The Life And Times Of Mr J C Meggitt – Part 2



THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MR J C MEGGITT – Part 2



In Part I, we learned how the 28 year old John Claxton Meggitt came from Wolverhampton and established a thriving timber supply business in Barry. Initially this was to supply the timber needed for “false works” in the construction of the Barry Dock and Railway, and subsequently for the construction of the “boom town” that naturally ensued. They also engaged in the business of supplying pit props to the coal mines.

With his brother-in-law, his business became Meggitt and Jones, then subsequently Meggitt and Price. Meggitt was not only a successful business man, but he became very active in both his adopted community and nationally in many spheres of public life. Here are some of those activities:

  • Bristol Channel Timber Importers Association – President
  • Public Administration – Alderman, Glamorgan County Council
  • Barry Local Health Board – Member
  • Barry Urban District Council (Successor to the above) – Its first Chairman
  • Windsor Road Congregational Church, Barry – one of the founders and Superintendent of the Sunday School. Nationally, he was Chairman of the Congregational Union of England and Wales in the late 1920s

 

In addition, together with his wife, he provided Barry’s first hospital, and if all of the above were not enough he was a Justice of the Peace for the County of Glamorgan for nearly 40 years!

As we have read in previous articles, J C Meggitt became quite wealthy from his involvement in the timber trade. At the age of 70 in 1928, he handed over day-to-day control of the company and set about travelling the world for the next decade. We are fortunate in having detailed accounts of his several voyages. He wrote these as a series of letters to the Western Mail which were subsequently published in booklet format. In these he records how he travelled by sea and rail (on the Tran Siberia railway) to visit and record his impressions of some 35 counties. In the 1931 volume he mentions that his travelling companion was Sir T P Thomas, in the other volumes no companion is mentioned.

Copies of these booklets were presented by Sue Culbertson to the Barry Library and are presently being digitized for posterity on the “Peoples’ Collection Wales” website. Ms Culbertson’s great aunt Doris Gooding (her maternal grandmother’s sister) was head housekeeper to the Meggitt family.

The octavo booklets are as follows:

  • “Impressions of a World Tour” – December 1930 to April 1931”
  • “Japan, Across Siberia, Russia and Germany” – 1935 (including impressions along the way of Yugoslavia; Suez Canal; Aden; Singapore, Ceylon; China and Hong Kong”.
  • “South America (Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina), “Robinson Crusoe” Island (ie Juan Fernández Island), West Indies” – 1938”.
  • “South America, South Africa and the West Coast of Africa”– January to March 1939”.

 

As well as the “touristy” aspects of what he witnessed, being a businessman at heart, he delved deeply into, and commented on the commercial and political environs where he was to stay for any length of time. Thus, these booklets are full of insights into the local economy and the lives of the local populations.

I cannot hope to do any sort of justice to the overall scope of the content of the many places he visited, instead I will provide a few of examples of the topics he covered in depth to give you an insight.

In Australia and New Zealand (1931) he pondered on whether British car manufacturers should produce vehicles better suited to local conditions, and drunkenness and the control of drinking establishments.

In Cape Town (February 1939) he wondered whether the former German Colony of South West Africa should be returned to Germany (No, because of the abysmal treatment they had previously meted out to the indigenous population)

From Valparaiso in Chile (1938) he took an excursion of some 345miles to the Juan Fernandez Islands. It was here from 1704 to 1709 that the Scottish seaman Alexander Selkirk voluntarily exiled himself. Based on the experiences he narrated to Daniel Defoe the novel “Robinson Crusoe” was written in 1719.

The pictures were taken in Chile: at a fox farm and a local mode of transport.

This series will continue with further notes about South America and his impressions of China, Japan, the Tran Siberia railway, Poland and Germany in the mid 1930s together with events surrounding his 90th birthday in 1947.

Tony Hodge

 



Railway 200 And The 250th Anniversary Of George Overton



RAILWAY 200 AND THE 250TH ANNIVERSARY OF
GEORGE OVERTON



This year is being celebrated as the year of the railway – RAILWAY 200, a nationwide celebration marking 200 years of the modern railway, from the Stockton & Darlington Railway (S&DR) of 1825 to 2025, and inspiring a new generation of young pioneering talent to choose a career in rail.

Royal Mint £2 new coin to celebrate 200 years of the modern railway © Royal Mint

Hang on you may say – didn’t Wales celebrate the bicentenary of steam locomotion in 2004? Yes with the historic run of Richard Trevithick’s Penydarren locomotive. It was however, the first leg of a journey that George Stephenson and others would take forward and result in the birth of the modern railway 21 years later

South Wales figures strongly in this journey starting with that famous run of 1804 on the Merthyr Tramroad, on which the world’s first working steam locomotive ran in 1804. Then there was the first passengers carried by a railway on the Swansea and Mumbles Railway in 1807. And with South Wales based engineer George Overton (1775-1827) carrying out surveys between Stockton and Darlington, his 1821 survey enabled the Stockton & Darlington Railway to obtain its first Act of Parliament

Who was George Overton? Well he was one of Wales’ most important early civil engineers, who for the latter part of his life, lived in the village of Llandetty near Talybont-on-Usk. Overton’s early work focused on the development of tramroads and infrastructure for horse-drawn trams, of which he engineered many such early railways in South Wales. He constructed the Llwydcoed Tramroad in 1802 for the Aberdare Canal Company. His tram bridge in Robertstown near Aberdare is the second oldest surviving iron railway bridge in the world. In 1803, Overton became a partner in the Hirwaun Ironworks and built the Hirwaun to Abernant tramroad between 1806 and 1808


George Overton’s iron bridge at Robertstown, constructed in 1811 to carry the Llwydcoed Tramroad over the river Cynon near Aberdare. ©Stephen K. Jones

Nearer to what would become his home was the Brinore Tramroad, which linked the Brecon and Monmouthshire Canal at Talybont-on-Usk with the Tredegar iron works and Trefil limestone quarries. Around the time of that line, 1815, he bought Llandetty Hall which is right behind the Brecon and Monmouthshire Canal, fitting in with the work he was doing on the Brinore at the time. Today, the wharf associated with the tramroad at Talybont is still known as ‘Overton’s Wharf’ and walkers can follow the route of the Brinore Tramroad along a right-of-way for 8 miles to Trefil.

Overton would spend much time on his Stockton and Darlington work, which occupied him from 1818. His second survey was used by the S&DR to submit a Bill that received its Royal Assent on 19 April 1821, its first Act of Parliament. It was also on that date that George Stephenson, with another engineer, met with Edward Pease at his home in Darlington. Despite his personal connections, and that he had himself subscribed £2,000 to the SDR, Overton found that he did not have the full support of Pease.

Stephenson would persuade the S&DR to adopt steam locomotion on part of the proposed line for goods, Overton’s opinion was that the line should be built as a tramroad and operated by horses because he believed that locomotive haulage was fraught with problems, a view that probably stemmed from observing Trevithick’s run in 1804: ‘… I have seen Trevithick’s Engine heading trains 20 years ago…’. He would have witnessed the breaking of the brittle cast-iron plates of the tramroad by the weight and unbalanced motion of the steam engine.

Overton’s tomb at Llandetty Church on the 250th anniversary of his birth, 16 January 2025
© Stephen K. Jones

His final project was Rumney Railway, a plateway from the Rhymney Ironworks to the Monmouthshire Canal tram road, which opened shortly after his death. On this was the Bassaleg masonry viaduct, built over the Ebbw River in 1826. It remains the oldest operational railway viaduct in the world. It is hoped that a commemorative plaque to George Overton will be placed this year on the canal towpath close to Llandetty Hall and the churchyard where he is buried.

Stephen K. Jones



The Life And Times Of Mr J C Meggitt – Part 1



THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MR J C MEGGITT – Part 1



 

In his article in the April 2024 Edition of What’s On, Steven Jones wrote about certain people who were notable in the early days of Barry’s development. One of these was named Meggitt. Here is the story of that man. J C Meggitt was born in Wolverhampton in 1858 and after leaving school he joined the firm of Shelton and Sons, Wolverhampton in the timber supply trade. His duties included travelling widely throughout Britain seeking business opportunities for expanding the timber trade.

His keen business sense lead him to believe that there were major prospects in south east Wales and to further develop his understanding of this area he joined Alexanders and Co in Cardiff who were at that time the largest importers of timber in the Bristol Channel area.

Whilst thus employed he was a diligent saver as he had ambitions to start his own business, which he eventually did at the age of 26. He posted the above circular just three weeks before the Earl of Plymouth ceremoniously cut the first sod for the new dock on 14th November 1884.

One cannot help but think that the young J C Meggitt had perhaps bitten off a bit more than he could chew. The nearest railway station at that time was at Penarth Dock, some six miles away. The local roads were undeveloped being narrow unsurfaced lanes totally unsuitable for heavy traffic. Some of the gradients were steep and the cost of transporting materials was inevitably high.

At that time only horse drawn wagons were available and in the early days of the venture as many as 30 horses were being used. As an alternative to delivering by road, small coastal vessels into Barry Old Harbour were used but the costs of loading at Cardiff, delays at sea, unloading at low tide and storage of materials near the original Ship Inn proved to be as costly as delivery by road. There was much double and triple handling of materials involved.

The tenacious Meggitt overcame the difficulties and proved to T A Walker, the main contractor for the dock construction, that he “could deliver the goods” at competitive prices and the new business continued to thrive. As it became evident that the Barry Harbour option was becoming increasingly unworkable, Meggitt moved his operations to Cadoxton.

It wasn’t just the dock construction that required vast quantities of timber for “false works”. Hundreds of houses and shops were being built which further increased the demand for timber. Until the new Barry Railway was functional some three years later the struggle with transporting timber persisted.

It is of interest to note that the imports of timber in those early days were from Archangel (Russia), Norway, and Canada. The supplies were negotiated though local agents.

In 1888 he went into partnership with his brother-in-law Mr D Sibbering Jones and the firm now known as Meggitt and Jones opened other depots and facilities in East Moors Cardiff, Gloucester and Aberystwyth from which places they supplied high quality timber to their respective hinterlands. At each of these principal locations, the firm operated large saw mills and the business continued to flourish.

…to be continued.

Tony Hodge

 



Criminals Beware!



CRIMINALS BEWARE!



Wenvoe Online regularly includes reports from our local Neighbourhood Watch. Many of us display Neighbourhood Watch stickers on our doors and windows and read the regular Wenvoe Online reports, which not only cover recent crime incidents, but also contain a lot of valuable help and advice on avoiding being a victim of crime. So how much do you know about Neighbourhood Watch?

Like Crimestoppers it did not originate in the UK but the United States. In 1964, 28-year-old Kitty Genovese was stabbed in New York outside her apartment. Two weeks after the murder it was rumoured that 38 witnesses saw or heard the attack, but none of them called the police or came to her aid. This motivated a community response and the very first Neighbourhood Watch scheme was set up in New York. It was not until 1982 that the first UK scheme, known as Homewatch, was set up in Mollington, Cheshire by the local Crime Prevention Officer, Sgt Grahame John Andrews.

The idea grew in strength and in 2007, with the support of the police and the Home Office, the umbrella organisation for the movement, now known as Neighbourhood Watch Network, was established. The focus was on community groups liaising with the police to help reduce burglary and other home and personal crimes. It is now the largest voluntary crime prevention movement covering England and Wales with upwards of 2.3 million household members. The local schemes vary in size and are co-ordinated and supervised by a volunteer resident who liaises with the police and other partners on information, messages and initiatives. The Home Office does not fund individual Neighbourhood Watch schemes, although it does provide funding for the national organisation. The Government also funds public liability insurance for those involved in local schemes with responsibility for this devolved to the national Neighbourhood and Home Watch Network.

It is difficult to measure how effective Neighbourhood Watch schemes are in reducing crime, but it is believed that they help in several ways. The general raising of awareness of crime in the community is important. Increasing the flow of information and intelligence between the police and local community is a positive. The scheme also fosters good community spirit. Burglars and other criminals are deterred if they think residents are looking out for suspicious activity. Neighbours often help by moving bins or newspapers, cutting lawns and generally supporting the impression that homes are occupied.

Wenvoe Neighbourhood Watch Annual General Meeting

As a voluntary organisation, the success or otherwise of the scheme depends on what the local community make of it. The AGM of the Wenvoe Neighbourhood Watch is on Wednesday 5th February 8pm in the Community Centre. It is open to any Wenvoe resident, with an agenda of: reports from Officers and Co-ordinators, election of Chair and Secretary/Treasurer. Reports will be received and officers elected for the coming year



Welsh Traditions 7 Calan Gaeaf



WELSH TRADITIONS 7

CALAN GAEAF.



In this last article in the series of Welsh Traditions we’ll look briefly at the traditions associated with Calan Gaeaf. I’m sure you’ll remember that ‘Calan’ is a Welsh word meaning ‘the first day of’’ – as in Calan Mai (May Day). Calan Gaeaf celebrates the first day of winter – All Hallows Day on 1st November.

Calan Gaeaf originates from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, which celebrated the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. It was also the end of the ‘slaughtering season’ when animals were slaughtered and their meat prepared for winter. It was indeed the end of the agricultural year – and it was also the beginning of the Celtic Year.

The Celtic calendar divided the year in two – the light season and the dark season and Samhain marked the first day of the dark season – when it was believed that the doors dividing the world of the living from the spirit world were wide open. Noson Calan Gaeaf All Saints Eve was one of the three ‘Spirit Nights’, (May Day Eve and St John’s Festival Eve being the other two) – when the spirits of the dead and ghosts roamed freely – and were believed to gather in cemeteries, at crossroads and on stiles (for some reason!!). Some of these ghosts took on particular characterisations and two of the most common were said to be the headless White Lady and the Tail-less Black Sow. Tales of the White Lady are known to go back to Celtic times.

As with other celebrations which mark certain times of the year, it is an opportunity to bring some colour and revelry into the lives of the people, whose everyday lives were often hard – lacking in colour and lacking in just plain fun. Swedes were often carved and placed alongside roads and footpaths, with a burning candle inside. This is obviously the precursor of today’s practice of pumpkin carving. Bonfires were usually lit – on a hilltop if that were possible – and groups of local youths would compete to see whose bonfire burnt the longest. People would dance around the fire with apples and potatoes roasted in the embers. Ghost stories and traditional folk tales would entertain the cavorters – especially the children who enjoyed being frightened with tales of the White Lady and the Black Sow!

Much superstition was also attributed to this time of year especially in a fortune telling capacity. The main questions to be answered were who was to be married and who was to meet an untimely death – and there were various ways of finding the answer. In some areas, every person would write his or her name on a pebble and throw it into the ashes of the dying fire. In the morning everyone would turn up to search for the pebbles – and if one was missing, that person was believed to be facing death in the near future. Another means of foretelling death in some areas was to run around the church three times before midnight, and then look through the keyhole

to see whose faces would be shown. These people were the people doomed to die during the coming year. In the Llandysul area three bowls would be filled – one with soil, one with water containing sediment and one with clean water. The participant would be blindfolded and would be asked to touch one of the bowls. The first prophesied death before marriage, the second a troubled marriage and the third a successful marriage.

It was popular for young, unmarried girls to peel an apple or an orange and throw the peel over their shoulder, in the hope that it would form the initial letter of their true love. In Montgomeryshire a mash of nine ingredients would be cooked, which included potatoes, carrots, turnips, peas, parsnips, leeks, pepper and salt and mixed with milk. In the centre a wedding ring was placed and each participant would taste a spoonful of the mash. The person lucky enough to find the ring was certain of an imminent marriage! In other areas girls were instructed to grow a rose in the shape of a large hoop, go through the circle three times prior to cutting a rose, and placing it under their pillows. This allowed them to see into the future. Another means of seeing the future was for unmarried women to darken their rooms during Noson Calan Gaeaf, and then look into the mirror to see the face of the future groom. If a skull appeared in the mirror, the unmarried woman was meant to die within the year. Young lads were not forgotten either. The boys were instructed to cut 10 leaves of ivy, throw one away and put the other nine under their pillows. Apparently, this allowed the boys to see the future, and if they touched the ivy then they would see witches in their sleep.

Once the bonfire had died down, the children were encouraged to run to their homes. Traditional verses were chanted stating that the White Lady or the Black Sow would catch the last child and carry him or her away. This was one way of getting the children to go straight home!! In some areas, men would roam the local area – dressed up in the guise of one or other of the feared apparitions. Once safely back home, the children – and adults – would play games such as apple bobbing or the more dangerous version of trying to bite a dangling apple which also had a candle attached!

As at Christmas and May Day celebrations groups of youngsters would walk around the villages singing traditional songs. In Glamorgan, the boys dressed in girls’ clothing and girls dressed in boys’ clothing. In other parts of Wales, the singers would blacken their faces and wear fleeces on their shoulders.

Calan Gaeaf falls on the eve of All Souls Day on 2nd November of course – but nowadays both festivals have merged to become Halloween – with the bonfires lit a couple of days later on Guy Fawkes Day. Unfortunately, today, our traditions and customs have been overtaken by the American ‘Trick or Treat’ activities.

Ann M. Jones



Welsh Traditions 7 – Traditions associated with death and funerals



WELSH TRADITIONS 7

Traditions associated with death and funerals



We’ll begin by going back to Pre-Christian and pre-Roman times to consider how the Celts buried their dead. The ancient Celtic religion – known as Celtic Paganism – was the religion of the Celtic peoples of Europe – and the priests of this religion were known as Druids – but very little is known about them.

Nicole Evelina writes -‘For a warrior people, it’s not surprising that to the Celts, the most honorable death was to die in battle. Depending on the time period and which tribe you were in, you might be buried, cremated or have your ashes buried. In pre-Christian times, many graves contained items needed for the next world, from chariots and weapons to food, wine, money and clothing. There is some evidence that the Celts practised human sacrifice, but not likely on a large scale.

The Celts believed in reincarnation. Some sources say they only believed you could come back in human form, but others argue you could be reincarnated as an animal or plant, too. Mythology seems to support this later theory as in our ancient tales, we learn that the Cauldron of Rebirth was able to revive the dead. Pre-Christian Celts believed in an after-death Otherworld (Annwn in Welsh mythology), a resting place between incarnations’.

We know that the body was washed before burial, wrapped in a thin shirt and laid out surrounded by burning candles. During this time feasts and games were held in honour of the deceased – and food and money would be left for him or her to use in the next life. This was the forerunner of the modern ‘wake’ of course. On the day of the funeral a Druid would visit to measure the corpse – to make sure that it would fit in the grave. He would also whisper instructions in his ear of how to reach the Other World’.

Bodies were cremated or buried in single cairns or graves – or in a burial chamber where multiple bodies were buried. We have two of these burial tombs – from an earlier time – near us here in Wenvoe namely the Cromlech at Tinkinswood and the smaller one at St Lythans. Both these date from the New Stone Age and are over 6,000 years old – about 1,000 years older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids in Egypt.

Coming a little closer to our own time, a number of traditions and rituals associated with death here in Wales have survived until relatively recently.

It was customary to announce a death by tolling the church bell – and in the counties of Anglesea and Arfon, the home of the deceased was known as a ‘tŷ corff’ (house of the corpse). A local woman would attend the house to prepare the body for burial and a carpenter would come to measure him/her before making the coffin. It was important to our forefathers that the honey bees be informed formally if there was a death in the house. It was generally believed that failure to do so would result in the mass death of the bees – or they would leave the hive.

Traditionally the room where a corpse lay before burial would be draped with white curtains and linen. Curtains were kept closed and mirrors were covered. Sweet-scented herbs were used to scent the room, and wax candles kept alight. In some parts of Wales, the family would sprinkle salt on a pewter plate and place it on the chest of the deceased – to ward off all evil spirits. The belief was that salt purified the soul. It is also known that in some areas a ‘sin eater’ would be invited to the house to eat the sins of the dead person, by dipping a piece of bread in the salt and eating it above the body. Thus the dead person would be relieved of all sins and would be assured of entry into heaven.

From the time of death, the house was never empty. Family members and friends would take it in turn to hold a vigil over the body every night until the day of the funeral. In some areas a wake would be held every night – with plenty of food and alcohol – but the proceedings were always carried out in a respectful manner. In the 19th Century, the deceased was often propped up during these wakes! It was also customary for gifts of butter, cake, tea, biscuits and sugar to be gifted to the family in mourning. By the 19th Century, under the influence of the Methodist Movement, the vigil or the pre funeral wake had become much more reverential – more like a prayer meeting. And a recognised singer would be invited to sing an elegy – an echo of the elegiac poems composed by the court poet during the age of the Welsh Kings and Princes.

On the morning of the burial, the mourners would arrive at the house, where the main mourner would be seated – dressed in back of course. Before the service black gloves would be handed round to the mourners; silk or kid for near-relatives and cotton for more distant members of the family. In Aberystwyth, for example, it was customary for a man to walk around the town ringing a Corpse Bell. He would walk along and every so often, stop and ring out one solemn stroke on his bell.

One particularly sad custom was that of baptising a newly born baby on his or her mother’s coffin, if she had died in childbirth – a common occurrence in earlier times, of course.

The Welsh have always carried their dead relatives to the churchyard, unlike the English who in general paid strangers to do this. At the end of the service a collection was made and the money would go to the priest – who would often pass the money to the family – if it was particularly impoverished. Another collection was made at the graveside when coins would be placed on the gravedigger’s shovel or spade – ‘spade money’ (arian rhaw) – which would pay for the burial. In the 1700s it was the custom to throw a sprig of rosemary into the grave, which by the 19th Century, was substituted by the placing of flowers on top of the grave.

There were a few superstitions surrounding death and funerals in Wales one of the most common being ‘cannwyll corff’ – a corpse candle. Before a death had been reported in an area, people would report seeing a candle moving along a particular path or roadway. They believed that this foretold the death of a local person – whose funeral procession would follow the route of the candle they had witnessed. If a corpse candle was seen glowing red it was thought to be foretelling the death of a man; a white glow showed the death of a woman and a small, weak light, that of a child.
There are also numerous accounts from all parts of Wales of people witnessing a phantom funeral procession – ‘toili’ – which, like the corpse candles, foretold of an imminent death in the area.
Omens of death were widely feared and taken very seriously indeed. In Port Talbot at the Morfa Colliery in 1890, workers noticed a strong scent of flowers. They believed this to be a sign of invisible death flowers and half the miners stayed in their homes. That day there was a huge explosion leaving 87 miners dead. If certain types of birds flew over the pit head, such as pigeons, robins or doves, it was also believed to be foretelling a disaster. They were dubbed ‘corpse birds’ and are reported to have been seen just before the explosion at Senghennydd Colliery in Glamorgan in 1913, in which 400 miners were killed. So seriously were these superstitions taken by Welsh miners, that if they passed a squinting woman on their way to the mine, they would turn back and go home to avoid bad luck.
Ann M. Jones

 



Monknash Coastguard Rocket House



MONKNASH COASTGUARD ROCKET HOUSE



 

Just inland from the top of a precipitous Heritage Coast cliff near the village of Marcross in the Vale of Glamorgan there stands a small stone building with an almost semicircular stone flagged roof. One end of this building is completely open and faces the sea. It is yet another entity associated with shipping in the Bristol Channel.

As the title of this article suggests the building, which was constructed in the 1870s, was used to house the apparatus that could fire a thin rope to any ship in distress close to the shore in these hazardous waterways. If the mariners on such a vessel were to successfully receive the initial rope, then they would haul to themselves a thicker rope to which would be attached a breeches buoy to enable their rescue.

Rocket Houses became an essential part of the infrastructure of being able to effect rescues close to, or indeed on, lee shores which would have otherwise proved difficult for the life boats of the time.

The UK Coastguard Rocket Stations were strategically located along the coast to cover areas with high risk of shipwrecks and to provide timely assistance. There is some evidence that there was such a rocket station adjacent to the Watch House at the entrance to Barry Old Harbour. The equipment and techniques used evolved over time, but the primary goal remained the same: to save lives at sea

 

 



Welsh Traditions 6 – Medi – Harvest



WELSH TRADITIONS 6

MEDI – HARVEST



The Welsh word ‘medi’ is a verb meaning ‘to reap’ or ‘to harvest’ and as a proper noun, ‘Medi’, is the name of the ninth month of the year, namely September – the month when the crops are harvested, of course. The English word ‘harvest’ comes from the Anglo-Saxon word ‘haerfest’ – and it was used as the name of the third season until around the 16th Century when it was superseded by the name ‘Autumn’.

There are a number of customs and traditions associated with the harvest season here in Wales. It was, of course, the most important period in the agricultural year – and before the dawn of mechanisation, all the neighbouring farmers and farm hands would gather at each farm in turn to see to the harvest. In Welsh, there is a name for this practice of community aid – ‘cymhortha’ – a word based on the noun ‘cymorth’ meaning ‘help, aid, assistance’. The same thing happened at other busy times in the year – sheep shearing, lambing, crop planting and so on.

The custom known as ‘Y Gaseg Fedi’ (The Harvest Mare) was an important element at the end of harvesting. The name ‘Y Gaseg Fedi’ was given to the very last sheaf of corn to be cut. The sheaf was divided into three by the senior farmhand and plaited. The reapers would then take it in turn to throw their scythe or sickle at the sheaf to see who could cut it down. The person who succeeded would recite the following, traditional lines (translated here)

‘I tracked her,

In the late evening I followed her,

I’ve caught her, I’ve caught her!’

The other reapers would respond –

‘What did you catch?’

and the reply would be –

‘A hag! A hag! A hag’!

‘Gwrach’ (Hag) was another name given to the Harvest Mare.

At the end of the corn harvest, the farmer’s wife would organise a Harvest Supper for the neighbours who had helped with the harvesting. There was always plenty of food and locally brewed beer. In some areas, a sweet dish called ‘whipod’ was served. It consisted of a mixture of rice, white bread, dried fruit and treacle. In nearby Cardiganshire in 1760, a farmer reported that the feast following the reaping of his rye by about 50 neighbours consisted of ‘a brewing pan of beef and mutton, with a range and potatoes and pottage, and pudding of wheaten flour, about 20 gallons of light ale and over twenty gallons of beer’. After the meal, there was usually dancing to the music of the fiddle, with a plentiful supply of beer and tobacco.

It was seen as an honour in Wales to be the one to bring down the caseg fedi, and the man who succeeded in doing so was often rewarded. The winning reaper was faced with the task of carrying the Harvest Mare into the house – making certain that it was kept perfectly dry. But this gave rise to great revelry as the women present attempted to drench it with water before it reached the house. If he’d been successful in keeping the sheaf dry, he would be given an honoured seat at the Harvest Supper table with plenty of ale to drink. But if he’d failed to keep it dry, he would have to sit at the far end of the table, have no ale to drink and suffer the taunts of his fellow diners throughout the meal!

The ‘caseg fedi’ may have represented the fertility of the harvest condensed into the final sheaf and it was believed that a spirit resided in the last sheaf of grain to be harvested. In one part of Wales, it was recorded that seed from it was mixed with the seed at planting time ‘in order to teach it to grow’. In other parts of Britain, this last sheaf was buried on Plough Monday, the first Monday after Epiphany (6 January), so that it could work its magic on the growing corn.

Once the grain harvest proper and the Harvest Supper were over, the women could begin gleaning, i.e. scouring the fields for the leftover ears of corn which they could claim and keep for themselves.

The Gleaners by Jean-François Millet

People have been giving thanks for the harvest since farming first began in the Neolithic era. Today, it has become a Christian festival of Thanksgiving and is celebrated in most chapels, churches and schools – usually on the first Sunday following the Full Moon closest to the Autumn Equinox. However, the traditions outlined above are far older than Christianity and this Christian assembly only became popular in Victorian times when, in 1843, a Reverend R. S. Hawker had the idea of holding a special service on the first Sunday in October in his Cornwall parish. The idea caught on and soon it became the custom to decorate churches with fruit, vegetables and flowers and to sing the harvest hymns written for the occasion.

Harvest has now become a time when people come together to give thanks for our own good fortune, to donate food to the needy, and to raise money for worthy causes. Thus Harvest still commemorates not just the gathering of the fruits of the Earth, but also the community cooperation that exists to extend a helping hand to people less fortunate than ourselves.

Ann M. Jones



When September And The Humble Split Pea Saved Britain



WHEN SEPTEMBER AND THE HUMBLE SPLIT PEA SAVED BRITAIN



 

September 1940 is arguably the most significant month in British history; when the tide turned in the Battle of Britain and Hitler’s plans to invade Britain during the Second World War were thwarted. The RAF victory over the Luftwaffe was famously ensured by our Spitfire planes and brave fighter pilots. A closer look leads to some surprising and fascinating insights.

The Spitfire was designed by R. J. Mitchell, who developed his expertise designing seaplanes to race in the Schneider Trophy competition. Mitchell never got to see how important his contribution was because he died of cancer in 1937 at the age of 42. Fast and manoeuvrable, the Mark V had a top speed of 369mph and could climb 20,000 feet in seven-and-a-half minutes, with a flight ceiling of 36,500 feet. All this was a tribute to the genius and ingenuity of the plane’s developers.

Amazingly, the humble split pea played a key role in the development of such an effective fighter. Flush riveting was used on the prototype Spitfire to ensure the smoothest possible surfaces and aerodynamic performance. However this proved difficult, expensive and time consuming in production. Thinking outside the box, engineers went to a local grocery and bought several bags of dried split peas and glued them on every flush rivet head to test the likely impact of using round head rivets. Unfortunately this reduced the Spitfire’s speed by around 22mph. Not giving up, they progressively scraped off the split peas to determine which flush rivets were most effective and where on the plane was it best to deploy them. The results were applied to production planes and with the various flush and round head rivets strategically placed, the speed and manoeuvrability of the planes was maximised.

Pilots were in many ways more important than the Spitfire planes. With the average life expectancy of a pilot at only four weeks and an urgent demand for new recruits, the RAF was forced to cut the training time from six months to just two weeks. Some recruits saw action with as little as nine hours experience. They included pilots of other nationalities, including Polish and Canadians. There were even a handful of American pilots, most notably Billy Fiske, a 29-year-old sportsman who had previously won a gold medal for bob sledding at the Winter Olympics.

The bravery of these pilots is legendary. Having lost both his legs early on in his RAF career, Douglas Bader re-trained, flying Spitfires and Hurricanes at RAF Duxford and re-entered the fray. One advantage that Bader had over his fellow fighter pilots in training was courtesy of his amputations. The high g-force experienced by pilots throughout combat often caused them to pass out as the blood was forced to drain from their brains and into their legs. Bader’s dual amputation meant that he didn’t lose as much blood to his lower extremities, allowing him to maintain blood pressure and stay conscious for longer. Promoted to wing commander he was credited with 22 aerial victories, over 10 shared and another 11 confirmed damaged enemy planes. Shot down over the French coast, he was captured and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner at Colditz until it was liberated in April 1945. He had been treated as something of a celebrity by his captors.

The Battle of Britain lasted from I July to 31 October. Other planes and factors, of course, played important roles in the battle. The development of radar for example, enabled the RAF to know when to scramble their pilots and get the Spitfires into the sky to defend London and the south east. However the contribution of the Spitfires and their pilots to our liberty cannot be overstated. Winston Churchill famously encapsulated this when he said ‘Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.’

By the time it ended, 544 Fighter Command pilots had been killed in the Battle, many flying Spitfires. 808 Spitfires took part with 326 lost and 589 damaged. The official Luftwaffe losses for the Battle totalled 2071. Spitfires saw action all over the world and continued in service after the Second World War.

 



New Housing Proposal

 



NEW HOUSING PROPOSAL



A proposal to construct 30 dwellings consisting of 1 bedroom flats and 2, 3 and 4 bedroom houses on land between the Wenvoe garage and Pugh’s garden centre is under consideration. No formal planning application has been submitted at present.

A new access to the garden centre would be constructed directly off the present Port Road/St Andrews Road roundabout and the present access would become part of the development site. Burdonshill access would remain.

Full details of the proposal can be viewed at www.asbriplanning.co.uk and search in the consultations for statutory pre-statutory consultation

 


 

 



1 2 3 14