Month: March 2025

Valeways Walks March 2025


Valeways Walks March 2025

 

 

Valeways volunteers will have a busy period over the next few months in preparing footpaths, gates, stiles and steps in preparation for a celebration of the “Valeways Millennium Heritage Trail”. This event will roll out over several months from April 2025 consisting of bi-weekly led walks covering sections of this 100 km described trail. A walker taking the longer choices available will have walked the full trail.
For more information about walking or volunteering with Valeways, visit www.valeways.org.uk

Read Any Poetry Lately

Read Any Poetry Lately?

Have you read any poetry lately? Maybe not, as most people’s memories of poetry feature sitting in a boring English lesson, analysing verses and rhythms and learning lines to quote in an upcoming exam. So, when the Page Turners elected to read some poetry for the first time in the group’s existence, would this prove to be a challenge too far?!

Absolutely not! The group were given 10 poems by Mary Oliver to read. Mary Oliver is an American poet, born in Ohio, who published her first book of poetry in 1963, at the age of 23. Over the course of her long career, she received numerous awards and won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1984.

Although some of the group said they didn’t like poetry (…those boring school English lessons!) and admitted that poetry wasn’t their “cup of tea”, everyone agreed that Mary’s poetry was accessible, full of beautiful imagery and very descriptive. Most of the selected poems were focused on the joys of nature: “an armful of white blossoms”, in The Swan; “they are full of gorgeous life”, in Starlings in Winter.

The favourite poem of most of the group was, Starlings in Winter, which describes a murmuration of the birds. Who would disagree with some lines from this poem:

I want to be light and frolicsome
I want to be improbable,
beautiful and afraid of nothing,
as though I had wings.

Go on. Spread your wings. Read some poetry! The Page Turners were glad they did!

 

Shady Suffered From Cabin Fever

VILLAGE ENVIRONMENT GROUP

Shady Suffered From Cabin Fever

Inclement weather along with colds and mothers not letting the boys out, stopped the teams work this month. Shady suffering from cabin fever, ventured out with his litter picker. While out, he saw 50p in a drain and wouldn’t let it be. Having got in to retrieve it, a motorist who Shady had reported previously for doing 21mph through the village, spotted him and put the cover back on.

Distraught, Shady phoned us. We got the cover off but had difficulty getting him out because he wouldn’t let go of the coin.

Grateful? Not a bit of it. He lambasted us for not turning up for work because of a little rain. If Big John hadn’t shown compassion, we would have put him back in.

The village green is our next task on Monday 10th March – whatever the weather brings

 

April Church News

April Church News

Every year we raise money for our main charity which is CHRISTIAN AID, and here is the result for our fund raising in 2024.

Money raising and giving for others in 2024. This includes donations from people in Wenvoe, with support from people in Sully.

Vale Foodbank: Each week staple foods and toiletries are taken to the Foodbank warehouse in Barry. In addition, special collections for Easter and Christmas help to swell our car loads. Some find it difficult to carry food and so they have given monetory donations. In 2024 this totalled £1,310.

Collections continue for staple foods and toiletries, and we are now collecting Easter Eggs.

Christian Aid: Collections were taken in response to specific appeals during the year. In 2024 we raised £353.40 for the Gaza appeal, and £388.44 for the Sudan Christmas appeal. Additional money is raised when individuals include gift aid.

In May each year we join with others throughout the UK to raise money for Christian Aid. In 2024 this highlighted the need for people living in Berundi. This raised £3,118.12, from the school non-uniform day, a collection at the Agape supper, selling used clothes, house to house delivery envelopes, church collections and the ‘Cake, Cake, and more Cake’ event.

We are now looking forward to Christian Aid 2025. The appeal explains the need for those who live in Guatemala. We will be repeating our fund raising activities including our popular ‘Cake, Cake’ and more Cake’ morning on Saturday 17th May.

A big thank you to Jude Billingham and her team for organising our fund raising. Diolch am fawr,

Our EASTER programme of services…

Lenten Meditation An opportunity to deepen our inner life – 30 minutes of silence bracketed with prayers. Please note rotating locations. Come to some or all.

Mon 4:30-5pm St Lythans 7 April

Tue 4:30-5pm Wenvoe – 1 & 8 April

Thur 4:30-5pm Sully – 3 April (Not 10th)

******************

Holy Week 2025

Palm Sunday, 13th April

9:30am – Eucharist & Palm Procession – Wenvoe

11am – Eucharist and Palm Procession – Sully

The Holy Journey through the Cross to the Resurrection begins with the Palm Procession recalling Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

Holy Week Daily Eucharist

6pm – Mon. 14 April – St John the Baptist, Sully

6pm – Tues. 15 April – St Bleiddian’s, St Lythans 10am – Wed. 16th April – St Mary Wenvoe

Holy Week continues with the Triduum,

which are the greatest three days of the Christian year.

Maundy Thursday, 17th April

7pm at Wenvoe Church Hall

Agape Supper incorporating the Holy Eucharist concluding with a Watch Service in the church.

This is the day we remember the institution of the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper, and we recall our vocation to serve through the recollection of Jesus

washing the disciples feet. This is a profound opportunity to reflect on our call to love one another as Christ mandated

Good Friday, 18th April

11am – St John the Baptist, Sully – Solemn Liturgy of Penitence and Commemoration

2pm – Walking the Way of the Cross – All are invited to gather at St Bleiddian’s, St Lythans to walk down the hill to Wenvoe Church OR to gather at St Mary the Virgin, Wenvoe for a reading of the Way of the Cross concurrently while awaiting the arrival of the pilgrims from St Lythans.

3pm – St Mary the Virgin, Wenvoe – Conclusion of the Way of the Cross and Solemn Liturgy of Penitence

This is the day that we remember the crucifixion of Christ; we acknowledge brokenness in the world; and we confess our part in that brokenness. While this day is a solemn recognition of darkness, our profound hope in the Resurrection underlies our observance of Good Friday.

Easter Sunday – Day of Resurrection, 20th April

7am – Sunrise Lighting of the Easter Fire & Holy Eucharist with Renewal of Baptismal Vows – St Bleiddian’s, St Lythans

9:30am – Lighting of the Easter Candle & Eucharist with Renewal of Baptismal Vows – St Mary the Virgin, Wenvoe

11am – Lighting of the Easter Candle & Eucharist with Renewal of Baptismal Vows – St John the Baptist, Sully

This is the biggest Sunday of the year! In the earliest days, Easter was the only Christian festival: an annual celebration, in one act, of Christ’s life, death, resurrection, ascension, and the sending of the Holy Spirit. The celebration lasted fifty days in one continuous festival of adoration, joy, and thanksgiving, ending on the Feast of Pentecost. Our celebration of the Holy Eucharist on Easter Day, then, is marked by joy with the lighting of the Paschal Candle and the Renewal of Baptismal Vows. There is an absence of all things penitential so that the Great Fifty Days of Easter outweigh the Forty Days of Lent. We celebrate that we are a Resurrection People!

Do feel free to join us in as many services as you wish.

Flowers for the Easter Decorations

This year we are repeating the opportunity for you to remember a loved one with the purchase of a Easter Lily which will be used in the church decorations. Donations of £3.00 per name to be submitted by Palm Sunday (please write the name clearly). Church decorating is planned for Saturday morning 19th April at 10.00am.

It is good to hear that residents of the Glenburnie Care Home gather to watch and take part in the live stream, on Facebook, of our Sunday Eucharist with copies of the printed service and hymns. We welcome them as a part of our outreach to the community.

All services at St. Mary’s are live streamed at ..

http/www.ipcamlive.com/stmaryschurch

Thank you for reading the church news, there is always a warm welcome for you at St. Mary’s.

Every Blessing Parry

A Few ‘Experiences’ From Four Walks

A Few ‘Experiences’ from Four Walks

The winter weather for our walks has been mixed with less than the usual amount of rain but…twice we have abandoned due to the weather; once for a storm and once for heavy rain. All the walks are on map OS151. Unusually, rather than describe full walks I am describing a few ‘experiences’.

Ely Valley Walk 8m 550ft.

A visit to the Pendoylan/Peterston-super Ely area.

As we crossed a field a pigeon landed on someone’s back and even when shoo-ed away continued to follow us, landing on various people’s heads and backs. It didn’t give up until at a junction of paths, Misty, the dog, decided to chase it and after much fluttering and briefly landing, it flew off. Someone else who walked in the same area a couple of weeks later had a similar experience.

We needed to cross the railway and had the excitement of telephoning for permission. We were told to wait for two trains. We found it hard to believe that the second train hadn’t already gone until it roared past us. This is a very fast line! A second phone call confirmed that we had crossed safely, and we continued, past a house called Pratt’s Bottom.

The latter part of the walk was across very muddy, wet and smelly fields where we hopped and jumped from grassy clump to grassy clump. At a stream crossing, with a steep muddy bank, one person heroically stood at the foot of the bank to help us across. Yours truly jumped across and up the bank to end up sprawled face down in the mud. Luckily most people missed the entertainment and someone helped me up!

Drinks to recover were enjoyed in the Red Lion, Bonvilston.

Cowbridge Walk 7 m 500ft.

Well, we thought the Ely valley was muddy but at least there we had water to wash it off. At the end of this walk which looped from Llanblethian to Siginstone, all of us had more mud on our boots and clothes than at any time this year.

The final leg of the walk took in the Coffin stiles which lie on farmland to the west of the new estate in Cowbridge. These stiles connect Penllyn with Llanfrynach church and were used when a coffin needed to be carried to the church for a funeral. Each has a double stile with a pillar in the centre to rest the coffin as the bearers cross.

Walking through the Clare Garden estate, West Cowbridge we spotted three brick chimney shaped structures which we presume were sculptures, but we were confused by them. We saw a few spring flowers, snowdrops, daffodils and primroses but no frog spawn or lambs this year yet. Everything seems late, presumably because of the low light levels.

Drinks in Baffle Haus.

Cardiff Bay

This was Bert’s monthly midweek walk. We parked near the Oyster Catcher in Penarth Marina and walked across the river Ely, through the white-water centre where ambulance staff were training, towards the Hamadryad and the nature reserve before stopping at Coffee Mania in the Bay for coffee/tea. Then back across the barrage to Penarth marina. It was freezing cold, and we certainly felt the cutting wind as we walked across the barrage but all of us were glad we had turned up and enjoyed the chat.

The Hamadryad was a seaman’s hospital and later a psychiatric hospital in Cardiff docklands. Originally it was HMS Royal Hamadryad a hospital ship provided for seamen and situated on a piece of waste ground, known as Rat Island, and donated by the Marquis of Bute. A free hospital, it was funded by a levy on shipping at Cardiff Docks.

Walk 5 miles easy (i.e. flat and on firm surfaces throughout)

Taff Ely Ridgeway Walk 7m

Lastly, but by no means least, at the end of January, on a sunny morning with temperatures below freezing but rising we walked near the wind turbines. At the side of the paths, we saw several examples of ‘hair ice’. This is a rare type of ice formation where the presence of a particular fungus in rotting wood produces thin strands of ice which resemble hair. Conditions for the formation of this ice are specific; to form moist rotting wood from a broadleaf tree in the presence of moist air and a temperature below 0oC . How lucky were we to see it – It was beautiful

 

Report from the Hub March 2025

WENVOE COMMUNITY HUB

Tel: 02920 594176 – during opening hours or wenvoelibrary@outlook.com

Like and follow us on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/WenvoeCommunityLibrary

For general enquiries you can email us at wenvoelibrary@outlook.com

Report from the Hub

March 2025

For general enquiries you can email us at wenvoelibrary@outlook.com. Like and follow us and keep up with news and events on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/WenvoeCommunityLibrary

 

Latest news – new books arriving shortly!

Report from the Hub

  • Along with the other Vale libraries and Community Libraries, our Hub has been designated a warm space, so come on in for a warm, coffee and a chat.
  • Our monthly leaflets are available in the Hub for a full monthly list of activities.
  • Reminder: The Library no longer takes second hand books or magazines due to lack of space. At the time of print, the British Heart Foundation are also not taking second hand books.
  • Please remember, that with increasing reliance on technology, we are happy to assist with accessing information on-line. Help is also available from Citizens Advice, Age UK and One Stop Shop.

 

Future Activities

  • Cuppa with a Coppa – will meet on a Wednesday March 2025 at 2 pm in the Hub.
  • Wellbeing Group – will meet on a Friday in March 2025 between 2 pm and 3 pm in the Hub.
  • Our talk on 28 March will be given by Ross Thomas. The subject being King Charles I – Martyr or Traitor? The road to the scaffold. Tickets are available at the Reception desk in the Library.

 

Very Early Notice

Hay Festival 2025 dates: 22 May – 1 June 2025

Programmes have been sent for so will be available in the Library for perusal. Keep watching for further information in What’s On.

 

Like and follow us and keep up with news and events on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/WenvoeCommunityLibrary

 

Embracing Locally Driven Initiatives

WENVOE FORUM

Considering Tomorrow Today

Embracing Locally Driven Initiatives

Actions speak louder than words

The world is changing and we must change too. Environmental change is set to make Earth uninhabitable by humans. Globally, democracy is disappearing, big business and economic markets grab power and communities around the world are recognizing the need to take action to preserve our shared future. Wenvoe Forum is committed to exploring and encouraging action here in Wenvoe that can pave the way toward a more resilient tomorrow. By embracing locally driven initiatives, communities (and that means us!) can not only reduce their ecological footprint but also foster social and economic well-being.

Thirty years ago sustainability was all about fish stocks and the Amazon rainforest. Now it goes far beyond environmental conservation – it’s a holistic approach that integrates economic viability, social equity, environmental stewardship and respect and care for each other. At the community level, sustainable practices are essential for:

  • Resource Conservation: Minimizing waste and optimizing the use of local resources.
  • Resilience: Enhancing the ability to withstand and recover from environmental and economic challenges.
  • Quality of Life: Promoting healthy living conditions, economic opportunities, and community well-being.

The journey toward a sustainable future is a shared endeavour, and every community has the power to drive meaningful change. Through education, collaboration, and proactive planning, we can create resilient communities that not only survive but thrive in the face of future challenges, but it requires action. Each community needs to secure renewable energy, food and water security and waste management and needs to take responsibility for its own resource management.

At a basic level, here are just a few easy, everyday actions we can take:

  • Start gardening: Even a small plot can help grow local produce, reduce food miles. Working on a community allotment creates a space for neighbours to connect.
  • Improve waste management practices: Reduce consumption, reuse or repurpose what might have been waste and finally recycle.
  • Organize Local Clean-Ups: Building practices to keep public spaces tidy and build community pride.
  • Adopt saving tips and tell your friends: like switching to LED bulbs, turning off unused appliances, or organizing an energy-saving challenge.
  • Encourage Carpooling or Bike Rides: Fostering a culture of sharing rides or using bikes to reduce carbon emissions and it might lead to reducing consumption by sharing tools and equipment
  • Set Up Rainwater Collection: Collecting rainwater to reduce water waste and lower utility bills.

Simple measures, community projects and small changes can serve as a starting point and lead to big impacts over time. It is not just about environmental preservation – it’s about being a part of a vibrant, interconnected community that values innovation and cooperation now and will impact on the well-being of our children and grandchildren and future generations and is a good place to live now and in the challenging years to come.

At the Tuckers’ Plant Sale.

Wenvoe Forum members continue to look at ideas for the re-use / re-purposing of various resources. To this end, we’re having a ‘donations/fund-raising’ table @ Glenys & Mike Tucker’s forthcoming VE80 plant sale on Saturday May 10th – in support of the Wenvoe Wildlife Group, and other local charities.

If you’d like to donate any surplus sporting goods, equipment (no clothing, thanks), garden tools, gardening equipment or plant pots etc. (in useable condition) that you no longer use, then we would be pleased to receive them. You can drop off any items between 5th and 10th May with Forum member Gareth Stone (gareth.stone1@btinternet.com) or just bring them along on the day.

Don’t forget that all year round a couple of existing Wenvoe Facebook pages support the idea of reusing existing resources – the Wenvoe Recycling & Reuse Group @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/18704 75136410648 and the Wenvoe Buy and Sell pages, @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/30194691648 39088.

Gwenfo.Forum@gmail.com

Wenvoe Hop Growers

We now have 13 members in the group growing hops in Wenvoe that we harvest together and contribute to the Cardiff Community Hop Growers. Last year most of us had a good crop and the resulting brew Taff Temptress, by Pipes Brewery, Pontcanna was first class and much enjoyed.

However, our main aim has always been to brew a Wenvoe ale one day. We need far more hops, and so far more hop growers, if we are to succeed. One of our newest members has an allotment and has lined up an area for planting hops, so who knows that day may not be so very far in the future.

It’s a good time now to plant the hop rhizomes, or it is possible to grow from seed. The hop vines take a while to fully develop; the first year they are busy building a root network. If you have space to train them upwards, they can be very tall but you can also grow them along the fence and there are dwarf varieties like Prima Donna. Even before they produce a harvest they are quite attractive plants.

Sian Jones looks after the hop growers and if you would like to join in, please contact Sian via e-mail : gwenfo.forum@gmail.com

A Repair Café – what’s that?

Forum member Ken Hansen finds out

The idea behind repair café’s is to reduce the number of appliances, tools and such like that get thrown away and replaced because they are not working and the owner did not know how to mend them. The owner brings them to a place where they can be repaired and has a coffee and a cake while they wait.

It sounded like a brilliant idea but then the good folk that run the Llantwit Major café told me about all that happens behind the scenes; the legal position, insurance, health and safety, volunteer managements and so on, my heart sank. But quickly it lifted again as they also told me about Repair Café Wales, an umbrella organisation that supports and guides those interested in establishing and running a café.

RepairCafeWales.org lists the following advantages to collaborating with them:

  • Access to effective start-up, running processes and procedures
  • Support with start-up funding for marketing materials and equipment
  • Help to identify volunteers
  • Support with promotion, social media and printing
  • A presence on our website with a dedicated page for your repair café

and more. It seemed that a lot of help was available.

Then I saw Martin Thomas’s post on the Facebook page, another like minded resident of Wenvoe. I contacted him and now together we will explore the idea of a Wenvoe Repair café further. If you want to join us e-mail Gwenfo.Forum@ gmail.com marked FAO Ken. “Handy” people will be very welcome.

—————————————

To join our Facebook group, please ‘friend up’ with the Gwen Fo account @ https://www.facebook.com/gwen.fo.1 and then jon the Wenvoe Forum @ https://www.facebook.com/ groups/635369267864402

Some further information and updates, blog site https:// wenvoeforum.wordpress.com/. Any Wenvoe community member is welcome to join the Forum meetings, via Zoom, which are normally held 19.00 on the second Thursday of each month. E-mail gwenfo.forum@gmail.com if you wish to join

 

 

.

To join our Facebook group, please ‘friend up’ with the GwenFo account @ https://www.facebook.com/gwen.fo.1 and then jon the Wenvoe Forum @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/635369267864402

Some further information and updates, blog site https://wenvoeforum.wordpress.com/. Any Wenvoe community member is welcome to join the Forum meetings, via Zoom, which are normally held 19.00 on the second Thursday of each month. E-mail gwen-fo.forum@gmail.com if you wish to join

Two books Reviewed

OFF THE SHELF

“Holding the Line” by Barbara Kingsolver

In 1983, Barbara Kingsolver, had a job as a scientific writer but she spent her weekends as a freelance journalist covering the Phelps Dodge Miners’ strike in Arizona. This book tells the story of how miners’ wives took up the mantle of their labourer husbands and held an 18-month picket line for a union contract that never materialized. Kingsolver follows this timeline through the eye-witness accounts of the women from Arizona. It’s a verbatim report from many tapes, and the group often felt it was lengthy and repetitive. However, what we did feel was immensely gripping, was the powerful strength of the women who continued to battle for a fair and just cause. The relentless belief, and energy of the Miners Women Auxiliary is a testament to how commitment can outwit and grind down the giants, who tried to break the morale of the strikers through violent and sometime illegal methods. The book shows how strong women changed the patterns of life by making small steps and it was acknowledged that this wasn’t an easy road to take, with often a high price to pay in terms of marriage relationships and family breakups. Although it was hard to keep track of the threads of the research there was no doubt that the endless efforts of these women led to major changes for the rights of women. As individuals began to speak out and ‘hold court’ in a world which was dominated by the male voice, they earnt a respect which travelled internationally creating a world arena for women to continue to speak out against injustices. It is a book which includes many characters and acronyms which can be confusing, but the direct factual approach leaves the reader with the sense of awe that this was an immense period in world history for feminism.

The group gave it as score of 8 out of 10.

Isobel Davies

“Golden Hill” by Francis Spufford

It is 1746 and a handsome young man arrives in New York wanting to cash a bank order for £1,000. The City is very much in its infancy and suspicious of the newcomer; who is he and why is he here. A fast-paced rollicking story with many highs and lows for the protagonist. It is full of twists, turns and wonderful descriptions. Extensive research obviously underpins this novel.

Opinion on this book was divided. Half of the group found it hard to get into because of the archaic language and at the start it seemed disjointed. The rest of us really enthused over the fun, adventures and eventual reveal.

We scored 7/10

Patricia Coulthard

Travelling ‘What’s On’

TRAVELLING ‘WHAT’S ON’

Twenty years ago we invited readers of the magazine to take their copy of What’s On on holidays with them and take a picture of it in its new surroundings. We wish to try the event once again. Please provide a picture with at least a brief description of its location; you personally, do not have to appear but a landmark or interesting view would be great. If there is a story behind the picture even better.

Last time, besides travelling around Britain, the magazine visited the States, Europe, Africa, Australia, Nepal, China etc. How far or strange a location can we get a copy to over the next twelve months or so?

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

1 2 3