Excerpts from the Llwchwr Society Magazine

1989

 

The Village of Grovesend – A perambulation

 

 

The village of Grovesend as we know it today is a 20^th century creation. In the Victorian times, the numerous houses along and behind High Street and Coalbrook Road did not exist, there was just a collection of isolated farms, houses and cottages.

 

We can get a good idea of what the hamlet was like from the O.S. Map of 1876, drawn up by two officers of the R.E. – Capt. W. Wynne and Lieut. A. R. Pozey. The 1908 edition of the map drawn c. 1905 shows hardly any changes and it was about this time that the building of the residential mining village began.

 

Although coal mining on a fairly large scale only began in the first decade of the 1900’s, one must take into account that coal was raised at Coalbrook by Mr. Harry in the last decades of the 18^th century and a tramline conveyed the coal from Coalbrook to the Broadoak wharf at Loughor. In the first half of the 19^th Century, the Cameron coal Company sought the permission of the borough of Loughor to re-open and repair the narrow gauged line to convey the coals mined in the area to Loughor for export.

 

In an article which appeared in the “Herald of Wales” for April 1938, the late A.J. Maddox refers to the Coalbrook region supplying coal to the forge at Pontlliw, which was then owned by the Hugenot family called Du Buisson, the coal being mined from seams which ran very near the surface.

 

There was one of these outcrop works at Coalbrook from which the Du Buissons obtained their coal for their fires at the Lliw Forge. The coal which was of excellent quality for the purpose, was brought across the valley on horse drawn carts and I am told that at one period in the history of the forge, the transport of the coal from Coalbrook was contracted for and carried out by a man named John Protheroe, Grandfather of the famous musician, Dr. Dan Protheroe.

 

Leaving Coalbrook and the remains of its mining activities and walking in the direction of the picturesque Pant Y Blodau Farm and the lane leading to Pen Y Gelli Farm, what had now become a residential area, was in 1900 a pattern of fields on both sides of the road, scarred by numerous old coal pits which had been abandoned until the junction of what is now Plas Road, was reached. Here some buildings are encountered. This area is earmarked Grove End on the map and by turning right past a clump of trees, Grovesend House looms ahead. It has been said that this clump of trees gave its name to the village, some ardent Welshmen would agree, but if this commodious house were signposted, Grovesend would appear above Pengelli.

 

Lacking the necessary information, it would appear that Grovesend House is earlier that 1876, if the facts on the map are adhered to it is without doubt to all its intents and purposes, a manor house, but by whom was it built ? When Thomas Williams of Llangennech crossed the river Loughor and mined coal at Brynlliw, he seemed to have owned the property, but did he build it ?

 

For decades this edifice has been known as “The Plas House” and before the 1920’s the Johns family lived there and leased it from Thomas Williams, the mining entrepreneur, as a farm for breeding beef cattle, whilst some of the sons worked in the local collieries before venturing into public transport.

 

In 1922, the Johns Brothers, Jack, Llew, Oswald and James formed a Company operating the buses between Neath and Llanelly and the local miners’ services. They built a garage to accommodate their small fleet of buses. The venture started with an open charabanc, but gradually the company grew so that by 1930, they owned a fleet of eight single and seven double deckers. All driving and maintenance work was carried out by the brothers themselves, which meant that they worked long hours – no eight hour day for them. Eventually, they sold their thriving concern to the South Wales Transport Company in 1936, and when the Company disbanded, some of the brothers went into the haulage contracting business. Their garage, when vacated, became the Golden Crust Baking Company, to be followed by the Stephenson Works in 1971 and more recently the Solus Metals Factory.

 

Opposite the Plas, where the Council houses now stand, was the old Tir Isaf Colliery. Further east towards the common land are located, the entrances of two farms, Pengelli-ddrain (now Tirisha Farm) on the left and Bryn-yr-arad on the right.

 

Returning to the junction of what is now Coalbrook Road and Plas Road and turning right into High Street, there is a curve in the road which still exists, a remainder of the share of the original fields. Today both sides of the street have been built upon to provide houses for the miners who came to Grovesend after 1908 to find employment, especially in the Brynlliw Pit. As occurred in all the Welsh mining valleys of South Wales, they sought a place to worship according to their own creed and Grovesend is a good example of a small mining community with several, albeit small, places of worship, like Hebron, Bethania, Mount Pleasant, St. Martin’s, Seion, Waungron and even a small zinc-built Methodist chapel at the corner of Plas Road, which was removed to Tabernacle, Gorseinon, to provide a vestry. In spite of mounting indifference, only two have had to be closed – Hebron and St. Martin’s Chapel of ease.

 

At the turn of the Century there was no Brynlliw colliry in Station Road. On the right are the Bryn Lliw cottages. The road eventually led to the L & N. W. Railway Line connecting Pontarddulais and Swansea. The O.S. Map shows a building near the line, but it is not identified as a station. Grovesend station was opened by L.N.W.R. on the 1^st Janaury, 1910, it was closed to all traffic on the 6^th June, 1932, although the L.M.S. railway from Swansea to Pontardulais did not close until 25^th June, 1964. Beyond the station a track led to the already mentioned Lliw Forge.

 

The Brynlliw Colliery began mining operations in 1908 and was owned by Thomas Williams & Sons of Llanennech. They continued until1925 when because of trade depression, they ceased. Two years later in 1927, the colliery was abandoned.

 

For 30 years Brynlliw lay abandoned – derelict and dead. What gear could be removed was taken away, what remained was allowed to rust and decay. Towards the end of 1955 the S.W. Division of the Coal Board started a survey of the coal reserves available for development in the Swansea area. The region contained four good seams varying from 3 – 6 ft in thickness and what was more to the point, these seams were suitable for modern merchandised mining.

 

Before moving in the direction of Waungron, a fleeting glance at Grovesend’s High Street with its houses, shops and chapels would bear witness to the growth of a thriving mining community where life goes on in spite of pit closures. In the early part of the century and until the end of the war, the resident relied heavily on a wide variety of tradespeople.

 

A Swansea Traders’ Directory dated 1920 lists two grocers – B. Thomas and J. Williams and two confectioners – G.Thomas and J. Williams. For stationery you went to Miss Parry at the Post Office and the well dressed inhabitants turned to C.K. Nock, the tailor and outfitter and A. Thomas the bookmaker. The village builder was Tom. G. Davies.

 

Amongst the oldest inhabitants of Grovesend was Mrs. Annie Thomas of High Street who was born in Grovesend when it was beginning its industrial development, in the Row (Box Road). Her mother’s family came from Waungron and built the first two houses in High Street, the present Post Office and the house next door.

 

Mrs. Thomas remembered taking part in the school strike. Village children had to walk to Penyrheol School, opened in 1880 and because of the inability to provide educational facilities in the village itself, the children’s parents kept them home in protest. Eventually a school was built in Grovesend in 1916. She also remembered electricity and the telephone coming to the village. Her parents had one of the first five telephones installed and one of the penalties was having to take messages, some with good news, some with bad, to the people throughout the village.

 

Back once more on the so called Square at Grovesend there is a triangle of land opposite the now demolished metals factory. The 1876 map shows Grovesend Pit on the site of the corner of the present Golden Grove Park. What is now called Box Road then led to Millar’s Cottages, known as the Row. The area from Station Road to Waungron has seen little change apart from the colliery tips. Before reaching the tips was once a building which housed a Sunday School. Almost directly opposite was the chapel of ease called St. Martin’s built in 1911 and demolished to make way for a Spanish style bungalow and stables. On the left before Waungron and the triangle of grass are the locations of Coed Saeson Fawr and Coed Saeson Fach Farms, the latter known as Llwyn Adam Farm. Opposite the triangle of grass stood and old house which until the turn of the Century was an inn known as the Loughor Arms. Almost next door was Capel Seion built in 1885 and extended  in 1893. On the way to Waungron one passes Nantgaredig Cottage on the left hand side.

 

Waungron was one of the locations where sports (campau) were held, especially in the 18^th Century. These capau usually took place on the Sabbath and on special occasions as at Easter and Whitsun, and were usually held in remote areas away from the main Highways, although Waungron was not that remote as it was on “Pilgrims Way” to the old Church on the Marsh and in spite of being on route to an ecclesiastical centre, it could boast of having four public houses, maybe to provide refreshments to the weary travellers.

 

Foremost in promoting the cause of Methodism in the locality in the 18^th Century was John Morgan, a turner by trade. He spent some years in the Militia and his interest in the days of his youth was to take part in the different campau that were held in the vicinity.

 

The old turner when in conversation with the Rev. Hopkin Bevan, one of the first ordained Methodist Ministers in the locality, related how he was on his way one Sunday morning in 1739 to the campau to be held at Waungron, and having got there, he heard the voice of Howel Harris, Trefeca, who had gone to preach at Waungron imploring the campwyr to fee from the wrath to come, John Morgan, together with other sportsmen, were persuaded to men their ways and were determined in future, to lead better lives.

 

To conclude this perambulation reference must be made once more to the basic industry – coal mining, where in the Waungron area a gentleman by the name of Mr. Cobbledick opened a colliery about 1880 and regularly mined coal there for many years.