The Pant open-air swimming baths opened in 1937 at a cost of £6,000. The cost was met with a 100% grant from the Special Commissioner for Distressed Areas. Concern was expressed, as the grant only covered the cost of the construction; maintenance had to be provided out of the rates and could prove expensive. When Henry Seymour Berry, Lord Buckland, gave the gift of the Gwaunfarren Baths, it was on the condition that the running cost of it never added to the rates.
Up to 1924, Merthyr had no public baths, other than the privately-owned Turkish Baths in Caedraw. There was also the old Gwaunfarren Open-Air Baths belonging to the Bolgoed Estate that was let out to whoever would rent it. Ultimately, it became derelict and was then abandoned. It was on that site the Gwaunfarren Indoor Baths were built and presented to the Mayor of Merthyr, Councillor L. M. Jones, and opened on 3 July 1924.
The opening day at Pant Baths. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive
The modern Pant pool was 100 ft long by 40 ft wide and 8 ft at the deepest end, and it was equipped with a 5-metre international diving stage, springboards and a chute. It had 16 changing cubicles for men and the same for women, and a great spectators’ gallery. The Pulsometer Engineering Co. installed the water filtration plant, but the delivery of sand for it delayed the opening. The lowest tender by Enoch Williams & Sons, Contractor, Dowlais, was signed on 28 May 1936.
In the same year, two local men were appointed Clerks of the Works; Thomas Dean of Penywern for Pant Baths , and Reginald McDonald of Gwladys Street, Pant, for the Edwardsville Baths which were being constructed at the same time. They experienced difficulty in obtaining carpenters, bricklayers, and steelworkers, and this, along with extremely wet weather further delayed the work. They eventually employed a foreman, 5 carpenters, a bricklayer and 3 labourers.
The chairman of the Corporation Baths Committee, Alderman Sam Jennings finally opened the baths on 20 May 1937.
Due to bad weather, the attendance was poor in the first few weeks, but picked up during August with 6,624 attending; £67 worth of receipts was taken. Unfortunately, during the warm weather, the tar from the asphalt surrounding the pool got onto the feet of the swimmers and caused discolouration of the water, so they subsequently covered the area with Cullamix (a hard wearing cement mix).
The pool held 180,000 gallons of water, and during the first quarter, ending 30 September 1937, 442,000 gallons had been used.
Pant Baths in the 1970s. Photo courtesy of J Ann Lewis.
It was well used during the warm summer months, and most of the local children learned to swim there, developing deep suntans – long before the dangers of sunbathing were learned. It was a great place for summer picnics, but on hot summer days, the queues to gain entrance were unbearable.
In 1985, and after years of use, the baths were in a shocking condition with graffiti covering the walls and windows boarded up. By July that year, the Council decided to demolish the baths, and accepted the lowest tender, submitted by Collinbourne Construction, for the sum of £5,575. It was advised that items of equipment from Pant Baths be utilised as a standby system at Gwaunfarren Baths.
It was a sad end for a place that had been such an important part of the community for many years.
Pant Baths being demolished in 1985. Photo courtesy of the Alan George archive.
Swimming has always been a popular pastime. Up until the late 1880s, however, the only place for anyone in Merthyr to enjoy a swim was in one of the many ponds dotted around the town. These were often dirty and un-hygienic and people would quite often find themselves swimming with goodness knows what.
In 1889, John Vaughan, a local solicitor, secured a piece of land in Gwaunfarren, and opened an open-air swimming pool there. Fed by a channel off the neighbouring weir, and with wooden decking along the pool’s edge, the new pool provided a safe venue for swimming set into the hillside amidst sheltering trees and bushes.
Gwaunfarren Swimming Pool. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive
In February of the following year, John Vaughan set up a limited company, ‘The Merthyr and Dowlais Swimming Bath Company Ltd’, to formalise the formation of the new bathing facility. The company was registered with a capital of £800 in £1 shares, “to obtain a lease from Colonel Morgan of the swimming bath at Gwaunfarren, Merthyr Tydfil, for 60 years, at a rent of a peppercorn, when demanded, for the first 21 years, and £3 per annum for the remaining period”.
South Wales Daily News – 3 March 1890
With this secured, John Vaughan embarked on developing a more permanent site with relevant facilities, and the new Swimming Baths were built by a local builder, Mr Matthew Warlow at a cost of £1,600, and were opened in 1891.
From the outset, the new baths were a success. A swimming club was started and competitions and swimming galas were held regularly at the baths.
One of the regular visitors to the baths, and one of its greatest patrons was David Alfred Thomas (Lord Rhondda), the Welsh industrialist and M.P. for Merthyr between 1888 and 1910. In 1915, Thomas was aboard the RMS Lusitania when it was sunk by German torpedoes, and a number of accounts say that he cited the years spent swimming at Gwaunfarren as a contributory factor in helping save himself from the disaster.
The impact of the First World War was catastrophic on the open-air baths and through a mixture of declining use, neglect of the fixtures and fittings, and even pilfering of parts of the wooden structure, the baths were closed.
Following the war, Henry Seymour Berry, Merthyr’s great benefactor, realising the Merthyr no longer had adequate swimming facilities, paid for a new, indoor facility to be built on the site of the old baths, and subsequently made a gift of the new baths to Merthyr County Borough Council.
The new building, which was built at a cost of over £8,000, was officially opened in a grand ceremony on 3 July 1924.
‘New’ Gwaunfarren Baths. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive
The baths were refurbished again at a cost of £67,000 in 1979-1980, and they remained open until 2007. The building was subsequently demolished.
During the First World War, the government urged people to donate money to help build tanks. When it was Tank Week in Merthyr Tydfil, Seymour rose to the challenge and our town beat all other towns in raising one million pounds in today’s money. As a thank you, Merthyr was given the tank that had toured the country helping to raise funds.
In 1919 Berry bought Gurnos Farm and its five hundred acres.
Berry admitted to being a gambler especially on the stock exchange. In hindsight, I think he won more than he lost and to our benefit.
He organised a Merthyr Tydfil Peace Memorial, £15,000 was raised which was distributed amongst the needy ex-servicemen and their dependents.
In 1920, with his brother, wife and David R. Llewellyn, Berry acquired John Lysaght and became its Chairman until it became part of Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds. Two years later he bought the Buckland estate in Bwlch, which included two thousand and six hundred acres and four miles of salmon fishing in the River Usk.
Buckland Hall
During this year the Conservative, Liberal and Constitutional Labour Parties all asked him to stand as a member of parliament for Merthyr Tydfil. He declined the offers.
In 1923 The Borough Council gave him the freedom of Merthyr Tydfil, and the following year he was invested as a Knight of Grace, Order of St John of Jerusalem. He held the office of High Sherriff of Brecknockshire. However, he still remembered his roots. An open-air baths had become derelict. Thanks to his interest and financial support the baths were renovated and had the added luxury of a roof, now fondly remembered as Gwaunfarren Baths.
In 1926, in the Kings Birthday Honours List, he became Baron Buckland of Bwlch for his public, political and philanthropic service. Nevertheless, to Merthyr people he is best known as how he should be addressed, that of Lord Buckland, and the following year he again became a Chairman of G.K.N. (previously known as Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds).
His philanthropic work is well-known. He bought the Carlton Workingman’s Hotel (we now know it as the Merthyr Ex-Service Mens Club), and Edwardsville School, Merthyr Tydfil Football Club and Dowlais Choir are just a few of the organisations who benefited from his financial donations. £12,000 was given for a new wing for the town’s General Hospital.
He gave land and money for the building of Sandbrook Sanatorium at Pontsarn, which he named after his father-in-law. He was a Freemason and belonged to Loyal Cambrian Lodge No 100 in Merthyr Tydfil.
On Wednesday, 23 May 1928. Lord Buckland greets his favourite bay mare and the estates stud groom, Henry Weaver, outside Buckland House. They ride to the meadow for a fast morning gallop. He turns to speak to Weaver, riding a horse behind. A shout goes out “Mind the post my Lord”. His master tries to turn. Collision with the telegraph post is unavoidable. Berry’s head smashes into it and he is unseated. Weaver runs to the house to alert the butler who dashes to the scene of the accident. Estate workers unhinge a gate to use as a stretcher. He is driven to hospital by car. Berry is dead.
This was just days before he and Lady Buckland were due to attend the Cyfarthfa Park Carnival where they were to crown the May Queen.
On Friday 26 May, vast crowds gathered around the Congregational Chapel in Market Square, where Berry had been a lifelong member. With the funeral service over the cortège proceeded down the valley to Pontypridd Crematorium. Along the way crowds gathered to pay their last respects to the man who did so much to give Merthyr residents a better quality of life. Apparently his ashes were scattered to the four winds. Without a male heir, his title of Lord Buckland became extinct.
There is so much more I could add. It is with little wonder there is a statue to Lord Buckland outside the central library it is in recognition to the high ideal of citizenship displayed in his generous gifts for the alleviation of suffering in the town and for increasing the happiness and prosperity of his fellowmen.
5 June 1931 saw the official opening of the Lord Buckland Memorial Hospital. After his death a fund was set up and over 50,000 contributed. The largest of the amounts came from his widow and his two brothers, which by now were also Lords, but their stories are not for now.
Lord Buckland Memorial Hospital
Even in death, his philanthropy lives on.
He left shares to be put into trust. The income applied to help the poor of Merthyr Tydfil. 1,000 shares to provide annual prizes to the pupils of Abermorlais, Cyfarthfa and County Schools. Perhaps you have a book given to you on prize giving day with a black oval stamp on the first inside page saying it was donated by Lord Buckland). 1,000 shares to Market Square Church.
The trust aims have had to be amended as the Abermorlais and County Schools have long gone. The charity aims are for ‘The relief, or assistance of the necessitous and deserving poor persons over the age of 30 years born or resided in the borough for 10 years’. Someone told me his grandmother had ten shillings a week from the fund, I suspect it would be more than 50p now. It is still active today and the appropriate agencies who are in contact with those in need can apply to the trust on their behalf. The 5 April 2019 trust accounts shows this year they donated £68,329.
BAGGINS– A connection
Bilbo Baggins is a name many are familiar with through a series of books by J.K. Tolkien.
In 1940 Tolkien had begun writing The Lord of The Rings. As a busy academic he chose Tal-y- Bont for a holiday and a chance to continue with his writing. A researcher from the Lord of The Rings Production Company is completely convinced the following places were the source of Tolkien’s inspiration. The Shire where the Buckleberries live, and child hood home of Frodo Baggins is based on the Buckland Estate with the curve of the river. Crick Hollow inspired by Crickhowell. Tredegar became Fredegar. The Merthyr Steel works possible Mordor. I wonder what Lord Buckland thinks about his old estate being the inspiration for the books and films. Yet another way the name Buckland continues to give.
I wonder what Tommy, Alfred, Marshall and my grandfather John Moses thought of their ex school teacher as he rose through society ranks and become rich beyond their dreams.
So back to where all this began, researching my family tree. I realised something, my grandfather was actually a child, and I thought he was born forty years old, with a balding head, collarless shirt with rolled up sleeves, black tatty waistcoat, black trousers with turn-ups and braces.
Statue of Lord Buckland outside Merthyr Central Library
Thanks to Irene for this fascinating article.
There will be more coming about the Berry brothers soon.
