Enesgaueleu Sometime before the date 1249 there was a great flood in the river Neath which changed the rivers course, this was to lead to a dispute between the Abbey’s of Neath and Margam which was resolved by means of a Cistercian Court of Arbitration. The Court degreed that, Boundary markers were to be installed and neither Neath or Margam was to claim common in the other half of Enesgauleu (translates as marriage), documents had to be updated and there was no recourse through law to be allowed. Ed note: Basically both parties had to shake hands and become friends again. The change of course to the river bed happened between Abergwrach, were the Gwrach met the Nedd, through to the Ynys (meadow) and rejoined the river further down the valley. The farmhouse Ynys-y- Allor (the Meadow of the Alter) just above Pentrclwdau, now found itself on the West side or the Llangatwg side of the river. The name Ynys-y-Allor could be defined as a place where a hermit or an Alter was situated, although the more likely meaning is that the new cut river banks looked like an alter. Philips ~The History of the Vale of Neath, page 91.
Elizabeth F. Belcham's book on Aberpergwm Church mentions that the church is shown on the Saxton 1576/7 map of Glamorgan. There is also written reference to "Capel Aberpergwm" in an Elizabethan written record before 1587. The true origins of Aberpergwm Church may be even older. The foundations of the Church may lie on the site of an earlier chapel of ease belonging to the parish church of Cadoxtion (Llangatwg) which may date from c. 500 AD. which could make it over 1,500 years old.
Centuries ago people were obliged to worship on a Sunday in their local parish Church. This meant that early Angilan residence of Blaengwrach had to travel to St. John the Baptist Church in Glyncorrwg to worship. A 6 mile walk through peat bogs and over the nearly 2000 foot high Craig Y Llyn,
Maes Gwyn is mentioned in 1601 in the Avan Wallia Rent Roll, when a Jenkin Williams owned the farm and has to pay 6d rent. The farm is probably a few centuries older than the 1601 date.
Translated to English Hen Dy Cwrdd means "The Old Meeting House". The meeting House was erected in 1704 and the beam over the fireplace has this date inscribed upon it. It was opened by Protestant Dissenters who disagreed with the over aurhoritarian believes of he church at the time. They believed in a more independence for local congregations from outside control. The church's formed in Baglan by Robert Thomas and was made up of Independents and Baptists, and they formed a series of meeting houses in Glamorgan for their followers to meet in their own locality, Meeting houses were built in Mynyddbach, Cwmllynfell, Gellionnen and Blaengwrach. The meeting house established a school in circa 1734, and when there was a report published "Blue Books" on the state of Welsh education in 1847, the school faired well in the teaching of English, although it must be said, the inspectors were not very complimentary about the residence of the village or the state of the classroom. There were 72 pupils at the time, 47 male and 25 female which was 11.3% of the population of the Glygorrwg parish in which the school sat. The school was run as a works school by the local Ironmaster Jevons and Wood, when they went bankrupt in 1850 the school subsequently closed. Over the course of the lifetime of the Chapel the congregation slowly decreased with the Chapel closing in 1880.
The Neath Canal Act was passed in 1791, and the work on the canal was completed by 1795.
Ynys Las house was built in 1810 by the Earl of Dunraven asshooting retreat, although it has been rumoured it was also used as a place to meet his mistress. The house was demolished circa 1955 and a new bungalow built on the site by Mr. Tal Williams.
The following memories are taken from letters sent by Rees Williams Jnr. of the Aberpergwm Williams family, between October 11th and November the 13th 1811, to his brother William and Mother who were living in London. The letters are mostly about the day to day running of the estate, and they can be found in Elizabeth Belchams book “About Aberpergwm” on pages179 - 181. The original letters are archived in Aberystwyth University Library. The rain in October and early November of 1811 was particularly heavy. The River Neath had flooded on a number of occasions, and on Saturday the 5th of October a man named Will Taylor a Porthman (Portman) was droving a horse up the valley. He wanted to cross the river, even though it was in flood, to avoid the trouble and expense of paying the Toll at the turnpike at Pontwalby. He drove the horse into the river even though the bystanders there were remonstrating with him not to do so.
In 1817 Edward Protheroe built a Plateway Tramroad from his Iron Ore opencast quarries behind Cwmgwrach RFC club house and beside the Parish Road (Pwm Patch), as well as his coal levels in the steep sided valley behind the star Inn, to the River Neath. It then crossed the river on a wooden bridge to join the Neath Canal at the canal branch called Cnel Bach. (* The History of the Vale of Neath Page 349 gives the building of the bridge over the river as circa, 1813 -15).
In 1817 a branch of the Neath Canal was built just below Cwmgwrach, the branch was called Cnel Bach.
There has been mining activity in this area since the early 1800's, including a mine owned by E.W. Protheroe 1815. The first Blaengwrach colliery was worked by Edward Protheroe as early as 1814. An explosion here on the 9th of June 1820 resulted in five dead, of which two were girls, Elizabeth Pendry aged 6 years and Annie Tonks aged 12 years. From a list dated 1869 Cwmgwrach level, owner N.E.V. Vaughan.
On the 14th May 1824 the Tennant canal, which was connected to the Neath canal and ran from Aberdulias to Port Tennant docks, was opened. To celebrate the occasion 10 full barges of Cwmgwrach coal from the Jevons colliery at Forch Coch set off from Cnel Bach. They joined other barges at Aberdulias and travelled to Port Tennant where there was a great opening ceremony. The procession of barges included one holding the engineer responsible for the building of the canal, another held a brass band, and a further barge held representatives from the guilds involved in the building of the canal, this last barge set off canon at regular intervals during the journey to the enthralment of the spectators.
In 1838 Rees Williams Jnr. decides to rebuild and enlarge the old farmhouse Maes Gwyn as a Gentlemen’s Residence, even though it was William his older brother who owned the property and the the lands he was farming. William was an absent landlord, as mentioned above, he was on his Grand Tour of Europe. Rees employed a London Architect a Mr. P. R. Robinson (1778 – 1858) who provided him with plans for the new residence, but the architect never actually visited the house. The design of the house was a similar style to Singleton Abbey in Swansea which Robinson had also worked on. The plans for the ground floor included rooms for the servants, a hall, a kitchen and pantry, a dining room, a brewery, and various other sitting rooms. The second floor comprised of bedrooms.
The Glamorgan County Police force was formed In either November or December 1841. The Cwmgwrach Police Station was one of the first manned police station in Glamorganshire. It was built in April 1853 with two cells. The need for the police station was identified as the population of the village was increasing with the coming of the canal and the building of the railway which saw an increase in crime and drunkenness in the surrounding area..
The Ironworks at the Venallt was built in 1842 by the Unitarian Ironmaster Mr. Jevons. It is believed that the iron works was initially blown between Easter 1844 and Easter 1845 and had only one furnace at the time. Unfortunately the works did not survive very long under Jervons whose Liverpool businesses went bankrupt in 1848. The business was then taken over by Fothergill and Darby in the early 1950's but closed for good in the 1860's. By 1875 it was converted to a patent fuel works by R. W.Morris and when this business finished to a Lorry depot.
On the 25th and 26 February 1847 the school at the Unitarian chapel Hen Du Cwrdd undertook an inspection which was looking at "The State of Education in Wales. This inspection cumulated into the infamous report called the "Blue Books" which gave a damning report on the state of Welsh education.
The act of Parliament for the Vale of Neath Railway was passed on the 3rd August 1846. The engineer Alexander Kingdom Brunel gave evidence to parliament that the steep incline of the valley from Glynneath to Aberdare was not a problem. The railway was a Broad Gauge track (seven foot gauge) running from Merthyr Tydfil through Aberdare and on to Neath. It initially focussed on transporting Iron Ore goods from Merthyr and coal from Aberdare and the Valley's to firstly the wharfs at Briton Ferry, then later using a competitors line to the North Docks in Swansea. On the 24th September 1851 the Vale of Neath Railway Line was opened between Neath and Merthyr Tydfil.
During the first few weeks of August 1852, the country was inandated by violent rainstorms. Above the village, heavy rain clouds built up on top of Craig y Llyn accompanied by violent lightening and heavy peals of thunder, and at 3pm as one eye witnness said, "it was if a cloud had burst".
The first Police station to be opened in Glamorgan (and possible Wales) was opened on the 1st April 1952 in Cwmnedd(Glynneath) in the parish of Glyncorrwg. It was opened in the village of Blaengwrach in what is now Glanant Place, opposite the school. I was probably opened to curb possible problems from the opening of the railway, and the increase in the population of the village due to coal mining.
The Blaengwrach National school was erected in 1860 on the site of the present school and was demolished in 1908 to make way for the building of the new school.
Shiloh Indépendant Chapel was built in 1862 and was modified in 1892. It was officially opened on the 18 /19th of January 1963. The 1862 chapel was built in the Simple Round-Headed style of the gable-entry type and is one of the oldest building in the first phase of development of Cwmgwrach. It was closed in 19?? and has now been converted to a residential property.
According to the census in 1881 there were 55 houses in the village.
A very severe blizzard affected the whole of the South of Britain on the 17th January through to the 20th January 1881. The lowest recorded temperature of the time was recorded as -18 degrees centigrade, with 10 foot high snow drifts in some places. In Wales the snow fell to a depth of between 6 inches and 9 inches with extreme cold and 5 people froze to death, and in total about 100 people died across the UK. 100's of miles of railway track were blocked by snow with drifts of dozens of feet in some places.
In July of 1890 Morgan Stuart Williams of Aberpergwm house caused using the canal to ship his coal a branch line had been built into Aberpergwm colliery.
In 1891 the census say's there were 47 houses in the village, 8 less than in 1881.
In 1901 the census say's there were 48 houses in the village, meaning only 1 new house has been built since the last census in 1891.
Around 1904 / 05 Mr. Morgan S. Williams of Aberpergwm built a bridge over the river Neath 100 metres downstream from the road bride into the village. This bridge carried the Branch line from the Aberpergwm and Pyllfa'r-on Colliery sidings in a curve over the river Neath and on to Glynneath railway station. This was the first time in it's history that the opposition by the Canal company failed to forbid the carrying of coal over the canal. This meant the demise of the coal traffic on the Neath canal, as it was cheaper to transport coal on the railway than the Canal. This allowed the colliery to transport 1,200 tons of coal per day to Swansea Docks at 1s 3d per ton as opposed to 3s 0d carriage by canal. (* The history of the Vale of Neath page 343. 344, 349.)
Calfaria Chapel was built in 1905. The inscription on the front of the building say's. Calfaria Capel Y Bedydowyr Adeiadwyd 1905
This is the existing school and was opened on the 13th January 1908. By the end of 1908 there were 198 children attending the school with ages ranging from 3 to 14 years old, there were 82 infants in this number. The infants would stay in this school until 1914 when the infants school was opened.
Cwmgwrach RFC was formed circa 1909, the earliest record is from the 1909 / 1910 season. It is possible that the club is even older than that, but after extensive research no actual evidence can be found to confirm it.
The Lower Infants School was opened 6 years after the Junior school in February 1914. The opening of the Infants school in 1914 alleviated the overcrowding in the Junior school, which in 1910 had to impose a restriction on the under fives from attending school.
The licence of the old Dunraven Arms, up by the Cwmgwrach RFC clubhouse, was transferred to the New Dunraven Arms circa 1920 (actual date to be confirmed). It was agreed that the licence would be transferred on the same day which meant the old pub closed and the new Dundraven opened on the same day. In the Western Mail on the 24th of December 1914 an advert was placed in the paper asking for tenders to build the new hotel. The opening of the new Dunraven Arms as we know it today was vigorously opposed by the congregation of Siloh chapel and the vicar of Aberpergwm. They organised a Tea and Concert to defray the costs of incurred in opposing the building of the hotel. Over 400 people signed a petition to stop the building of the Hotel, but they were unsuccessful, but thought their effort were not in vain, as they realised their effort had promoted the identification to the moral and spiritual dangers of the place.
In 1921 th census tells us that there were 128 houses in the village. This meant that 80 houses had been built over the last 20 years since the last census in 1901. These houses were built to accommodate the growing coal industry in the village and surrounding area.
Cwmgwrah RFC once played on a pitch called "Pebble Beach" this pitch was situated close to where the Red Bridge is situated on the Cwmgwrach side of the River Neath. In the 1921/22 season they had to stop using this pitch as the land ws required to build the Red Bridge and the railway track that would connect Aberpergwn colliery washers via the red bridge to the Vale of Neath railway line. The railway track actually cut through the middle of the rugby pitch. So we can estimate that the Red Bridge was built some time after that probably circa 1922/23. * See Cwmgwrach RFC Centenary book, compiled by Alan Currie and Glyn Davies. (page 13 and 14)
1925 saw the formation of the Cwmgwrach division of the Saint John's Ambulance Brigade. The Brigade was based at the Anbulance Hall which stood behind the Cooperative shop in the high street and was accessed by the lane on Dunraven Street. The Brigade finished circa1970 due to lack of membership.
The welfare park was opened in 1925, the park originally had the following amenities. Two hard court Tennis Courts, One Lawn Tennis Court, a Bowling Green, a Putting Green, a children's corner and decorative gardens, it also had a Pavilion to hold 270 people, The park was further enhanced in the 50's with the introduction of a new welfare hall which replaced the putting green and the old pavilion.
In 1931 the census tells us that there were 182 houses in the village, an increase of 54 houses since the last census in 1921.
The opening of the new Rugby Football Ground and Cricket ground took place on the 24th April 1935. The first game to commemorate the opening was between Cwmgwrach Welfare and an invitation Students team, with the Students running out the victors 17 - 3.
On this date 25th February 1939, the Pithead Baths were opened in the village. Prior to their opening the miners had to bath at home The opening of the baths was a major improvement to the lives of the miner and their wives. See link below for a fuller story.
On Saturday the 30th March 1940 the joint Blaengwrach and Resolven Cemetery was opened. Both Blaengwrach and Resolven parishes had formed a joint burial committee to identify a location and open a new cemetery to increase the land available for burial. A number of sites were considered but when the ground was tested proved unsuitable for a Cemetery. They eventually identified the land at the top of the Parish Road as the place for the cemetery.
On the nights of the 19th, 20th and 21st February 1941 Swansea came under heavy bombardment from the German Luftwaffe who were targeting the Port and Docks area. This bombardment came to be known as "The Three Night Blitz", with bombing taking place over the three nights for a total of 14 hours.
ON the 12 August 1941 a Spitfire crashed on the mountain above Cwmgwrach
On the 13 th March 1945, 3 prisoners of war were captured in Cwmgwrach. They has escaped from Island Farm POW Camp in Bridgend on the Saturday evening, the biggest escape of POWs ever in the UK.
One of the worst cold spell was the year 1947, 2 years after the end of World War 2. The country had not got back on it's feet after the war when it was hit by freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall for about 2 months. The weather leading up to it in the December and January had seen some quite heavy snowfalls, but then the weather reached a barmy 14 deg C (57 Deg F) which was a very high temperature for January. Then on 22nd January 1947 the country was hit by heavy snowfall and the temperature plummeted to minus 21 Deg C (-6Deg F) and after only a few hours all roads and railway lines were blocked.
In 1951 the census tell's us that there were 235 houses in the village. An increase of 53 since 1951. There was no census taken in 1941 due to World War 2.
The 13th Neath Scout Group was formed in 1952 and used the Ambulance Hall as it's headquarters, until in 1976 a new Scout Hall was built in the grounds of the Welfare Park.
In 1953 the main river bridge into the village was replaced.
On this date in 1953 the Official Opening of the Recreation Hall (OAP Hall) at the bottom of Dunraven Street took place. The application for the building of the Hall was made on the 31st May 1952, and the Licence was issued on the 21st July 1952. The total cost of the building was not to exceed £1,500 in accordance with the planning application.
Circa 1963 Maes Gwyn was demolished to be replaced with a bungalow. Rubble from the buildings was used to create the foundation of the present Cwmgwrach RFC clubhouse.
The census of 1961 shows there is 471 houses in the village, an increase of 236 houses in 10 years. Was this large increase in the housing stock due to parish boundary changes, further investigation needed.
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