.. Upper Cwmbran School (opened in 1868 and demolished around 1977)..
* built by Mr.Henry Parfitt, mason and Mr. Hugh Thomas, carpenter *
*Mr. John Lawrence laid the foundation stone*
.. Class 2 circa 1917 ..
.. To read the pupils names click here ..
.. Links ..
* Porthmawr Colliery * Storm Causes Havoc
Siloam Baptist Chapel * Reservoirs * Views * Brickworks
Ebenezer Primitive Methodist Chapel
* Kellys Directory of Monmouthshire 1901 ( Upper Cwmbran ) *
.. This view dates back to 1955 and shows the top end of Maendy Way and the junction of Mynydd Maen Road ..
Sue Smith relates:- The street on the left is Heol Newydd which leads on to Rhiw Melin, where I grew up. This was known locally as `The Pink Path` as each garden had pink flowering blossom trees in the spring.
Permission kindly given by the Curator to myself, webmaster on the 2nd February 2004 to include extracts from this publication ;
...`A Search into the Past` written by Millie Cadwell, B. A. 1979 ...
Published by Torfaen Museum Trust
The Square
Various stories have been told of the origins of The Square. One is that it was built near the beginning of the nineteenth century, and, that its design was influenced by the arrival in the area of some French nuns, who had escaped from the French revolution. The inference was that houses were built in the form of a square because that was the French style of building.
Another story relates that the wife of the owner of the woollen mill, who had Flemish connections, influenced the design.
They are interesting theories. So far, I have been unable to find any evidence to substantiate either of them, or that The Square was built at such an early date.
The difficulty is that the houses do not appear on the 2 inch Ordnance Survey map, dated 1813 and published in 1833, Nor do they show on the sketch-map of Tyr Rees Farm circa 1834, on which land they must have been built. This farm, however, was let to Ebenezer Rogers in November, 1839, and the houses are shown on the tithe map, published in 1840.
I should venture to suggest that they were built in response to the increased demand for housing which occurred when the new level, the Porthmawr Colliery, was opened in 1837 and the brickworks were expanded.
The houses are stepped because of the slope of the land, and were numbered from 1 to 29. The last number can still be seen on the door of the very derelict little cottage beside the chapel. Numbers 1 and 2, half of the row at the back of The Square , and all, except one, on the side above the chapel, have now been pulled down. The remaining tenants will defend, to the last, their right to continue to live there.
"After all", said one, "What other heritage have we left?" One house has been rebuilt and looks very fine. Another, at the top of the row, has changed in appearance. The arched feature above the door has gone. The house, like the one opposite (now a heap of rubble), was larger than the others and must have been built for better-paid employees.
.. for info on `The Square and a Family Connection` click here ..
... Situated within `The Square` is the remains of the Squirrel Inn, which played a vital role in community life until fairly recent times ...
It was advertised to be let, with possession, early in 1845:
"The Squirrel Inn at Cwmbrane, adjoining the Porthmawr Coal Works and the Firebrick Works of the Stourbridge Clay Company. These works are daily increasing in magnitude and importance and the Inn is so situated as to command the custom of the greater part of the population."
In July, 1859, 150 members of the Good Intent Lodge (Oddfellows) sat down to an excellent dinner at the Squirrel Inn. John Lawrence took the chair on that occasion.
The first school in Upper Cwmbran was held in the upper room, the fireplaces of which can still be seen.
It was established in 1852 by the local inhabitants, with the help of the owners of the mines. It continued in that room until 1868, when a new building was erected on the site of the present Primary Infants` school at Upper Cwmbran. That "new" building was demolished a few years ago.
The School in The Square accommodated over 100 children. Ironically, it was refused a government grant one year, because it was overcrowded. Its first headmaster was Thomas Lewis, a native of Goytre, Monmouthshire but living, until 1852, at Llangattock in Carmarthenshire.
David Morgan was the headmaster in 1862, and the log-book he kept provides fascinating reading, and relates life of The Square during the 1860`s. It complains of the noise made by the people in the Inn below, of the truancy among the boys, of late-comers delayed through playing on the incline, and of others who had gone to work underground when still under 10 years of age. most complaints, however, covered unhygienic conditions and disciplinary difficulties owing to overcrowding.
It took so long to build the new school that Mr. Morgan, a good, conscientious schoolmaster, handed in his resignation in December 1866, two years before the "New Room" was ready.
The origin of the chapel is something of a mystery. it was built in two stages, the enlargement taking place in 1863 when the gallery was added. It was still possible to see the line in the wall where the extension was made, just above the brick porch which was a still later addition. The platform at the north end of the chapel was erected about 40 years ago.
But when was it first built? I am assured that there is a slab, in the floor of the oldest part, with the date "1811" inscribed on it. Yet, this chapel is not shown on the tithe map in 1840.
Folk memory relates that The Square was built first and then its inhabitants built the chapel. Might I suggest that it, too, was built early in the 1840`s and that the name "Ebenezer" was given to it, because not only was it a popular name for chapels at that time, but also the tenant of the land , on which it was built, manager of the brickworks and public benefactor, was also called Ebenezer?
The mystery of the dated stone remains, but it could presumably, have been brought from another building, perhaps an even earlier chapel, but not on this site.
The chapel was maintained by large congregations, until the recent depopulation of the area began to have the inevitable effect. now, it has become " hard work to keep it going" for the few who are left.
One feature of interest in the chapel enclosure is a boundary stone, almost hidden in the grass. One side has inscribed, the letters "J.C.H." and the other, the letters "M.de S." They marked the boundary between land belonging to John Capel Hanbury on the one side, and to Madame de Solignac on the other.
Madame de Solignac was formerly Jane Griffiths, wife of, and later, widow, of the late Charles Griffiths of Llanyravon Farm. He died in 1836. In 1840, Jane Griffiths married a Frenchman and took up residence at Grandval, Department of Tarn, France, as Madame de Solignac.
The trustees of the chapel still have to pay rent to the Hanbury Estates Office for the small corner of the yard.
According to tradition, meetings of Baptists in the Upper Cwmbran area were held in people's homes until the chapel was built in 1838. This date follows very closely on the opening of the Porthmawr Colliery- better known locally as the Clay level- and the expansion of the brickworks. It is likely that it was erected in response to an urgent need for a larger building in which to hold services.
The Bethel Congregation Chapel (now a private residence) near `Millies`s Shop (now a private residence) appears to be of similar age.
The Siloam Chapel graveyard contains some very interesting tombstones. The oldest noted dates back to 1849.
One inscription records the death of Thomas Morgan, who was killed at the Upper Cwmbran Colliery on 18th January 1858, aged 40 years. Another is in memory of Isaac Maynard, a mason who died suddenly in 1866, at the age of 39 years. The following verse records the sudden-ness of his death.
"Death to me no warning gave But took me sudden to my grave,
To meet my Lord without delay For sudden death took me away."
Perhaps the saddest one of all is that which records the deaths of two small brothers, Llewellin and Thomas Williams, in 1870;one at the age of 2 years 8 months and the other ten days later, aged 7 years.
It holds an inscription in Welsh:
"DIWRNNAC YMFFROSTIA OR DYDD Y FORY CANYS NI WYDDOST BETH ADDIGWDD MEWNOD."
" Do not boast of tomorrow because you do not know what will happen within the day."
n.b. The steel walkway removed 2006
Before the reservoir's construction in about 1884, most of the water in the Cwmbran area, was supplied from streams and wells. water pollution was one of the results of industrialisation, and repeated epidemics of cholera and typhoid - and neither were unknown in this district- forced the government of the day to intervene in the matter of sanitation and good supplies of clean water.
Disraeli`s Public Health Act of 1875, encouraged the Llanfrechfa upper Local Board to have a private Water works Act passed in 1884. They then negotiated with John Capel Hanbury for permission to build a reservoir on the land belonging to Blaenbrane Farm, at that time in the tenancy of Rowland William Beavan. The need for it was accentuated by the phenomenal rise in the population of the parish, which had accompanied the opening of the Lower or Main Cwmbran Adit in 1879 and the expansion of the steel and tin-plate works in Pontnewydd.
When the second reservoir was built higher up, during the 1930`s, the Blaenbrane Farm ceased to exist, although it's field walls can still be traced in the plantation.
.. This photograph shows the 2nd smaller reservoir, now filled in ..
A drainage channel and `sluice gates` for controlling the overflow can still be seen
* (Upper Cwmbran) * Brickworks
At the top of the incline, on the right hand side of the road, lies the filter station for the reservoirs above.
In the nineteenth century this was the site of a brickworks. The earliest reference noted, to a brickmaster, is to one William Wisdon, brickman, in 1634, but he probably lived near Llantarnam abbey. There is a further reference to a brickyard, owned by James Richards, in Llanfrechfa Upper Parish, in 1829, although its exact position is not known.
It is however, certain that brickworks, already in existence, were handed over in 1839, to Ebeneezer Rogers, who had come to Cwmbran at the age of 22, to manage the Stourbridge Fireclay Company, whose main premises were situated beside the canal in Lower Cwmbran.
He erected an up-to-date factory and Mr. Blewitt agreed to deliver fireclay to him, unless he were prevented from doing so "by faults, failure of clay or coal, or any general strike or combination among Colliers or Miners".
By 1843 the brickworks were important enough to be shown on John Prujean`s map of the county, and soon afterwards, production had risen to 100,000 firebricks per week.
Ebeneezer Rogers left Cwmbran in 1845 to go to Abercarn where he made notable improvements both in the mining industry and in the town, and was looked upon as a public benefactor.
In 1854, the brickworks became the property of John Lawrence who leased them to Henry Parfitt, in 1867, " with the Stoves, Kilns, Smith's shops and Cottages ". Henry Parfitt was a prominent local builder in the last three decades of the nineteenth century.
Brickyard Cottage
This building was originally divided into two cottages, probably built during the 1840`s to house the people working at the brickworks. The cottages were mentioned in the lease to Henry Parfitt in 1867.
footnote - The grave of Henry Parfitt (1836 - 1898), his wife Ann, (1835 - 1889) and their son Henry William Parfitt (1862 - 1908 aged 46 years) can be found in the cemetery at the Holy Trinity Church, Pontnewydd.
Their family home was ASHLEY HOUSE, Pontnewydd
Incidentally, close by is a street named after them - PARFITT TERRACE.
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