Dre-fach Felindre and the Woollen Industry 20 February 2020 A New Way of Life The woollen mill factories produced shirts, underwear and blankets. These proved particularly popular with the workers of the south Wales coalfields. By the 1890s there were over 250 woollen factories in west Wales with 23 in Dre-fach Felindre and the surrounding area. The growth of woollen mills and factories gave birth to a new way of life. The woollen mills remained the largest employer in the area until the 1980s. “Since the inhabitants of the village of Dre-fach Felindre relied entirely on industry rather than agriculture, their outlook became much more akin to inhabitants of the industrial valleys of South Wales, with whom they had constant trading contracts, than of their agricultural neighbours” J. Geraint Jenkins, Welsh Craft: Dre-fach Felindre and the Woollen Industry (2005) Looking down to Ty-Cornel Felindre, c.1920 The village of Felindre Land of song Bands and choirs became an important part of life in Dre-fach Felindre. As the mills flourished the local population grew. Workers formed choirs and bands. Some, like the celebrated Silver Band led by Albert Evans, won many titles. Many competed in annual local and national competitions, known as Eisteddfodau. The Bargoed Teifi Mixed Choral Society was particularly successful, taking first prize at the Carmarthen National Eisteddfod in 1911. The choir received a hero’s welcome when they returned to Dre-fach Felindre. Local eisteddfodau were held in many villages throughout Wales. Dre-fach Felindre’s Eisteddfod was no small event. In 1897 the choir competition, for example, was `for choirs numbering no less than 100 voices`! Dyffryn Bargod Temperance band, 1909 Bargod Teifi Choir, 1922 Built on faith Churches and chapels were an important focus for the community. Many new chapels were built in the industrial areas of Wales to accommodate the growing population. Bethel Chapel in Dre-fach was expanded in 1840 to meet the needs of the burgeoning population. The Lewis family, owners of Cambrian Mills, were deacons in Bethel Chapel. The gas engine at Cambrian Mills provided the electricity for the Chapel! Wealthy mill owners often invested money in their places of worship. Religion was viewed by some as a means of maintaining a disciplined workforce. Social prestige was never too far away; the choice and size of some gravestones reflected a person’s standing and income. This can clearly be seen in St Barnabas graveyard. Penboyr Church Entertainment Shift patterns provided opportunities for shared leisure time. The mill workers often formed sports teams. At Dre-fach Felindre these included the Bargoed Rangers football team and a women’s football team. In 1922 the Red Dragon Hall was built in Dre-fach Felindre. Similar to the Workingmen’s Institutes of the South Wales valleys, it provided a focus for the village’s social life. The hall was used for dances, plays, concerts, billiards and card games. Johnny Lewis of Cambrian Mills donated £8,000 to building a new Red Dragon hall in 1964. The land on which the local park, Parc Puw , is now situated was also donated to the people of Dre-fach Felindre by Johnny Lewis. Bargod Rangers First League Champions after the Second World War Drefach Felindre hockey team, 1930-31 Carnival queen, c.1950s Shops and local business Dre-fach Felindre became a bustling village with a variety of outlets to meet the needs of the growing population. At one time the village had three pubs, a shoe shop, butter making business, blacksmith, a tailor’s shop and a general stores. These businesses were in many ways dependent upon the success of the woollen industry. The decline of the woollen mills after the First World War left many unemployed and forced some families to leave the area in search of work. John Jones Cabinet Maker, Gwalia House, Felindre, 1916 William Hindes, Felindre, 1920 Strikes and social unrest The 1880s saw the growth of unions with calls to improve working conditions. Factory workers in Dre-fach Felindre organised a strike in 1889 over poor pay. The strike lasted for seventeen weeks. After the strike the Carmarthen Journal, a local newspaper, suggested ways of developing better working relationships between owner and worker. The Journal encouraged the mill owners to invest in their workers’ education and support the building of a reading room. In 1890 a Reading Room was completed. 520 men and women weavers, from the parishes of Llangeler and Penboyr, formed a Labour Union in 1900. Dyffryn Woollen Mill staff, c.1890 Handloom and spinning, c.1870 Conflict The uniforms of the soldiers were made of flannel during the First World War. The factory mills at Dre-fach Felindre worked twenty four hours a day to keep up with the orders for flannel from the War Office. This new demand brought back prosperity to the area. During the Second World War American soldiers were stationed at Dre-fach Felindre. Some disused factories were used as barracks. The American GIs are remembered fondly by the community for giving gifts of chocolate to local children. A prisoner of war camp was established in nearby Henllan for Italian prisoners. They were sent to work in the local community. They turned one of the camp huts into a chapel and used dyes from the woollen mills to paint frescos on the walls. First World War soldiers from the parish Home Guard, Felindre, 1940-45 Mrs Nesta Morgan, 1912- 2003 Nesta Morgan worked at Cambrian Mills between 1927 and 1965. Nesta’s father was Mr John Davies, the first manager of Cambrian Mills. They lived next door to the mill at Clungwyn. He worked at Cambrian Mills for 58 years. Following his retirement he still helped out in the mill until he died just before his 100th birthday. When Cambrian Mills burnt down in 1919, Nesta was on holiday with her parents in Llanwrtyd Wells. It happened to be her 7th birthday. She remembers her parents receiving a telegram and their upset on hearing the news. When they returned to Dre-fach Felindre the apples on the apple tree in their garden had cooked in the heat of the fire. When Nesta worked at the mill there were around 80 people working there. She worked in the sewing room and carried out mostly piecework. By the age of 18 she was sewing aprons and belts and then spent 10 years in the cutting room and was put in charge of the sewing room. Nesta remembers annual day trips from Cambrian Mills for the employees. They travelled by bus to places such as Builth Wells, Llandrindod Wells and Neath. They had lunch out and these were happy occasions. Nesta Morgan and sewing room staff Cambrian Mills
Farewell to Dippy Ben Halford, 18 February 2020 Sadly, Dippy has now left National Museum Cardiff and continued on his tour to Rochdale. But he won't be forgotten! This video, made by Dippy volunteer Ben, says farewell to the super sauropod, and acknowledges the importance of the volunteers in making the exhibition such a success! Music credit : Cherry Blossom by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3496-cherry-blossom/License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/If you missed it, check out our other volunteer-made Dippy video!
Imagine a Castle: The problem of castles in Wales? 18 February 2020 The current display Imagine a Castle: Paintings from the National Gallery, London offers a great opportunity to see a selection of European Old Master paintings for the first time in Wales alongside Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales’s own collection.Comparing European and Welsh castles and the history and legends that come with them plays a vital part in defining Welsh cultural identity. Yet the history of castles in Wales is, for some, contentious. To find out why we need to go back to the thriteenth century. During this time, there were many disputes between Welsh princes and English kings. Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (last Prince of Wales) was involved in many disputes with Edward I, who launched a vicious campaign on the Welsh. This resulted in Llywelyn losing his power, land, titles and ultimately his life.Following this English victory, Edward began the most ambitious castle-building policy ever seen in Europe. His collection of fortresses became known as the infamous ‘iron ring’ and included those at Harlech, Caernarfon and Conwy. They were intended to intimidate the Welsh and subdue uprisings. Along with these English-built fortresses came new towns that were intentionally populated with English settlers. Welsh people were forbidden to trade or sometimes even enter into the towns’ walls. Yet, while these castles remind us of English power over the Welsh, the strength of their construction underlines that Edward was conscious of the formidable and ever-present threat of Welsh resistance. To acknowledge the histories of castles in Wales, we have included works from two Welsh artists, the ‘father of British landscape painting’, Richard Wilson, whose works offer an eighteenth-century perspective, and contemporary artist Peter Finnemore.Wilson’s work reflects his travels to Italy and the influence of the hugely important French landscape painter, Claude Lorrain, whose work can also be seen in this exhibition. Wilson painted many Welsh landscapes and is recognised as changing the face of British landscape painting. While his work encouraged artists to come to Wales, many of his later Welsh compositions, such as Caernarfon Castle (Edward’s main seat in Wales) remind us more of the warmer climates of Italy. As such, they also point to his inspirations outside of Wales.On the other hand, Finnemore’s photographic works, Lesson 56 – Wales and Ancient Ruler Worship (made especially for this display), look at castles in Wales from a more recent Welsh perspective. Finnemore’s work revolves around his Welsh-speaking grandmother’s school textbooks that were written from an English standpoint. Her childhood drawings in these books humorously undermine the didactic English text. Ancient Ruler Worship depicts Castell Carreg Cennen and looks back to World War II. It is taken from a still in Humphry Jennings’s propaganda film, Silent Village, that portrayed this castle as a site of Welsh resistance during an imagined Nazi invasion. The film demonstrated solidarity with Lidice, a mining village in the Czech Republic that was totally destroyed by the Nazis.Whatever we may feel about their history, many of Edward’s Welsh castles are now designated as UNESCO World Heritage sites. Edward left a unique and internationally important legacy of medieval military architecture that can only be seen in Wales.
Meet Ming the clam - a closer look at the oldest animal in the world Anna Holmes, 12 February 2020 What is Ming? Ocean Quahog shells - scientific name Arctica islandica Ming is an Ocean Quahog clam with the scientific name of Arctica islandica. It was nicknamed Ming when scientists discovered that it would have been born in 1499 during the Ming Dynasty of China. Ocean Quahogs grow up to 13 cm long and the oldest one fished off the coast of Iceland was 507 years old, making it the oldest non-colonial animal known to science.Where do Ocean Quahogs live? These are the siphons of the Ocean Quahog - the shell is buried in the sand. It uses the siphons to suck in water and feed off tiny particles in the water Ocean Quahogs belong to a big group of shells called ‘bivalves’. Most bivalves are filter feeders and suck in water through their tube-like siphons (you can see in the photo, the two holes surrounded by darker pink). While lying on the seabed or buried in the sand or mud bivalves can safely take food particles and oxygen from the water.Ming was collected from the deep waters around Iceland but we get this species in British and Irish waters too, although it does not live to such a great age here. The waters surrounding our islands are warmer than those surrounding Iceland, which is just south of the Arctic Circle. Warm waters hold less dissolved oxygen than cold water and so around the UK the Ocean Quahog needs to work harder to get oxygen and so has a faster metabolism. A faster metabolism means that it grows quicker but when animals have a fast metabolism they do not live as long. In the colder waters surrounding Iceland the Ocean Quahog has a slower metabolism and so grows slowly and may even live for longer than 507 – scientists just haven’t found an older one yet! How long do animals live? Geoduck lives in the coastal waters of western Canada and USA and can live to 168 years Some other bivalve molluscs can live for a long time as well. Giant clams can grow to 4 feet long (1.2 m) and live for around 100 years. They have tiny plant cells in their tissue that photosynthesize producing energy from the sun to give to the clam. This is why they reach such a large size – talk about plant power!The Geoduck, which lives in the coastal waters of western Canada and USA, can live for 164 years. It is known as Gooey duck and has large meaty siphons that are a popular food for humans!Come to our Insight gallery at Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Caerdydd - National Museum Cardiff to to find out more about how long animals can live for and much more... Giant clams live in the tropics and can reach over 4 feet long (1.2 m) and live for 100 years An introduction to Ming the clam can be found here:https://museum.wales/blog/2020-02-11/Meet-Ming-the-clam---the-oldest-animal-in-the-world/
St Fagans Self-guided Mindful Walk Joe Lewis, 11 February 2020 We have just launched our self-guided mindful tour here at St Fagans National Museum of History. The tour is through the gardens around St Fagans Castle. Our new free fold-out map of the gardens encourages visitors to take in their surroundings and explore their different senses.The idea of the tour came from my own experience of using mindfulness for my mental health. St Fagans Castle gardens are beautiful all year round with animals and plants to see whatever the time of year. It is also a place where you can usually find a bit of quiet even during our busier times. Mindfulness is about being in the moment and focusing on individual senses. It’s surprising how much passes us by when we’re focused on our busy lives. Just stopping and concentrating on what you can smell or hear can help in times of stress.Having the opportunity to walk around the gardens and take in the sights, sounds, smells and textures of nature has been very calming for me. My particular favourite is the Italian Garden in the summer with the running fountain. I feel incredibly lucky to work somewhere where I can do this and I wanted to share it with everyone who visits St Fagans.Last summer I created a draft plan of a map to test with staff and community groups. Even though it was a very basic map at the time the feedback was very positive:"Wir wedi mwynhau’r daith - diolch Joe! Braf cael cyfle i grwydro gerddi’r castell a mwynhau’r awyr iach. Diolch!"“Lovely and peaceful, I like the sound of the water. The gardens were beautiful and very relaxing.”"Wedi mwynhau gwylio’r colomennod ar ben y colomendy."“Lots of quiet, secluded areas to sit down. I did find myself stopping to take note of my senses – smelling leaves, listening to the birds”"Gall hwn fod un o highlights newydd SF"“It felt like I had permission to take time and look and explore which was so nice.”The feedback fed into the creation of the final version. It is designed by Frank Duffy who has done a great job of the illustrations and the look of the map. The map was funded by the Armed Forces Covenant who have supported a range of innovative events, displays and programmes at the Museum since 2014. One of the aims of the funding is to support the wellbeing of veterans and their families, so the concept of the mindfulness walk fitted in perfectly with the Covenant’s objectives. Members of the Armed Forces community had a first look at the new maps on 9th December 2019 with very positive feedback for how it could be used to help those living with mental ill health.Try the tour out for yourself by picking up a copy at St Fagans. The map is available at the front desk or you can download a PDF version here.
