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Tredegar Heritage Trail
Tredegar Walk
From the gates, at the Park Row Entrance to Bedwellty Park, walk along Park Row to Saron Chapel (1), about 300 yards. The existing building is dated 1858, although the original chapel was built in 1819. In July 1829 all the areas non-conformist Churches met at Saron to protest about furnaces at the ironworks working on Sundays. The ironmasters, roundly condemned as Sabbath breakers, took absolutely no notice. The agitation was rekindled in November 1831 after a certain William Walters fell into a furnace on a Sunday and was killed, but as usual their protestations were ignored.
From Saron, walk 150 yards along Harcourt Terrace to Penuel Chapel (2) on the right. The original Chapel was built in 1809. In October 1832 the Calvanistic Methodist Churches’ conference was held at Penuel, resulting in the condemnation of Union Clubs and the refusal of church membership to their activists.
Walk a further 200 yards along Harcourt Terrace to the corner of Queen Victoria Street and then to Barclays Bank at the corner of Castle Street. The building in Queen Victoria Street, opposite the Bank, marks the site of the old Workhouse, (3) which opened in 1820. In 1847 the paupers were taken to Abergavenny before the new Workhouse opened at St. James in 1851. Records note the cost of burying the inmates:
“For coffin and shift for Mary Lewis – 17/6d. To John Davies for digging grave for Mary Lewis – 2/0d”.
Opposite the Bank on the Castle Street side, stood Fothergill’s Folly, a round house similar to those at Nantyglo, built in 1804-5,
“It stood upon a quarter of an acre of land….surrounded by a turret wall….inside the walls were two houses adjoined with pretty little gardens”.
The roundhouse later called “The Old Castle”, was demolished and the materials used in the construction of the present Castle Hotel.
Walk down Castle Street and cross the road at the pedestrian crossing then continue along towards the Circle. In the centre of the Circle stands Tredegar Town Clock (4) the symbolic heart of the Town. The true estimate of the cost of the Clock is disputed, some sources quote£500, others £1,000, but it was due to the efforts of the Manager of Tredegar Ironworks, Mr R. P. Davies and his wife that it was constructed. Mr Davies agreed to pay £400 if the townspeople under the leadership of his wife could raise the remainder. Mrs Davies with the help of her sister organised a bazaar.
Unfortunately, the two sisters died before the bazaar was held but the event raised the required amount. In 1858 the design was agreed and Charles Jordan of Newport commissioned to cast it. The clock was erected in 1859. It stands 72 feet high.
In 1818 only four buildings stood in the Circle, then known reasonably enough as “The Square”: - the Tredegar Arms, The Black Prince, The Cambrian Inn and the Market House which doubled as a slaughterhouse and later as police cells. The first Head Constable in the town was Mr Howman, later prominent in hunting down Chartists after the Uprising of 1839. In 1837 a serious riot took place during a General Election, when the men of Harford’s Sirhowy Works and Homfray’s Tredegar Works clashed in support of rival candidates. The same year saw the opening of a school in the Town Hall (former Market House). The school bell was cast at the Tredegar Ironworks and moved to Bedwellty Park in 1876. It can still be seen there. The Square was completed in 1844 and in 1850 a magnificent Eisteddfod was held in the Town Hall under the patronage of Gwenyren Gwent – Lady Llanover. The Town Hall, in later years, became the N.C.B. Club.
Originally built in 1809, the Cambrian Inn was a centre of early trade unionism in the area. In the 1820’s several groups such as the “Social Britons” and the “Oddfellows” were formed with the aims of campaigning against child labour and the truck system. They provided self-help welfare provisions for the sick, maimed or bereaved. In 1831 a “Union Club” of miners was formed at the Cambrian with each member promising not to teach his trade to strangers without permission. Lectures, talks and readings were also organised. Zephaniah Williams who was later to lead the Blaenau Gwent Chartists, was a popular speaker giving lectures on mining, underground ventilation and of course, reform.
In September 1832 the Ironmasters threatened to close the Works if the Union Club and Lodges were not disbanded. A seven week strike ensued which ended in defeat for the workers and which saw the resurgence of the Scotch Cattle – bent on achieving the aims of the Clubs and Lodges through violence and intimidation. After the Reform Act of 1832 clubs began a revival, but in March 1834 in the wake of the transportation of the Tolpuddle Martyrs for the formation of a union, the Ironmasters issued the “Document”. Each worker was required to sign promising to sever his connections with the Union Club on pain of instant dismissal. The Clubs were destroyed, trade unionism driven underground and the Scotch Cattle became more determined and more violent than ever.
After the passing of the 1834 Poor Law regular meetings were held at the Cambrian Inn and the Miners Arms, Church Street, to discuss means of reform and the attainment of universal suffrage. These eventually led to the formation of Chartist Lodges, prior to the uprising of 1839.
Turn left into Iron Street passing the Library, which houses a Local History Museum. The museum is open to the public on Saturdays during library hours.
Construction began in Iron Street in 1802 and a house at the bottom of the street (where the police station now stands) was used as a barracks for troops stationed in Tredegar during the riots of 1816. The 17th Cavalry were stationed here in 1822 – 3 during a long and bitter strike over pay.
Walk 30 yards down Iron Street, turn right into Coronation Street, a 100 yards on your left is the No. 1 Lodge of the Loyal Order of Moose (5). James J Davies emigrated to America as a child with his parents from Tredegar. After rescuing the Loyal Order of Moose in the United States from virtual extinction, he returned to Tredegar in 1926 and founded the first Lodge in Britain.
Turn left into Bridge Street a few yards down the road is Siloh Chapel originally erected in 1806, the first Baptist Church in the town. A little further on, the building on, the corner of Shop Row (6) housed the Tredegar Iron Company Shop in 1802 (this was ransacked in the Riots of 1816 – mentioned above).
Walk 150 yards to the corner of Greenfield Terrace and turn right, proceed directly ahead for 400 yards past Edwards Terrace to Park Place. Go south along Park Place for 100 yards to where Popular Road branches to the left. Follow this road for 350 yards, on your left is St James Church (7) which was erected at a cost of £3,000 and was opened on Sunday 6th November 1891. 150 yards further on, the house on the right hand side of the road, in the trees, is The Glen (8). Dr A J Cronin, the author, lived at The Glen for three years during the Twenties. Cronin remembered his time spent in the valleys with affection, basing this novel “The Citadel” on his experiences in Wales. Years after leaving Tredegar he was in a famous London Club and another member was maligning the miners about a current pay claim “Another six pence an hour” he complained. “There’s no satisfying these cursed blighters. What the devil do they want?” “Only the right to live” replied Cronin.
The road bends sharply to the right at this point, on the left a track leads up the hill to Llswedog Fawr Farm (9). Traditionally a place of sanctuary, some interpretations of the name suggests that this was a court of a local prince, or some other local administrative unit. In 1884 Evan Powell wrote of it:
“A great antiquity is claimed for this ancient farmhouse, being at one time a most important building, in which the transactions of all parochial affairs were held, and previously the affairs of the Hundred were transacted here”.
The farm has now been converted into a public house called “The Firs”.
Follow the road up the hill and along Whitworth Terrace for 600 yards and turn left up a steep hill signposted for St James’ Reservoir, bear left at the top and follow the road until you come to St James’ Reservoir (10). A footpath encircles the Reservoir from which a panoramic view of Tredegar can be enjoyed. Picnic tables and barbecue stands are also available for visitors.
Return to Whitworth Terrace and turn left, follow the road for 350 yards to a junction, take the left fork for a further 250 yards towards Rhyd Hall, formally Y Rhyd Farm (11).
Walk on down the road and turn right at Rhyd Cottage and Rhyd Villa into Vale View, follow the road down the hill until you come to the bridge at Heathfield (12). Looking north, one can see the site of the former Ty Trist Colliery first sunk in 1834. Ty Trist (The Sad House) was the name of the farm, which occupied the site before the coming of industry to the area. Local legend will have us believe that Bwca’r Twyn (a local hobgoblin of some notoriety) used to milk the farm’s cows and it became impossible to find a tenant, hence the name! Tredegar Comprehensive School and Leisure Centre were built on the site and opened in 1975.
From the bridge walk three-quarters of a mile along Pochin Crescent and Vale Terrace back to Bedwellty Park and enter the park through the south gate (13). The Park was given to the people of Tredegar in April 1901 by Lord Tredegar. Subsequently the Long Shelter was erected by Tredegar Urban District Council in 1910 and Bedwellty Park Athletic Club raised the funds for the Band Stand which was officially opened in 1912 with a concert given by the Royal Marines Artillery (The Blue Marines).
Take the right hand path and walk 400 yards to Bedwellty House (14) the former home of the Homfray family, the co-founder of Tredegar Ironworks. Bedwellty House is probably the finest example of an Ironmaster’s residence in Gwent.
Originally named Coedcae y Cynhordy (The Wooded Enclosure of the Meeting House) or Coedcae’r Geifr (The Wooded Enclosure of the Goats) and later as Ty’ Lodwig Rees (The house of Lodwig Rees), it was a small farm with “a low thatch-roofed cottage” at the beginning of the 19th century – the present park defining the limit of its land. In 1800 the farm was bought by Samuel Homfray of Penydarren, with a view to building a residence and parkland. The old house was renovated in 1809 before being rebuilt and enlarged in 1818. The House is surrounded by twenty-six acres of parkland, originally designed as a Dutch garden around which one could walk or ride without being confronted by gates, fence or outside features.
Turn left at the end of the path and take the second path on your right and return to the Park Row Entrance.
Tredegar Heritage Trail
Tredegar Walk
From the gates, at the Park Row Entrance to Bedwellty Park, walk along Park Row to Saron Chapel (1), about 300 yards. The existing building is dated 1858, although the original chapel was built in 1819. In July 1829 all the areas non-conformist Churches met at Saron to protest about furnaces at the ironworks working on Sundays. The ironmasters, roundly condemned as Sabbath breakers, took absolutely no notice. The agitation was rekindled in November 1831 after a certain William Walters fell into a furnace on a Sunday and was killed, but as usual their protestations were ignored.
From Saron, walk 150 yards along Harcourt Terrace to Penuel Chapel (2) on the right. The original Chapel was built in 1809. In October 1832 the Calvanistic Methodist Churches’ conference was held at Penuel, resulting in the condemnation of Union Clubs and the refusal of church membership to their activists.
Walk a further 200 yards along Harcourt Terrace to the corner of Queen Victoria Street and then to Barclays Bank at the corner of Castle Street. The building in Queen Victoria Street, opposite the Bank, marks the site of the old Workhouse, (3) which opened in 1820. In 1847 the paupers were taken to Abergavenny before the new Workhouse opened at St. James in 1851. Records note the cost of burying the inmates:
“For coffin and shift for Mary Lewis – 17/6d. To John Davies for digging grave for Mary Lewis – 2/0d”.
Opposite the Bank on the Castle Street side, stood Fothergill’s Folly, a round house similar to those at Nantyglo, built in 1804-5,
“It stood upon a quarter of an acre of land….surrounded by a turret wall….inside the walls were two houses adjoined with pretty little gardens”.
The roundhouse later called “The Old Castle”, was demolished and the materials used in the construction of the present Castle Hotel.
Walk down Castle Street and cross the road at the pedestrian crossing then continue along towards the Circle. In the centre of the Circle stands Tredegar Town Clock (4) the symbolic heart of the Town. The true estimate of the cost of the Clock is disputed, some sources quote£500, others £1,000, but it was due to the efforts of the Manager of Tredegar Ironworks, Mr R. P. Davies and his wife that it was constructed. Mr Davies agreed to pay £400 if the townspeople under the leadership of his wife could raise the remainder. Mrs Davies with the help of her sister organised a bazaar.
Unfortunately, the two sisters died before the bazaar was held but the event raised the required amount. In 1858 the design was agreed and Charles Jordan of Newport commissioned to cast it. The clock was erected in 1859. It stands 72 feet high.
In 1818 only four buildings stood in the Circle, then known reasonably enough as “The Square”: - the Tredegar Arms, The Black Prince, The Cambrian Inn and the Market House which doubled as a slaughterhouse and later as police cells. The first Head Constable in the town was Mr Howman, later prominent in hunting down Chartists after the Uprising of 1839. In 1837 a serious riot took place during a General Election, when the men of Harford’s Sirhowy Works and Homfray’s Tredegar Works clashed in support of rival candidates. The same year saw the opening of a school in the Town Hall (former Market House). The school bell was cast at the Tredegar Ironworks and moved to Bedwellty Park in 1876. It can still be seen there. The Square was completed in 1844 and in 1850 a magnificent Eisteddfod was held in the Town Hall under the patronage of Gwenyren Gwent – Lady Llanover. The Town Hall, in later years, became the N.C.B. Club.
Originally built in 1809, the Cambrian Inn was a centre of early trade unionism in the area. In the 1820’s several groups such as the “Social Britons” and the “Oddfellows” were formed with the aims of campaigning against child labour and the truck system. They provided self-help welfare provisions for the sick, maimed or bereaved. In 1831 a “Union Club” of miners was formed at the Cambrian with each member promising not to teach his trade to strangers without permission. Lectures, talks and readings were also organised. Zephaniah Williams who was later to lead the Blaenau Gwent Chartists, was a popular speaker giving lectures on mining, underground ventilation and of course, reform.
In September 1832 the Ironmasters threatened to close the Works if the Union Club and Lodges were not disbanded. A seven week strike ensued which ended in defeat for the workers and which saw the resurgence of the Scotch Cattle – bent on achieving the aims of the Clubs and Lodges through violence and intimidation. After the Reform Act of 1832 clubs began a revival, but in March 1834 in the wake of the transportation of the Tolpuddle Martyrs for the formation of a union, the Ironmasters issued the “Document”. Each worker was required to sign promising to sever his connections with the Union Club on pain of instant dismissal. The Clubs were destroyed, trade unionism driven underground and the Scotch Cattle became more determined and more violent than ever.
After the passing of the 1834 Poor Law regular meetings were held at the Cambrian Inn and the Miners Arms, Church Street, to discuss means of reform and the attainment of universal suffrage. These eventually led to the formation of Chartist Lodges, prior to the uprising of 1839.
Turn left into Iron Street passing the Library, which houses a Local History Museum. The museum is open to the public on Saturdays during library hours.
Construction began in Iron Street in 1802 and a house at the bottom of the street (where the police station now stands) was used as a barracks for troops stationed in Tredegar during the riots of 1816. The 17th Cavalry were stationed here in 1822 – 3 during a long and bitter strike over pay.
Walk 30 yards down Iron Street, turn right into Coronation Street, a 100 yards on your left is the No. 1 Lodge of the Loyal Order of Moose (5). James J Davies emigrated to America as a child with his parents from Tredegar. After rescuing the Loyal Order of Moose in the United States from virtual extinction, he returned to Tredegar in 1926 and founded the first Lodge in Britain.
Turn left into Bridge Street a few yards down the road is Siloh Chapel originally erected in 1806, the first Baptist Church in the town. A little further on, the building on, the corner of Shop Row (6) housed the Tredegar Iron Company Shop in 1802 (this was ransacked in the Riots of 1816 – mentioned above).
Walk 150 yards to the corner of Greenfield Terrace and turn right, proceed directly ahead for 400 yards past Edwards Terrace to Park Place. Go south along Park Place for 100 yards to where Popular Road branches to the left. Follow this road for 350 yards, on your left is St James Church (7) which was erected at a cost of £3,000 and was opened on Sunday 6th November 1891. 150 yards further on, the house on the right hand side of the road, in the trees, is The Glen (8). Dr A J Cronin, the author, lived at The Glen for three years during the Twenties. Cronin remembered his time spent in the valleys with affection, basing this novel “The Citadel” on his experiences in Wales. Years after leaving Tredegar he was in a famous London Club and another member was maligning the miners about a current pay claim “Another six pence an hour” he complained. “There’s no satisfying these cursed blighters. What the devil do they want?” “Only the right to live” replied Cronin.
The road bends sharply to the right at this point, on the left a track leads up the hill to Llswedog Fawr Farm (9). Traditionally a place of sanctuary, some interpretations of the name suggests that this was a court of a local prince, or some other local administrative unit. In 1884 Evan Powell wrote of it:
“A great antiquity is claimed for this ancient farmhouse, being at one time a most important building, in which the transactions of all parochial affairs were held, and previously the affairs of the Hundred were transacted here”.
The farm has now been converted into a public house called “The Firs”.
Follow the road up the hill and along Whitworth Terrace for 600 yards and turn left up a steep hill signposted for St James’ Reservoir, bear left at the top and follow the road until you come to St James’ Reservoir (10). A footpath encircles the Reservoir from which a panoramic view of Tredegar can be enjoyed. Picnic tables and barbecue stands are also available for visitors.
Return to Whitworth Terrace and turn left, follow the road for 350 yards to a junction, take the left fork for a further 250 yards towards Rhyd Hall, formally Y Rhyd Farm (11).
Walk on down the road and turn right at Rhyd Cottage and Rhyd Villa into Vale View, follow the road down the hill until you come to the bridge at Heathfield (12). Looking north, one can see the site of the former Ty Trist Colliery first sunk in 1834. Ty Trist (The Sad House) was the name of the farm, which occupied the site before the coming of industry to the area. Local legend will have us believe that Bwca’r Twyn (a local hobgoblin of some notoriety) used to milk the farm’s cows and it became impossible to find a tenant, hence the name! Tredegar Comprehensive School and Leisure Centre were built on the site and opened in 1975.
From the bridge walk three-quarters of a mile along Pochin Crescent and Vale Terrace back to Bedwellty Park and enter the park through the south gate (13). The Park was given to the people of Tredegar in April 1901 by Lord Tredegar. Subsequently the Long Shelter was erected by Tredegar Urban District Council in 1910 and Bedwellty Park Athletic Club raised the funds for the Band Stand which was officially opened in 1912 with a concert given by the Royal Marines Artillery (The Blue Marines).
Take the right hand path and walk 400 yards to Bedwellty House (14) the former home of the Homfray family, the co-founder of Tredegar Ironworks. Bedwellty House is probably the finest example of an Ironmaster’s residence in Gwent.
Originally named Coedcae y Cynhordy (The Wooded Enclosure of the Meeting House) or Coedcae’r Geifr (The Wooded Enclosure of the Goats) and later as Ty’ Lodwig Rees (The house of Lodwig Rees), it was a small farm with “a low thatch-roofed cottage” at the beginning of the 19th century – the present park defining the limit of its land. In 1800 the farm was bought by Samuel Homfray of Penydarren, with a view to building a residence and parkland. The old house was renovated in 1809 before being rebuilt and enlarged in 1818. The House is surrounded by twenty-six acres of parkland, originally designed as a Dutch garden around which one could walk or ride without being confronted by gates, fence or outside features.
Turn left at the end of the path and take the second path on your right and return to the Park Row Entrance.
For a hard copy of any of Blaenau Gwent's Heritage Trails, please pick up a copy at Parc Bryn Bach Visitor Centre.
