Merthyr Vale

Merthyr Vale (Welsh: Ynysowen or Ynyswen) is a linear village and community in the Welsh county borough of Merthyr Tydfil. Lying on the A4054 road it is on the east bank of the River Taff.

Merthyr Vale
Merthyr Vale
Location within Wales
Population3,831 (2011)[1]
Community
  • Merthyr Vale
Principal area
Ceremonial county
CountryWales
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townMerthyr Tydfil
Postcode districtCF48
Dialling code01443
AmbulanceWelsh
UK Parliament
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament

The community includes the villages of Aberfan on the opposite side of the Taff, Mount Pleasant and the village of Merthyr Vale itself.

History

The area was referred to and written as Ynys Owen as early as 1630, noting that the narrow valley was heavily wooded, with various traditional Tyddyns (long-house farms) marking out the various rural farming territories. Ynys Owen, which translates from Welsh to English as Owain’s riverside meadow, has been claimed by some to possibly commemorate Owain Glyn Dwr, whose followers were involved in an uprising around 1400.[2]

There had been small scale coal extraction at Danyderi and Perthygleision, but in 1869 John Nixon started development of the Taff Colliery, later to be known as the Merthyr Vale Colliery. The village immediately grew up around the shaft development, as did the later communities of Aberfan, Nixonville and Mount Pleasant. Completed in 1875, when the first commercial coal was brought up, there was a celebration called in the local Windsor Hotel.[2]

As the colliery was not the first developed in the area, and as colliery developers and owners were known to generally restrict spending on surrounding communities in which they housed their workers, Merthyr Tydfil council insisted on Merthyr Vale being developed with both adequate sanitation, as well as community infrastructure. Resultant planning regulations stipulated that the Parish had effective sanitary and water supplies from the beginning.[2]
The village had developed sufficiently to create The Merthyr Vale Silver Prize Band - which won the Gwent Eisteddfod in 1905 and 1905, under conductor G.H. Thomas.[3]

Religious buildings included chapels and churches for: Zion, Baptist, Calfaria, Welsh Baptist Bethel, Wesleyan Methodist, Disgwylfa, Calvinist Methodist and Trinity, Presbyterian. Zion and Calfaria merged in 1974 to form the modern Baptist Church at Nixonville, which contains the first fibre-glass Baptistry built in Wales. St Benedict’s Roman Catholic Church was built in 1932. The Anglican Church of St Mary and Holy Innocents was built in 1974; replacing the earlier church which was built, with help from Merthyr Vale Colliery, in 1926.

The former Merthyr Vale School was built in 1879, while the Mount Pleasant School dates from 1912. Merthyr Vale railway station opened in 1883.[4] The Gordon Lennox Constitutional Club was built in 1901, by the proprietor of the Brown-Lennox Engineering Company in Pontypridd, also the President of the East Glamorgan Conservative.[2]

Travellers hotels and pubs that opened within the community included: The Aberfan Hotel, The Mackintosh Hotel (closed) both in Aberfan, Mount Pleasant Inn,[5] Station Hotel (closed) and Windsor hotel [6] Cardiff road Merthyr Vale.

In World War II, while on a training exercise from No. 53 Operational Training Unit, see List of Royal Air Force Operational Training Units two Royal Canadian Air Force Supermarine Spitfires collided over the village on 7 July 1941. The aircraft (X4024) of Sgt Gerald Fenwick Manuel (R/69888),[7] 25, from Halifax, Nova Scotia,[8] crashed into the home of the Cox family, claiming the lives of Doreen Cox 33, and her two daughters Phyllis, 14 and Doreen, 3. Husband James Cox, who was a shift worker at a munitions factory and was asleep in the house at the time of the crash, was thrown to safety; their three boys, Donald, Thomas and Len, were out playing. Neighbours tried to rescue the family - who had just returned from a shopping trip - but the heat from the fire was too intense. The second aircraft (X4607) of Sgt Lois "Curly" Goldberg (R/56185),[7] 27, from Montreal, crashed into a field in Mount Pleasant, Treharris.[9] The bodies of Sgt Manuel and the deceased family members were buried two days later in Ffrwd Cemetery, Merthyr Tydfil, while the body of Sgt Goldberg was interned in the Jewish cemetery at Cefn-coed-y-cymmer. A mural was painted by local school children and unveiled by the Canadian High Commissioner shortly afterwards on the same site,[10] while there is an ongoing campaign by the Cox family for a permanent memorial.[11]

21st century

The community includes the villages of Aberfan on the opposite side of the Taff, Mount Pleasant and the village of Merthyr Vale itself. The Coventry Playground was built in 1972 on the site of the old Merthyr Vale School, with the monies collected by the people of Coventry. The playground was officially opened by the mayor of Coventry but closed to children many years ago and now is Coventry Garden’s a small housing estate with 11 bungalows.

In 2009, 100 homes in two streets of Merthyr vale were demolished to make way for a redevelopment on the site of the old Merthyr Vale Colliery. It was to include 230 new homes, a new school, two shops, a restaurant and offices.[12] After the first phase of the project – Ynysowen primary school – was completed, the school received its first pupils in 2010. Project Riverside is being jointly funded by the Welsh Government and Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council, who will invest £8.2 million in the scheme.

Mount View

Mount View, which translates from English to Welsh as Trem Y Mynydd is a small village within Merthyr Vale, Located at the bottom of Mount Pleasant

In Culture

The village appears in Richard Fleischer's 1971 film, a British crime drama 10 Rillington Place starring Richard Attenborough and John Hurt. As Timothy Evans (Hurt) comes back to Wales, various scenes then shot inside the main village.[2] The locations include: Merthyr Vale Station, Coronation Place Aberfan, and Cardiff Road. [13] The film dramatises the case of British serial killer John Christie (murderer), who committed many of his crimes in the titular London terraced house, and the miscarriage of justice involving his neighbour Timothy Evans, played by John Hurt, winning a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal.
Timothy Evans [14] was a Welshman born in Merthyr Tydfil wrongfully convicted and hanged for the murder of his wife and infant daughter at their residence at 10 Rillington Place in Notting Hill, London. In January 1950. After new evidence emerged, he was granted a posthumous pardon. [15]


Notable people
  • Idloes Owen (1894-1954), Founder of the Welsh National Opera was born in Merthyr Vale, 30 Crescent Street,
  • Thomas Henry Morgan (1898-1957), composed the music to 'We'll Keep a Welcome' (sold to Mai Jones who published it in 1943) was born in Merthyr Vale, 8 Station Terrace,[16]
  • Trefor Jenkins (1932 - ), human geneticist and medical ethicist

References
  • Is it still raining in Aberfan? A Pit and its People, (1991) Melanie Doel & Martin Dunkerton, Logaston Press, Herefordshire ISBN 0 9510242 9 9
  • Valley Lives Book 1: Schools and Scholars of the Merthyr Tydfil Valley, (1992) Merthyr Tydfil Libraries ISBN 0 903388 05 7
  • A Welsh Uncle, Memories of Tom Morgan 1898-1957, (2018) John Dann, FastPrint Publishing, Peterborough, ISBN 978 178456 597 8


  1. "Community population 2011". Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  2. "Merthyr Vale Colliery". alangeorge.co.uk. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  3. A Welsh Uncle, memories of Tom Morgan 1898-1957, John Dann, FastPrint Peterborourgh 2018 ISBN 978-178456-597-8
  4. Hutton, John (2006). The Taff Vale Railway, vol. 1. Silver Link. ISBN 978-1-85794-249-1.
  5. http://themountpleasantinn.co.uk/
  6. http://www.windsorhoteluk.com/
  7. "Sgt (Pilot) Louis Goldberg RCAF - 27 - R/56185 - Died 7/7/41". rafcommands.com. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  8. "Sgt Gerald Fenwick Manuel (R/69888)". Veterans Affairs Canada. Archived from the original on 1 October 2012. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  9. "Sgt Lois "Curly" Goldberg (R/56185)". Veterans Affairs Canada. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  10. "Photo Collection Relating to LOUIS GOLDBERG". Veterans Affairs Canada. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  11. "Air crash relatives want memorial". BBC Wales. 12 May 2005. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  12. "Homes to be demolished in Taff river flood project", Wales Online, 16 April 2009. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  13. https://www.reelstreets.com/films/10-rillington-place/
  14. (Still of John Hurt playing Timothy Evans outside Merthyr Vale Police Station) http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/merthyrvale.htm
  15. https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/wales/entries/cdc56160-91eb-366d-ae0e-5d9c5a676fe2
  16. A Welsh Uncle, memories of Tom Morgan 1898-1957, John Dann, FastPrint Peterborough, 2018 ISBN 978-178456-597-8

51.69111°N 3.33960°W / 51.69111; -3.33960

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