The Heritage and Culture of Merthyr Tydfil
I have received an enquiry about the Queen’s Hotel in Merthyr. There are two references to it in the Merthyr Telegraph (below).
From the description, it looks like it was situated at the bottom end of the High Street, opposite St Tydfil’s Church. Both the original enquirer and I have searched through old maps and trade directories, but neither of us can find any record of it.
Can anyone shed some light on this mystery hotel?
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.
In a cottage in the row, say 6 or 8 doors up, there was an old blind man, Thomas Evans, who had been a hammerman at Cyfarthfa. He was of the scientific society at the ‘Dynevor’, and was pleased if anyone would sit and read to him (this said advisedly and from experience).
Two dwellings followed owned by Mr David Williams (known as Williams of Pontyrhun). He was a widower, and had a family of two sons and two daughters. One of the later kept a school, but became Mrs John Jones (druggist etc.) of Aberdare. One of the sons, John, was the editor of the Silurian paper, which started at Brecon in the Whig interest, to whom the late Mr Peter Williams, of the Merthyr Telegraph, was apprenticed. The other son emigrated to Australia.
At the top, not many doors from the gate house, Mr Thomas Shepherd, then the cashier at Cyfarthfa Works lived. He removed to Navigation House after the death of Mr George Forrest, and then became superintendent of the Glamorganshire Canal.
Restarting from the bridge and crossing the tramroad, some short distance up on the left, a Mr Walter Morgan resided. He had been brought up as a solicitor, but was then in the brewery business. The brewery was situated behind the house, and had entrance from a road at the back.
Mr Morgan had two daughters and one son. The eldest married, but her painfully sudden death seemed to show that she was not happy. The youngest became Mrs Macnamara, wife of a barrister, who became judge of one of the East Indian courts. Her brother, who also was a barrister, became the same, but whether both were in Calcutta or elsewhere cannot be recalled.
The ascent was steep shortly after passing Mr Morgan’s residence. A Captain Oakey lived in residence on the left and overlooked the flat portion of Georgetown etc. He had been at sea for many years and then lived retired.
Upon Mr Crawshay – the grandfather of the present generation – buying a lot of old stores from Woolwich, they were sent to Cyfarthfa to be manufactured into bar iron, and there were some pieces of ordnance as well as round balls amongst the lot. Mr Robert Thompson Crawshay had one at least of the cannons taken to the tip above Nantygwenith and fired them (for I think there was more than one). The good old captain, who was enjoying his siesta upon the first firing and stretched upon his sofa, from association of his past life rolled himself off the sofa and on to the floor. So strange is habit.
Above Captain Oakey’s was the house occupied by Mr Jeffries, the blast furnace manager at Cyfarthfa. There were then no other houses except an isolated cottage or two until Penyrheolgerrig was come to.
To be continued at a later date……
From the Merthyr Telegraph 150 years ago today…..
Following on from the recent post on 4 May, the article below appeared in The Monmouthshire Merlin 150 years ago today….
In addition, the following notices appeared in later editions of the Merthyr Telegraph….
by Carolyn Jacob
There was district in Merthyr Tydfil south of the Brecon Road and bounded by the canal and the Abermorlais / British Tip (not far from Bethesda Chapel), which was known as ‘China’. There was not one Chinaman in nineteenth century ‘China’, although the district ‘China’ in Merthyr Tydfil did have its own Emperor. ‘China’ was not a Chinatown in the same way places of this name exist today. ‘China’ may not have been unique, as every large city had its rough ‘no go’ area, but at one time it was the most notorious district in the whole of Wales.
The terms ‘China’ and ‘Chinese’ are used frequently in the police reports, but always with inverted commas to indicate that this was merely a nickname. The census returns, which were taken every ten years from 1841, prove that the residents of ‘China’ were from all over the country. These ‘Chinese’ residents were mainly English, Irish and Welsh, but at times there were also some Germans and Eastern Europeans. A Jewish businessman was ridiculed in the newspaper for spending too much time with the ‘ladies of China’ until he found himself robbed by them.
There were a number of Merthyr Tydfil newspapers published from 1832 onwards and the Merthyr Telegraph had long accounts of ‘China’, mainly under the ‘Police Court’ column. When young men strayed into China and escaped with little more than the clothes on their backs, generally the judge had very little sympathy for them for being foolish enough to enter this dangerous area.
There are two interesting articles written on the subject, one by the historian David Jones, who was the expert on crime in Wales and the other by Dr Keith Strange, whose doctorate is about Merthyr Tydfil in the 1840s.
Keith’s fascinating article, ‘The Celestial City’ describes ‘China’ as a den of drunkards, thieves, rogues and prostitutes, whose general behaviour was completely foreign to the normal hard working respectable Welsh Chapel way of life. He once said that he thought the term ‘China’ might have arisen because Britain had a long ‘Opium War’ with China and the early nineteenth century newspapers are full of stories of China as the dreadful land of our enemies, and foreigners; equally ‘China’ in Merthyr Tydfil was the land of undesirables and foreigners (possibly also the place where opium could be smoked).
China was in the news and it was known that here was the ‘Forbidden City’ which no one could enter and return from alive. Few strangers were able to return safely from ‘China’ in Merthyr Tydfil with all their possessions. The attitude of police was that you entered China at your peril; certainly the police themselves did not dare go into China.
Entering China was not easy as the district was bounded by water, a dangerous smoking tip and a row of large dwellings, the entrance to ‘China’ was under an arch and there were door-keepers to send messages warning the residents.
However, by the 1880s there were reports in the Merthyr Express that ‘Old China is not the same’. Gradually ‘China’ declined; the professional criminals moved to Cardiff for richer pickings and in the twentieth century ‘Riverside’, which also had an entrance under an arch, became the most notorious part of the town. Although it must be said that many people today remember old Riverside as a place with very decent people.
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.
A small greengrocer’s shop followed, and then came a china and glass one, kept by a Miss Dyke, then a public house (the Globe) followed by the confectionery shop of Mrs Williams. Her daughters, I believe, Misses Jones, carried on dressmaking etc. One of these young ladies married Mr John Martin, doctor of the Penydarren Works; another Mr Edward Thomas of the Plymouth Works (uncle of the present Mr William Thomas of Oakfield, Aberdare).
The late Mr D C Gunn first opened a business a few doors above. There were some I cannot recall, but not many doors above was the furniture shop of Mr J Davies, one of whose sons carries it on to this day. Dr John Martin resided close here. Then comes the Bush Hotel.
The Bush Hotel was, as regards its frontage, then as now. Mr Thomas Davies was the host and Mrs Davies the hostess. Many a time Mr Davies could be seen resting or semi-sitting on one of the window sills. He had a pleasant, cheerful face, and a genial smile for everybody. His family consisted of two sons and three daughters, about whom I may possibly say more in another epistle. Next above the Bush was a china and ware shop opened by Mr Daniel Asprey, who afterwards moved higher up; then the Bristol and West of England Bank, of which Mr Walter Thompson was the manager for many years.
Next above was a ready made boot and shoe shop kept by Mrs Goodman. It was at this house Mr Steele, the first agent of the Marquis of Bute, who resided in Merthyr, lodged. A Mr Beaumont was probably the head mineral agent of the Marquis, but he resided about Llandaff somewhere. Mr W S Clark succeeded Mr Steele, and, to the best of my knowledge, Mr Beaumont gave up.
I cannot recall for what purpose the premises where the Merthyr Telegraph was printed were used, but I think they were occupied by a printer and bookbinder named David Jones. Mr Asprey moved into the adjoining shop, and some few doors above was Atkin Brother’s boot and shoe shop. It was here the late Mr George Overton (the coroner afterwards), practised as a solicitor, but this must have been in the forties.
Mr William Todd, who was for a long time cashier at the Hirwaun Works, and who opened a wine and spirit business at Bryant’s Old Brewery in Pontstorehouse, built a premises and carried on the business just here. Close to was Mr John James’s drapery establishment and Mr William Stephens’s druggist shop. There was a public house and then a chapel belonging to the Welsh Wesleyans, which was taken down to form an entrance into the railway station. I cannot recall the name of the public house nor that of one lower down near the Merthyr Telegraph premises, which I have not referred to.
To be continued at a later date….
On 27 February we saw a marvellous article from the Merthyr Telegraph, anticipating the imminent closure of the Penydarren Works. Transcribed below is yet another remarkable piece that appeared in the same newspaper 160 years ago today (11 June 1859), written in the aftermath of the closure of the works. Yet again it hard to believe that this is only a newspaper article, not an excerpt from a great literary masterpiece.
BREAKING UP!
Early and late, in plain garb and with downcast look, our working men may be seen trudging from their old homes at Penydarren, bearing their little all in a bundle, on the mandril or spade, that is to earn their meal in other scenes. The spectacle is a saddening one, look at it in whatever light we may. It is too late in life for the majority to begin the world again. In youth, wifeless, childless, free and light of heart as a German ‘prentice lad, a ramble through the hedge-mapped landscapes of England might have benefited the pocket and improved the mind, but now, unthinkingly and in utter ignorance of this calamity at Penydarren, a host have struck the roots deeply and ramified them extensively in the soil of their motherland. And this up- rooting, how it breaks “old ties;” how it sunders those whom God has knit together? “Tush,” says the prosy matter of fact man, “these common men and women look differently at these things, and feel little, and that little only through physical suffering.” A bad excuse – human affections and feelings are the same all over the world – hearts beat as strongly under homely flannel as fine linen – very often stronger; by accident the vagaries of that unstudied science – chance – and the tailor and dressmaker’s art, which give us our distinctions. There is more virtue in silk than calico – broad-cloth surpasseth corduroy.
Year after year time has cemented these working people together;- from childhood to age the tendrils of love or friendship, religion or home, have been wound round the objects of their affection, rendering the dissolution, when the parting hour comes, more severe and unfortunate. Banished as it were from their resorts and connections – sent adrift to seek bread – the majority now in life’s sober autumn, who dare say that the fate of many will be a happy one? Past incidents tell us that many will find a home in the village church-yards and town cemeteries of distant shires; that some will rest from their weary wanderings in the unfenced, unmonumental, burying grounds of the sea, while their families parade in the uniform of poverty, and their wives live upon our charity. Yet, in common with our friends, we pray for the success of these wanderers, and trust that though fortune may exhibit her caprices as of yore, the migration of the working band will be attended on the whole with prosperity.
Merthyr Telegraph – 11 June 1859
The article below appeared in the Merthyr Telegraph 140 years ago today (4 April 1879). It is yet another example of what I believe is a punishment totally out of proportion with the ‘crime’ committed.
In 1859, the Penydarren Ironworks closed. 160 years ago today (26 February 1859), the remarkable article transcribed below, written in anticipation of the closure appeared in the Merthyr Telegraph. It makes fascinating reading as the language used is so striking and almost poetic…a far cry from today’s brand of journalism.
Over the thresholds of a thousand houses stream the long and darkening shadows which forerun events of a stern and saddening character. In a few months that fierce light which so long has glared around Penydarren will be invisible, and the incessant clang of iron and harsh vibrations of monster machinery will no longer be heard. Penydarren works will belong to the past.
For several weeks the inhabitants of this town and neighbourhood heard of the rumoured sale of Penydarren works with incredulity. They could not believe that so great an establishment would be broken up, the works fall into decay, and the men scattered to the four winds of heaven. Yet, at last, the dread truth has forced itself upon our convictions, and we now doubt not that the end of Penydarren is at hand.
The Dowlais Iron Co., holding large works on the extreme edge of the mineral basin, have been for some time progressing with less than its usual vigour in consequence of a deficient supply of mine and coal. It is true new pits have been sunk at Cwmbargoed, but it will be two or three years before they will begin to yield, the enormous depth forbidding any earlier success, though the men are incessantly employed. Thus it became a serious consideration with the Trustees, where, and by what means, the requisite supply should be obtained from to meet the demand. The adjoining mine and coal field of the Penydarren Co. and the known desire of Mr. W. Forman to part with it, offered a solution of the difficulty, and hence, after a consultation and discussion by the principals of each place, one has been merged into the other, and Dowlais has become worthier even than before of being styled the largest iron-works in the world.
We may anticipate that on the opening of the new mill – a mill unequalled in the locality, a large number of additional workmen will be employed; the miners and colliers also may be expected to continue working as usual; but, we apprehend, there will still be many unemployed, and the change will tend to deteriorate the value of house property considerably in Penydarren, and the upper part of Merthyr, from Pontmorlais to Tydfil’s Well. There can be no doubt but that there will be much suffering in one way or another. Young men, full of vigour, may try their fortunes elsewhere broad shoulders and muscular arms will never fail to obtain their owners bread and cheese, but the old men, the semi-pensioners, the half used up veterans, cannot be expected to seek a subsistence in other districts, cannot be expected but to crawl, feeble worn-out beings, into the last resort of humble life – the Workhouse.
In addition to this, the first step towards a decline, we see evidences around us of a gloomy character. The lease of the Dowlais works is said to last only during the minority of the Marquis of Bute. When he comes of age a new lease, under new and perhaps impossible conditions, may be required.
It is also rumoured, on what authority we know not, that the Plymouth iron-works are for sale, and no one, acquainted with Mr. Hill, will hear this without fearing that the change of ownership, by whomsoever made, cannot be for the benefit of the workmen. No matter how good the next employer may be, new brooms have a tendency to sweep clean, and brush away old and good usages, pensions, perquisites and benefits to an alarming extent.
Again, at the Cyfarthfa works things wear an alarming aspect. The lease is yet unsettled. Mr. Crawshay has stated the sum he will give, and we all know that he will abide by his word, and blow out the whole of the furnaces rather than yield. And let us add that were Mr. Crawshay, unfortunately for us all, to be succeeded by another, we might find the system of iron-making on the hills introduced into Cyfarthfa, with its attendant Truck shops, which, God forbid for the sake of poor humanity! To this Truck the Crawshays have ever been firm opponents, much to their honour and the welfare of the town.
All these shadows warn us to be prepared for coming evils – to be on the alert towards lessening the trials of disastrous times – to prepare our several homes against the menacing storm.
Merthyr is a town called into existence by the discovery of the minerals underneath. With their exhaustion it fades as rapidly as it rose.
In these facts we trace the presages of decline. The tree which resists the skill of the gardener may exist for a time, unimproving, unprogressive, but when the storm comes the resistance is but weak, and beneath the tempest it falls!
Continued from the previous post……
SUCCESSFUL CAREER OF A MERTHYR GENTLEMAN IN NEW YORK
Merthyr Telegraph – 20 September 1878
“The next week after landing in this city he began work in a job printing office in Beekman Street. In a very few weeks after that he heard that the American Grocer, a new publication at that time that was struggling for existence, wanted a foreman, and very fortunately for him and it, he obtained work on the paper. He remained in the position of foreman, receiving a moderate salary, upon which he lived carefully and economically, saving some money and laying it by every week doing his work thoroughly and well, and showing his ability in the best way it can be shown, viz., by practical demonstration. Changes subsequently took place in the office, and Mr Jones having some money invested in the stock, and having gained the confidence of other stockholders in his ability to conduct its affairs, in July, 1876, assumed control, and under his management our readers can testify to the marked ability with which the paper has been conducted.
Our mail list testifies to the enormous growth of its circulation, our advertising columns to the great increase in advertisements, whilst our advertisers can bear witness as to how great a hold it has on the minds of its subscribers by the large returns they receive from advertising in its columns. If the stockholders do not receive large dividends it is not the fault of Mr Jones, but of the policy of devoting all the revenues of the paper to improving it and extending its circulation.
Mr Jones is now a large owner in a paper that is acknowledged to be the representative journal of the grocery trade in the United States. This has been due to his own exertions, to his working faithfully and ably for his employers when on a salary, thus impressing them with the importance of raising him from step to step, until confiding the sole charge of the paper to his hands. By his economy in saving a portion of his wages every week, thereby having a fund to assist him in purchasing an interest in the paper, he gave confidence to his associates, inasmuch as a man who was a good manager of his own affairs, was careful, economical and saving when on a salary, must needs be the right man to have charge of the financial, editorial, and mechanical departments.
The result has proved that they did not make a mistake, and that the right man was put in the right place. The rigid economy that Mr Jones was obliged to learn in his youth is carried out in every department of the American Grocer. Every person on the editorial staff, and every man and boy in the composing room and job office know that he thoroughly understands what can and ought to be done, and also that he will insist upon its being done properly and at the time wanted. The result of such a course has been that every department of the American Grocer is filled with hard-working, steady men, and, as Mr Jones says with pride, he can turn out more work, in better style, from the composing and job office than is done with the same force in any other office in this city.
We hope by the 1st of September to see him back at his post, refreshed and invigorated by rest and recreation that his travels will widen his business experience, and that the prominent business men whom he will undoubtedly come in contact with, will give him broader views, so that he may be able to lie even more useful to the readers of this paper than ever. We do not doubt that this will be the case. An energetic, observing man, who has the opportunity, is always picking up and storing away in the storehouse of his memory facts and figures to be put into practical use at the proper time, and there can be no question that our readers will be the gainers by our chief’s trip to Europe”