Month: June 2024

Merthyr Tydfil Youth Brass Band

by Carl Llewellyn

While in conversation with a fellow Dowlais choir chorister Richard Cole, we began to reminisce about our time together in the Merthyr Tydfil Brass Band. Next choir rehearsal Richard brought along a photograph of the band in the 60’s, between both of us we managed to piece together all but one of the band’s assemblages.

About 1965 members of the Georgetown and Gellifaelog School Brass Bands combined to form the Merthyr Tydfil Brass Band under the directorship of Mr Elwyn Farrell. Mr Farrell was a teacher of mathematics at Georgetown School and an accomplished cornet player, whose family had strong ties with the local Salvation Army corps.

The band membership increased quickly with other players who had originally joined the brass bands before their transfer to Quakers Yard Technical School in Treharris.

Despite the band’s formation Georgetown and Gellifaelog school bands still retained their own identity in assisting their school assemblies’ accompaniment of school hymns, with Mr Farrell taking up the baton for Georgetown School Band while Mr Richard Pendry conducting the Gellifaelog School Band.

To help young instrumentalists the band membership were grateful to older players who gave their time to help nurture young brass band musicians.

Most of the rehearsals were held at the old YMCA sports room located on the upper level of the YMCA. In the short history of the brass band, they appeared at local charity events including the Christmas tree ceremony outside the town hall. The Brass Band entered a number of competitions such as the Park and Dare Hall in Treorchy, and the Brangwyn Hall in Swansea.

I believe the Merthyr Tydfil Brass Band finished about 1968, when the older band members of school leaving age left their schools, with fewer school pupils pursuing an interest in their school Brass Bands and the Youth band, the numbers dwindled leaving no option but for the band conductor Mr Farrell to disband the musical organisation. After Mr Farrell’s retirement from the teaching profession, he moved to Libanus, Brecon then moved to Sweden where he died.

Back row (l-r): Ivor Roberts, Ernie Lanchesbury, Gareth Oates, Derek Williams, Joyce Rubery, Michael Rees, Martin Carey, Alvin Head, Cyril Williams, Richard Owens

Middle row (l-r): Richard Cole, Alan Evans, Carl Llewellyn, Maldwyn Williams, John Lenard, Peter Lozano, Michael Baldwin, Ieuan Harris

Front row (l-r): Anthony Williams, Gail Bartlett, Dayton Griffiths, Elva Thomas, Gwyn James, Elwyn Farrell (conductor), Raymond Hancock, Jane Thomas, Philip Kinsey, Allan Davies, Philip Fly

Memories of Old Merthyr

We continue our serialisation of the memories of Merthyr in the 1830’s by an un-named correspondent to the Merthyr Express, courtesy of Michael Donovan.

George Thomas Clark by Henry Wyndham Phillips. Courtesy of Cyfarthfa Castle Museum and Art Gallery

Without being positive, it was early in the forties Mr George Thomas Clark can be first recalled at Dowlais. It was an open secret that he was not very acceptable to the Evanses, but a thunder-clap broke, and was stated that Thomas [Evans] was going away; that he was in fact going to Rhymney. His salary was £1,000 a year at Dowlais, but was to be £1,500 at Rhymney, with residence, and the other usual agent’s privileges. No doubt he would have gone had not Mr Clark left, and his salary increased to the Rhymney rate. The Dowlais Company had also to pay £800 for expenses the Rhymney Company had gone to in preparing a residence for him. This is proof of the value Sir John set on Mr T Evans’ services. He died, and Mr Clark afterwards became supreme at Dowlais.

It is thought appropriate to give some things that reflect that honour. Dowlais was ever progressive. There was neither lack of capital or skill. One consulting man engaged was Rastrick of Birmingham. When the drift into the coal was made at the back of the blast furnace yard, Rastrick designed a pair of winding engines the like of which is unknown. They were of the vibrating kind, moving upon trunnions at the bottom of the cylinders, with winding gear above.

The engines were made at the Neath Abbey Works, fixed and started, but some old and opinionated persons whispered, “Oh it will never do”. “Then I’ll put another” said Sir John. It did work, however, for years, but alas, as other things also, it did not get the attention it ought to have had, and with the alteration in the working of minerals it was disused.

Somewhere in 1838 or ’39 Mr John Russell, the doctor, was leaving, and in order to get the best man to succeed him, Sir John asked his London physician to visit Dowlais so as to learn the real condition of things in order to select the most suitable man he knew of. John L White was the only one selected, but Mawdesly (who has already been mentioned as the engineer of the Ivor Works) was ill, and was sent for to Dowlais House. The physician examined him and strongly recommended Mawdesly’ wintering in Madeira.

Some four days after, Sir John spoke to him about it, and Mawdesly frankly said it was beyond his means. “Don’t let that stand in the way; you shall go is you would like to” was told him to his comfort and the everlasting credit of Sir John. Returning is the spring better, he soon found himself falling back, and Sir John sent him for another winter to Funchal. Not much benefitted, he returned in 1841, and after a while left, first for Southport, his native place, and, going to Wolverton for a while, passed away there.

To be continued at a later date…….

Calling all historians

Hello everyone.

Yet again, it is time for my bi-annual appeal to all budding historians out there – please send in your articles.

As you know I am always looking for fresh ideas for this blog, so if anyone feels they would like to contribute a piece – no matter how short, any submissions will be gratefully received.

There have been some articles on the blog this year written by ‘new’ authors (to this blog), and have been about fascinating and vastly different subjects – subjects that I would probably have never written about – that’s what keeps this blog fresh, so why don’t you have a go at writing something? Also, it is getting more difficult to come up with interesting articles to keep the blog going, so anything you could contribute will make a difference.

Also, I have received a few of complaints that the blog doesn’t cover certain subjects or areas, or that some subjects are over-emphasised – well, if there are things that you would like to see covered, please write something.

Everyone is welcome to contribute – whether you are an established historian or someone with a passion for local history who has never written something before.

Please send me your articles – HELP KEEP THIS BLOG GOING. Without your input the blog could run out of steam.

Thank you

Land Ownership in Merthyr Tydfil – part 2

by Brian Jones

Throughout the Medieval period the number of local farms increased and these Manorial farms improved their productivity whilst the population waxed and waned. The antiquarian, David Merch, studied the 1558 “Morganiae Archaiographia” and identified 14 freehold farms. Manorial Rent Lists became important historical sources and John Griffiths used these records in his detailed work “Historical Farms of Merthyr Tudful” (2012) he identified 120 farms (see map below) twenty five of which were “Charter Land Farms” which were freehold in 1630 suggesting that the aristocracy divested a proportion of their freehold land in order to accrue capital or to curry favour with landed gentry. The freeholders of noble birth had been established for hundreds of year however these were not continuous blood lines. For example, the Earldom of Plymouth title has been established three times, firstly in 1675 by Charles II and by 1765 there had been another different family line as the original title holders did not have children or near relatives required in order to inherit.                                     

Five centuries after Gilbert de Clare claimed freehold ownership of all of the Merthyr land by force, a number of entrepreneurs came into the valley to begin the manufacture of iron. Business people such as Anthony Bacon, William Brownrigg, Isaac Wilkinson, John Guest, Richard Crawshay and the three Homfray brothers jostled to gain leases to build the ironworks: Dowlais (1759), Plymouth (1763), Cyfarthfa (1765) and Penydarren (1784). These works were financed by wealthy individuals and distant investors aware that resources were available to include coal, ironstone, limestone, clay, timber and particularly important, supplies of water.

The rich absentee freeholders owned tracts of local farmland and were anxious to lease their holdings in the knowledge they could increase their income by leasing land for the extraction of minerals to the newcomers rather than from their existing tenant farmer. Two of the largest freeholders were the Earl of Plymouth and Earl Talbot whose forebears had concentrated on rural economies but now they changed their attitude to manufacturing and this opened a new chapter on the ownership of land in their possession. There was a rapid decline in the number of farms and an attendant change from a rural to an urban economy; houses were required for the influx of people to man the ironworks, quarry the limestone and mine the iron ore and coal. People left the land for the minor village which now began to increase in size.

450 years after Gilbert de Clare,7th Earl of Gloucester took possession of the land, later known as Merthyr parish, it is remarkable that three dynasties owned the majority of the freehold of the parish. At the beginning there were no maps to record existing land holdings and therefore landscape features assumed particular importance and the River Taff served as a boundary. Much of the land to the west of the river was owned by Lord Talbot whilst that to the east of the river was owned by the Earl of Plymouth with a portion around the parish church owned by the successors of the Lewis family. The leases for all four ironworks are set out in an authoritative work completed by John Lloyd in his 1906 book “The Early History of the Old South Wales Ironworks 1760 -1840”. This work draws on the extensive collection of leases drawn up by a Brecon firm of solicitors, Messrs Walter and John Powell. The first Cyfarthfa lease of 7th October 1765 with Anthony Bacon and William Brownrigg was for 4000 acres of land below the junction of the Taff Fawr and Taff Fechan, southwards down the valley, to the centre line of Aberdare mountain. The ancestry of William Talbot can be traced back to a Norman family in France, then to Sir Gilbert Talbot (1276-1346) Lord Chamberlain to King Edward III who married into the Welsh line of Prince Rhys Mechyll. William Talbot was created Earl Talbot of Hensol in 1761 and his legacy had spanned centuries intertwining noble ancestry, legal expertise and political service. His estates were extensive and he had links to Llancaiach Fawr in Nelson and Dynevor (Dinefwr) in Carmarthenshire. The family name is still linked to the premier noble seat of the Earl of Shrewsbury where the present Earl is also titled as Baron Talbot of Hensol.

The Cyfarthfa lease of 29 August 1765 with William Talbot was also joined with Michael Richards of Cardiff. There is some uncertainty as to this latter freeholder although there appears to be a connection with the Llancaiach estate and Rhyd-y-Car farm. It is likely that some time between 1685 and 1729, Jane, one of the two daughters of Colonel Edward Pritchard, sold her half share of the Merthyr estate to a Michael Richards who in a later lease is identified as the freeholder of Rhyd-y-Car farm. The other daughter, Mary, married David Jenkins of Hensol and their daughter married Charles Talbot in 1713. It is likely that the Talbots and Richards were closely connected by the date of the Cyfarthfa lease of 1765 and by then Michael Richards was of some social standing and wealth, living in Cardiff.

The lease for the land to the east of the river was held by the other major freehold interest with the 4th Earl of Plymouth of the 2nd Creation, Other Lewis Windsor Hickman, styled as Lord Windsor, made the Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan in 1754. This family had combined a few years earlier with a wealthy landed Glamorgan family with firm links to the history of Merthyr Tydfil (Tudful). In 1589 the Lewis family had occupied the Courthouse (Cwrt) at the site of the present Labour Club in the centre of the town, then the location of the small parish village with the church of “The Martyr”. “The Cwrt” was possibly the court of the Welsh prince, Ifor Bach and then passed through his descendants to the Lewis family who left Merthyr and moved to Caerphilly at the time of Elizabeth I where they built a manor house with extensive parkland at the Van. Lewis of the Van became the Sheriff of Glamorgan in 1548 and in time the Glamorgan estates were gifted to the last survivor of the family line, Elizabeth, who married into the Earl of Plymouth line with the 3rd Earl of Plymouth in 1730 and hence the combined wealth of both families came into play.

In summary the ownership of land in Merthyr Tydfil (Tudful) changed from a sole landowner in 1267 with a small number of tenanted farms to increase to  about 120 in 1630. Three quarters of the farms were rented and perhaps 14 to 25 freehold. Most of the freeholds were of relatively small acreage with substantial acreages in the hands of the few families who were descended from  Norman lines. The Llancaiach estates and those of the Earles Plymouth and Talbot, and Richards, figure large in the leases for mineral rights agreed with the 4 local ironwork companies. Then the number of farms reduced and 100 years later the coal era building boom ensued to meet the needs of the new colliery villages. By that time the village became the growing town of Merthyr Tydfil, churches and chapels increased in number and the older churches reinforced their medieval rights as Glebe lands. As the 19th turned into the 20th century the vast majority of properties were leasehold however the Leasehold Reform Act of 1967 enabled leaseholders to acquire freehold interests and that ownership is now the norm.

Land Ownership in Merthyr Tydfil – part 1

by Brian Jones

Land, ground or earth is almost entirely covered by a layer of rocks and soil and local limestone, coals and ironstone form the bedrock of the land in the Merthyr Tydfil area. Here thin soils mask the land and support pasture, trees and recreational spaces however the dominant human feature is the urban environment with roads, houses, commercial and agency properties. All buildings stand on land which is either leasehold or freehold whilst the former ownership is of temporary duration, usually for 99 years, whereas the freeholder owns land in perpetuity. Only the freeholder can consent to a lease for which he/she is paid rent.

The population within the Merthyr Tydfil Borough Council area is approximately 59,000 in settlements spread over 43 sq. miles with over 30,000 private, commercial and retail properties. The records of ownership of all of the land and property in England and Wales is maintained by HM Land Registry which was created in 1862.There was no central record keeping prior to that date although legal documents that prove an individual’s ownership of land have been prepared for centuries and documentation can include Wills, Leases, Mortgages, Conveyances and Contracts for sale. It is an immense task to describe the ownership of all of the properties and land and, in any event, ownership is constantly changing as numerous pieces are bought and sold. In order to simplify the description of land ownership it is easier to refer back to a period  when the population was smaller and ownership was concentrated in few hands. This article concentrates on the freehold ownership of land between two local historical events: the construction of Morlais Castle at the end of the 13th century and the building of Cyfarthfa Ironworks 450 years later. The intervening Medieval period was a time of significant changes in farming and towards the end of this interim period land ownership was changed by mining and quarrying. Then came the business men seeking their fortunes in the iron industry.

In the 13th century north of Abercynon, the River Taff with its two headwater tributaries was a wooded area with few people, a small number of farms and a minor village located around a church dedicated to a venerated person named Tudful. “Liber Landavensis” c1130 (National Library of Wales) makes reference to this church. Another ancient ecclesiastical document “The Valuation of Norwich” (1254) includes reference to the church at Merthyr Tudful. That century saw large scale political change and military conflicts throughout Wales. Major changes were taking place in the ownership of land claimed by the Welsh population and challenged by the Anglo-Norman Plantagenet forces of the English King Edward I. The first Plantagenet King, Henry II, and his immediate successors refrained from annexing the land in Wales from the numerous Welsh Princes. Later English monarchs took the least line of military resistance which was in South Wales and in 1267 Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester began to wrest control of the ancient Merthyr parish of Uwch-Senghenyyd, from the local Welsh ruler, Gruffydd ap Rhys.

The acquisition of land by way of force was recognised as a lawful means of gaining sovereignty and the rights of freehold over newly annexed land were claimed. The subjugation of Wales was completed by King Edward I in his second foray into Wales in 1282-83 and he continued to support the powerful and wealthy English Lords of Glamorgan, known as Marcher Lordships with a seat at Cardiff Castle. On the death of the 6th Earl, Gilbert de Clare became the 7th Earl in 1262 and he ruled his lands and was able to declare war, raise taxes, establish courts, markets and build castles, without reference to the King. To possess land by force of arms needed to translate into the creation of a border and this brought the Earl into conflict with his neighbour to the north, another Marcher Lord, Humphrey de Bohun, the Earl of Hereford and Lord of Brecon. The 7th Earl, began the construction of Morlais Castle in 1288 on a limestone ridge at 1,250 feet in order to mark the boundary of the land which he now claimed by right of conquest. This was to be the border between Morgannwg and Brecheiniog although it is doubtful that the castle was ever completed.

Plan of Morlais Castle

Humphrey de Bohun protested to the King claiming the castle was built within his border and thus claimed ownership of the land. Edward I forbade the private war between the two Earls however Gilbert ignored this proclamation and conducted a series of raids into the lands of Brecon. The dispute was heard in 1291 and resolved a year later and Gilbert died in 1295. The Merthyr freehold passed to his heirs however the political situation continued to be fraught and there began a period of monarchical turbulence with freehold interest in the land changing. Subsequent monarchs gifted portions of the Merthyr freehold to other favourites and eventually the wealthy Earls of Plymouth and descendents of the Norman Talbot families featured in large part of the story of the leasing of land for the mineral and water rights required for the building of the four Merthyr Ironworks.

To be continued…..

The Dark Side of Convict Life – part 16

by Barrie Jones

Chapter XIV (there is no Chapter XIII). Henry recounts the system “searching” and his skill as a bone faker.

The Dark Side of Convict Life (Being the Account of the Career of Harry Williams, a Merthyr Man). Merthyr Express, 23rd April 1910, page 6.

Chapter XIV

Having been reported so many times, and seeing my remission rapidly decreasing, I thought it was just about time for me to try and “get a bit of my own back,” as the lags call it, so I thought I would try and turn my hand to something which would bring me in a little luxury; and if I happened to be caught, well then I should get punished for something which I did on more than one occasion, as my business was quite a puzzle to them. Nearly every day when I came in from the quarry, I would find my cell in a “topsy-turvy” condition, and every article, from my saltcellar to my shoelaces, turned over. Sometimes my cell was so artfully searched that I could hardly detect it, as all the things were so carefully arranged back into their proper places so as to deceive me and make me think that the searcher had not been there, but I was one too many for the searchers and warder, being equally as clever as they.

Many an old lag, double my experience, was in the habit of coming to me, and asking my advice as to which was the best place to plant this, or conceal that, but I never made it my business to tell them, for, one simple reason, should the searcher happen to draw his needle from a crack in the wall or behind the door with his magnet, then the lag in most cases would accuse me, and tell others that I “shopped” (informed) against him. But thank God, I never was called a “copper” (informer) during all my servitude. I always made it a habit to put a little black spot near the corner of my slate, with the edge just touching the spot, and should the slate be removed a little way or over the spot, then I would know at once that the searcher had been there. Another game the prison detective used to practise, but not a single convict did I ever know to tumble into it, but I found it out. The searchers, after searching the mattress, would sew the sides up with his own private stitching, then if a convict would undo the stitches in order to conceal anything in the mattress, even if he sewed it up again, he would tell the difference between his own stitches, and there would be a capture. I told the searcher this on one occasion, and he said, “Williams, how on earth did you tumble to it? Why, only the other day I captured an old lag in the very same way; but promise me, “he added, “that you won’t give the game away, and I will let you run loose.” I replied, “I shall tell no one.” At the same time, I warned several not to conceal anything in their mattresses.

My readers, no doubt, would like to know what the searcher was looking for every time he turned me and my cell over, and they will be surprised to learn that it was some toothpicks, and the tools I used in the manufacturing of them, that’s what they were after, for I was well known at Portland Prison as the “bone faker.” Instances of such could be seen in the stone quarry daily, when all sorts of conditions of bone would be offered me, even from the old tough chicken bone to the beautiful white mutton bone. The marrow bones I used in the manufacture of signet rings or tie clips, and thick mutton and beef bones for making ladies’ boots, with the imitation of the leg and two blades to be closed like a penknife. I also made the fancy pipe cleaners and scarf pins, the shape of hearts, anchors, Maltese crosses, etc. It was all these articles that the searchers were after, for I was known as the “bone faker” even from the common civil guard to the director. Although they were prohibited articles, they were highly interested in my bone carving, as the governor himself once told me, when reported for having one in my possession. “You are a clever man, Williams,” said he, “but I have told you before, it is against the rules, so therefore I must punish you.” “Alright, sir,” I replied, “it’s a fair cop; so many days No. 1, and so many marks, and I will start again after the punishment.”

My object in making these things was to exchange them for tobacco, which I would share equally with my fellow convicts, who ran the same risks in getting me the bones. How I managed to get the tobacco, of course, I shall not mention here, as it would be unfair to those who treated me with kindness. I will here give my readers one or two instances of how I cheated the searcher under his very eyes.

It was on a Saturday, in 1902, being a pudding day, that I was quite unexpectedly visited by the searcher already mentioned. It was after dinner, and I always made it my habit to save my pudding till suppertime, to eat with my cocoa, for I was particularly fond of “cold duff”; but this was not my sole object in saving it, for it served my purpose also as a toolbox. I know readers will laugh at the idea of a piece of “duff” serving as a toolbox, but my tools were not many, being only three in number, namely; an old piece of steel, a rusty barrow nail, and a piece of copper wire. With those prohibited articles on my table, I was busily at work, manufacturing a female’s boot, when I was suddenly given the tip, which meant the scratching of the iron partition of my next-door neighbour, whom I engaged in the observation line. Scarcely had I received the signal when the cell door was flung open, and in walked the searcher with his searching instruments, but it was too late, for my tools and unfinished article had disappeared as if by magic. I was ordered to strip naked; my clothes were searched; everything in my cell was turned over, but he found nothing, so he locked me up, and then departed. I then took up my “duff”, cut it in half, and out dropped my tools. I then finished my article. I exchanged it on the following Monday for an ounce of twist, and gave my pal his whack, who heartily thanked me with a “God bless you, Williams: I have not smelt a chew for over two years.” I made a friend of that little fellow, who was known as Brunney George Devereux, undergoing a term of six years. I never did regret it, for he was as true as gold, and not like some of them, who are for ever putting their fellow prisoners away, As I have already mentioned, in order to carry favour with an official.

In the next chapter, I will give you an account of how I cheated a screw at the impulse of the moment, and how I was transferred from Portland to Parkhurst Prison, Isle of Wight.

To be continued….