, wheelbarrow, or a ladder that is missing, this system of searching is carried out, and in full view of officers and prisoners. The same thing goes on once a fortnight, in the convicts’ cells, where everything is overhauled from a piece of soap to a single sheet of paper. Should a convict happen to have more than one piece of soap, or more than his quantity of paper, or even a small loaf of bread over his day’s rations, he is at once reported and punished with bread and water, and other forfeitures. For instance, a needle; found in a convict’s cell or possession, is at once reported and the man punished. Sometimes convicts are obliged to place a button on one of their garments, and the way they do it is by making two small holes with  a slate pencil, then tying the button with a piece of string. Even, this is considered a punishable offence, yet they are denied a needle to sew buttons on with.

I was once reported for having a small piece of soap in my pocket, when searched on parade, and for this I forfeited three days of my ticket of leave. Another convict was awarded three days’ bread and water, merely for feeding the sparrows through the ventilator of his cell window. For having a single spot of dirt or dust on any of his utensils, or to disarrange them or his bedclothes, or to neglect polishing up his shoes to perfection, a man is punished. An offence which is considered rather serious in convict prisons, but which, in the majority of cases, cannot always be avoided, is to be caught sleeping with the head covered up. Of course, it is considered unhealthy, but this is not the reason why this habit is prohibited. The night watchman has to look through each observation glass into the cell once every fifteen minutes during the whole of the night-watch, in order to see that the convict is safely within the cell. I can well remember one night a convict escaped through his cell window, and he so artfully arranged his mattress and pillow that when the officer looked into his cell the dummy appeared for all the world like the head of the convict, and he got clear away, in spite of the civil guards who were patrolling to and fro outside the prison walls. I remember being in the next cell to an old man who was nicknamed “Snorer” owing to the noise he made during sleep. One night he was watched by an officer, and when he was seen to have his head covered, the officer kicked his door and ordered him to remove his bedclothes from his head, remarking that if he caught him again he would report him to the Governor. He got three day’s bread and water. The man tried to defend himself by saying that he never knew that he was breaking the rules, neither was he aware that he had covered his head; but all the Governor said was, “A man of your age ought to know better.” The Director visits convict prisons once a month, for the purpose of listening to complaints, and to try convicts for serious offences. In recent years, instead of a Directors, a Visiting Committee have done this.

During my sentence of nine years, I have known over thirty officers who have been dismissed from the service for sleeping during night duty, and they often report a man every time they are on night duty, in order to throw off suspicion from themselves. One officer used to give tobacco to a convict for watching for him while he stretched himself on a mattress outside the convict’s cell door. When the convict heard the senior night officer coming through the doors he would just put his hand underneath the door, and give the officer a good shake to wake him. He would then quickly jump to his feet, when, like a flash of lightening, the mattress would disappear into the cell, and when the senior officer put his head into the hall doorway the officer would be ready with a salute and “All correct, sir.”

To be continued…

Potatoes

By Laura Bray

Following on from an earlier post, which discussed the scarcity of fish in 1943 (https://www.merthyr-history.com/?p=7863), the Merthyr Express of the same month (February 1943) printed a “potato plan”.

Potatoes were not rationed, as from 1939 farmers had been encouraged to increase potato production, and potatoes had also been a key message in the Dig for Victory campaign, with the caveat that they should be planted as part of the official cropping plan and not at the expense of other vegetables.

It is not surprising then that there was a lot of information available about innovative and interesting ways to cook potatoes.

The Express’s “Potato Plan” came up with five ways of using them:

  • Serving potatoes for breakfast on three days a week
  • Making your main dish a potato dish once a week
  • Refusing second helpings of other foods, rather filling up on potatoes
  • Serving potatoes in other ways than plain boiled
  • Using potatoes to save flour by using one third potato, two thirds flour, a combination which could be used when making pastries, puddings and cakes.  Potatoes were boiled or baked then mashed with a fork till they looked like flour and you were encouraged to cook them the day before or throw in a few extra when you were using the oven.

It seems that this advice was used by the Express from that provided by the Ministry of Food as the same photo and plan crops up in other papers from elsewhere in the country.

The message was clear: “Bread costs ships. Eat home grown potatoes instead” and it would appear that the Merthyr public did just that.

200 years of history at Gwaunfarren – part 2

by Brian Jones

The next family to take up residence in the large house was Richard Harrap and his wife Mary with 5 children and just 3 servants. Richard was born in Yorkshire and prior to taking up residence in Gwaunfarren he lived on the Brecon Road. He was a brewer, and in 1871 he went into partnership with another brewer to form the growing company “Giles and Harrap’s”. They owned the “Merthyr Brewery” and marketed “Merthyr Ales” from their brewery on the Brecon Road, and grew the company to own 62 public houses.

Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

Eventually they were bought out by William Hancock and Co. in 1936 and brewing ceased on the Brecon Road. In 2010 the brewery was demolished however the company name lives on etched in the glass windows of “Y Olde Royal Oak” public house in Ystrad Mynach (built 1914.). Richard died in 1895 with his wife remaining at Gwaunfarren House and she decided to give the house a personal name “Glenthorne”. She passed away in 1916 whilst her son James Thresher Harrap, resided there until 1921 when he moved to the Grove.

There is a gap in the historical record after the Harrap family vacated the house sometime in the early 1920s so I was unable to ascertain the use of the property until 1937. It is likely that the downturn in the economy of Merthyr and the dearth of very large wealthy families made the occupancy of this large house uneconomic.

The house, although apparently empty, seemed to have continued in a reasonable state and not vandalised in the inter-war years. There are numerous references to the future of the house considered by various committees of the Merthyr Borough Council during the years between 1921 and 1937. The house remained in the ownership of the freeholder with the Council making enquiries about its purchase for a variety of uses. For example, in 1934 the Education Committee thought it could be used as a training centre for unemployed boys and girls. They sought the approval of the Ministry of Labour for funding to purchase the property for £6,100 but were unsuccessful.

There was a suggestion that the house be used to accommodate children with Learning Difficulties but again nothing came of these proposals until the freehold, house, garden and lodge were acquired in 1937 by The Merthyr Tydfil Community Trust. This began life as the Merthyr Tydfil Educational Settlement and was formally opened in July 1938 by Earl Baldwin and Countess Baldwin. At that time there were many such Settlements providing education and welfare services to people during the Depression of the 1930s. The Settlement continued for four years at Gwaunfarren until the building was requisitioned by the government for use by the Emergency Medical Services in 1941. There were two possible wartime uses, either for the care of injured World War II servicemen and women or for expectant mothers.

Merthyr Express – 4 October 1941

Dr. Joseph Gross wrote an essay in Volume Two of the Merthyr Historian in 1978 on “Hospitals in Merthyr Tydfil”. He stated that injured service personnel were treated at Merthyr General Hospital, St. Mary’s Catholic Hall and the Kirkhouse Hall. Instead, the house was to provide 25 beds for pre- and post-natal maternity services when the Welsh Board of Health took responsibility for the house then renamed as “Gwaunfarren Nursing Home”. Babies continued to be born there for the next 30 years.

The ownership of the building was transferred to the Ministry of Health when the NHS was formed in 1948 and it was agreed to use the proceeds of the sale for charitable purposes. However, it took until 1954 to agree a price for the building. In 1948 Gwaunfarren Nursing Home became Gwaunfarren Maternity Hospital managed by the Merthyr and Aberdare Hospital Management Committee (HMC) The beds were increased to 30 beds with similar units at Aberdare General and St. Tydfil’s Hospital. Many adults alive today were born at Gwaunfarren often staying with their mother for a considerable number of days unlike current maternity practice of short hospital stays. The unit continued for some years until there were further improvements to the maternity unit at St. Tydfil’s Hospital, including a small Special Care Baby Unit. Gradually the number of births at Gwaunfarren decreased and confinements ceased at the end of the 1960s. Some post-natal transfers were continued for a short period of time until the hospital closed in the early 1970s.

Gwaunfarren  Hospital then remained empty for some years although it was put to occasional and varied use to include a location for television filming. The land, together with the house and lodge was sold, the house demolished, and plots allocated to accommodate the present makeup of Gwaunfarren Grove. Gwaunfarren Lodge still remains today at the entrance to the original position of the drive.

Today the vast majority of the general public look at the way land is used very much in the here and now without giving much thought to its history over the ages. A review of the use of the land at post code CF47 9BJ allows us to peel away the pages of history. Now passers- by at the entrance to Gwaunfarren Grove will not know that the access road once served as the driveway to a substantial Victorian family home, educational centre, maternity hospital and that prior to all of those uses it had been a farmstead known as “The Dairy”, part of a farm of considerable antiquity.