The community of Trecynon began to emerge
in the early years of the Nineteenth century. Then known
as Heol-y-Felin (Mill Street) because it was established
along the road to Llwydcoed Mill, the catalyst for the
growth of the settlement was the opening of the Aberdare
Ironworks at Llwydcoed in
1800. Trecynon was officially adopted during the Mid Nineteenth
Century after it was the winning entry in an eisteddfod
competition to name the village. Prior to 1800 there had
been only one house at Heol-y-Felin, alongside Hen-Dy-Cwrdd
Chapel which had been built in 1751.
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As more people migrated to the Aberdare District looking
for work in the Iron Industry there was an increased demand
for housing, and Heol-y-Felin continued to expand. Many of
the earliest houses in Trecynon were built along the road
from Aberdare to Hirwaun, the route of which traveled past
the Mount Pleasant Inn, past Carmel Chapel and up Hirwaun
Road to the White Lion, where a tollgate had been erected.
By the 1850's Heol-y-Felin had become one of the main population centres of Aberdare
Parish. Much of Harriet Street had been built between 1830 -1860, Ebenezer Street
during the 1840's and during the 1850's the houses of Alma Street, Mount Pleasant
Street and Margaret Street amongst others were constructed.
In 1853 Thomas Webster Rammell was sent by the general
Board of Health to conduct an inspection of public health
in Aberdare. His report states that whilst drainage conditions
in Heol-y-Felin were better than other districts, there were
areas of concern:
Rev. John Griffith, Vicar of Aberdare, reported that;
"There is not, to my knowledge, a place in Aberdare more
filthy than the neighbourhood of the Royal Oak in the same
quarter of the town. Mill-Street proper is in a very bad
state from the ash-heaps of rubbish and filth thrown into
and lying on the centre of the road."
Rees Hopkin Rhys reported;
"Many of the houses in this quarter are of a very inferior
description, and these have no privy accommodation whatever.
The new houses, here, as a rule, have one privy for two
houses."
Royal Oak, Cynon Place (Closed 1908) The Royal Oak was a public house in Cynon
Place that closed in 1908. These reports suggest that although
Heol-y-Felin suffered from many of the same public health
problems as the rest of Aberdare, at least steps were being
taken to improve matters.
Despite the closure of the Aberdare
Ironworks in 1875, the growth of the coal trade and
increasing population led inevitably to the continued
development of Trecynon in the later Nineteenth Century
and early Twentieth Century. Edward Street was built in
the 1870's, Broniestyn Terrace in 1905. St. Fagan's Church
was consecrated on 31st July 1854. The church had been
built to serve the needs of the growing Anglican congregation
in the upper Cynon Valley .In 1848 the Aberdare British
Schools (Ysgol-y-Comin) were built on an unenclosed area
of Hirwaun Common and in 1896 the Aberdare Boy's County
School was built on the Southern edge of Trecynon.
In August 1902 a ceremony was held to mark the laying of
the foundation stone of the Trecynon Public Hall and Library
by Lord Windsor and D A Thomas M.P. Funds for the construction
of the Hall came from a variety of sources, including; The
Carnegie Fund - £1,000, Bwllfa Colliery - £105;
Lord Windsor - £50; D A Thomas - £50; whilst
public subscription raised £180. The hall was officially
opened on 10th March 1903 when a grand concert was organised.
Mill Street and the Square
Aberdare Park
Prior to its opening in 1869 the movement for a Public
Park in Aberdare had been growing for several years. The
proposed site of the park was to be an area of Hirwaun Common
near Trecynon. In 1865 49 acres of Hirwaun common was granted
to the Churchwardens and Overseers of Aberdare Parish by
the Inclosure Commissioners, and in 1866 the Aberdare Board
of Health were given possession of the land. Aberdare Board
of Health had to apply to the Home Secretary for permission
to borrow £5,000 to pay for the work, which was to
be paid back in 60 half yearly installments of £161
15s 4d. The cost of this would be borne by a special levy
in the rates, a levy which the inhabitants of Hirwaun were
exempted from.
Left: Aberdare Park entrance circa 1920
The Park was officially opened on 29th July
1869. A procession formed at the Boot Hotel, Victoria Square
before making its way to the park. The procession was led
by the Aberdare Volunteer Band; followed by the tradesmen
of the town; the Board of Health Members; Richard Fothergill
MP and Henry Richard MP; over 1,000 local schoolchildren
and bringing up the rear of the procession was the Cyfartha
Band. As the procession wound its way through the Park cannons
were fired at regular intervals "and the surrounding hills
echoed back their thundering reports with grand effect" (Aberdare
Times 31st July 1869). Richard Fothergill officially opened
the Park and in his speech remarked upon the rapid changes
that had occurred in Aberdare in the last 30 years. Transforming
it from a small village to a busy industrial town.
Many of the Bye-laws of the park reflect the desire
of the Board of Health to create a haven of peace in the
burgeoning industrial town. No musical instrument was to
be played in the park, no games allowed and no preaching
unless the Board of Health gave permission. There was to
be no selling or consumption of intoxicating liquor on
the park premises. Among the more surprising Bye-laws was
the caveat that no person shall beat carpets in the Park
and that the servants of the Local Board of health had
the power to exclude from the Park any person who is "not clean in his or her person
and dressed in clean and decent apparel".
Right:
Aberdare General Hospital Fete 1935 Illuminated Island and Band Stand
In response to the bicycle craze of the 1890's
the Board of health issued new bye-laws in 1899. Vehicles
were not to be driven or ridden in any way that could endanger
other users of the Park. Bicycles were to be ridden at no
more that eight miles an hour, ridden in single file and
not more than 6 feet from the gutter.
In 1910 a bandstand was erected on the boating lake
island, which was used in the 1930's as a focal point for
a series of illuminated fetes in aid of the Aberdare General
Hospital. Lord Merthyr presented the people of Aberdare
with the fountain in the Park in 1911 to commemorate the
coronation of King George V. The King and Queen Mary visited
Aberdare in June 1912 and each planted a tree during
their visit to the Public Park.
Left: Chris Palmer from the I.O.M at Aberdare
Park 17th July 2004 Picture courtesy of John White Photography www.johnwhitephotography.com
Aberdare Public Park remains as popular today as it was
when first opened. The uses made of the Park inevitably changed
during the Twentieth Century and the amenities offered have
changed according to the demands of the Aberdare populace.
For
example, after the Second World War the Park became famous
throughout the United Kingdom as the home of the Aberdare
Road Races. In 1956 the Park was the venue for the National
Eisteddfod of Wales. It still, however, fulfills the
original role envisaged by the Aberdare Board of Health,
in creating a space for the exercise and recreation of
the people of Aberdare.
From June 25th to June 27th 1912 King
George V and Queen Mary visited Cardiff and the South
Wales Valleys. On the 27th their itinerary included a visit
to Pontypridd and Porth on the Royal Train, followed by
a trip in a motor car through the Rhondda Fawr and on to
Merthyr Tydfil. In the afternoon they traveled by motor
car from Merthyr to Aberdare.
In Aberdare Lord Merthyr presented them with an address
from the people of Aberdare in a ceremony at Aberdare
Park. Over 8,000 children were in attendance at the Park
in order to greet the Royal couple. The most famous element
of the visit to Aberdare was their excursion to see a
miner's cottage.
The cottage chosen was at 71 Bute Street, Aberdare
and this property is still known as Queen Mary's Cottage.
Following the Royal visit the residents of the house, Mr
and Mrs Jones, were visited by hundreds of people from
across South Wales who were anxious to see the cup from
which Queen Mary had drunk. The Aberdare Leader of 6th
July 1912 reported that grateful visitors had filled the
cup that the King had drunk from with coppers for the Jones'
baby.
William Williams - Y Carw Coch 1808 to 1872
As mentioned above, Hen Dy Cwrdd Unitarian Chapel had
a strong connection to the reform movement of the early Nineteenth
Century. The ministers Rev. Thomas Evans (Tomos Glyn Cothi)
and Rev John Jones held radical views, but so also did a
number of the congregation. One such member of the congregation
was William Williams, more usually known by his bardic name
Y Carw Coch (The Red Stag).
Born in the Vale of Neath he had moved to Aberdare by 1832 when he married a
local girl. In 1837 he opened the Stag Inn, Harriet Street. In 1841 he founded
Cymreigyddion y Carw Coch, a society dedicated to the Welsh literary and musical
tradition. The society held its first eisteddfod at the Stag Inn in 1841, and
It was under the auspices of this society that the series of 'Eisteddfodau'r
Carw Coch' were held during the 1840's and 1850's. The most famous of these was
that of 1853 which produced the work 'Gardd Aberdar'.
The 'Eisteddfodau'r Carw Coch' were an expression of the reformist ideals of
those associated with them. In Aberdare Parish the reforming movement was expressed
in cultural and religious terms and not in violence and unrest.
The Eisteddfodau'r Carw Coch sparked the growth of the
eisteddfod movement in Aberdare in the second half of the
Nineteenth century. In 1850 the first chapel eisteddfod
was held at Siloa Chapel, and from then onwards the eisteddfod
became a recognised part of nonconformist life. Inevitably,
therefore, they lost the radical edge that had been such
a large part of their origin in Trecynon.
Right: William Williams (Y Carw
Coch)
Hen-Dy-Cwrdd Unitarian Chapel
When the original Hen-Dy-Cwrdd Unitarian
Chapel was erected in 1751 it was the only non-conformist
place of worship in the Parish of Aberdare. No other place
of worship was founded in the Parish until 1811, when the
Baptists founded Carmel Chapel. Although little is known
of the early history of Hen-Dy-Cwrdd, it appears that the
chapel was founded by the Aberdare section of the Cefn
Coed Congregation following doctrinal differences.
Two of the ministers at Hen-Dy-Cwrdd in the first half of the Nineteenth Century
were remarkable men, who ensured that the chapel enjoyed an influence far greater
than the number of its congregation, about 50 in 1830, would suggest.
Left: Hen-Dy-Cwrdd Unitarian Chapel
Thomas Evans (Tomos Glyn Cothi) minister from
1811 - 1833 was a political radical who was a pioneer in
the reform movement. His replacement John Jones, minister
from 1833 - 1863 was also a radical and was one of the founders
of the magazine Yr Ymofynnydd. A publication he used to publish
his radical ideals.
In 1862 a new chapel was built. The cost of the new chapel was £753 15s
4 ½d. John Jones refused to hold a special service of consecration, as
he considered such a service was too suggestive of 'popery'.
Although the building still survives it closed in the mid 1990's due to a declining
congregation. It is hoped that an alternative use will be found for the chapel
building in the future.
