Aberdare Canal
Aberdare Canal originated at a place called Ty Draw in the area of Plasdraw now part of Aberdare. It was built in the early 1800’s and joined the Glamorganshire Canal at Abercynon. When the canal was constructed Ty Draw had four wharves, these and the canal were the first major development in the Cynon Valley. The main purpose of the canal was to transport iron out of the valley. Then a tram road was built to Llwydcoed Ironworks. Later another tram road was built to Glynneath due to the high tariffs imposed on moving iron on the Aberdare Canal. Later the canal was used to transport coal, which then became the main export of the valley.
Aberdare Cenotaph
In the main square of Aberdare is a cenotaph, one of only two, the other one is the famous cenotaph in Whitehall, London all the other monuments are war memorials.
Aberdare Cenotaph
Griffith Rhys Jones
The statue dedicated to Griffith Rhys Jones (Caradog) who took the combined choirs known as the “Cor Mawr” (South Wales Choral Union) to the Crystal Palace in 1873 where they won a great victory. He is buried in Aberdare Cemetery.
Staue of Caradog
National Eisteddfod of 1861
The First National Eisteddfod, held under new rules, took place in Aberdare Market Hall in 1861. It was held over three days and the President’s were H.A. Bruce, H. Hussey Vivian (who later became Lord Swansea) and Crawshey Bailey (instigated Aberdare Railway) who took the place of Sir Watcyn Williams Wyn.
St John's the Baptist Church
St John’s Church
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St John's the Baptist church was built in the late 12th century and is of Norman design. The Rev John Wesley, the great Methodist preacher preached twice in the church in 1749.
In the church graveyard is the of the Wayne family who owned the Gadlys Iron works and coal pit. An ancestor of the Wayne family was General “Mad Anthony”, so called for his daring acts of courage; he fought on the side of George Washington in the American War of Independence in 1776.
There are gated inside the church which were made in Abernant Foundry in the 19th Century. The inlays of the gates are shaped in the number three, which stand for the Holy Trinity the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There is a plaque inside the church to Major General Edward Edwards of the Honourable East India Company, who fought and died in the battle of the Alamo.
We are not sure what side he was on the East India Company supplied General De Santa Anna with materials.
On the inside church wall to the left of the church door is a tablet to David William Watkins. Over the years folklore has grown up regarding this unusual burial. It is said that he was buried in the wall of the church so he could look down on his servant who is buried in the floor beneath him. The reason was that his servant was much taller than himself.
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The reason behind St John’s Day
In the sixth century, Catholic missionaries were sent through the northern part of Europe to gather pagans into the Roman fold. They found that June 24th was a very popular day among these people. They sought to “Christianise” this day, but how? By this time, December 25th had been adopted as the birthday of Christ. Since June 24th was approximately six months before December 25th, why not call this the birthday of John the Baptist! John was born, we recall, six months before Jesus (Luke 1:26.36). Thus June 24th is known on the papal calendar as St John’s Day!
The Origins of St Elvan’s Church
(From a book by Ivor Morgan)
In early 1846 and due to the influx of people into the Cynon Valley it was considered necessary to build a bigger church than St John’s for ever increasing congregation of the valley. Also there was a new question on language where the new industrialists came from out England with their families and they also brought the manager’s with their families as well. During this period the churches were doing 2 services a day, the English in the morning and the Welsh in the afternoon which was much concern that the hard working families worked different shifts.
A new Vicar came to Aberdare name of Rev. John Griffiths who threw himself into the new church in Aberdare. The first problem was to find a site for this new church, the idea was to keep as close as possible to St John’s Church, the committee found a small hill in the centre of town which was once called Halewood’s Watermill which later turned into the clog mill, then fell into disuse, this was owned by the Marquis of Bute, lucky for them that the Marquis was already involved in evangelical work and he donated a piece of land to them.
On the committee at this time was Crawshay Bailey & Thomas Wayne (Ironmasters) and George Rowland Morgan was a local land owner and Magistrate. They contacted the architects from the Church Commissioners to design the building that would be able to hold about 800 people and for a price around £3000.
A vestry meeting was held on the 28th January 1851 to consider the designs for the church eventually it was won by Andrew Moseley of London. The following month the building committee met and examined the contracting firm of Strawbridge of Bristol, it was then discovered that the tender exceeded the estimate by the amount of £4685 which were given by the architects of the Church Building Society, so they decided to reduce the tender by cutting back by cutting back on the thickness on the walls, height of the nave, porch, transept were omitted as well ornamentation, these cut backs reduced the price to £3019. It was finally completed on the 6th July 1852, the church was offically opened by the Right Reverend Alfred Ollivant, Bishop of Llandaff on September 22nd 1852.
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If you are interesting in camanology, there is a link for you to have a look at:
Plaque to James James Maco
There is a plaque dedicated to James James Maco who supposedly wrote the music for the Welsh National Anthem in the Swan Hotel in Aberaman in 1856. His father Evan James wrote the words. We do not know when it became the Welsh Anthem but it was given prominence at the Eisteddfod in Llangollen in 1858. It known that local eisteddfods started around 1820 in the Swan Hotel in Aberaman, with poets, musicians and authors of essays.
St Joseph's Church
Abernant/ Aberdare Hospital
St. Michael’s Theological College 1892-1907
The main hospital was originally a mansion and was turned into a college in 1892. Canon H. R. Johnson was the first warden. In 1907 the college moved to Llandaff, Cardiff due to a problem leasing the property.
Early Weekly Newspapers 1800’s
During the middle 1800’s and the increase coal mines a newspaper publisher name of Josiah Thomas Jones moved from Carmarthen in 1854. He then established a fortnightly paper called Y Gwron Cymreig (The Welsh Hero). The paper contained foreign and parliamentary reports and was for the workers and not Coal or Iron masters and was against the rules of established churches.
Then in 1858 the first issue of Y Gwladgarwr (The Patriot) which was a weekly paper which was owned by a group of local people one of these was David Williams (Alaw Coch) the man who built Deep Duffryn Pit in Mountain Ash. The paper was light hearted paper compared to most that was around at that time and use also to entice local poets and writers to write into them.
Folklore
There was a man called Charlie Dumbar was an extremely large person who travelled the local circus. When he died there were eight horses that had to pull the coffin to Aberdare Cemetery rumours are they could get a coffin large enough so they buried him in a grand piano.
Another saying relating to this folklore was when mothers so their children eating to much she said if you are not careful you will get to the size of Charlie Dunbar.