Gardening, Valleys Style

We often see images of vast flat landscapes, or gently rolling hills in the welsh countryside. We even see steep valleys and beautiful hills. But not everyone appreciates the problems of trying to work a plot on the steep hillsides of a welsh valley.  These pictures were taken in the Ebbw Valley. Unfortunately, not many people about to ask their experiences.

Anice gentle slope you may think...

Okay, perhaps it is a little steep...

Steeper

Steepest !

My camera sometimes has difficulty in revealing the steepness of our welsh slopes. I believe, this time, it has succeeded.

Canada Goose Chase, Bryn Bach Park, South Wales

Such a beautiful setting for this annual event.

Its not often we get to witness the annual Canada Goose Chase. Crowds gather on the pathway surrounding the lake, some with children in pushchairs, youngsters on scooters, couples holding hands, all waiting.

Always held at the height of summer, although not always well advertised beforehand, the geese congregate to compete to be the first past the finishing post...

Waiting to register and receive their entry number.

The Starter sits patiently in position, waiting for the competitors.

Jostling for position they disappear along the lake.



  

THEY'RE  OFF !

Exhausted but excited they scramble up the slipway to reach the Finish.

The Winner takes a bow.

Silent Valley, Cwm, South Wales

As you approach along a steep incline of terraced Victorian houses there is nothing to hint at what is just around the corner.

The car park is a wonderful hay meadow full of wild flowers. You immediately feel you are away from the world. Far from "Silent" there are song birds and the pleasant rush of the river. As our ears become accustomed to listening, there is a persistent cuckoo. There seem to be more about this year.

Follow the path and you enter woodland. In June the beech trees have just developed their fresh green leaves, but we must return in autumn to see their golden splendour.  The path, as with most welsh walks, goes up the hillside.  The occasional bluebell is visible now, so hopefully in a few years they will spread and should become quite a show in themselves.

As the pathway becomes steeper the landscape opens out to the mountain. Now there are less birds, and in the distance you can hear the clanking of machinery and lorries from the mountain top tip.

On site signage is poor with no indication of distances along the waymarked routes.  I, of course, have mislaid my leaflet which would have indicated where to go and what to see.

http://www.gwentwildlife.org/reserves/silent-valley-local-nature-reserve-sssi

Packhorse Bridge, Aberbeeg, South Wales

Its amazing the information you find when you are in the process of looking for something else. All this information on the packhorse bridge at Aberbeeg was logged on the following geocaching site. From the reviews, the bridge is probably harder to find than the cache hidden close to it.

Have been looking for information on this fascinating little bridge for quite a while...

http://www.geocaching.com/geocache

Although covered with a concrete surface and a modern handrail and fence, the Aberbeeg Bridge is a well-preserved example of a 17th century packhorse bridge and comprises single-span, stone-built arch some 10.5m long, 2.2m wide.

The earliest known record of the bridge is found in a survey of the boundaries and customs of the manor of Wentsland and Bryngwyn (of which the parish of Llanhilleth formed a part) dated 1659: 

“a river there called Eboth which said Brook and River are the mears Between the parish of Lanhilleth and parish of Mynuthusloin and so upward . . . to a place called Cymmarddwy Eboyth which is the meeting of two Rivers of that name in which place are the meeting of  Three parishes that is to say Lanhilleth, Aberustruth and Mynuthusloin and so along the river called Eboyth vychan to the middle of a bridge there called Pont y Cymmar and from thence as the Highway leadeth towards the parish Church of Lanhilleth . . .”(Bradney, p. 465)

At this time, the bridge was known as “Pont y Cymmer” (“the bridge at the confluence of two rivers”).  In this case, the confluence was that of the rivers Ebwy Fawr and Ebwy Fach that formed the boundary between the parishes of Aberystruth and Llanhilleth.  By 1775, it was known as Llanhilleth Bridge and the Minute and Account Book of the parish of Aberystruth (GRO D.739 Vol I) records repairs carried out in that year by a John Watkins at a cost of 12 shillings, one penny and ha’pence!  In 1779, Edmund Jones recorded that there were ten stone bridges in the parish of Aberystruth (Jones, p. 56).  Aberbeeg Bridge is the sole survivor.

Local tradition maintains that John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, preached at the bridge.  However, despite the fact that John Wesley did visit the parish in April 1740 during his second visit to Wales, there is no mention of the place in either his Diary or Journal.  On Tuesday, April 8th, in the company of Howell Harris, he travelled from Pontypool to Llanhilleth and preached there on the text “I know that in me dwelleth no good thing”.  He stayed overnight and, the next morning, read prayers at St. Illtyd’s church before preaching on “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely”.  He then travelled on to Cardiff (Williams,
pp. 6-7).

The nearby Ebbw Fach Trail from Brynmawr to Llanhilleth (the old railway line)

By 1828, the Monmouthshire Tramroad, which ran from Nantyglo Ironworks to Newport, ran past the bridge on the east bank of Ebwy Fach (GRO D.397.390).  The 1843 tithe map for the parish of Llanhilleth (GRO D.1163) shows that by this time William Webb had already established his brewery and public house near the eastern end of the bridge.

A Bridge to the Past

Images from a past world



In Six Bells, if you walk through the tunnel beneath the cycle path, which was the old railway line, and then up a short steep hill you come to another bridge where you can walk under the busy Aberbeeg to Abertillery road.











A few years ago the community created a series of images which are mounted on the walls beneath this bridge. They reflect life when 'coal was king,' when the community felt its future would lie securely in coal, hill farming and smallholdings.


Now the community has had to learn to diversify and look for employment in a few local factories, or perhaps commuting to the cities of Newport and Cardiff or the relatively new town of Cwmbran.

The Coach & Horses pub - now Ty Ebbw Fach Centre

I understand that one of the original pit wheels from Six Bells is sited in the grounds of Abertillery Comprehensive School. 

The local bus depot was located nearby at Warm Turn, a strange name which, no doubt has a history of its own. The owner had once been a miner but saw a need for transport in the valleys and forms a company, employing his sons as well as local people.

International Orienteering Festival in South Wales

18-21 April 2014

According to the South Wales Argus 4,000 people are set to attend the JK Festival of Orienteering. This event will attract top orienteers from across the UK and Europe as well as families who enjoy the sport as an activity for all ages. Hosted by British Orienteering in conjunction with the Welsh Orienteering Association, the event will include four different distances contested over four days.

Swansea will host the first event on Good Friday,
then Easter Sunday Llangynidr Common, north of Trefil, Tredegar sees the long distance event.
Easter Monday a relay race for clubs from across the country will take place a Pwll Du, Blaenavon.

For more information visit:


www.thejk.org.uk

Was Six Bells linked to Titanic?

After the tragedy of Titanic sinking in 1912, the only item allowed to be retrieved from the site was coal. The ship had been fuelled with steam coal. Six Bells Colliery was renowned for its quality steam coal.

Coal

I'm not recommending this, but online you can purchase a medal with a few grains of coal on one side and an image of Titanic on the other. 

The certificate of authenticity provided by these sites shows Six Bells as the source of the coal.

More coal

An excellent story, but...

Research shows coal from the valleys was taken to the ports of Newport and Cardiff by railway, and piled in heaps on the dockside. It was then removed from these heaps and loaded onto steam ships as fuel or cargo (or both). As the heaps would consist of coal from many coal mines, it would be difficult to identify the exact source of the coal.

Even more coal

Also, an online source indicates that a coal strike around the time of the launch of Titanic in 1912, meant there was actually a coal shortage.




To ensure the launch happened as planned, coal was taken from sister ships and loaded onto Titanic. This would appear to make it even harder to identify the source of the coal on Titanic when it sank.






As for me, I like the idea of it being from Six Bells, but I wouldn't put my shirt on it.

Six Bells Colliery was sunk by John Lancaster in 1891 with a team of highly skilled "sinkers" from Somerset. Unfortunately, four men fell to their death during the sinking of the two shafts. It was then known as the Arrael Griffin. The pit closed in 1988 and the site landscaped at the end of the 1990's. The colliery site has reverted back to its original name, and is now known as Parc Arrael Griffin.

On 28 June 1960 an explosion occurred underground killing 45 men. The Guardian memorial was erected by the community in 2010 to commemorate this disaster. The sculpture stands 20 metres high and its history is told in the Heritage Room, located in Ty Ebbw Fach, previously the Coach & Horses Pub which dates back to the 1800's.

www.tyebbwfach.co.uk

www.guardianwales.info

www.pinterest.co.uk/margaretgurney/guardian-six-bells/

Nantyglo Round Towers

View from the nearby lane

History has left us many strange monuments and follies, but in the small town of Nantyglo, near Brynmawr sits two aging stone towers.  The towers are located on privateland at Roundhouse Farm and can only be viewed from the nearby bridlepath.  They were constructed by the Bailey family to protect them and their property in case of a workers' uprising, which never happened.

The towers were never used in anger, but are now protected by a large, barking farm dog.

Second of the towers in greater disrepair

Further along, but harder to find, are the remains of the families mansion.

The site below provides information on this site in far more detail.

Nantyglo Heritage Trail
 

Do you remember the Garden Festival Wales, Blaenau Gwent

In 1992 the Ebbw Vale Garden Festival Wales was opened.  

Located near the Brecon Beacons National Park with easy access from both the M4 and the A465 "Heads of the Valleys" roads it drew over two million visitors during the five months it was open.

The site was originally part of the Iron & Steel Works and since the festival has become home to1000 houses, a fishing lake, Festival Church, an owl sanctuary, woodlands and a shopping centre.

Your Memories are required

for a new 

Exhibition of Memories!!

Blaenau Gwent Borough Council are planning an exhibition of memories in 2012.
  
They have joined forced with 3VTV to make a series of films about the festival.  One of these films will be devoted to your personal memories.

You can complete a survey form at www.blaenau-gwent.gov.uk with your experiences, or forward video footage of the festival that may be sitting in a drawer.

For more information call 01495 355937.

Images included in this article were designed by Penknife Ltd., Cardiff for the original Garden Festival leaflet.


This website gives the political history behind the 1992 Garden Festival at Ebbw Vale:
http://www.gardenfestivalwales.co.uk/index.php?p=before