Welsh Words A trail through and Welshness

START for most of its history was a majority Welsh language speaking entity before and during its industrialisation, which made it by 1840 the FINISH 10 1 largest iron producing town in Wales. Its population were in the majority born in Wales and therefore were Welsh speaking; the separate Welsh dialects were several and heard in different parts of the town. At Heolgerrig there was a different and distinct dialect compared with that of a accent and again separate from the down-valley

JOSEPH townships centred around the collieries, whose labour force was partly drawn PARRY’S COTTAGE from mid Wales. The Georgetown area, a sub-district under the patronage 2 of the mighty Works, counted at the 1851 census over a third of its0 1 4 population migrating into the area from Carmarthenshire. A Canolfan Soar Follow our short trail around Merthyr Tydfil town centre to find examples of QUARRY ROW Redhouse . the Welsh language visible in the town’s art, architecture andR public spaces. R E T K R PA .

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ABERDA C RE RD. S P 9 MerthyrT Tydfil Merthyr’s Iron Heart L T E E . N I E Central Library R C 4 R 3 Y H T ET S G STRE S L URCH Y 2 E EB CH T L E . LA T N S D A S C T . U

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W Y LL The Iron Dragon Shopping Centre T. N A S CAE’R WER A 4 LMMyfanwy Benches Redhouse 0 A EET 5 AN STR in Market Square 4 SW C Memorial Fountain A CO E U T RT ’ LLYS JANICE TER. R Merthyr College ROWLANDS E

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W ST E RE R 2 E N 0 T 1 War Memorial 4 A Statue of Johnny Owen Caedraw Artworks 6 St. Tydfil’s Parish Church

A 4 7 0 #MerthyrTownTrails MERTHYR TYDFIL welovemerthyr.co.uk

Turn over for more information onLEISURE each VILLAGE stop… @welovemerthyr

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A Some Facts and Figures 1 2 • Until the census of 1891 Welsh language inhabitants in Wales were not officially counted. It is reasonable to assume however that as Canolfan Soar Merthyr’s Iron Heart a bilingual town in the making from 1800 Merthyr Tydfil threw up a bilingual people, some 80% plus of whom spoke or understood Our starting point is obviously It is a short walk down the High the Welsh language. Non Conformist Welsh language chapels were Canolfan Soar, the old Street to the newly commissioned abundant by 1900; public houses used Welsh as much as English. At independent Welsh speaking Iron Heart, a sculpture by artist 1891 some 54% of the national population spoke Welsh. Merthyr Capel Soar (1802), now a centre David Appleyard accompanied by Tydfil recorded Welsh speakers at 68%. for all things Welsh, situated verse in both Welsh and English, • The 20th century witnessed a constant decline for many and varied on High Street Pontmorlais composed by Gillian Clarke, reasons. Thus just under a third of Wales spoke only Welsh in 1891, and one of two mighty Welsh a former Wales’ Poet Laureate. declining to just over 1% in 1971. The local figure was never above language chapels at this place. 1% by 1931 in this town. “The flow of monoglot English speakers into Opposite was Capel Pontmorlais, south-east Wales began to have a gradual detrimental effect on the a Calvinistic Methodist native tongue. The language of the bosses was English, which became Chapel known locally as Capel the language of commerce, the language of school and the language Pennsylvania, demolished in of opportunity.” (Malcolm Llywelyn) the 1950s. • In the present day there has been a revival, in part owing to the National Assembly for Wales, charged with promoting the Welsh language on a Wales national curriculum; the growth of adult learner classes, Welsh language TV, music in the Welsh tongue, Welsh politics and in Merthyr Tydfil several Welsh medium schools. Thus some 20% of local inhabitants profess to speak or understand or read in Welsh, about the national average; it was well over 50% in 1901. 5 6 3 4 St. Tydfil’s The Iron Dragon War Memorial Caedraw Artworks Parish Church

In Castle Street the former Taf Notice at ground level Passing the site of Ynysgau St. Tydfil’s Parish Church Fechan Water Supply building, approaching the Celtic Cross Chapel, the first in Merthyr grounds includes at least three now The Iron Dragon, correctly war memorial a bilingual Tydfil dating from 1749 and Welsh language headstones, in uses the Welsh word for the rendering from Scripture mother building to Capel Soar, the minority but understandably local river: Taf. commonplace at many at Caedraw flats is a series so in such a place before chapel such sites. of local artworks depicting burial grounds and public in bilingual captions several cemeteries were made available; historical feature points. and indeed here where English speaking businessmen and their families and at least one ironmaster name lie buried.

7 Statue of Myfanwy 8 Merthyr Tydfil 9 10 Johnny Owen Benches Central Library Redhouse

A town famed for its boxing In Market Square the Myfanwy The Dic Penderyn plaque in On the entrance is a floor mosaic in the motif of the prowess, the statue of Johnny benches, part of a series Welsh and English was unveiled Welsh Dragon, the red dragon Owen at the north end of St. of urban seating areas in the 1970s as a testament to of Cadwaladr, with the verse: Tydfil Shopping Centre has through the town, contain the Merthyr Rising of May/June “Y Ddraig Goch A Ddyry descriptive plaques in both the full verses of Joseph 1831 and facing the actual site Gychwyn”: “It was the Red Welsh and English. Parry’s famous hymn of of the rising on what is now Dragon that Inaugurated it All” unrequited love to his onetime Plas Penderyn. - love, Myfanwy. reputedly one of the first times that this nationalistic design and wording was utilised in public artwork.

Final Thoughts

• Merthyr Tydfil is a Welsh town: it always has been. The Welsh language within it has always been problematic and temperamental. There is sound evidence that incoming migrants from outside Wales learned Welsh once they settled here; that several English Ironmasters spoke Welsh to their workforce. But for every Welsh language Thank you to local historian chapel there was an English language equivalent. Merthyr Tydfil and neighbouring Aberdare were once the Welsh Huw Williams who compiled this language printing presses for the nation: Welsh language newspapers, books and pamphlets were in abundance trail. More information about in 1900. In 1901 Merthyr Tydfil hosted the national eisteddfod and in 1987, the Urdd. Merthyr Tydfil’s past and present is available from Merthyr Tydfil • Today there are some fifty different languages heard within Merthyr Tydfil. Public signage is bilingual. Most local Library Service. place names within the Merthyr Tydfil area are in Welsh. For translations, see the appendices to a schools’ history of the town, first published in 1932 and re-written in 1981, both available from the local library service.