Victor if I had a pint in just 20 of them I'd be doing ok , but yes I must admit to having staggered out of a few in my younger days , not so these days.
A bit of local history for you Victor regarding the Rebecca riot's, at the lights as you come into Pontardulais from Hendy near the doctors surgery there's a memorial stone marking the spot of a toll gate which was attacked and damaged in the Rebecca Riots in 1843. Three men were sent to Australia for their involvement. The Bolgoed tollgate in Pontardddulais was also attacked that year. "The Rebecca Riots occurred across South-west Wales from 1839 until 1843. Tollgates were attacked as physical symbols of various grievances felt by the rural poor. The tollgate here was attacked on the night of 6 September 1843. The authorities had been tipped off. Captain Charles Frederick Napier, chief constable of Glamorganshire, arrived in Pontarddulais with seven other policemen and three magistrates. They travelled across fields to avoid being seen. There were more than 100 rioters, mostly on horseback. Many had blackened faces and wore women’s clothes. Some wore their coats inside out. They used saws and hammers to smash the gate and side rails, and were starting to destroy the tollhouse when Captain Napier ordered them to stop. After clashes involving guns and cutlasses, several rioters were arrested. Three of them were later sentenced to transportation to Australia. One, David Jones, had sustained gunshot and cutlass wounds in the riot and died soon after arriving in Australia. Jack Hughes married and raised children there. He was suspected of leading the protest and had attempted to shoot Captain Napier during the disturbance. The Bolgoed gate was on the opposite side of Pontarddulais, near the Fountain Inn heading towards Pontlliw and in July 1843 it was destroyed by a crowd of about 200 men, led by a “Rebecca” on horseback. The ringleaders’ names were later given to police by a John Jones of Llangyfelach. He may have been motivated by a desire to marry farmer’s daughter Elizabeth Davies, who was in love with one of the rioters, Daniel Lewis. He lost his nerve and fled to America before the ringleaders were tried. They were acquitted, since there was no prosecution witness available, and Daniel eventually married Elizabeth. One of their grandchildren was the broadcaster Wynford Vaughan Thomas, famed as a BBC war reporter in the Second World War."
Thanks Matthew. I love this sort of stuff. Not me breaking my collar bone falling off a horse in gendross type sh1te but proper historical stuff. For fear of sounding like kenickie... “tell me more, tell me more” (especially Gendross/Fforestfach/Penlan/treboeth/Ravenhill/Blaenymaes if you have it)
Gendros rools ok! Quade Rodericks C&A Continental Stores What was the name of the tobacconists in Wind Street? I can't remember.
Boundy, ... I found your post of the Rebecca riots very informative and interesting, as I was born near to the Bolgoed road gate, on the side of the Goppa mountain. .. My local was the Fountain Inn, which was more of a local pub at that time, The Miners of Graig Merthyr colliery (Cori) were regulars there then. My Father, and his Brother were both killed in Cori, and only a year apart. Dylan Thomas would call there now and again to talk to the Miners, and he would talk to people from the steel industry in pub further down the road like the Farmers Arms. At one time all traffic from Swansea and the East wanting to get Llanelli and the West had to cross over the bridge at Pontarddulais, as no Loughor bridge had been built then. .......... when the crossing in Loughor was eventually built, resulted in a huge loss of trade in Pontarddulais. Just a light hearted true story to finish. ....... As most people know there is a great rivalry between Bont and Henry, ...... Well not so many years ago the Milkman, who delivered milk to Bont, and Hendy people played out half for the Bont team on this day against the Hendy. There was an up and under from the Henry team, and waiting for it with outstretched arms was the Milkman from Bont. ........ the Hendy out half ran straight into him, and he broke his own jaw. ...... The result,......All Hendy people stopped buying milk from him... THIS IS, A TRUE STORY.
Victor I remember you telling a few tales about the Bont and your losses of which I imagine the memories as painful now as they were then. Graig Merthyr Collier was when it first opened called Birch Rock until 1903 and closed as I'm sure you well know in 1978. I used to work on occasion on the common above the valley were the two grid power lines from Pembroke run and although there's nothing left of the colliery you can still see small indications of its existence.
Bubbles With the building of the Swansea Railway Station (1850), then the extended line from Landore to Carmarthen (1852). This would have brought in men and their families to live and work. One of the first mines was the Mynydd Newydd Colliery founded by Vivian & Company in 1843 with many others to follow. Towards the end of WWII the idea of Fforestfach Industrial Estate was born, and soon companies and new businesses created jobs to revitalise the area and one major employer was Mettoy who opened in 1949 and at its peak employed nearly 4.000 ( not even Tata in Port Talbot employs those sorts of numbers now) and it expanded building a warehouse in Skewen . In 1981 it become a ltd company but the losses it was incurring were unsustainable and 1991 the factory in Swansea closed . On a side note in Llansamlet in the late 60's there was a road (Church Road which was really a dead end leading to waste land but now a select housing estate) and Mettoy used to dump the imperfect toys there , many time at dinner break we would mosey on down to see what we could find ,most were damaged beyond reasonable use but on the odd occasion we find something more that decent to play with.and to swop . One memory is finding a batmobile complete with the firing rockets, probably worth fortune now.