The Carlton Workingmen’s Hotel

105 years ago today, a report was published in the Merthyr Express about the opening of the Carlton Workingmen’s Hotel. The building is better known today as the Ex-Servicemen’s Club.

Many thanks to Carl Llewellyn for transcribing the article below:

Carlton Workingmen’s Hotel

A GREAT BOON TO MERTHYR
(by a visitor)

The fine building which has been erected at the bottom of High Street by Mr Nathanial Moss, and which will in future be known as the Carlton Workingmen’s Hotel, will be opened to-morrow (Saturday). It has often been urged that the Merthyr Corporation ought to provide a municipal lodging-house. Such a place was needed, and Mr Moss has met the want. He has erected a substantial building, which has certainly improved this part of the town, and will prove a great boon to those who frequent lodging-houses. I have been in many similar institutions, but I do not remember one that was better arranged. Mr Moss is certainly to be commended for his public spirited enterprise.

The building is three stories high, and the front of red pressed brick, faces the old Parish Church. It is 80 feet long and the height from floor to the apex is 40 feet. The rooms are all commodious and well lighted. They are also well ventilated – a most important matter in institutions of this character. In every room there are wall boxes to admit fresh air and outlets for foul air. The site on which the hotel has been built was formally occupied by old dwellings, which projected on to the pavement at one corner and were set back at the other corner. Mr Moss, however secured a straight building line, though he had to pay a substantial sum for the privilege.

A wide entrance from the main street gives access to the hotel, and on the right of the passage there is an assembly room about 40 feet long and 18 feet wide. It contains four polished tables, dozens of Windsor chairs, and a number of smoking chairs, besides an upholstered settee. At the rear and parallel to the assembly room is a kitchen almost as long as the assembly room and about 20 feet wide. Here there is a large cooking-range, one of the best in South Wales. It has all the latest appliances, and is well adapted for such an institution. Lockers are provided for lodgers in which to keep provisions etc. Opening off the kitchen is a pantry for crockery and cooking utensils which are provided for the use of lodgers. Close at hand is a bathroom with hot and cold water. At the rear is a washing place, with six or eight basins, and a couple of foot baths, all with hot and cold water attached. This room also contains a number of shelves for bundles of clothes, and a smaller room adjoining, which is well heated, is fitted up as a wash-house, and there are racks on which wet clothes can be hung to dry. At the back there is a big yard, enclosed, and in summer time men will have the privilege of using this. There are four or five w.c.’s. and lavatories, all on up-to-date principles.

On the first floor, which is approached by wide stairs, there is a large sleeping room containing forty-four single beds. This room has windows on three sides. There is another drying room here, and bathroom and w. c. adjoining. On the top floor there are three more sleeping rooms, one of which contains forty-six beds, and another twenty-two beds, and a smaller room with three beds. In all, there is accommodation for 120 beds. Another w.c. is provided on the top floor. The bedsteads, which are substantial, are of iron, with wire mattresses, flock mattresses and pillows. Three blankets, two sheets, and a counterpane are provided for each bedstead.

All the walls are distempered and the woodwork painted. The hotel is lighted throughout by gas, inverted incandescent mantles having been adopted. Ample provision has been made to cope with fire. There are two fire escapes from each of the upper floors, and 60 feet of hose pipes on each floor, with necessary appliances

The hotel is to be conducted on methodical lines, and rules and regulations are displayed in every room. For weekly lodgers the charge will be 3s, per week, and nightly visitors will be charged 6d, per night. For these moderate charges men will have single beds, the use of the kitchen for cooking purposes, the large assembly room for games or conversation, the washery and drying room and dining room and the other conveniences, including footbaths. A charge of twopence extra will be made for the use of the slipper baths. As I have mentioned, lockers are provided in the kitchen, and each man can have a key on paying a deposit of sixpence, which will be returned when he gives up the key

Separate apartments are provided for the manager, and there is also a shop which can be approached without leaving the hotel. The idea is to sell provisions here, which will be a great convenience for lodgers.

Mr Moss has been fortunate in the selection of a manager. Mr. W.F. Rowley who was airing beds, when I called on Wednesday, is an ex- Army man, having served ten years with the colours. He was in the East Yorkshire Regiment, and was for nearly two years in South Africa during the Boer War. He left the Army with a splendid character, and for seven years he has charge of municipal homes in Bristol. He has come from Bristol with excellent credentials. A better selection could hardly have been made.

As I have remarked, the institution is a credit to Mr Moss, and will supply a long felt want. The foundations were commenced in August, and it has taken only fifteen weeks to complete the hotel. The total cost of the hotel, which has been erected from the plans prepared by Messrs. Johnson and Richards, architects, cannot be much less the £3,500.

carlton-house-merthyr-express-16-12-1911

Merthyr Express – 16 December 1911

The Building of St Mary’s, Merthyr Vale

In the last post, a newspaper cutting appeared announcing the opening of St Mary’s Church in Merthyr Vale. The story of the building of the church is a fascinating one, as the church was built at a time of austerity, actually coinciding with the General Strike of 1926.

A number of people from Merthyr Vale and Aberfan worshipped in the Anglican faith, and indeed they had their own vicar – Rev P Evans. The one thing they didn’t have was their own church. Encouraged by Rev Evans, they decided that they would build a church themselves, and despite the deprivations of the time, and having very little money, plans were drawn up by Rev Evans; Mr Walter March, the engineer of Merthyr Vale Colliery; and Mrs Lewis James.

One of the first problems facing them was where to get the materials needed to build the church. Fortunately the owners of the Glamorganshire Canal told them that they could have the dressed stone from the old, disused pump house near the Pontyrhun Bridge in Troedyrhiw, but they would have to dismantle the building and transport the stones themselves. Mr Ernie Williams, a coal delivery driver from Troedyrhiw offered them the use of his delivery lorry, and every day, people from Merthyr Vale, led by Rev Evans went to Troedyrhiw and pulled down the pump house, stone by stone, and Ernie Williams delivered the stones to Merthyr Vale. After many months of back-breaking work, the building was finally completed, but the generosity didn’t stop there.

merthyrvale_stmaryschurch
Rev Evans and volunteers during the building of the church

Money being very scarce, the group had very little to spare for fixtures and fittings for the new church, however, a church in Aberdare offered the people of Merthyr Vale a pulpit. Once again, the services of Ernie Williams were called upon, and with the aid of a steam wagon borrowed from Merthyr Vale Colliery, not to mention many willing helpers, the pulpit was loaded on to the wagon for the journey to Merthyr Vale. Hearing of the endeavours of the Merthyr Vale group, the firm of Williams and Williams, colliery lamp makers, gave those who had journeyed to Aberdare a free meal.

The journey from Aberdare to Merthyr Vale was not an easy one. The steam wagon travelled at a speed of five miles per hour, and was so heavy that several bridges en route had to be strengthened to take its weight. Despite this, the pulpit arrived in one piece and was installed in the church. The church was consecrated on 12 December 1926.

St Mary’s Church

Sadly, due to subsidence caused by the mine workings at Merthyr Vale Colliery, St Mary’s Church was demolished in 1967, after just over 40 years serving the community. A new church was built on the same site in 1974.

Photos courtesy of Old Merthyr Tydfil (http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm)

Joseph Edwards – Merthyr’s Great Sculptor

Joseph Edwards was born on 5 March 1814 at Ynysgau, Merthyr Tydfil. His father, John was a stonecutter, and Joseph grew up helping his father, showing exceptional ability from an early age. He had a limited education at local charity schools, but at the age of seventeen, Joseph sought to widen his horizons by walking through South and West Wales, spending nearly two years in Swansea where he was employed as a mason.

In 1835, he went to London carrying an introduction to the sculptor William Behnes who, after some hesitation, employed him. He stayed with Behnes until 1838, during which time he attended the Royal Academy Schools, winning the silver medal for best model from the antique, and exhibiting for the first time. He entered the studio of Patrick MacDowell while continuing his studies at the Royal Academy, where he won a second silver medal in 1839. By this time he was gaining commissions for portrait busts and memorials in his own right, especially from patrons connected with South Wales. He carved the monument to Henry Charles Somerset, Sixth Duke of Beaufort, and in 1840 he made a bust of Ivor Bertie Guest, the first of several commissions from Merthyr industrialists.

Joseph Edwards

In 1843 Edwards carved The Last Dream at North Otterington Church in Yorkshire, now regarded as his early masterpiece. Welsh intellectuals became increasingly aware of his career, and Edwards was perceived to demonstrate the potential for national progress in Wales, having risen by his own efforts from humble origins to find a place in the English art world. Like Gibson, he was frequently cited in the mid-nineteenth century as an example for the young to follow. In 1855, at the Royal London Eisteddfod, he became the first Welsh artist to have a solo exhibition of his works.

Edwards was patronized by notable establishment figures. His marble relief Religion Consoling Justice (1853; Dingestow, Monmouthshire) formed part of the memorial to Justice Sir John Bernard Bosanquet, and in 1854 and 1856 he was again commissioned by the Beaufort family. In 1859 he met George Virtue, whose magazine, the Art Journal, promoted his work, publishing engravings on several occasions. Virtue also made use of a work by Edwards for the headpiece of his Girls Own Paper. In 1870 the sculptor was commissioned to execute the memorial to the publisher at Walton-on-Thames cemetery.

His sculpture ‘Religion’, exhibited as a plaster at the International Exhibition of 1862, became his only large-scale public sculpture in his native country, erected in marble at Cefn Cemetery ten years later (a second version is at Highgate Cemetery, London).

‘Religion’ at Highgate Cemetery

His seriousness and dedication to his art came at the expense of business considerations, and he was frequently financially embarrassed. Probably for this reason, in 1846 Edwards began to work for Matthew Noble in a role which, it is clear, far exceeded that of the normal assistant. Among Edwards’s papers is a list of some forty major pieces attributed to the English sculptor, on which Edwards worked at every stage from conception to completion, including the famous Wellington memorial of 1856 in Manchester. He became known in the art world as Noble’s ‘ghost’, entering his studio at the end of the day to work overnight, and on Sundays. On Noble’s death in 1876, Edwards completed his outstanding works, for which he received minimal recompense. In 1881 Thomas Woolner, who took a dim view of Noble’s practice, made application on Edwards’s behalf for a Turner bequest. The Welsh sculptor was able to benefit from only one payment, since he died on 9 January 1882 at his home in London. He is buried in Highgate Cemetery.

Joseph Edwards’ tomb

Photos courtesy of www.victorianweb.org.

To read more about Joseph Edwards take a look at the link below:
http://www.victorianweb.org/sculpture/edwards/index.html

A Letter from the Crimea

In the last few months there have been posts about the First and Second World Wars, as well as the Zulu Wars. Let’s go back even further – here’s a letter from a soldier serving in the Crimean War, transcribed from the Merthyr Telegraph of 29 September 1855.

Camp, before Sebastopol, Sept. 15, 1855

Dear Parents

I am very happy to inform you of the great victory we have won after all the hardships we have endured last winter and during the summer. I have been this last three weeks twelve hours out of twenty-four fighting hard, and have seen several of my old comrades fall by my side, which grieved me very much. Two men in particular, good soldiers, that came out with me, and belonged to my own company, fell on the last day of the battle. I am glad to inform you that Tom Watkins is safe, and enjoys good health. I forgot to tell you in my last that he was slightly wounded; he was from duty about three weeks, and was soon out of danger.

I went down to the trenches about 1 o’clock on the morning of the 8th September, and we continued firing as hard as possible until 12 a.m. on the following day, when General Simpson came down to Green Hill Battery, with his staff; our Captain ordered us to fire for about twenty minutes, and then we heard the thunder of musketry of our men. They had attacked the Redan battery, and the French the Malakhoff. I could see them tearing across the plain in hundreds, and see them falling – it was a terrible sight. In front of each of these batteries was a trench about 14 feet deep, and about 12 feet wide; to cross this was extremely dangerous, as the enemy were pouring into them with musketry, grape shot, and canister.

The mystery was, how to get to the top of these trenches, when thousands were opposing you with picks, shovels, hatchets, staves, stones, bayonets, swords, and all kinds of things the rascals could lay their hands on – this was terrible work you may imagine. The way they had adopted of getting over this trench was by throwing wool-bags, and hay-bags into it, and then mounting by means of ladders. They at length succeeded, and fought until they had no ammunition, and were then most unfortunately obliged to retire. During this time we were not firing any, but were looking on for fear of killing our own men.

When I saw them retiring I could cry with sorrow, to think that it was another failure, the same as on the 18th of June; but it fortunately happened that the French took the Malakhoff, and in about two or three hours victory favoured our arms. The French planted their flag on the heights of the Malakhoff, and General Simpson said ‘Now men, you must attack the Redan again to-night, and if you do not take it tonight you must try again in the morning,’ Another attack was made that night at 12 o’clock, when not a Russian could be seen. They reconnoitered along the whole lines, but could find no Russians, and discovered that the whole town was in flames, Magazines were blowing up in all parts – the fleet was on fire in the harbour; and the next day, if you had been here, you would have enjoyed a treat, as I could have given you a ride in a carriage and four.

Everything in the town appeared to have been left to its fate; all were obliged to leave the town at a moment’s notice. It was just like going to a place twice the size of Merthyr, and smashing everything before you. When we got to the town there were arms in shoemakers’ shops and musket balls in the shops of tailors and carpenters. I could have furnished my father with a good kit of tools, and you I could have supplied with silk and satin. I could go to a stable and bring any horse I liked; and could go to a wine-shop and drink as much as I wished, and then to a piano, and play until I was tired, and then have smashed it to pieces.

I have got a few little things here. I have sold £9 worth of things. The French could bring what the liked out, but we were not allowed. I am as happy as a prince; have plenty of clothing to last me I should think for ten years.

I enclose you a little fringe that came off the pulpit of the church in Sebastopol. I wish I could have brought home some oil paintings which I sold to an officer for 12s. each, which were worth £100.

We expect to be home soon, as we were the first here.

I remain, dear Parents,
Your affectionate Son,
JOHN JONES, Royal Artillery.