The Merthyr Tydfil & District Historical Society is pleased to announce the publication of Volume 34 of the Merthyr Historian.
The cost is £12, and volumes will initially be for sale at the Society’s next lecture at Canolfan Soar on Monday 4 November. They can also be ordered (for £12 plus p&p) via this blog at merthyr.history@gmail.com.
CONTENTS
VOLUME 33 (2024) ISBN 978-1-7391627-1-9
1. RememberingBrian Davies
2. The Welsh Heritage School’s Initiative. The winner of the 2024 prize from our Historical Society
3. ‘Carlton Working Men’s Hotel. “A great boon to Merthyr”’ (1911). Transcription by Carl Llewellyn
4. DENIED! Welshman Cuthbert Taylor and the abolition of boxing’s colour bar by Bill Williams
5. A Railway walk from Pantysgallog (High Level) Halt to Torpantau station (1961) by Alistair V. Phillips
6. The History of Merthyr Newspapers (and some of their Printers and Publishers) by D. Rhys Davies and Carl Llewellyn
7. Harris Schwartz: family, furniture and Merthyr’s Jewish community recalled by Rita (Schwartz) Silverman
8. Apprenticing a chemist in Dowlais, 1880, and all those concerned by Christine Trevett
9. The Almanack and Year Book 1897 Merthyr Tydfil. A Victorian Townsman’s Pride in the Press and in his home-town, the Best Shopping Centre in North Glamorgan by Mary Owen
10. A history of the education movement in the parish of Merthyr Tydfil (to 1896) by H. W. Southey from The Almanack and Year Book transcribed by Caroline Owen
11. The Quakers’ Yard Truant School: some glimpses of its history by Stephen Brewer, Carolyn Jacob and Christine Trevett
12. A school from the ashes. The British Tip and some reflections on the final years of Abermorlais School by Clive Thomas
13. A Little Gay History of Merthyr by Daryl Leeworthy
14. From Troedyrhiw to California. Welsh Immigrants in the Mount Diabolo Coalfield by David Collier
15. A History of Nonconformity in Dowlais by Stephen Brewer
16. ‘The Mighty Morlais’: A study in the history of Morlais Castle and its significant figures by Benedict Bray
17. Out and About with Cerddwyson by T. Fred Holley and John D. Holley
18. Our Excursion to Swansea transcription by Stephen Brewer
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.
At the junction of Alexandra Road and Galon Uchaf Road is a triangular piece of land on which are sited ten houses named as Gwaunfarren Grove at postal code CF47 9BJ. Of extra significance is an additional older property named “Gwaunfarren Lodge” positioned at the entrance to the much newer residential development. The location comprises a modern housing development on land which has undergone considerable change in the last 200 years. A review of the history of this small portion of the Gwaunfarren locality reveals a sequence of events which mirror cultural and social changes in pre- and post-industrial Merthyr Tydfil. This article plots the timeline of the land use played out between the latter years of the eighteenth century and the present day.
The Medieval Hamlet of Garth comprised of land stretching from Morlais Castle to Caeracca, then south to Gellifaelog, Goytre, Gurnos, Galon Uchaf, Gwaunfarren, Gwaelodygarth and Abermorlais. Some of this land was occupied by both yeoman and tenant farmers with pasture for sheep and cattle. The freehold ownership of the land, with its few farms, passed from family to family and at the geographical centre of the Hamlet was a parcel of land then called Gwaun Faren. In 1789 Gwaun Faren was mapped by William Morrice who noted that both farms, Gwaun Faren and the adjacent Gwaelod Y Garth, had been purchased by Mr William Morgan of Grawen in 1785. That map was redrawn in 1998, and annotated, by Griffiths Bros and show in detail the fields comprising Gwaun Faren farm. This revised map conforms to the 1850 Tithe Map and particular attention is drawn to the field marked C annotated as Cae Bach (little field). This field now relates to post code CF47 9BJ which is the locus for Gwaunfarren Grove.
The 1850 Tithe Map shows field number 1901 as the homestead identified as “The Dairy” at the centre of a number of fields which made up the farm named as Gwaun Faren. The name has varied over time to include Gwaun Varen, Gwain Varen, Gwaun Faren, Gwaun Farren to the present-day spelling of Gwaunfarren. There is some debate as to the meaning of part of the name: “Gwaun=meadow” however there is some uncertainty as to the origin of “faren/Farren”. The Welsh-English Dictionary “Y Geiriadur Mawr” does not have a translation for this word and there is some speculation that it may have originated in the Irish word “Fearann” pronounced “Farran” meaning “pasture”. The book “Merthyr Tydfil – A Valley Community” (1981) published by The Merthyr Teachers Centre Group records the name as “Gwaun=meadow” and “Farren= warren” thus “Warren Meadow”.
In 1850 the freeholder of the farm was Mary Morgan the widow of William Morgan and the farmland was leased to the Penydarren Iron Company. That ironworks was less than half a mile away and the roads accessing the general locality conform in major part to the present-day road system. These were trackways and subsequently they became the present-day Alexandra Avenue and Galon Uchaf Road. There is no evidence of coal mining on the Gwaunfarren farmland however it is likely that iron stone and coal transited the adjacent trackways into the nearby iron works. The 1850 map identifies the farm homestead as “The Dairy” and it is probable that the farm produced milk, butter and cheese for the growing industrial population. The nearby Penydarren Ironworks opened in 1784 in the ownership of the Homfray family and George Forman. This was the smallest of the four local ironworks and in due course it made the cables of flat bar link for the Menai Straits Suspension Bridge. The works closed in 1857 followed shortly thereafter by the Plymouth Ironworks in 1859 whilst the two larger works at Cyfarthfa and Dowlais remained open.
Field number 1901 on the 1850 Tithe Map configures with the 2-acre piece of land that is now identified as post code CF47 9BJ. This land was leased in 1862 to William Simons for 25 years and he funded its redevelopment He was the first of two successful wealthy individuals and their families who lived there in succession until the 1920s. William was a barrister practising in Castle Street and he lived in the house with his wife and children from 1862 until 1888. He purchased the farmhouse and set about making substantial changes to that building, laid out a new garden, driveway and built a Lodge at the main entrance to the drive. His great grandson, Graham Simons later recounted a story detailed by one of Williams daughters, Phoebe, that some of the walls of the house were 4 feet thick and this perhaps indicates that some of the original farm building had been incorporated in the new house identified in the 1850 Tithe Map as “The Dairy”. A plan of the new house and garden is shown below. Note that the architect identified the house as “Gwain-faren” later named as “Gwaunfarren House”.
Parts of the old farmhouse were retained, the building substantially increased in size and an impressive new facade was built based on a Victorian style of architecture much in vogue at the time as demonstrated in an early photograph of the new house.
Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive
Margaret Stewart Taylor did not include the house in her essay titled “The Big Houses of Merthyr Tydfil” published in the inaugural edition of the “Merthyr Historian Volume I” in 1976. However this was indeed a large house necessary to accommodate the first large family to reside there. The 1871 census shows that in addition to William Simons and his wife, Clara, there were 8 children and 7 staff: a governess, nurse, nursemaid, cook, laundress and 2 housemaids. Ten years later the family had increased to 11 children making a compliment of 20 family plus staff. It is suggested that there were legal disputes between William Simons, the leaseholder, and the freeholder of the land which played a part in the move of the Simons family to Cardiff in 1888.
Some sources have recorded that this tramroad (then called a dram road) was started around 1800 by agreement between William Taitt of Dowlais, Samuel Homfray of Pen y Darren and Richard Hill of Plymouth. They added that the construction, under the supervision of George Overton, was allegedly started in 1799 and finished in 1802. Yet see under Leases 1800 for a few of the early leases in summary. It seems that Richard Fothergill was much involved in setting up these leases. In addition, the route was always described as being from Morlais Castle to Navigation House. The route was from Pen y Darren to Aber Cynon, 9½ miles, a fall of 341 feet. Brief details were recorded in The Pen y Darren Locomotive by Stuart Owen-Jones.
The tramroad was used briefly (three times or numerous times, see below) with a trial of Trevithick’s steam engine on Tuesday 21 Feb 1804, returning to Pen y Darren the following day, but shortly thereafter the tramroad reverted to horse power for many further years. The weight of the steam-engine apparently damaged the rails. However, Charles Wilkins, ‘The History of Merthyr Tydfil’, page 252, thought that the engine, ‘after serving a long time on the tramway, was removed to a pit called Winch Fawr (in the hamlet of Heol Wermwd not the one in the hamlet of Gelli Deg), and finally taken to the top of the incline owned by the Pen y Darren Company at Cwm Bargod.’ We are not so sure. Richard Trevithick himself recorded the event from which the following summary is appropriate:
On Saturday 11 Feb 1804, the fire was lit in the ‘Tram Waggon’ and Richard Trevithick worked it without the wheels to try the engine.
On Monday 13 Feb 1804, they put the waggon on the ‘Tram Road’. It worked very well and ran up hill and down with great ease and was very manageable. There was plenty of power.
Between 13 Feb and 20 Feb 1804 the ‘Tram Waggon’ had been worked several times. They had tried loads of up to ten tons, and it worked easily. He was sure it could cope with forty tons. Richard Trevithick intended making a smaller engine for the tram road as the first one had too much power, and would be used instead to work a hammer.
On Tuesday 21 Feb 1804 they made the journey with the engine. They carried ten tons, presumably of iron, in five waggons, with seventy men riding on them for the whole of the journey. He recorded, very clearly, that it took four hours and five minutes to cover the nine miles because they had to cut down some trees and remove some large rocks out of the tram road. No mention of the stack being knocked down by a bridge or any problem with the ‘tunnel’ by Plymouth Works. They returned, but a broken bolt released the water, and the engine did not arrive back at Pen y Darren Works until the evening of Wednesday 22 Feb 1804. No mention of broken tramway plates or of having to be hauled back to Pen y Darren by horse.
Later they tried the carriage with twenty-five tons of iron, and found the engine was more than a match for that weight. The steam was delivered into the chimney above the damper. It made the draught much stronger by going up the chimney. Trevithick’s locomotive was the first to employ this very important principle of turning the exhaust steam up the chimney, so producing a draft which drew the hot gases from the fire more powerfully through the boiler.
In May 1854, some forty years later, Thomas Ellis, an engineer from Tredegar, wrote a letter describing the first journey the Pen y Darren locomotive took in February, 1804. His father was at Pen y Darren when the engine was made and tried. Samuel Homfray, proprietor of the Pen y Darren Works, Merthyr Tydfil, made a bet of 1,000 guineas with Richard Crawshay, of the Cyfarthfa Works, that Trevithick’s steam-engine could convey a load of iron from his works to the Navigation House, nine miles distant.
In 1540, an English traveller, John Leland, spent some time travelling through Wales. Luckily, he kept an account of his journey, the relevant part about the Merthyr area is transcribed below.
“Merthyr Tydfil is in the commote of Senghenydd Uwch Caiach which is in the cantref of Eweinlwg. To go from east to west in the highest part of Glamorganshire towards the roots of the Black Mountains, is a sixteen mile of wild ground almost all.
Uwch Caiach stretcheth up to Taf by the east bank from Caiach to Morlays Castelle (sic), and two miles upward by north-north-east to Cae Drain, where the boundary is between Upper Monmouthshire, Breconshire and the Uwch Caiach part of Senghenydd.
Morlays Castelle standeth in a good valley of corn and grass and is on the right bank of the Morlays Brook*. This castle is a ruin and belongs to the King. Morlays Brook……comes out of the Breconshire hills, near Upper Monmouthshire and to Morlays Castelle, and about a mile lower in the parish called Merthyr it goeth into the east bank of the Taf.
There is a hill called Cefn Glas**, and stands between Cynon and Taf. This is the boundary between Miscin (sic) and Senghenydd. The ground between Cynon and Pennar is hilly and woody.
The water of the Taf cometh so down from woody hills and often bringeth down such log and trees, that the country would not be able to rebuild the bridges if they were stone, for they are so often broken.”
* Actually the Taf Fechan River
** Part of the Aberdare Mountain which overlooks Quakers Yard
I recently received an enquiry asking whether there were any Scheduled Monuments in Merthyr Tydfil. The following is transcribed from Wikipedia:-
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough has 43 scheduled monuments. The prehistoric scheduled sites include many burial cairns and several defensive enclosures. The Roman period is represented by a Roman Road. The medieval periods include two inscribed stones, several house platforms and two castle sites. Finally the modern period has 14 sites, mainly related to Merthyr’s industries, including coal mining, transportation and iron works. Almost all of Merthyr Tydfil was in the historic county of Glamorgan, with several of the northernmost sites having been in Brecknockshire.
Scheduled monuments have statutory protection. The compilation of the list is undertaken by Cadw Welsh Historic Monuments, which is an executive agency of the National Assembly of Wales. The list of scheduled monuments below is supplied by Cadw with additional material from RCAHMW (Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales) and Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust.
Name
Site type
Community
Details
Historic County
Gelligaer Standing Stone
Standing stone
Bedlinog
A 2 m (6.6 ft) high stone on open moorland. Probably Bronze Age and with the possible remains of a Bronze Age burial alongside. An inscription on the stone, now mostly illegible, is described as either post-Roman/Early Christian or Early Medieval.
Glamorganshire
Coed Cae Round Cairns
Round cairn
Bedlinog
Located in a cairnfield with at least 19 stony mounds, the scheduling consists of a group of eight Bronze Age burial cairns.
Glamorganshire
Gelligaer Common Round Cairns
Round cairn
Bedlinog
A group of eleven Bronze Age burial cairns.
Glamorganshire
Carn Castell y Meibion ring cairn
Ring cairn
Cyfarthfa
Troed-y-rhiw
A ring cairn, possibly dating to the Bronze Age, with a 8 m (26 ft) diameter and surrounded by a 3 m (9.8 ft) wide stony ring bank.
Glamorganshire
Brynbychan Round Cairn
Round cairn
Merthyr Vale,
A Bronze Age circular cairn with a diameter of 18 m (59 ft). There is an OS triangulation pillar on the site.
Glamorganshire
Cefn Merthyr Round Cairns
Cairnfield
Merthyr Vale
Glamorganshire
Morlais Hill ring cairn
Ring cairn
Pant
Glamorganshire
Tir Lan round barrow cemetery
Round barrow
Treharris
The remains of six Bronze Age round barrows, three to the north-west and three to the south-east of Tir Lan farm. All six remain substantially intact despite being reduced by ploughing in the past.
Glamorganshire
Garn Las Earthwork
Round cairn
Troed-y-rhiw
The remains a circular burial cairn measuring 14 m (46 ft) in diameter, probably dating to the Bronze Age.
Glamorganshire
Merthyr Common Round Cairns
Round cairn
Troed-y-rhiw
A group of six Bronze Age burial cairns ranging from 5 to 19 m (16 to 62 ft) in diameter.
Glamorganshire
Carn Ddu platform cairn
Platform Cairn
Vaynor
Glamorganshire
Cefn Cil-Sanws ring cairn
Ring cairn
Vaynor
Glamorganshire
Cefn Cil-Sanws, Cairn on SW side of
Round Cairn
Vaynor
Brecknockshire
Coetgae’r Gwartheg barrow cemetery
Round cairn
Vaynor
Glamorganshire
Garn Pontsticill ring cairn
Ring cairn
Vaynor
Glamorganshire
Dyke 315m E of Tyla-Glas
Ditch
Bedlinog
The remains of a later prehistoric/medieval dyke with a clearly defined bank and ditch running east-west across a ridge top. The 3 m (9.8 ft) wide ditch is 1.5 m (4.9 ft) deep at its east end.
Glamorganshire
Cefn Cil-Sanws Defended Enclosure
Enclosure – Defensive
Vaynor
Brecknockshire
Enclosure East of Nant Cwm Moel
Enclosure – Defensive
Vaynor
Glamorganshire
Enclosure on Coedcae’r Ychain
Enclosure – Defensive
Vaynor
Glamorganshire
Gelligaer Common Roman Road
Road
Bedlinog
Glamorganshire
Nant Crew Inscribed Stone (now in St John’s Church, Cefn Coed )
Standing stone
Vaynor
A 1.5 m (5 ft) high square-sectioned pillar stone thought to date to the Bronze Age. A Latin inscription on the west face and cross incised on the north face are from the 6th and 7th-9th centuries. Holes in the stone indicate that it had been used as a gatepost.
Brecknockshire
Platform Houses and Cairn Cemetery on Dinas Noddfa
House platforms (& Cairnfield)
Bedlinog
Medieval house platforms, also prehistoric cairnfield
Glamorganshire
Platform Houses on Coly Uchaf
Platform house
Bedlinog
Glamorganshire
Morlais Castle
Castle
Pant
The collapsed remains of a castle begun in 1288 by Gilbert de Clare, Lord of Glamorgan. The walls enclosed an area of approximately 130 by 60 m (430 by 200 ft). It was captured during the 1294-95 rebellion of Madog ap Llywelyn and may have been abandoned shortly afterwards.
Glamorganshire
Cae Burdydd Castle
Motte
Vaynor
A 3 m (9.8 ft) high motte and ditch dating to the medieval period. The diameter of 23 m (75 ft) narrows to 9 m (30 ft) at the top.
Brecknockshire
Cefn Car settlement
Building (Unclassified)
Vaynor
Glamorganshire
Gurnos Quarry Tramroad & Leat
Industrial monument
Gurnos
Glamorganshire
Sarn Howell Pond and Watercourses
Pond
Town
Glamorganshire
Abercanaid egg-ended boiler
Egg-ended Boiler, re-purposed as garden shed
Troed-y-rhiw
Glamorganshire
Cyfarthfa Canal Level
Canal Level
Cyfarthfa
Glamorganshire
Cyfarthfa Tramroad Section at Heolgerrig
Tramroad
Cyfarthfa
Glamorganshire
Iron Ore Scours and Patch Workings at Winch Fawr, Merthyr Tydfil
Iron mine
Cyfarthfa
Glamorganshire
Ynys Fach Iron Furnaces
Industrial monument
Cyfarthfa
Glamorganshire
Penydarren Tram Road
Trackway
Merthyr Vale
Glamorganshire
Iron Canal Bridge from Rhydycar
Bridge
Park
Glamorganshire
Pont-y-Cafnau tramroad bridge
Bridge
Park
An ironwork bridge spanning the River Taff constructed in 1793. The name, meaning “bridge of troughs”, comes from its unusual three tier design of a tramroad between two watercourses, one beneath the bridge deck and the other on an upper wooden structure which is no longer present. Pont-y-Cafnau is also Grade II* listed.
Glamorganshire
Merthyr Tramroad: Morlais Castle section
Tramroad
Pant
Glamorganshire
Merthyr Tramroad Tunnel (Trevithick’s Tunnel)
Tramroad
Troed-y-rhiw
Glamorganshire
Cwmdu Air Shaft & Fan
Air Shaft
Cyfarthfa
Glamorganshire
Remains of Blast Furnaces, Cyfarthfa Ironworks
Blast Furnace
Park
Glamorganshire
Tai Mawr Leat for Cyfarthfa Iron Works
Leat
Park
Glamorganshire
Deserted Iron Mining Village, Ffos-y-fran
Industrial monument
Troed-y-rhiw
Glamorganshire
Please follow the link below to see the original:-
Upon becoming a Borough in 1905, the Corporation commissioned one of the top Welsh artists of the day, Sir Goscombe John, R. A. to design a suitable Coat of Arms. (Goscombe John was fond of using traditional mythical heroic images and in 1906 he also designed the Fountain to the Pioneers of the South Wales Steam Coal Trade to celebrate the efforts of Robert and Lucy Thomas in the steam coal trade).
It was decided that the central figure of the coat of arms should be St Tydfil, as the whole parish is named after her and the original pre – industrial small town grew up around the church dedicated to her. The name Merthyr Tydfil means THE BURIAL PLACE OF TYDFIL.
St Tydfil as depicted in a stained glass window at Llandaff Cathedral
Legend has it that Tydfil was the daughter of a 5th Century Chieftain, Brychan, King of Breconshire. While visiting their sister Tanglwst in Aberfan, Tydfil and her family were massacred by a band of marauding Picts, who came over to Wales from Ireland. It is generally believed that she died on the site of the Parish Church, which bears her name, having defied the pagans and refused to give up Christianity. Tydfil had many brothers and sisters who became saints, including Saint Cynon. One of her brothers, Cadoc, became the Patron Saint of Brittany. Miracles happened around her grave and the shrine of St. Tydfil the Martyr soon became a place of Christian pilgrimage.
In the Middle Ages a village grew up around the church. There was once a wooden statue in the church representing Tydfil which was probably carried out in a procession on her Saints Day on the 23rd of August. The Royal Charter was in fact formally granted only 6 days before the official Saints Day of Tydfil. This changed with the Protestant Reformation and the statue was possibly destroyed in the seventeenth century when Cromwell’s troops were drinking in the inn near the church.
It is significant that, although Merthyr Tydfil became a major centre of nonconformity and had no Roman Catholics until the Irish came in 1815, the town never abandoned the Celtic Saint, Tydfil although very little is known about her. There are in fact very few British towns named after a female Saint and the association with Tydfil is very special.
The later Merthyr Tydfil First World War Memorial has in its centre the same mythological figure of St Tydfil together with the images of a working miner and a mother and child. All these figures are emblematic of sacrifice, St Tydfil was sacrificed for her religious beliefs, too often coal miners are sacrificed to the coal mining industry and mothers’ always make sacrifices for their children.
The Borough Coat of Arms (right) bears a likeness of St. Tydfil as the central motif. The heraldic description of the Borough Arms (formally granted on the 17th August 1906), is as follows:-
‘Azure a figure representing Saint Tydvil the Martyr, in Chief Two Crosses patee fitchee all Or’.
Tydfil is represented as a hard working saint because in her hands she has a distaff, which is used for spinning. The placing of the distaff as an important symbol in the coat of arms is chosen to signify industry and to represent the proud industrial history of the new Borough of Merthyr Tydfil. The daggers on either side of her head are meant to indicate the martyrdom and to remind us of how Tydfil met her death and that her life was a sacrifice to God.
The motto on the coat of arms- ‘Nid Cadarn ond Brodyrdde’ is taken from an Old Welsh manuscript, ‘The Sayings of the Wise’ and means ‘Not force but Fellowship’. There is nothing so strong as the bonds of brotherhood. This reflects the strength of Trade Union feeling and the strong political traditions here.
The Borough’s Seal incorporates the Coat of Arms and has three circles, each with individual illustrations, Morlais Castle (the ancient links with Norman Lords), Trevithick’s engine (the innovations and inventions pioneered here) and a blast furnace (the industrial nature of Merthyr Tydfil).
The Merthyr Tydfil Historical Society is pleased to announce that, after 18 months of disruption due to Covid, their lecture programme is due resume next month.
The first lecture will be at 2.00pm on Monday 6 September at Canolfan Soar, and the subject will be Morlais Castle.
Below is the full list of lectures for the rest of the year (fingers crossed). All members who paid their membership fee in 2020 will automatically have it carried forward to this year.
Many thanks to Hywel George, administrator of the Cynon Culture website for allowing me to use this article.
The story of St Gwynno’s goes back to 8th Century. The original form of the parish name was Maenor Gwynno, manor of Gwynno. The first early wooden church is believed to have been burned down in 1291 during the battle of Maesyfaenor, an epic struggle between the two neighbouring Norman lords, Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Brecknock and Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester, over the ownership of the nearby Morlais ridge and surrounding lands.
De Bohun won, at the cost of much bloodshed on both sides. Many were buried under the mound beyond the old church known as Cae Burdydd, or field of slaughter, about 100 yards down the track from this church. St Gwynno’s was rebuilt in 1295 and lasted for some 600 years when it became unsafe and was abandoned in the middle of the 19th Century.
Old and New St Gwynno’s Church, Vaynor. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive
De Bohun and De Clare
A fierce dispute broke out between Humphrey de Bohun, and Gilbert de Clare, which led to fighting between the two powerful Barons on the borders of Glamorgan and Breconshire.
Gilbert de Clare as seen in a stained glass window at Tewkesbury Abbey
De Clare had built a strong castle at Morlais near Merthyr on land which de Bohun claimed as his own. Raids were made on either side and this part of the country became lawless and swarmed with brigands (“The Welsh Wars of King Edward the First” by John E. Morris). The King’s Writ did not run in the Marcher Lordships. As the Marchers had fought for; and won their estates, they claimed the right to do as they pleased, within their own territories. In Glamorgan, they were known as “Arglwyddi Pren a Phwll” (Lords of the tree and the pool), as they had all the power to order men culprits be hanged and women culprits to be drowned (Rice Merrick and “Edward the 2nd on Glamorgan” John Griffiths). Both King and Marchers were aware, now that the power of the princes of North Wales had been broken, that the custom of private wars between the Marchers would have to be stopped. Edward was determined to enforce the doctrine that the dignity of the Grown was to be respected, and that the Lord. Marchers should be placed on a footing similar to that of the Crown tenants in England.
This private war between the Earls of Gloucester and Hereford was a unique opportunity for interfering and breaking the custom. Accordingly, the King sent a strongly worded proclamation to the two Earls to abstain from active hostilities on 25 January 1290, which Hereford obeyed. Gloucester’s men, however, under his bailiffs with the Earl’s banners, marched from Morlais castle and arrested and killed men from Vaynor, Penderyn and Ystradfellte parishes on three occasions during 1290. They carried, off 1070 head of cattle, 50 horse and bulls and countless sheep and pigs, of which the Earl received the usual one-third share. And soon brigands, who swarmed in the district, people who had been driven from their own homes when de Clare’s had extended their forests in Miskin or had escaped punishment or misdeeds by running away, also began to take part in the raids. In. addition to killing people and stealing animals, they committed sacrilege by taking away the chalice and ornaments from Penderyn Church, they set on fire together with Ty Ralph, Possibly the loot was taken by the brigands through ‘Bwlch y Lladron’ near Hirwaun.
Following these disorders, the King decided to act. Early in 1291, the Bishop of Ely, the Earl of Pembroke and two regular judges were commissioned to hear the case. The two Earls were to appear with the incriminated bailiffs at Ystradfellte on Monday, March 12th 1291. What a “Red Letter Day” this must have been for this quiet and secluded village!
Probably never before or since has such an assemblage of the most eminent notabilities in all their splendour, Barons in mail-armour on well-groomed horses been seen at Ystradfellte. The trial was to have taken place as Castell Coch, Ystradfellte; Hereford arrived punctually but Gloucester, who was married to the King’s daughter and was the most powerful baron in the country at that time, defied the king.
The Court adjourned, to Llanddew, near Brecon, but Gloucester was again absent. The trial proceeded and Gloucester and his bailiffs were found guilty, the damages being assessed at £100. Eventually at a great Council of Archbishops, Bishops, Earls and Barons, presided over by the King in person at Abergavenny at Michaelmas 1291, both Gloucester and Hereford, who were present, were sentenced to be imprisoned and their great lordships and estates to be confiscated. Gloucester was fined 1000 marcs and £100 for damages, and Hereford 1,000 marcs. Gloucester only lived for three and a half years longer, a sadder and wiser man.
In 1294 there was a general rising throughout Wales against being sent overseas to fight in Gascony and against the extortions of sheriff’s and bailiffs. The men of Glamorgan were led by Morgan or Rhys ap Morgan against de Clare and possibly this was the occasion or the origin of the stirring tune:
Rhyfelgyrch Cadben Morgan Rhwym wrth dy wregys gleddyf gwyn dy dad Atynt fy machgen dros dy wlad
The King cancelled his voyage to Gascony. He marched through Wales from North to South and was in Merthyr Tydfil on June 14th and 15th 1295, when he received the submission of the men of the Taff and Cynon Valleys, who had previously declared, that they had risen against Gloucester and not the King.
Gilbert de Clare, the Red Earl, died on December 7th 1295, and his young son Gilbert was killed at Bannockburn, in 1314. The great possessions in England and Wales were divided among three married sisters.
The article transcribed below appeared in the Western Mail 130 years ago today (23 May 1889).
ALLEGED ANTIQUARIAN DISCOVERY AT MERTHYR.
THRILLING EXPERIENCES OF A “SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.”
by Morien
In consequence of a rumour to the effect that an extraordinary subterranean passage had been discovered leading from Morlais Castle to no one knew where, I visited the place on Wednesday, accompanied by the Rev. J. Edmund Jenkins, rector of Vaynor, who is a local antiquarian. After a frugal repast at the hospitable Aber Glais Inn, we passed over the romantic river which during countless ages has scooped out remarkable dents in the living rock, and slowly ascended the green slope at the summit of which the castle stands.
In a quarry, about half a mile from the castle, and to the south-east, of it, we came upon some men at work. In answer to our inquiries as to the subterranean passage, they pointed to a heap of sleepers, and said “the hole” was underneath them. After some conversation of a persuasive nature they began to remove these impediments, and eventually the opening was revealed to what looked like a very ugly “hole”. A plank was next placed in it, and pushed forward until it rested upon something solid below. I, Morien, then got on to the plank and, after the fashion of other and youthful dogs, slid down into the unknown abyss. I found that the end of the plank rested on an immense heap of fallen rubbish, with a vault-like roof of uneven rocks overhead and water dropping everywhere.
Owing to the wet and, therefore, slippery nature of the descent, it seemed highly dangerous to attempt to explore below. But I determined to make the attempt, and, having lighted a torch of cotton wool, the darkness was made visible. One of workmen above now came down over the plank and joined me. Lighting his candle by the light of the Morienic torch, he led the way over the great heap of stones down into the great silent depths. I followed him, after the manner of a goat, careful of every footstep.
The roof as we proceeded came nearer to one’s back, and I was made rather uncomfortable by observing that there were spaces between the roof and the hanging stones overhead. Besides the danger of those stones giving way, there was also the peril which would result from an accidental slip of the feet, for had that happened one would have been precipitated over the surface of the immense heap of debris. But my companion still descended, and after he had gone about 40 yards further I – employing the patois of the country-side – called out “Stopwch!” to my companion. I had by this time become convinced that neither a De Bohun of Brecknock nor a De Clare of Glamorgan had ever been such a fool as to risk his neck in such a place, and that the so-called “subterranean passage” from Morlais Castle to some place unknown was a myth. We, therefore, retraced our steps, and eventually reached the surface, none the worse except for dirty coats and unmentionables.
Mr. Evan Lewis, Cefn, and Mr. Richard Hughes had descended a few days ago a little below the place at which I stopped, but neither went more than about 45 yards. They then came to the bottom of the heap. There they found the thigh bone, as was supposed, of a human being, and a large stone lying in a slanting position. Mr. Evan Lewis endeavoured to go beyond that stone, but he told me there was no open space beyond, and the roof there seemed extremely dangerous. Mr. Martin, manager of the Dowlais Works, had given orders to explore beyond if it was seen that the so-called passage was continuous; but, it seems that the stone referred to, closing up the place, does not lie more than five yards from the bottom of the heap of rubbish.
Nevertheless, there is no doubt this castle had its subterranean exits, and it is not impossible, after all that this was one of them, but that it has fallen in.
The Borough Coat of Arms (right) bears a likeness of St. Tydfil as the central motif. The heraldic description of the Borough Arms (formally granted on the 17th August 1906), is as follows:-
