Tag: St John’s Church Dowlais

Dowlais through German eyes….yet again

In January, I published an article regarding the Prince of Saxony’s visit to Dowlais (https://www.merthyr-history.com/?p=8138). Here is a transcription of another German visit from “Dawlais Works, die Eisen- und Schienen-Walzwerke des Hauses John Guest, in London, 1844” by Carl Klocke.

Anticipation mounts and, finally, at the end of the valley, where the mountains close in, lie the Dowlais works, and to the left and across the top of the peak is the hamlet Dowlais with a few protruding small churches and chapels. As we approach the place, our coachman identifies one of them as Sir John’s chapel, for it was Sir John Guest himself who had it built, then there is Sir John’s market hall and his estate situated directly above the works; next, the garden for Sir John’s horses and the three horsemen on an outing who are passing us, are none other than Sir John’s surgeons. Our omnibus terminates in front of a small, neat guesthouse on the High Street of Dowlais and we are finally at the end of our journey. One can hear the steam engines at work and the roar of the bellows; from the windows on the upper storey one can see the flickering flames of the blast furnaces which, like a nearby fire storm, then illuminate the bedrooms at night and it takes some adjustment in order to fall peacefully asleep. …

Yet, one would not have seen Dowlais properly without having gone for a walk over the surrounding heights during the late evening hours. At Dowlais, Sir John can offer his guests illuminations and fireworks every evening. By comparison, the famous fireworks of the Surrey Gardens in London (where they fabulously depict the Great Fire of London in the year 1666) are but child’s play. The blast furnaces resemble a burning city, whereas further below, the fires and forges, together with the illuminated tall chimney stacks of the steam engines, looks like a city which has just recently burnt down. In the evening light, the not quite extinguished slags gleam like glowing lava; raised up to towering heaps, here and there on the outermost edge of tall mountains, they flow to the valley like burning streams of lava. … However, to witness one such sight, one must never come to Dowlais on a Saturday or Sunday, because Sir John Guest not only quotes Nelson in saying ‘that he expects every man to do his duty’, but he also adds ‘that he likes to see every man enjoy his Sunday’.

It is for that reason that – except for the blast furnaces which, naturally, cannot suffer any disruption – at a fairly early hour each Saturday afternoon, all other fires and steam engines cease their groaning, and the workers and drawn carts swarm from the near and far factories towards town.

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.

We have now entered Dowlais – yes, to some extent, truly called dismal and dirty. No doubt it has redeeming traits, but from personal recollections I do not consider it had even the amenities that existed in Merthyr. It was, or seemed to be, more brusque, more aggrandising, but if Merthyr was truly a village in the early thirties, Dowlais was somewhat less. “Nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice” shall be my guide.

Up the brook a short way there was a brewery, erected by a Mr Powell of Abergavenny, whose father was a church dignitary there. The hill before us is steep, and the first road is one that doubles back in front of the Dowlais Inn, and then turns up to the right to the Dowlais Church, stables and on to the Ivor Works. This was kept by a James Henry, who went thence to keep another public house in Rhymney.

The Dowlais Inn. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

Keeping the coach road, another public house on the other side was the Vulcan. There were steps alongside down to the tramroad, and the lowest entrance gates into the works stood just there. Some short distance further there was another public house, whose name has slipped. It was, however, some four steps (nearly three feet) lower than the road. Mr David Williams and his aunt, Miss Teague, kept it awhile after leaving the Angel in Merthyr, but it was taken as the station of the railway from the Taff Vale, and used as such at the time.

Following this on the same side was a row of workmen’s cottages having their back to, but the ground floor much lower than the road. About six of what were then the best shops in the place being passed, the main entrance into the works and office was come to.

The shop nearest the entrance gates was, or had been, the old Company shop. It had, however, ceased to be carried on upon the truck system as far as can be recalled. A Mr Parnell was the manager, but there is some hazy idea of Mr Williams, the father of Mr Joshua Williams, of Aberdylais (sic), being connected with it. Mr Jenkins, the druggist, had a branch shop in the row; also a Mr D Lewis kept another druggist’s shop, and Mr Lewis, draper, of the London Warehouse, also had a branch. Immediately opposite to the entrance gates was the Bush Hotel, kept by Mr Richard Henry who had been a contractor in the works some years before.

The Bush Hotel in Dowlais c.1885. Photograph courtesy of the Alan George Archive

At the passing of the Reform Bill in 1832, Merthyr was made a borough, and privileged to send one member to Parliament. Sir John (then Mrs) Guest was returned, but he had previously been member for Honiton, and upon one occasion ordered a large number of pairs of boots and shoes there. They were dispatched to Dowlais to the company’s shop there, but Mr Parnell decline having anything to do with them. “He had not ordered them”, and knew nothing whatever about them.

Richard Henry was sent for to the office, he being then a contractor and having a great number of persons under him. “Dick I want you to sell a lot of boots and shoes for me” was said by Mr Guest. “Well, but master, I don’t want them, and how am I to pay for them?” was replied. “Oh that shall not trouble: you can pay when you sell the last pair”, was the rejoinder, and ‘Dick’ took them all but never sold the last pair. It is not possible to vouch for the strict accuracy of it, but I can vouch for having the narrative from Mr Richard Henry’s own lips.

To be continued….

Pant Cemetery

by J Ann Lewis

Pant cemetery opened in 1849 owing to the Cholera outbreak that had claimed so many lives, and the shortage of space at St John’s Church burial ground and other burial grounds in the area. The Dowlais Works had been unable to give any of their land as it contained minerals, so the prominent landowner, the Hon. Robert Clive, gave two acres of land near the Kissing-Gate opposite the Pant Cad Ifor Inn on the following conditions:

  • That the ground was consecrated
  • A fence was made around it
  • A chapel was built for prayers

The Dowlais Company organised the last two conditions and the Rev Jenkins officiated at the consecration ceremony.

One of the first burials at Pant Cemetery was on 6 August 1849, of a four-year-old boy who had probably died of cholera. During this epidemic, 1,432 victims died. Two more cholera outbreaks followed on 1854 and 1866.

In October 1858, the newly formed Dowlais Burial Board borrowed £1,200 for a new burial ground, and ensured that a new site, given by Lady Windsor, was opened in 1860. There were, in effect, two cemeteries at Pant which were situated next to each other. The Established Church’s cemetery which had opened in 1849 and the Dowlais Board’s in 1860. They later became one single cemetery.

The cemetery has been extended several times, once in 1903 when £1,950 was borrowed for the purpose. The land adjoining Pant Cemetery was acquired from Lord Windsor  and Messrs Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds Ltd, for the sum of £100 an acre, and £312 was paid to Messrs Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds Ltd for providing an arable field instead of the one taken over by the council. The topsoil was taken from the building site at Caeracca Villas and was used for making up the graves.

Pant Cemetery in the early 1900s with Mr Bunn who worked at the cemetery for 57 years, seven as a grave-digger and fifty as sexton. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

Also in 1903, a storm caused considerable damage when some large poplar trees in the cemetery blew down. The fallen trees were used to make decent seats for visitors, and the remaining logs were used for firewood for the road roller.

In the part of the cemetery opened in 1860, there were about 130 trees growing to a height of 35 – 40 ft. Add to these the 224 trees in the area opened in 1874, as can be seen, the trees were taking up a lot of space. One of the trees covered an area of 90feet in circumference, whilst others covered people’s headstones with the roots striking into adjoining graves. In 1907, about 25 trees were cut down, made into blocks of about 24 inches and sold to the public for 6d each.

In the area added to the cemetery in 1882, a belt of trees 60 yards long and 10 yards wide ran along the boundary wall. These trees were no trouble however, and were planted for the purpose of secluding the adjoining Brynonen House.

1862 saw the completion of the chapel at Pant Cemetery. It soon became too small for the increased number of worshippers, so the larger Christ Church was built nearby. It continued to be used for special occasions until the 1950s when it was demolished.  A new church was built which was used by the Roman Catholic Church for a while, but the building is now used as a storeroom.

Pant Cemetery Gates showing the old chapel. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

In 1906, 400 tons of stone were quarried at Pant Cemetery to make further space for graves. Also a complaint was made to Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds Ltd about the danger of blasting at the nearby Bryniau Quarry during a burial service; fortunately no-one was injured. Later, in 1947, two people who died in Pengarnddu during the terrible snow-storms were brought by sledge down past Caeracca Farm to be buried.

Over the years the cemetery has been an accepted place for walks, and on sunny days it is interesting to read the many different verses and messages on the gravestones. One such verse reads: “Chewing gum, chewing gum made of wax sent me to the grave at last”.

Cefn Cemetery

by Carolyn Jacob

Cefn-Ffrwd is the largest Cemetery in the Borough covering approximately 40 acres.

Cefn Cemetery in the early 1900s. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

In the nineteenth century burial was a huge problem here. In a hundred years Merthyr Tydfil grew from a Parish of just over 500 persons to the only large town in Wales with a population of over 50,000 in 1850. During the 1849 cholera outbreak there were over 1,000 deaths in one month alone. Infant mortality was high and other diseases such as smallpox and TB were rife. Not all the chapels and churches had their own burial ground and the responsibility for burial lay with the Parish Authorities.

In 1850 there were three Merthyr Tydfil Parish Burial Grounds, the Graveyard around St. Tydfil’s Church, the Cemetery in Twynyrodyn and the new so called ‘cholera’ Cemetery in Thomastown. Dowlais had two Parish cemeteries, St John’s Church and a small cholera cemetery near the Works. This was a time when cremation was unheard of, and these soon became inadequate.

The Board of Health, founded in 1850, took advantage of a new Act of 1852, which empowered them to set up Cemeteries and leased land in Breconshire to set up a new Cemetery. The Cemetery was managed by the Burial Board. The first burial took place on 16 April 1859. The Ffrwd portion of the Cemetery was added in 1905, the first burial being on 20 November 1905.

The bridge connecting the old cemetery with the new Ffrwd section during construction in 1905. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

Average burials in the nineteenth century were around 400 annually. In 1878 the son of one of the gravediggers set fire to the ‘dead-house’ of the Cefn Cemetery and a report of 21 of December 1878 described the ‘unseemly behaviour’ of children frequently climbing about the monuments of the Cemetery.  In 1902 when the road to Cardiff was widened a large section of the St Tydfil Graveyard was removed and the ‘remains’ were moved to Cefn Coed Cemetery. Those reburied included Charles Wood, who erected the first furnaces at Cyfarthfa.

Easter was a traditional time for ‘flowering the graves’ and a report in the Merthyr Express of 26 March 1916 records that:-  ‘at Cefn Cemetery on Friday and Saturday, relatives of the dead attended from long distances to clean stones and plant flowers’. 

Cefn Coed became a Municipal Cemetery for Merthyr Tydfil in 1905. Welsh Baptists were buried in unconsecrated ground and Roman Catholics in consecrated ground. There is a separate large Jewish Cemetery at Cefn Coed and there is an index to all the Jewish burials in Merthyr Tydfil Library.

There are many famous people buried in Cefn Coed Cemetery including:-

  • Enoch Morrell, first Mayor of Merthyr Tydfil and the Welsh Miners Leader who had to negotiate the return to work after the General Strike.
  • Redmond Coleman, the boxing champion of Wales at the beginning of the twentieth century.
  • Adrian Stephens, inventor of the steam whistle.
The old cemetery buildings at Cefn. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

Merthyr Memories: The Last Days of Old Dowlais

Some of my fondest childhood memories are the frequent trips I would go on to Dowlais with my aunty.

This would have been in the 1970s when Dowlais was undergoing what was officially called ‘redevelopment’, but which most people would call total devastation. At the time, of course, I was too young to understand the full implications of what was going on – I was just too fascinated by the ‘tractors’ as I called them……I had a fascination with ‘tractors’, and I had quite a few Tonka toys of diggers, cranes etc. Little did I know then the havoc these were causing and the vast amount of history that was being casually swept away.

The ‘Redevelopment’ of Dowlais. The derelict shell of Lloyd’s Bank in Union Street in the 1970s. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

My aunty, who had lived most of her life in Penydarren, had visited Dowlais just as much as she would have visited Merthyr when the former was in its hey-day. Dowlais, then, had everything – cinemas, banks, shops of every description – everything anyone would need for everyday life. By the 1970s however, most of these had gone, and only a few buildings and businesses held on for dear life as the bulldozers slowly worked their way up Union Street. Yet, my aunty would still do what she could in Dowlais.

I remember that we would catch the bus up to Dowlais – we’d go regularly as my aunty would go to ‘pay the coal’ in a business, if I remember correctly, in Church Row. We’d walk up past the Co-op, never the other side of the road…..I didn’t like walking past the steeple of St John’s Church – it frightened me!!! I remember the adverts in the window for various things, and also the posters advertising ‘Co-op stamps’.

Dowlais Co-op in the early 1900s. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

Sometimes, after ‘paying the coal’, we would go around the corner to see the then derelict Dowlais Stables and my aunty would tell me all about Josiah John Guest and the Ironworks and about Lady Charlotte opening a school there. Other times we would call into Dowlais Library for her to change her books, and she would chat with David Watkins the marvellous librarian there whilst I looked at the books in the ‘Children’s Library’.

We would also call into one or two of the few shops that were remaining. I particularly remembering going to the shop of Mr Segar’s – the watch and clock repairer in North Street, and be fascinated by all the different clocks around the place. Another shop we would always visit was Crynogwyn’s – the dressmaker in Union Street. This was simply because Crynogwyn or ‘Aunty Cryn’ was an ‘honorary Aunty’. My father, had worked with Cryn’s husband Jack on the railway for many years, and they were very close friends. Cryn was a tiny, gentle, very quietly spoken lady with jet-black hair, and she was one of the finest seamstresses in Dowlais.

Crynogwyn’s Shop in Union Street not long before it was demolished. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

After we had finished all we had to do in Dowlais, we would catch the bus home from outside Ferrari’s Café. If I had been very good (and of course I always was), we would go into Ferrari’s and I would have a cup of hot chocolate as a special treat.

Ferrari’s Cafe in Dowlais. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Collection

These were simple things, but they still remain fresh in my memory. St John’s Church, Dowlais Stables and the Library are all still there, but everything else has gone – swept away in the name of progress. Redevelopment or vandalism? You decide.

Merthyr’s Chapels: Wesley Chapel, Dowlais

The next chapel we are going to look at is Wesley Chapel in Dowlais. It has a very interesting history, and is one of the ‘survivors’ of the cull of chapels in the town.

Thomas Guest, the founder of the Dowlais Ironworks was prominent in the Wesleyan Church, and as such, he was a member of Wesley Chapel in Merthyr. In 1805, at Thomas Guest’s instigation, Rev Thomas Evans and Rev Edward Jones, ministers at the English and Welsh Wesleyan chapels in Merthyr came to Dowlais to preach in open-air meetings. When Thomas Guest died in 1807, both ministers carried on preaching and were instrumental in bringing Wesleyan Methodism to Dowlais.

Meetings were held in several places in Dowlais until the worshippers decided to build their own chapel. The site chosen for the chapel was where St John’s Church now stands, but owing to a dispute between the Wesleyan Conference and John Josiah Guest who owned the land, a different site had to be found.

The Welsh Wesleyans had already built their own chapel, called Shiloh at the bottom of Castle Street in Dowlais, and so a plot of land was leased from Mary Overton near to Shiloh Chapel and the congregation built a chapel in 1843.

An excerpt from an aerial photo of Dowlais from the 1920’s showing Hermon (1), Wesley (2) and Shiloh (3) Chapels.

The congregation soon grew and it became obvious that a larger chapel was needed, and the chapel was rebuilt in 1850. The chapel was subsequently renovated in 1875, 1892 and 1915. In 1871-73 a school room was also built adjoining the chapel on the site of the old Wesleyan burial ground.

The second Wesley Chapel decorated for a Harvest Festival in the 1920s

In November 1928, a severe storm caused major damage to the chapel, and the building had to be demolished. A new chapel was built in 1932 at a cost of £1976.18s.6d. The old chapel had faced Dowlais High Street and was approached by a long flight of steps from the street, however when the chapel was rebuilt, it was built facing the opposite way and the main entrance was placed on Castle Street.

Laying the foundation stone for the new chapel in the ruins of the old chapel in 1932.

The old Wesley Chapel was in the centre of the area of Dowlais being redeveloped in the 1960’s. A Compulsory Purchase Order was put on the Chapel by Merthyr Borough Council and the chapel and was demolished in 1967. The congregation were determined that they would not let their cause die and fought to have a new chapel built for them. After much negotiating, a new modern chapel, designed by the Percy Thomas Partnership was built in South Street in 1972 at a cost of £50,000.

The third chapel being demolished in 1967.

Wesley Chapel is now one of the few remaining chapels in Merthyr that is still open and holding regular services.

The Church of St. John the Baptist, Dowlais 

by Carolyn Jacob

The Church of St. John the Baptist, Dowlais was built in 1827, and it is likely that the Dowlais Church was named after its founder and benefactor, Josiah John Guest, iron-master of Dowlais and known as Sir John Guest.

Although brought up a strict Wesleyan Methodist he decided that the religious welfare of the workmen called for a church in Dowlais and that the industrial success of Dowlais called for the establishment of Dowlais as a Parish in its own right. Guest paid £3,000 towards the cost of the building and it was consecrated and opened on 27 November 1827 by Dr Sumner, Bishop of Winchester and former Bishop of Llandaff.

The original St John’s Church. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

Lady Charlotte Guest presented the Church with its Communion vessels and Sir John Guest contributed generously to the maintenance of the clergy at Dowlais; he also supported many chapels in the area. Sir John died in Dowlais on the November, 1852 and a plain Italian marble slab at the top of the Chancel steps still marks where he is buried in St John’s Church. A massive marble columned tablet is inscribed with his epitaph. St. John’s Church thrived and held two services each Sunday, two services in English and also two in Welsh and so it catered for both languages.

Josiah John Guest’s memorial. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

The original Church was a plain, simple, square building with tall windows and a square tower. Gradually the Church has been extended, rebuilt and enlarged.

During the 1890s the main Nave was rebuilt with additions to the aisles to allow room for the growing congregation and enable 800 sittings.The Church was restored at a cost of £4,500 under the direction of the architect E.A. Johnson, who later designed the Merthyr Tydfil Town Hall. Most of the expense was paid by Lord Wimborne, eldest son of the founder Sir John Guest; although a great bazaar in Dowlais raised £1,000 which was a huge amount in those days. The new extended aisle was the gift of Edward Pritchard Martin, General Manager of the Dowlais Iron Company in memory of his father George Martin.

Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

This family also financed the splendid decorative ‘Miner’s Window’ in the Church which show two coal miners digging at a coal face with the caption underneath, ‘The Thing that is hid Bringeth he forth light’. Such an industrial motif in stained glass is quite unusual to be found in a Church.  The bare headed miners, with their picks, candles, and their clothing and boots, present an accurate image of a coal miner (see right).

The interior of St John’s is imposing because of its sheer size. The tall fine oak roof of the Nave is a hammer beam type, supported by 6 larger and 5 smaller corbel tables on each Nave wall. The interior walls are double thick yellow brick. The five plain Early English styled columns with rounded bases can still be seen inset to the new west Nave wall.

Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

The Martin family had charge of the Collieries for the Dowlais Works and the American singer, Donny Osmond, claims descent from this famous Dowlais family, whose Brass plaques and monuments are still in the Church. The enlarged and redesigned Church was opened officially in October 1894 with a special service.

The present Church is a fine structure of Llancaiach blue pennant stone, after the Gothic style of the 13th and 14th centuries.  This wonderful Gothic church has long been a central land mark in Dowlais and has changed little since the late nineteenth century, although the former vestry has been demolished.  St John’s Church is 112 feet in length, with a maximum width of 84 feet and about 60 feet high. The whole construction is of masoned Pennant stone, but the doors and windows are surrounded with lighter coloured ashlar blocks of Forest and Bathstone trimmed with dripstone and moulds. This magnificent church was always perhaps too large for its congregation in this most non-conformist of towns.

The ‘new’ St John’s Church. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

Far less than 10% of the population here attended an Anglican Church. In our more secular times in proved to be too large for its Dowlais Congregation and it closed in 1997. The church is currently undergoing conversion to residential flats which will retain its original fine structure.

Merthyr: Then and Now

Circa 1900

2012

Looking at these two photographs, it is encouraging to see that the Guest Memorial Hall hasn’t changed all that much in about a hundred or so years. A rare survivor of of Merthyr’s heritage.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of St Mair’s Church, seen standing behind the Guest Memorial Hall in the first photograph.

St Mair’s Church (or the Welsh Church as it was known), was the largest church in Dowlais, and built between 1871 and 1874 by the Dowlais Iron Company to accommodate the Welsh speaking members of St John’s Church.

The Church closed in 1962 and was demolished the following year.

St Mair’s Church during demolition