Off Topic Local History

Was chatting away to my mother the other evening, regarding a Mansion in Skewen that always intrigued me when growing up as a kid in Skewen, as I fired a number of questions at her, she responded that all she ever new was that it was a care residence for mentally impaired young women, so I decided to do some research on the house known as 'Drumau House', the first thing that came up was that it is now a privately run 'Care Home', she added that she did work there for two weeks one year, when it came under the control of Cefn-Coed hospital, my mother was one of a few secretaries to consultants at Cefn-coed typing out the reports etc.

To dig deeper I needed to do some search through the old news papers of Wales archive on line, which threw up some really interesting things. Firstly the house was built by a man named John Birch Paddon in 1884. He was a Civil Engineer from Ilfracombe, who settled in Skewen. South Wales was quite an Industrial center back then, and it's why in brought Paddon to Wales, he was responsible for many inventions and tooling designs in the Gas industry, that are still used today. He had 7 servants at the house including his own Coachman, he was also a director of a number of industrial companys including The London Gas & Cork Co. He eventually became a local Justice of the Peace, some of his children emigrated to different parts of Affrica, including South Africa where they still reside.

John Birch Paddon was responsible for the building of our village St Johns Church, so that the mining comunity of Skewen wouldn't have to make the journey to Llansamlet, the mother church. The Paddon family were not worshippers at St Johns, but at St Matthews Church, Dyffryn. Where John Birch Paddon is buried, and probably other family members also. He Died in 1910

JOHN BIRCH PADDON, born on the 27th May, 1825, at Ilfracombe, died at Neath, Glamorgan, on the 7th October,1910. Adopting gas engineering, he formed the firm of Paddon and Ford to work his various patents for improvements in gas meters, governors and other apparatus.

His designs for scrubbers, Gas- holders and wind-ties are now widely used. In 1860 he was appointed Engineer and Manager of the Brighton and Hove Gas Co, becoming director in 1886 and chairmanin 1900. He was a director of the Gas Light and Coke Company, chairman of several other undertakings, and Justice of the Peace for Glamorgan. He designed and constructed gas works at Portslade, Southampton, Lewes and Winchester, acting as Consulting Engineer to these and other gas and water companies for many years.

Mr. Paddon was elected an Associate of The Institution on the 3rd December 1861, and was transferred to the class of Members on the 21st November, 1871.

Drummau house is a large property built on the side of Drummau mountain, in Coedfranc, overlooking Neath, and Swansea Bay. In it's later years it became a home for young girls in the area, and when I was young (1960's), if I had been a naughty boy, my mother would threaten to pack me off to Drummau house.

Google search "Welshnewspapers on line" and search for "Drymma House" will bring up a long standing saga refered to as the 'Great Welsh will suit' which documented the claim in Chancery regarding estates including Drymma House and £3 Million in chancery.

It just goes to show what history there is locally, and how often we walk by not knowing, what I have penned here is by no means thorough, but just some of the story of this great house.




Link: https://www.neuadd-drymmau.co.uk

Link: http://newspapers.library.wales/view/3267550/3267554/88/Welsh will suit

 

It’s been an old folks care home for at least 30 years ,that’s all I know afraid

 

John Birch Paddon.,.....Birchgrove

 

I don't know if it's because we share a birth year Phil but I also remember my mother also mentioning Drummau house in some veiled threats when I was overstepping the mark as probably a 7 year old

 

There's more

In November last year work started at Shoreham Port building a large, state-of-the-art grain storage and handling facility for Shoreham Silo Services. The development is well underway and making excellent progress and recently local contractor for the works, Adenstar made a fascinating discovery. Whilst working on the ground works for the site and excavating to remove obstructions to the driven reinforced concrete piles Adenstar uncovered a historic artefact dating back to the beginning of last century. The stone carving was found abandoned, covering a disused chamber that formed part of the former Portslade gasworks site.
Shoreham Port have researched the subject of the carving and discovered that it was created in memory of John Birch Paddon (1825-1910). John formed the firm of Paddon and Ford to work his various patents for improvements in gas-meters, governors and other apparatus. His designs for scrubbers, gasholders and wind-ties are now widely used. In 1860 he was appointed Engineer and Manager of the Brighton and Hove Gas Company, becoming director in 1886 and chairman in 1900. He designed and constructed gasworks at Portslade, Southampton, Lewes and Winchester, acting as Consulting Engineer to these and other gas and water companies for many years. He was a director of the Gas Light and Coke Company, chairman of several other undertakings, and Justice of the Peace for Glamorgan. Mr. Paddon was elected an Associate of The Institution of Civil Engineers on the 3rd December,1861, and was transferred to the class of Members on the 21st November, 1871.
Shoreham Port are hoping to restore the artefact and display it in an area visible to the public. Deputy Port Engineer, Brian Rousell, said “we knew there was going to be a legacy of the old gasworks in this area and were expecting obstructions to the piling, but this is a great piece of local history that honours the important work of one of my predecessors at the Institution of Civil Engineers. I would like to think I could leave a similar mark on the Port at the end of a long and distinguished career!”

 

Scotts Pit or the Ivy house dependant on how old you are is another fascinating part of local history , as a kid we used to use it a meeting place and before the ivy was removed used to use it to climb to the highest window opening and perch like crows .Across the road was the "white house mansion " ,which always an attraction and a dare to see who was brave enough to walk up the long drive and see if anyone would come out ( at the time someone did live there but I couldn't say who nor wanted to get close enough to find out ).

http://birchgrove.btck.co.uk/Birchgrove History/ScottsPit

 

Phil - you will remember the Headmaster of Cordffranc Boys School (Gwyn Davies). I seem to recall that he and his wife used to have a resident from Drymmau House help clean their house.

 

Ah, the good old days when the rich employed small armies of servants, gardeners, and coachmen.

 

Well actually I’m not sure that Gwyn fell into that ‘rich’ category.

 

I was very heavily involved with the Mentally Handicapped of Swansea, most of whom lived in lodgings. The people they lived with were being well paid by the Local Authorities, and meant to care for them. Hmmm.

What they used to do was to hire out their charges as cleaners to local dignitaries. I won't name names. I tried exposing the scam, but was shut down.

The M.H. were so cruelly exploited, it still makes me sick.

 

at least they were employed ,

 

I was wondering who would trot out that predictable response. Well done.

 

Well weren't they , no welfare state then not to the extent we see these days , tax credits and the like, pish

 

Paid peanuts, worked their fingers to the bone, permanently on call, etc. A great job, whilst his lordship would spend more on his after dinner cigar than he would on a month's wages for his staff. Borderline slavery.

 

A bit like working in Amazon then

 

I'm pretty sure the workers I am referring to would jump at the chance of working for Amazon.

 

One thing that struck me when going through all these old papers was the adverts for 'Servants' and the wages, how times have changed though from those days of slavery, I'm sure the Tory Scum and ruling class would love to get back there, and turn the clock back....................

 

Trying to find out the history of the original Plough And Harrow pub in Brynhyfryd Swansea.
Believe it was across the road,by the barbers shop,from the pub now.Next to the barbers is a house with steps to the front door.Folk say this was the pub.Others say the pub was the house plus the barbers plus what was the TV repair shop.The latter being bomb damaged in WW2.
Anyone point me in the direction please of finding the history info?
Thanks 55..

 

Not if they had more than two brain cells they wouldn't

 

I'm certainly not condoning the so called upper classes or any class as it happens . But where did the wealth emanate from, yes there is /was too much inherited wealth but a lot of so called upper class entrepreneurs were born of lowly stock ( fug me I starting to sound like them).
This is today not 100 years ago but there are comparisons to be made between the decades , some good some bad (I'd say more bad) and imo considering the so called progression of intelligence and opportunities to better oneself then how come there's ****ing food banks and couples working two jobs just to survive .That's not done to some Tory toff but todays so called politicians of which I wouldn't piss on a especially the ones we have " representing" us today.