The ‘Caning of Creeds and Doctrines’ – The Battle for the British School, Park Street, Blaenavon, 1870-1902

If you haven’t visited Blaenavon for a while, you are likely to notice a big change in the townscape. The prominent Park Street School, one of the largest and most imposing buildings in Blaenavon, was finally demolished in June and July 2019, following seven years of dereliction.

Park Street School prior to demolition (Photograph © Yoan Jones)

The large red-brick building, notable for its roof-top playground, was constructed by Monmouthshire County Council in 1937 to a modern design by county architect Colin Lancelot Jones FRIBA (1893-1959). It was a familiar site, visible from many parts of the town and served as the town’s secondary school from 1937 to 1980 and as St. Peter’s CV Primary School from 1982 to 2012. To mark the demolition of the school, I thought it appropriate to write a series of blog articles charting the history and significance of the site.

What some people may not realise is that the 1937 building was in-fact the second school to stand on the site. The Park Street site was associated with the education of the town’s children from 1871 when the British and Foreign Society School was constructed. The ‘British School’, as it was known, represented an arena and focal point in which the tensions between Blaenavon’s Liberal nonconformists and the Established Church were contested and articulated during the late nineteenth century. This first chapter of the story looks at the development of the British School and the struggles its committee members faced in trying to keep its curriculum free of the ‘creeds and doctrines’ of the Anglican church, which they feared would otherwise be ‘caned’ into the children of chapelgoers.

In the early nineteenth century, provision of education in day schools in Monmouthshire was dependent on voluntary or charitable initiatives. Government grants were not available for schools until 1833. In Blaenavon, the initiative for providing education was taken by the ironmasters, who operated a school in Prince Street, before Sarah Hopkins, sister of the ironmaster Samuel Hopkins, erected and endowed a purpose-built free school in April 1816 (now Blaenavon World Heritage Centre). The Hopkins school was affiliated with the National Society for Promoting Religious Education in the Principles of the Established Church in England and Wales (est. 1811) and followed its Anglican-orientated curriculum. The school was subsequently expanded in 1849 and 1860.

Blaenavon World Heritage Centre is based within the National School, established by Sarah Hopkins in 1816. The school followed an Anglican focused curriculum.

Educational provision in Blaenavon was dominated by the National Schools until the second half of the nineteenth century. However, a large proportion of Blaenavon people were chapelgoers and, for many years, their children had to rely on Sunday Schools or inadequate cottage schools for education. By the late 1860s, society was changing and there was growing demand for day schools.

In 1808, the Society for Promoting the Lancasterian System for the Education of the Poor was formed to provide education for the poor, irrespective of religious denomination. It was renamed the British and Foreign School Society for the Education of the Labouring and Manufacturing Classes of Every Religion Persuasion in 1814. The society’s ‘British Schools’ offered an alternative to the schools of the National Society. Despite this, however, and its large nonconformist population, a British School in Blaenavon was not established for some time. It was lamented that in a town of approximately 9,000 people, there should be school places for about 1,500 pupils but the town had accommodation for only 600 pupils. The Reverend Daniel Morgan, minister of Horeb Welsh Baptist Chapel, considered the situation a ‘disgrace’ and in 1870, the leading nonconformists in Blaenavon began to co-operate on a scheme to establish such a school in Blaenavon.

In October 1870, the nonconformists of Blaenavon held a large meeting at Bethlehem Chapel, Broad Street, to consider establishing a British School. It was proposed by the Reverend Thomas Griffiths that ‘the time has come when the nonconformists of Blaenavon should have a day school for the education of their children and others who wish to enjoy the same advantages.’ The proposal was seconded, and it was further agreed that a British School be established at the earliest convenience. It was agreed that a deputation approach Edward Kennard of Blaenavon House, the resident director of the Blaenavon Company, and enquire as to whether land in the Waun Field could be provided free of charge or for a moderate fee.

The Waun Field, which had been used as an open space for gardens, events and activities for many years was undergoing development during this period, with the construction of Park Street (originally known as Garden Street or Beaufort Street) and the erection of the Monmouthshire Constabulary police station (1870-71). At the same time, the Blaenavon Wesleyan Methodists were in the process of constructing Day Schools in the Waun Field for the education of Methodist children. Indeed, the foundation stone of the Wesleyan Day Schools (now Busy Bees Nursery, Park Street) was laid on 30 June 1871 by Richard Cosslett of Elgin Park, Bristol, and, on its completion, accommodated over 300 pupils.

Work commenced on the Blaenavon British School a few months later. The new school, with provision for up to 500 pupils, was built at a cost of less than £1,000. The committee, consisting of members of eight local congregations, representing five nonconformist denominations, worked together on the scheme. It faced difficulty in getting Privy Council aid to fund the building and instead relied on individual subscriptions regulated by the Blaenavon Company.  The school was in operation in 1872 and the first teachers were Titus Morris Jenkins, formerly of Nevern, Pembrokeshire, and his wife Margaret. The school was supported by numerous ‘pupil teachers’, following the mutual and monitorial system.

On laying the foundation stone on 2 October 1871, Samuel Laing, Chairman of the Blaenavon Company said:

I hope we will see this school of which I am now going to lay the foundation stone, well attended and its benches filled to overflowing by diligent scholars. My earnest prayer is, that it may turn out in future years many a man who shall lead a sober, religious, intelligent and respectable life., and who shall be a credit to his own neighbourhood, to the ancient Principality of Wales, and to the British Empire.

The British School, Park Street, Blaenavon

Park Street School would indeed boast some distinguished alumni. Sir Thomas George Jones (1881-1948) was educated there and later became a businessman and Conservative politician. He served on various government committees in connection with the ministry of food, board of trade, war office and the national salvage council and after the First World War became Chief Divisional Food Officer for the Wales, Midlands and North Western Divisions until 1945.

Another pupil, Cecil Head, the son of Blaenavon medicine dispenser Henry Head, received his elementary education at the Park Street School before going to West Monmouth Grammar School in Pontypool and then to Jesus College, Oxford, where he graduated with honours in 1933, eventually becoming a German master. Mr Head had distinguished himself as a member of the Torpid rowing crew in 1932. He and his teammates were ‘presented with their oars’ for making five ‘bumps’ and Mr Head was awarded the cup as the best blade in the boat.

Following the opening of the British School, the building was run by a committee of local nonconformists on the voluntary principle. Blaenavon did not take advantage of the provisions of Forster’s Elementary Education Act 1870, which introduced state education and allowed for the formation of elected school boards to build and manage schools in areas requiring education provision. A meeting of the ratepayers was convened at the town hall in 1874 to discuss the idea of forming a school board but the idea was abandoned, with many of the town’s Anglicans opposing such an innovation.  Parts of Blaenavon were, however, covered by other school boards, including Forge Side, which came under the Trevethin School Board, who, somewhat reluctantly, constructed Forge Side Board School to accommodate 250 pupils in 1882-83 following years of petitioning by local ratepayers.  The Llanfoist School Board was established in 1878 and covered the areas of Blaenavon within the Llanfoist administrative unit, including Garn-yr-erw, where it erected a Board School in 1893-94 for 300 pupils.

The British School committee attempted to fund their school through various events and activities. In February 1874, for example, a fundraising concert in took place at the town hall in Lion Street by the Blaenavon United Choir under the baton of Mr J. Jones.  An unnamed violinist who, it was claimed, could rival the celebrated Italian musician Niccolò Paganini performed with ‘wonderful skill’ at the school later that year to raise funds.

Faced with financial difficulties in the early 1880s, the committee of the British School became convinced that for the school to survive, it would need to be transformed into a Board School. In May 1884, a meeting of ratepayers was convened, attended by some 400 people to discuss the proposal of Baptist minister William Rees to form a school board for Blaenavon (Llanover Upper). He faced significant opposition from people who feared a large increase in the rates and the strong philosophical objections articulated eloquently by the influential and long-serving vicar of Blaenavon, the Reverend John Jones. The Reverend Rees’s proposal met with a crushing defeat, receiving only eight votes in favour.

An editorial in the Cardiff Times condemned the decision and observed that as the Reverend Jones had been in Blaenavon for 43 years, he commanded the respect and loyalty of churchmen and chapelgoers alike. As such, they were unlikely to vote against him, even if his ideas were old-fashioned and out of touch. Despite being heavily involved in education at the National Schools, being instrumental in the establishment of the Blaenavon Infants’ School in 1847-49, and being an advocate of adult education in Blaenavon during the 1860s, the Reverend Jones was not in favour of the 1870 Education Act.

Many of the Act’s opponents feared that universal education of the labouring classes would cause the workers to question the social order and their place within it, causing social, political, economic, cultural and religious disruption. Moreover, it was feared that state education would reduce the influence of the Established Church in the education of the nation’s children.  The Cardiff Times questioned therefore, why the Blaenavon ratepayers, many of whom were chapelgoers, had decided not to take control over the education of their children, leaving it instead in the hands of the Anglican minister.

…In our opinion the people of Blaenavon do not appreciate the blessings of religious liberty, or they would never have allowed the education of their children to be so much under the authority of a Church of England parson. As for the vicar, he is too old to begin anew – to take lessons in the art of educating the people. He would teach the young of his parishioners to do their “duty in that state of life into which it had pleased God to call them,” whilst at the hated board school, they would become ambitious and imbued with hopes of raising themselves in the social scale, hopes which men of the type of the Vicar of Blaenavon regard with a feeling somewhat akin to Holy horror. [Cardiff Times, 31 May 1884]

In the wake of his defeat, the Reverend William Rees, held a meeting at the British School to consider ways to keep the school open. It was decided to form a committee of sixteen men to canvass the town for voluntary subscriptions.  The school managed to survive, securing a government grant in February 1885.  It carried on until the local government and civil parish reforms of 1894 in which Blaenavon, as a new administrative unit, was compelled to establish a school board, which also took over the schools at Forge Side and Garn-yr-erw, formerly under the control of the Trevethin and Llanfoist School Boards.

The first elections to the new board were held in 1895.  There was a surprisingly low turnout, with just 939 electors voting out of an electorate of 1,900. The successful candidates were

• Isaac Wathen, timekeeper (Nonconformist (NC)/Liberal (Lib))
• Revd William Rees, Baptist minister (NC/Lib)
• James Miles, accountant (NC/Lib)
• William George Dowden, General Manager, Blaenavon Company (Church (Ch)/Conservative (Con))
• Henry Charles Steel, Estate Agent, Blaenavon Company (Ch/Con),
• Father A.P. Degan, Catholic priest (Roman Catholic/Lib)
• Isaac Prosser, colliery overman (NC/Lib)

The Reverend William Rees became the Chairman of the Blaenavon School Board. The Board assumed the management of the British School, which was renovated and extended in 1896.  At last, it seemed, the Liberal nonconformists of Blaenavon had won control of the town’s schools. It was short-lived.

The 1902 Education Act abolished School Boards, transferring their duties and powers to local councils, who were each obliged to form a local education authority. The new law, introduced by Arthur Balfour’s Conservative government, was hugely controversial, especially amongst Liberals and nonconformists, who lost the influence they had fought hard to secure on the school boards. The Act also provided financial support for voluntary controlled schools, which tended to be managed by the Established Church or the Roman Catholic Church.

Blaenavon nonconformists, like many across the country, were furious. At a heated meeting in 1902, the Reverend David E. Hughes of Horeb Baptist Chapel lamented:

…the Education Bill is aimed at the School Boards and the people and would take educational matters out of the hands of the people and hand them over to the priests, so that they, with the help of the schoolmaster, might cane their creeds and doctrines into the tender and innocent minds of our children… For my part, I will say “never!” and would die at the stake rather than submit.

Unpopular by many at the time, the Conservatives sought to introduce a standardised system of primary, secondary and technical state education across England and Wales. Nevertheless, the system endured for many decades, with lasting impacts.

In my next blog article, I will look at the fortunes of the Park Street School in the era of the Local Education Authorities.

A Fallen Soldier: Albert Edward Burchell of Blaenavon (1896-1916)

On 30 September 1916, my great-grandmother’s younger brother Albert Edward Burchell was killed-in-action during the Battle of the Somme, the bloodiest battle in the history of the British Army. Well over a hundred Blaenavon soldiers lost their lives during the First World War and the death of each one was greatly lamented by their friends, family and the community at large. This article looks at Albert’s story and provides a personal case study of a Blaenavon man killed during the 1914-1918 War.

Albert Edward Burchell, the son of James Burchell (1865-1941) and Louisa Alberta Jones (1860-1910), was born at 38 Park Street, Blaenavon, on Wednesday 18 November 1896. He was born into a comparatively well-off working class family. His father James was a thrifty miner, property owner and chapel deacon, whereas his mother Louisa belonged to a family of respected ironmongers, who traded in Lion Street and Broad Street.

Albert spent his early childhood in Park Street, with his parents and sisters Lily (1890-1965) and Sarah May (1900-1947), until his family moved into number 12 Charles Street in about 1902. The family eventually resided next door, at number 11 Charles Street, following the death of Albert’s grandfather George Burchell in 1911. Albert grew up in a strict, religious family and attended Lion Street Congregational Chapel. His father was the conductor of the chapel’s choir and organised musical performances and cantatas, including at the Blaenavon Workmen’s Hall, to entertain the local community. It is likely that Albert and his siblings may have participated in these.

Charles Street, Blaenavon (pictured c.2004), where Albert Burchell lived in the 1900s and 1910s

The twentieth century heralded a new age of opportunity and progression. Reforms passed during the late Victorian and early Edwardian Eras saw improvements in areas such as employment, health and education and laid the foundations of the British Welfare State. The period in which Albert and his siblings were growing up seemed to be considerably more promising than the situation just half a century before.

Education, by the early twentieth century, was more widespread than ever before. Albert and his sisters received their elementary education at Park Street Council School. Upon passing the scholarship examinations in 1908, Albert continued his education at Jones’s West Monmouth Grammar School in Pontypool. In spite of personal tragedy – his mother died suddenly on the eve of Albert’s fourteenth birthday – Albert persevered with his studies and excelled educationally. He was particularly gifted in science and art and was presented with prizes in recognition of his efforts in these subjects. Valuing the importance of education and learning, Albert aspired to become a teacher and enrolled at Caerleon Teachers’ Training College in September 1915.

Albert’s destiny clearly did not lie down in the mines where the menfolk of his family had toiled for generations, sometimes suffering debilitating injuries and, in some cases, death. Albert seemingly had the chance of a successful life and rewarding career. But alas, this was not to be. In August 1914, Great Britain and her Empire had been dragged into the first major European war for almost a century. It would be a conflict which would destroy the hopes and dreams of thousands of men, including those harboured by Albert.

Shortly after his nineteenth birthday, on 3 December 1915, Albert, perhaps persuaded by feelings of duty and patriotism, recruitment posters or stirring speeches, deferred his course at Caerleon and enlisted at the recruitment office in nearby Newport. Shortly afterwards, he was posted with the 29^th Royal Fusiliers. Whilst still stationed within the United Kingdom, Albert was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal in January 1916.

Albert’s first battle during  the war was one with his own health. Owing to a medical condition, Lance Corporal Burchell was sent to the Scottish General Hospital on 25 April 1916, where he remained for nearly a month. On 19 May 1916, following an operation, he was transferred to Newton Don Convalescent Hospital, Kelso, to recuperate for almost a fortnight.

It was not until 29 August 1916 that Albert was sent to France with the British Expeditionary Force. By this time, the Battle of the Somme had been underway for nearly two months. The battle commenced on 1 July 1916, when a British-led Anglo-French attack was made against the well-entrenched German forces along the River Somme in France. In an operation known as the ‘Big Push’, tens of thousands of Allied soldiers climbed out of their trenches and, in an attempt to resolve the stalemate situation on the Western Front, entered into ‘No-Man’s land’ and charged the enemy. On the first day alone, the British lost 19,240 men on the bloodiest day in the history of the British army. With the Allies having underestimated the strength of the German forces, the Battle of the Somme became a battle of attrition and continued until the November of that year. The end result of the Battle of the Somme was an Allied victory but it was at a catastrophic loss. Britain alone suffered some 420,000 casualties. By 1916, the idea that the war would be an easy victory had long faded. For soldiers travelling to the Somme in the late summer of 1916, it must have been terrifying, knowing of the carnage that lay ahead.

On arriving in France, Lance Corporal Burchell was transferred to the 7^th Battalion, the Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment on 10 September 1916. He fought at the Somme during the battle of Thiepval Ridge from 26 September. On Saturday 30 September 1916, the battalion faced a German advance. The Royal West Kent Regiment held their ground but some men were left exposed to German machine guns in ‘No Man’s Land’. It was likely that Albert was one of those men, as, on the same day, he was reported as ‘wounded and missing’ and later ‘presumed dead’. He was just 19 years old.

News soon reached Blaenavon of Albert’s death. It particularly saddened his sister, Lily (my great-grandmother). Albert, just before leaving for France, had visited her, whilst she was preparing a meal, he told her that he was hungry and asked if he could possibly have some food. Lily told him that unfortunately she did not have enough for him. He left with an empty stomach shortly afterwards. Tragically, they would never see each other again – something which would forever haunt Lily.

James Burchell was devastated by his son’s death.

James Burchell, Albert’s father, was also greatly affected by his son’s death. James had experienced much loss in recent years. His eldest son, George Albert Burchell had died of meningitis, his eldest sister had died, he had lost his wife and his father within months of each other and his two surviving siblings had emigrated from Blaenavon to Australia.  The death of his son must have been devastating. Heartbroken over Albert’s death, James apparently never spoke of him in later years.

A letter survives, however, from 1921 in which James Burchell wrote to the War Office requesting his son’s medals. For service during the Great War, Albert was posthumously awarded the Victory Medal 1914-1919 and the British Medal 1914-1920. The latter was approved by King George V in the year 1919 for the purposes of commemorating the services provided by the British forces and to acknowledge the sacrifices a soldier made to bring the war to a successful conclusion. Albert’s next of kin would also have been awarded a metal plaque (known informally as the ‘Dead Man’s Penny’ or the ‘Widow’s Penny’), commemorating Albert’s sacrifice for his King, George V and the Empire. A small note from the King accompanied the plate: ‘I join with my grateful people in sending you this memorial of a brave life given for others in the Great War. George R.I.’. Sadly, it is unknown what became of Albert’s medals and memorial plaque. It is supposed they may have been lost after the death of James Burchell’s second wife Alice Maud Hayball in 1958 when the house was cleared and ultimately sold.

Unlike some soldiers, Lance Corporal Albert Edward Burchell’s body was recovered and identified, and was ultimately buried in Connaught Cemetery in the small village of Thiepval. James Burchell wrote to request that the following be inscribed on his son’s Portland stone grave marker:

‘Deeply regretted by father and sisters Lily and May – Thy Will Be Done’.

The family never got to visit Albert’s grave and instead they had to mourn him locally. Following the war, a plaque listing the fallen was unveiled in Lion Street Congregational Chapel, where Albert had worshipped and where his father was a senior deacon. Albert’s name also featured on Rolls of Honour at West Monmouth School and Caerleon College but it would be some fifteen years after his death until  he would be remembered on a civic war memorial in his hometown. On Saturday 16 May 1931, the foundation stone of the Blaenavon clock tower war memorial was laid in the grounds of the Blaenavon Workmen’s Hall by Major-General the Lord Treowen, Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire. A religious service was carried out by the Reverend D. Ivor Jones of St. Peter’s Church and the Reverend Glyn Davies of Horeb Chapel to remember the Blaenavon men killed in the Great War. A large crowd assembled to pray for the men who had sacrificed their lives for their country.

The following prayer was offered:

‘Let Us Pray.

We praise and bless Thy Glorious Name O Lord, for the devoted sacrifice of those who laid down their lives that we might live, especially those from the town of Blaenavon. Into thy holy keeping we commend their souls. Grant them, O Lord, Eternal Rest and let Light Perpetual shine upon them, and we humbly pray that we, like them, may give and never count the cost, may fight and never heed the wounds, may toil and never seek for rest, may labour and never ask for no reward save the knowledge that we do Thy Will, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.’

By November 1931, the Blaenavon Clock Tower War Memorial was completed, commemorating most of the men killed in Blaenavon during the First World War, including Albert Edward Burchell. Sadly, many more names would be added to the tower just over a decade later. The Great War destroyed many lives and one can only wonder what Albert would have achieved should he had lived.

Blaenavon Workmen’s Hall and Clock Tower War Memorial

During the centenary commemorations of the First World War, Albert Edward Burchell has been remembered in a number of ways, including in the Blaenavon Community Museum’s history of Blaenavon and the First World War (2014), in educational workbooks for schools and in a special event held at Blaenavon’s War Memorial in July 2016 to remember the Blaenavon men who lost their lives during the Battle of the Somme. Later that month, members of the Blaenavon Branch of the Royal British Legion visited Connaught Cemetery, Thiepval, as part of the Somme centenary commemorations. They paid their respects at the grave of Lance Corporal Albert Edward Burchell. It was likely to have been the first time that people from Albert’s hometown had visited his final resting place in the century since his death.

Albert Edward Burchell’s grave marker (photograph by Cyril Turner of the Blaenavon Branch of the Royal British Legion)

This article tells the personal story of just one soldier and the impact his death had on his family. In Blaenavon, approximately 170 men lost their lives during the war and, worldwide, approximately 17 million people were killed during the course of the conflict. It was one of the darkest and most regrettable periods in the history of the world. Each of those killed, irrespective of nationality, had their own story to tell and their own dreams and aspirations. It is important to never forget them.

‘That She Might Elicit the Perpetual Praises of God’ – Sarah Hopkins (1767-1844)

15 April 2016 marks the bicentenary of the opening of St. Peter’s School, Blaenavon (also known as the Blaenavon Endowed Schools, the Blaenavon National Schools, Blaenavon Church School or the Blaenavon Free Schools). The original building now forms part of the Blaenavon World Heritage Centre and Library, where an exhibition will be held later this month to celebrate and explore the history of this very important local building. This article, however, tells the interesting story of the school’s founder Sarah Hopkins.

St. Peter’s School was opened on 15 April 1816

Sarah Hopkins was born in 1767 in the Staffordshire town of Rugeley. She was the second child of Thomas Hopkins (1732-1793) and his wife Sarah Hill (1733-1789). She was baptised at Kingswinford, Staffordshire on 6 January 1768. Sarah and her older brother Samuel (1761-1815) were born into a wealthy family of industrialists. Her father operated the Cannock Wood Forge in Rugeley whereas her mother’s brother Thomas Hill of Dennis was a successful ironmaster, banker and descendant of a prominent glassmaking dynasty in the West Midlands.

In the 1780s, Thomas Hopkins and Thomas Hill, along with their business partner, Benjamin Pratt, turned their attention towards south Wales and entered into negotiations with the Nevill Family of Abergavenny concerning a lease of land rich in mineral resources in an area known commonly as ‘Lord Abergavenny’s Hills’. The three founded the Blaenavon Ironworks, which opened in 1789, and, from the late eighteenth century onwards, the Hopkins and Hill families began their long association with the growing community of Blaenavon.

The success of the family’s business investment provided opportunities for the male members of the Hopkins and Hill family. Samuel Hopkins was appointed manager of the new ironworks and moved to the area, residing in Abergavenny and Blaenavon. Following the death of his father Thomas Hopkins in 1793, Samuel inherited a quarter share in the ironworks, entering into partnership with his uncle Thomas Hill. Women, however, generally did not have the chance to play a leading role in the direction of industry (Charlotte Guest of Dowlais became a notable exception). Therefore, the female relatives of ironmasters had to forge a role for themselves in a world that was dominated by men. Philanthropy, patronage and charity were considered to be ‘respectable’ and appropriate pursuits for women and it was to these purposes that Sarah Hopkins dedicated herself.

Whilst Sarah Hopkins did not live in Blaenavon, she frequently visited her beloved brother at Blaenavon House, a mansion which he had built in about 1799. During the time she spent at Blaenavon, Sarah was particularly interested in the material, educational and spiritual welfare of the local population. She and her brother distinguished themselves in the support of the families who lived in the growing community. Spreading the (Anglican) Christian faith and promoting education were key priorities for the Hopkins siblings. From the late eighteenth century onwards, the family supported small schools held in workers’ cottages at Little Quick and Bunkers Hill, Blaenavon, and at a larger building in Prince Street. The need for a more permanent school was noted and, before his sudden death on 5 June 1815, Samuel Hopkins was planning to create a new school for the benefit of local children.

Within weeks of her brother’s death, Sarah Hopkins wrote to the National Society for the Promotion of Religious Education about her intention to build a school. Work began shortly afterwards and the school was opened on Monday 15 April 1816, welcoming one hundred and twenty ‘poor and needy’ pupils. It was one of the earliest schools in Wales to be built by an industrial employer to provide free education for the workers’ children. In 1818, Sarah endowed the school with £3,000, which she invested in Navy Annuities and transferred to a charitable trust. The Anglican Catechism was at the heart of the school curriculum. The new school was dedicated to the memory of Samuel Hopkins and a tablet bearing a Latin inscription was installed. The English translation is as follows:

In order that she might elicit the perpetual praises of God from the mouths of children, and that she might, in some measure, even when he is dead, carry into effect the benevolent intentions of her deeply lamented and most deserving brother towards his own Glenavonians, SARA HOPKINS, at her own expense, caused this school to be erected and founded in the year of our Lord 1816. To her memory.

The original dedication plaque takes pride of place in the reception of the Blaenavon World Heritage Centre and Library

Sarah Hopkins and her family were very proud of the school and of all that had been achieved in Blaenavon. In 1821, the Lord Bishop of London and the Lord Bishop of Llandaff visited the area. The senior clergymen were treated to a tour of Blaenavon Ironworks, followed by visits to St. Peter’s Church and St. Peter’s School accompanied by Sarah Hopkins, her cousin Thomas Hill II and the Reverend James Jenkins, curate-in-charge of Blaenavon. In regard to the school, The Cambrian records that the Bishops were ‘highly pleased with the regularity with which that excellent institution is conducted’. Whilst Sarah Hopkins did not live in Blaenavon, her young cousins Jane, Eliza and Ellen, the daughters of Thomas Hill II of Blaenavon House, showed a strong interest in the life of the school and were frequent visitors.

St. Peter’s Church was built by Thomas Hill and Samuel Hopkins in 1804.

By building and endowing St. Peter’s School, Sarah Hopkins’s legacy in Blaenavon was secure. The Reverend John Jones, vicar of Blaenavon, remarked that:

We shall be doing no injustice to our other benefactors when we assign to Miss Hopkins the first and foremost place on the list [of Blaenavon’s benefactors] for this lady devoted her time, talents and almost the whole of her fortune to Blaenavon.

The Reverend Jones rightly recognised Miss Hopkins’ contribution to Blaenavon but he was mistaken in his assumption that she had donated almost the whole of her fortune to the growing town. Sarah Hopkins was a wealthy lady of independent means. Attended by servants, she lived at Rugeley in a comfortable residence known as Stone House. Her home was set in four acres of land, which included pleasure gardens, shrubberies, a walled vegetable garden, fruit trees and orchards. It was situated on the border of Cannock Chase, with beautiful views of the Staffordshire landscape. The house contained nine bedrooms, including accommodation for servants, an entrance hall, a large dining room, offices, a drawing room, a water closet and a housekeeper’s room. It also included various outbuildings, including stables, a coach house and an adjoining farm of over 70 acres.

Sarah Hopkins was a prominent figure in the respectable society of Rugeley and Cannock Chase. As in Blaenavon, her status was expressed through her charitable activities. She founded Cannock Chase Cottage School and established alms-houses for Rugeley widows. Healthcare was also a concern and Sarah Hopkins and her brother were patrons of several infirmaries and sick clubs in England and Wales (including in Blaenavon). She was also a subscriber and donor to the Lichfield Diocesan Board of Education. Sarah also provided major financial support to her local church and, in her will, left £1,000 towards the renovation and improvement of Rugeley Parish Church. Sarah Hopkins, with other prominent local figures, also subscribed towards the fund to build St. Michael’s Church, Brereton in 1837.

In her local area, Sarah Hopkins supported various bazaars and fundraising schemes. She frequently and publicly made small donations to a wide variety of local and national causes. For example, she subscribed towards the fund to create a public monument to the memory of Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte of Wales and Saxe-Coburg, the only child of the Prince Regent, who died in 1817 aged 21 years. She also donated towards the fund to erect a monument to the memory of the late Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry in 1836.

Sarah Hopkins was also a member and supporter of the Brereton Association for Prosecuting Felons, which was established for the purpose of funding and securing the prosecution of people who committed felonies or robberies against the society’s members or their property. The society issued lucrative monetary rewards for people who provided information to secure the successful prosecution of criminals. Indeed, despite her good deeds in the local area, Miss Hopkins was also a target of crime. In January 1824, her elderly donkey was stolen from his field and sold. Fortunately, Miss Hopkins’s servants and a local constable managed to recover the missing ass and the perpetrators were brought to justice!

Despite her strong affiliation with Rugeley and the surrounding area, Sarah Hopkins retained a strong interest in Blaenavon and the school which she had established. Even after her family relinquished control of the Blaenavon Ironworks in 1836, Sarah Hopkins continued to travel to Blaenavon annually to review the progress of her school. Miss Hopkins was very interested in the academic achievements of the pupils and believed that emphasis should be placed on the rewarding of good attainment rather than on the punishment of bad behaviour. She would therefore present the ablest children with clothing as a reward for their hard work. Lewis Browning, the future Blaenavon historian, was the recipient of the prize on several occasions and claimed that the ‘old lady’ was rather fond of him.

The elderly Sarah Hopkins visited her Blaenavon schools for the last time in 1841. The Reverend John Jones, who had recently been appointed curate-in-charge of Blaenavon, met with Sarah Hopkins on this occasion. He later reflected that she ‘had the privilege and gratification of watching and witnessing for 28 years, the growth, progress, prosperity and great success of her school’.

The Blaenavon Schools were extended several times during the 19th Century

Sarah Hopkins died at her home, the Stone House, Rugeley, on 20 March 1844. She is buried alongside her parents at Rugeley Church. Throughout her life Sarah Hopkins was dedicated to her charitable activities and her religion. Sarah came from a wealthy family but she always attempted to put her fortune to good use in order to benefit those who came from poor or deprived backgrounds. The Hopkins and Hill families can certainly be considered as one of the greatest philanthropic industrialist families of the south Wales coalfield.

The memorial to Sarah Hopkins in Rugeley Church recorded:

In the vault underneath lie the remains of Miss Sarah Hopkins of Stone House in this parish (and daughter of aforesaid Thomas and Sarah Hopkins) who died 20 March 1844, aged 76 years. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their words do follow them.

In Blaenavon, the lasting memorial to Sarah Hopkins is, of course, her school, which continues to play an important social and educational role as the Blaenavon World Heritage Centre and Library.

Christmas in Victorian Blaenavon

Christmas, in various forms, has been celebrated in the British Isles for well over a thousand years. Although it is essentially a Christian holiday, some Christmas customs have their origins in much older pagan traditions. For centuries, feasts were held at the winter solstice and were accompanied by the decoration of houses with holly, ivy and mistletoe. Over time, the pagan and Christian winter festivals merged, reflecting the changing religious culture and beliefs in Europe. During medieval times the season was personified in the form of ‘Father Christmas’ (or variations thereof), who was believed to preside over the merrymaking, feasting and drinking. In the puritan period of the 1640s, however, the celebration of Christmas was deemed to be un-Christian due to the gluttonous sins and excesses it encouraged and was banned by Act of Parliament in 1644. It was not revived until the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 but tended to be more ‘low key’ than before. It was not until the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901) that the celebration of Christmas was afforded the prominence that is recognised today.

The site of Capel Newydd, Blaenavon’s earliest place of Christian worship

During the course of the 1840s, publications such as the Illustrated London News provided the populace with a glimpse into how the Royal Family spent the festive period. The influence of the Royal Family, particularly Prince Albert, inspired the widespread introduction of decorated Christmas trees to households across the country and contributed to the popularisation of Christmas as a family-orientated holiday. The success of Charles Dickens’ sentimental romance A Christmas Carol, published in 1843, with its strong Christian themes of charity, redemption and goodwill to all men, accompanied with the powerful imagery of celebration, festivity, carol-singing, good food, White Christmases and playful frivolity, did much to disseminate the stereotype of the Victorian Christmas and the notion of what an ideal Christmas should be like. The reality, of course, could never live up to the myth. In respect of White Christmases, for example, these were actually quite rare throughout the Victorian period but nevertheless significant changes took place in the celebration of the festival during that era. This post looks specifically at how Christmas was celebrated in the town of Blaenavon during the nineteenth century and explores the customs, activities and festivities that took place in the industrial community.

A wintry scene at the Keeper’s Pond, Blaenavon

The Victorian era witnessed the commercialisation of Christmas and the season provided an ideal opportunity for tradespeople to make money. The 1840s saw the introduction of Christmas cards and Christmas crackers and these items grew in popularity as the century progressed. The Christmas dinner, which usually consisted of goose, beef or even rabbit in poor households, meant that meats and foodstuffs were in high demand at the festive time of the year. At the same time as the nature of the Christmas was evolving, much change was occurring in Blaenavon. In 1840 the entrepreneur John Griffith Williams opened a new covered market in Blaenavon, in what is now Market Street. To connect the new market to the ironworks, Williams agitated for the creation of a new road. This road eventually became Broad Street and between the 1840s and 1860s a diverse range of new shops and businesses lined the street.

A view of King Street, Blaenavon

Every year, on the Saturday before Christmas, a show of meats and various produce was displayed in the market place and the many establishments of the town. The market provided good business for the local farmers, whose wives brought their wares to Blaenavon from the surrounding farms. The 1860 Christmas market displayed

…a good supply of fat beef and mutton of the best quality that could be produced… there was also a good supply of geese, ducks, turkeys, and other fowls…in first rate condition, which met a ready sale at good price…

By the mid-nineteenth century, turkey meat was increasing in popularity for the Christmas day meal, especially among the middle class. On Christmas Eve 1860, Lieutenant Steel offered three turkeys as prizes in a shooting competition among the Blaenavon workmen serving in the 2nd Company of the 5th Monmouthshire Rifle Volunteers. A huge crowd gathered at the firing range where 25 men competed for the luxurious prize.

Christmas was a very busy time of the year for the town traders. In 1871, for instance, the Monmouthshire Merlin reported that in Blaenavon:

 …unmistakeable evidence of the approaching Christmas was visible everywhere during the latter part of the week. The grocers, drapers, butchers and stationers seemed to have exerted their utmost skill in their endeavours to show the best advantage of the good things of the season.

After much hard work, the numerous shop assistants were rewarded with a three day holiday, allowing shopkeepers and their employees to spend Christmas with relatives, many of whom lived at some distance from Blaenavon. The majority of traders who set up business in Blaenavon between the 1840s and 1860s were from outside the area, with some being natives of the established county towns of Wales and the west of England. The Christmas holiday provided a welcome opportunity for these people to travel home to catch up with family, friends and loved ones.

Many young women were employed in the shops of Broad Street during the 19th century. They were afforded a three day holiday at Christmas which they used to spend time with their families.

In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol much focus was placed on the relationship between employers and their workers, particularly at Christmas time. The miserly Ebenezer Scrooge and his indifferent and unsympathetic treatment of his clerk Bob Cratchit was contrasted with the philanthropic and generous businessman Mr Fezziwig, with whom Scrooge had served his apprenticeship. Whereas Mr Scrooge had little empathy with his staff and no time for Christmas celebrations, Mr Fezziwig held annual festivities and frivolities for his clerks and assistants. Dickens was a noted social commentator and his work asked questions about how businessmen, companies and industrialists should treat their employees not just at Christmas but at all times of the year. So how did Blaenavon’s industrial employers treat their employees during the Christmas period?

The main employer in Blaenavon during the nineteenth century was the Blaenavon Company, which controlled the various ironworks and mines in the area. At Christmas time at least the company were certainly not ‘Scrooges’. In 1857 the works manager Thomas Plum, a man with a name of a suitably Dickensian flavour, invited the St. Peter’s Church Choir to dine with him and his family at his residence, Blaenavon House, on Christmas Day, where they all enjoyed an excellent meal. During the evening the choir treated the family to a variety of choruses and musical entertainments, including quartets, trios, duets and solos. The day was enjoyed by all, with the choristers drinking to the health of the Plum family for the kindness that they had shown towards them.

The Blaenavon Company annually made provision for the poor and needy of the area. During Christmas 1871, for example, John Paton, Mr Plum’s successor as manager of the works, distributed half a ton of coal each to thirty poor widows in Blaenavon. Mrs Anne Paton provided generous quantities of tea, beef and plum cakes to large numbers of the poor so that they could all enjoy a good Christmas meal. The Blaenavon Company, through their patronage of the Blaenavon Endowed Schools on Church Road, also provided annual gifts to upwards of five hundred schoolchildren who attended lessons there. Mrs Paton and her daughters handed out the gifts in 1871, providing each child with a book.

The former Blaenavon Endowed Schools on Church Road (now Blaenavon World Heritage Centre)

On Christmas Day all unnecessary work was stopped at the ironworks and mines, allowing many people to have a much needed day off. A time-honoured Christmas custom in Blaenavon involved draping the ironworks’ blast engines in holly. On Christmas Eve 1860 a new blast engine was successfully installed at the new Forge Side Ironworks. It was ‘gaily bedecked with holly’ and the men celebrated by drinking cwrw dda (good beer).

Blaenavon Ironworks and its environs

Workers’ wives would have prepared for Christmas by decorating the home and preparing the family’s Christmas dinner. In the early nineteenth century it is likely that foliage and evergreens gathered from the nearby countryside would have adorned the walls and windows of the little whitewashed cottages of the district and mistletoe would have been hung above the porch or from the ceiling in the dwellings of both the rich and the poor, carrying on the old traditions of ‘Merrie England’. As the century progressed, however, there was increased sophistication and Christmas decorations were standardised and made commercially available. Gift-giving became increasingly popular during the Victorian period but whereas gifts, including children’s toys, would traditionally have been hand crafted, by the end of the century mass produced toys and presents were commonly available for purchase.

Workers’ Cottages at Stack Square and Engine Row

Christmas may have provided a temporary escape from the harsh realities of everyday life in industrial communities but sobering reminders of the environment in which they lived sometimes surfaced during the festive period. On Christmas Eve 1822, for example, the funeral took place at St. Peter’s Church of Elizabeth Drew, a young woman, who had died a couple of days earlier in an accident. She had been working at the coal patches and slipped on the ice while carrying a basket of coal on her head. Funerals and even coroner’s inquests would be carried out on Christmas Day. On 25 December 1864, for instance, an inquest was held at the King’s Arms Inn on the body of David Lloyd, a collier who had suffocated at Dodd’s Slope on 21 December. In some respects, it was very much ‘business as usual’.

Saint Peter’s Church, Blaenavon

The destitution brought by industrial depression could also dampen the Christmas spirit. The Christmas of 1878, for instance, caused much misery across the industrial towns of Great Britain. In some towns starving people were reduced to eating putrid meat and offal. The prospect of the financially troubled Blaenavon Company being ‘wound up’ at Christmas 1878 and the impeding threat of the closure of the works in the New Year provided a gloomy outlook for the families of the 5,000 men who were employed within the local industries. The precarious nature of life and the economic uncertainties that families faced meant that a strong community spirit developed both in the workplace and in the town’s cultural and social life. Christmas is often seen as being a family festival. However, in many respects, Christmas in Blaenavon was very much a community affair, where large groups of people spent the holiday with their friends and neighbours.

In the run up to Christmas members of the town’s many and various clubs, societies and organisations came together in each other’s company in celebration. Captain Richard James Pye Steel M.D. and his son Lieutenant Samuel Elmes Steel M.D., on a Saturday evening in December 1863, chaired a ‘very pleasant’ Christmas gathering of the Blaenavon Volunteer Rifles at the King’s Arms Inn where the ‘gallant’ men enjoyed a ‘sumptuous’ and beautifully presented spread, which comprised of ‘all that could be desired in the way of edibles’. The event was concluded with patriotic toasts and sentiments.

The Reverend John Jones (1810-1885) (Image courtesy of Mrs P. Morgan)

An annual tradition was the vicar of Blaenavon’s Christmas treat to the Church choir and the Sunday School teachers. In 1865, for instance, the Reverend John Jones invited a variety of guests to spend an evening with him and his family at the Parsonage, which had been festively decorated for the Christmas period. Mrs Margaretta Jones provided an excellent tea and supper, which was well enjoyed. The older guests enjoyed reading, singing and amusements in the sitting room whereas the younger people retired to the kitchen where they enjoyed themselves playing a variety of Christmas games with ‘unrestrained mirth and happiness’ warmed by a ‘bright and cheerful’ winter fire.

Glantorfaen House, the former vicarage of Blaenavon, and residence of the Reverend John Jones

On Christmas Day, Grand Eisteddfodau were held at various establishments around Blaenavon and illustrate how an emerging Welsh cultural identity was incorporated into Christmas celebrations. On Christmas Day 1862 an eisteddfod and concert were held at the newly opened town hall, led by the Blaenavon Philharmonic Society and presided over by the town’s various nonconformist ministers. The day consisted of singing, poetry and recitations and many minor prizes were awarded. The Christmas festivities did not just focus on past traditions, they were also forward looking and optimistic. The town’s industrial progress inspired one of the principal poetry competitions, in which a prize was offered for the best six verses on the ‘New Tyre Mill’, which had recently been opened at the new Forge Side works. The adjudicators, however, were harsh and refused to award the prize to any of the entrants as it was felt that none had exhibited the requisite poetical and literary skill.

Unstudied lectures were also undertaken through the medium of both English and Welsh. In 1862, the English lecture was on the theme of ‘monkeys’ whereas the Welsh lecture was on the topic of ‘potatoes’. In these popular and highly amusing competitions, the participants had to hastily make up an ad hoc lecture on their subject before an audience. In 1862 the English competition was won by Mr Levi Parry but unfortunately none of the Welsh-speaking entrants were deemed skilled enough in their lecture about potatoes to warrant a prize!

Similarly, in 1867 a Grand Eisteddfod held on Christmas Day at the White Horse Assembly Rooms, under the patronage of the works manager John Paton, was regarded as a great success as people came from ‘all parts of the hills’ to compete in prose, poetry, singing and recitation. John M. Jones, a grocer from Broad Street, won prizes for two of his essays. Four local choirs competed for the choral prize and the top award was presented to the Bethlehem Independent Chapel choir, under the leadership of Henry Gunter, with Ebenezer Chapel’s choir, led by Mr Protheroe, coming second. The following day, the White Horse held a Grand Christmas Ball, with a Quadrille band in attendance.

The White Horse Assembly Room, Blaenavon

Secular concerts were also provided and such an event was held in the Boys’ Endowed School during the Christmas period in 1861. It was a charitable event and the profits from the concert were donated to the Widow and Orphan’s Fund of the Victoria and Prince Albert Lodge of Oddfellows, one of the town’s many friendly societies. The event consisted of songs and glees in English and Welsh, performances by pianists, choral music, and amusements by the ‘Tickling Trio’ which ‘produced an unlimited amount of mirth, rousing the risibility of the audience to a great extent’.

Music and cultural activities were clearly very important parts of the Christmas tradition. The streets were often thronged with carol singers on Christmas morning and their merry tunes could be heard throughout the town. The Blaenavon Brass Band also added to the Christmas atmosphere and enlivened the town centre with its musical performances. Musical events, however, could be hit or miss. On Christmas Eve 1860, the newly-formed Blaenavon Choral Society carried out their inaugural concert of sacred music in a performance at the King’s Arms Inn. Unfortunately the concert only attracted a small audience and was described by a reporter as being ‘not distinguished by any great amount of taste’, undiscerning in its selection of music and lacking credibility. The Hereford Times was even more scathing it in its review, describing it as ‘inferior’, ‘harsh’ and ‘grating’. Undeterred by the criticism, the Blaenavon Choral Society, under the conductorship of the local chemist George Deakin, continued rehearsing in a malt house in Broad Street and planned a Christmas concert for the following year in order to raise money for the Loyal St. Vincent Lodge of the Oddfellows.

The Blaenavon Workmen’s Hall, which was opened in January 1895, hosted many Christmas events over the years. At its inaugural Christmas, in 1895, Mrs Dowden, the wife of the General Manager of the works, held a children’s fancy dress ball at the hall, with some 400 people in attendance, amid intense excitement from the children. The Workmen’s Hall was beautifully decorated and had a twenty-foot-high illuminated Christmas tree in the centre of the auditorium, loaded with presents and toys which had been sent by the Kennard family, the Directors of the Blaenavon Company. The ailing Howard Kennard, Chairman of the Company, who would not live to see another Christmas, also sent a generous quantity of Bon Bons for the Blaenavon children to enjoy.

Although many of the Christmas celebrations in Blaenavon may seem somewhat secular, the religious significance of the Christmas period was not forgotten. On Christmas morning the townspeople would have been awoken by the bells of the St. Peter’s Church, which were pealed before the break of dawn. By the end of the Victorian era Blaenavon had no fewer than eighteen chapels and churches and undoubtedly the Christmas services would have been well attended as worshippers came together to commemorate and celebrate the birth of their saviour. The chapel choirs were involved in the various musical celebrations around the town and in 1882, for example, the King Street Baptist Choir held a Christmas Cantata entitled ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ at the town hall. Social activities such as tea parties and suppers were also organised by chapels during the Christmas period.

Saint Paul’s Church, opened in 1893, was one of 18 chapels and churches in Blaenavon by the end of the Victorian era

The places of worship were often well decorated for Christmas. A beautiful Christmas tree, decorated with images depicting scenes of India, was erected at the Broad Street Baptist Chapel School Room (now Hawkins’ Corn Stores) in 1882 and a service was presided over by the Reverend William Rees, who entertained the audience with a humorous speech. In 1871 it was reported that the daughters of the Reverend John Jones had adorned St Peter’s Church with evergreens whereas Miss Paton, the daughter of the manager of the works, poignantly placed a wreath of holly and ivy around the marble tablet that had been installed to commemorate the town’s well-respected surgeon and rifleman, Lt. Samuel Elmes Steel, who had been tragically killed aged just 34 years when falling from his horse a few years earlier in 1867.

The marble tablet, dedicated to the memory of Dr Samuel Elmes Steel, was adorned with holly and ivy at Christmas 1871

This post has attempted to show that Christmas in nineteenth century Blaenavon was very much a community celebration in which all people could participate, young and old alike. The commercialisation of Christmas during Victorian times provided opportunities for tradespeople to make money through the selling of Christmas meats, gifts and merchandise but the Christian message of goodwill was not forgotten and, in addition to the Christmas services held in the town’s many churches and chapels, charitable activities were carried out to help those in need, organised by both the working people and their employers. Christmas also provided opportunities for the expression of a Welsh and local cultural identity and Eisteddfodau formed a staple part of the Christmas programme in which secular and sacred choirs competed in musical competitions. The Christmas holiday was a welcome opportunity for people to briefly forget about the hardships of everyday life and to simply enjoy friendship, family and a sense of community. Although certain Christmas customs of the Victorian age have been retained in our modern celebration of Christmas, it can be argued, however, that the strength of the community spirit and the participatory ethos which underpinned many of these festivities is perhaps something which has diminished through the passing of time.

The Hidden Heritage of St. Peter’s Churchyard

When the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape was inscribed as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site in December 2000, it was recognised not only for its globally significant industrial monuments but also for the distinct culture and society that developed in south Wales as a consequence of the processes of industrialisation and urbanisation.

St. Peter’s Churchyard in Blaenavon bears poignant testimony to the endeavours of the thousands of men, women and children who lived, worked and died in industrial Wales during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. With the passing of time, the people buried within the churchyard have been largely forgotten and nature has reclaimed the burial ground, rendering it very overgrown and inaccessible. It is important, however, to remember the individuals who are buried at St. Peter’s and to tell their stories. To that end, this article reflects on the heritage value of the churchyard in the context of the wider significance of the Blaenavon World Heritage Site.

The churchyard provides a microcosm of Blaenavon’s society in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Even a short stroll through the churchyard provides a fascinating and often tragic reminder of the hardships faced by our forebears. This article identifies some of the most interesting and accessible gravestones in the churchyard and explores the ways in which the stories of individuals relate to the history of the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape.

The Industrialists

St. Peter’s Churchyard contains the graves of people from all social classes. At the apex of Blaenavon’s society during the early years of the Industrial Revolution were the ironmasters and their families. These people dominated the newly formed community; they controlled the economic base of the area and were hugely influential in shaping the socio-cultural institutions of the emerging town. Collectively, the ironmasters of south Wales led the creation of the greatest iron-producing region in the world.

Anxious to ensure that the spiritual needs of the growing Blaenavon community could be adequately provided for, the ironmasters Thomas Hill and Samuel Hopkins, at their own expense, built St. Peter’s Church in 1804. The new church was consecrated in June 1805 by the Lord Bishop of Llandaff at a service attended by upwards of two thousand people. In his sermon, the Lord Bishop drew attention to the beneficial impacts of the Industrial Revolution to the nation and paid tribute to the ‘piety and liberality’ of the ironmasters as they endeavoured to help people access ‘the bread of eternal life’.

Saint Peter’s Church, Blaenavon

The significance of the iron industry was made evident within the church. Cast iron window and door sills were installed, along with a cast iron baptismal font. This symbolism extended into the churchyard where, even in death, the ironmasters expressed pride in their achievements. Among the most interesting graves in the churchyard are a group of five tombs, with cast-iron lids, which include the final resting places of the ironmasters Samuel Hopkins and Thomas Hill II.

Ironmaster Samuel Hopkins is buried in an iron topped tomb in St. Peter’s Churchyard. He is buried with his aunt, Sarah Bissel (nee Hopkins), who died in 1809.

Samuel Hopkins, who is buried with his aunt Sarah Bissel (nee Hopkins), was the residential ironmaster at Blaenavon and became a partner in the works following the death of his father Thomas Hopkins in 1793.  Samuel Hopkins, who built and lived at Blaenavon House, had a reputation of being a great philanthropist.  In addition to building St. Peter’s Church, he was also a patron of the Blaenavon Sick Club and a supporter of education in Blaenavon. Following Samuel Hopkins’s death in June 1815, his younger sister, Sarah Hopkins of Rugeley, built and endowed St. Peter’s School (now the Blaenavon World Heritage Centre) in her brother’s memory.

Thomas Hill II inherited his cousin’s share of the Blaenavon Ironworks in 1815 and succeeded to the role of residential manager. Hill oversaw radical changes to the Blaenavon business; he was largely responsible for the creation of Garn Ddyrys forge, the Pwll Du Tunnel and Hill’s Tram Road (all of which now form parts of the World Heritage Site’s Iron Mountain Trail walking trail). These innovations diversified the company’s output and linked Blaenavon to the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal. Thomas Hill II died in 1827, aged 59 years, and was interred in St. Peter’s Churchyard. His daughter Jane Hill, who died aged 28 years in 1830, is buried in the same grave.

The iron-topped tomb of Thomas Hill II and his daughter Jane

Another of the iron-topped tombs outside the church belongs to Thomas Deakin, the Blaenavon Company’s mine agent. Deakin was born in Coalbrookdale, Shropshire, in 1776, where he worked underground from an early age. As an intelligent, curious and ambitious young man, he travelled around the mining areas of Staffordshire and south Wales in a quest to acquire a detailed understanding of the full range of mining processes. He arrived in Blaenavon in 1796, at the age of 20 years. Through his work as a collier, he distinguished himself as an innovative and skilled worker. In 1797, Deakin moved on to nearby Pontypool, where he was employed by the Hanbury family at the Pontypool Iron and Tin Works. Meanwhile, the Blaenavon Company was experiencing difficulties with its ironstone mining operations, which were crucial to the ironmaking process. The ironmaster Samuel Hopkins, who was conscious of Deakin’s abilities, sought him out in Pontypool and persuaded him to return to Blaenavon, for a good wage, to take charge of the mining department.

Thomas Deakin was a hard worker and remained with the Blaenavon Company for the rest of his life. He would be underground at dawn and did not rest until midnight. He toiled until he was forced to retire at the age of 75 years due to rheumatism, caused, no doubt, by his many years working in wet and cramped conditions.

Whilst Deakin had endured a hard childhood, he was determined to improve the working conditions for the next generation. He was interviewed by the Children’s Employment Commission in 1841 regarding his role in the use of child labour in Blaenavon and recalled his own childhood in Shropshire:

“The children do not work here one-fourth part so hard as they do in Shropshire. I would not allow my children to work as I did fifty years ago; I would sooner send them to the West Indies for Slaves. We have no children in our works in any way overworked, and they are all in general well clothed and well fed.”

Deakin was a prominent member of the Wesleyan Methodist Church and was a keen student of literature and the Bible. In his later years, he was increasingly conscious of his mortality and made preparations for his own funeral. During the 1830s, Deakin selected a large block of limestone from a local quarry to mark his grave. He also prepared a poetic epitaph, which was inscribed onto the tombstone following his death in June 1851.

“Beneath the rocks I used to toil for bread, beneath this piece of rock I rest my weary head. Till rock and ages shall in chaos roll, on resurrection’s rock, I’ll rest my soul”

The Tombstone of Thomas Deakin

As with Messrs Hill and Hopkins, Thomas Deakin was conscious of his legacy and ensured his gravestone would provide an enduring reminder of the role he played within Blaenavon’s industries.

Shopkeepers and Entrepreneurs

St. Peter’s Churchyard also provides evidence of the commercial development of industrial south Wales during the Victorian era. As the nineteenth century progressed, a commercial centre developed in Blaenavon to meet the needs of the population of ironworkers, coalminers and their families. The gravestone of John Griffith Williams, one of Blaenavon’s most notable entrepreneurs, can be seen in the burial ground. John Griffith Williams was a flamboyant local businessman, originally from Breconshire. When he arrived in Blaenavon in 1830 Williams was dismayed that there were “no roads fit for any vehicle…only five chapels, four shops, five public houses and very few cottages [south-east] of the works”.

The Tombstone of the Williams Family of Blaenavon. Also buried within the grave are some of J.G. Williams’s children, who died in the United States of America but whose bodies were returned to Blaenavon for burial.

Williams soon became influential in Blaenavon and persuaded the authorities to approve the creation of Broad Street, leading to its future development. Williams established Blaenavon’s first regular covered market in 1840 and within a few years he had opened the town’s first brewery and had constructed a reservoir and a gas works to provide utilities to the growing town.  Williams also built the Coliseum Hall and Red Lion Hotel, both in Lion Street.

Broad Street, Blaenavon, developed largely due to the efforts of John Griffith Williams

The Impacts of Industry of the Working Class

The churchyard provides a tangible reminder of the working class families who lived and worked in industrial areas, contributing to the development of Britain’s industrial and imperial might. Most people buried within the churchyard were members of the working classes. People travelled from across the British Isles to find work in the industries of south Wales. The population of Blaenavon grew from 1,469 in 1801 to 6,223 by 1841.  Some people from the iron-producing areas of England were offered good wages to bring their iron-making skills to the newly established ironworks of Wales. For instance, the tombstone of Samuel Dankes, an iron moulder who died in November 1826, aged 45 years, reveals that he came from Madeley in Shropshire, a well-established iron-making district, parts of which fall within the modern-day Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site.

The gravestone of Samuel Dankes (d.1826)

The population of Blaenavon continued to soar during the nineteenth century and the churchyard had to be extended in 1882 to meet the overwhelming demand for burial space.  Disease and epidemics caused the death of hundreds of people, for instance measles outbreaks during the 1870s were very common in Blaenavon. In 1870, there were 52 deaths from measles in one month alone. In 1877 there were about 1,500 recorded cases of measles in the town and 24 people lost their lives. Typhus and small pox were other killers. The unmarked mounds of earth throughout the churchyard provide a touching reminder of the poorest people in the town who lie forgotten in anonymous graves.

Babies and young children were the most vulnerable to disease and illness. For many families the loss of a child in infancy would have been tragic but all too common, especially among the working class. Well over a thousand infant graves can be found in the churchyard. The majority of which are unmarked as many families would have been too poor to afford headstones for their young children. Nevertheless, the churchyard contains some ornate and emotive memorials for babies and children.

The gravestone of James Holley Bevan, who died aged 8 days in 1902.

Industrial Accidents

Illness and disease were not the sole causes of death in an industrial town like Blaenavon. St. Peter’s is also the final resting place of hundreds of Blaenavon people who were killed in industrial accidents. A number of these graves can be seen along the main path of the churchyard. The grave of William Trevenen, a coal miner, who was accidentally killed on 28 July 1884, aged 22 years, can be seen. Other young victims of industrial accidents, whose tombstones can be observed, include Herbert Snook, aged 20 years who was crushed to death at Milfraen Colliery on 27 January 1905; and Frederick James Williams, aged 22 years, ‘who met his death by an accident in the Blaenavon Works’ on 17 March 1907.

Some of the gravestones bear testament to the Big Pit explosion of 1908. The incident occurred at the colliery at the end of the night shift in the early hours of 11 December 1908. George Williams, aged 55 years, of 6 Brewery Row, Blaenavon, on completing his work, had just taken his pit pony back to the underground stable and was about to return to the surface. Tragically, John Jones, aged 21 years, of Duke Street, and Nathaniel Brankley, aged 34 years, of Llanover Road, perhaps ill-informed of the dangers, entered the mine to begin their daily toil, apparently carrying naked lights. There was an accumulation of gas, which was ignited by the flame, causing the explosion. All three men were killed. Four days later, amid torrential rain, the coalminers were laid to rest. Their comrades from Big Pit, despite the horrid conditions, flocked to the graveside in great numbers to pay their respects. The gravestones of both John Jones and George Williams can still be seen today.

Just some of the gravestones that mark the final resting place of men killed in industrial accidents in the Blaenavon area.

The death of a main wage-earner, in addition to the great emotional loss, could also have a devastating effect on a family’s income. Eli Challenger, who was killed in an industrial accident near Blaina on 10 January 1902, aged 50 years, was a husband and father of a large family. He initially lived at Chapel Row in Blaenavon but moved to Abertillery in the 1890s.  His body was brought back to his hometown for burial. Another family man, who lost his life in industry, was Abraham Godfrey, aged 56 years, who ‘met with an accident in Blaenavon Colliery’ in March 1906. He left a wife and six children. Among the other gravestones that still stand are those of William Pritchard (44) and Thomas Lewis Davies (32), who were ‘accidentally asphyxiated by gas’ at the blast furnaces of the Blaenavon Works on a Saturday morning in November 1904. Both men were married and Pritchard left behind a wife and an infant daughter.

Sites such as Big Pit: National Coal Museum and Blaenavon Ironworks are now popular visitor attractions but the graves that can be seen in the churchyard, and the stories behind them, provide stark reminders of the horrors of industry and the human cost of the Industrial Revolution.

Big Pit: National Coal Museum

War and Conflict

The churchyard also contains the graves of seven Blaenavon men killed in the global conflicts of the twentieth century. These represent just a small number of the Blaenavon men killed in both World Wars. The bodies of hundreds of Blaenavon men lie in war cemeteries across the globe, the names of many of these soldiers are recorded on the clock tower war memorial outside the Blaenavon Workmen’s Hall. However, on the few occasions that a soldier’s body was returned to Blaenavon, the churchyard provided a space in which the community could gather to pay their final respects to one of their fallen sons.

The graves include that of George Holly Archer, the son of Henry and Mary Archer, who served as a gunner in the anti-aircraft section of the Royal Garrison Artillery. He was wounded during active service in France and died of pneumonia, aged 24 years, on HMHS Dunlace Castle, a hospital ship, on 19 November 1916.  The Archer family were well known in Blaenavon; they were hairdressers, tobacconists, painters and decorators, trading at 33 and 34 Broad Street for many years. George Archer, a painter, was very popular in Blaenavon. His funeral was a well-attended affair. A procession, consisting of the Blaenavon Silver Band, the Boy Scouts and soldiers took place from the Archer family home to St. Peter’s Church, to the tune of the Dead March in Saul.

Another gravestone is that of Private David John Harrington of 22 Ton Mawr Road, son of John and Ann Harrington, who was wounded in France and invalided back to Britain. He died at Netley Hospital, Hampshire, on 23 July 1916, aged 26 years. Before the war, David Harrington had worked as a coalminer. Large numbers of young Welshmen volunteered to join the armed forces in order to seek adventure and escape the coalmines. Many did not return.

Private Idris Jones of 111 Broad Street, who died on 3 August 1918, joined the South Wales Borderers in March 1916 and served in France. Sadly, he suffered from numerous medical complaints during his military service and was sent back to Britain to recuperate. He died, somewhat unexpectedly, after an operation to treat gastritis at Nottingham General Hospital. His body was returned to his relatives and he was buried at St. Peter’s Churchyard.

Private Idris Jones who died in August 1918 (photograph courtesy of Francis Keen)

The other war graves in the churchyard are those of Corporal T. E. Nelmes, who died on 23 September 1916; Private Edward Watkins, the son of Thomas and Mary Ann Watkins of 15 D Row Forge Side, who died on 16 May 1921, aged 28 years and Private J. D. Jenkins, the son of Thomas and Maria Jenkins of 37 Woodland Street, Blaenavon, who died on 5 December 1918, aged 31 years, almost a month after the armistice was signed. The only Second World War casualty buried in St. Peter’s Churchyard is Flying Officer Sidney Graham Williams, who was killed on 19 February 1945, just months before the end of the war.

Also within the burial ground, in unmarked graves, are veterans of earlier conflicts, namely the Battle of Waterloo and the Battle of Rorke’s Drift. The churchyard is therefore a reminder of the role that Blaenavon people played in serving their country in conflicts across the globe.

The Heritage Value of the Churchyard

The Blaenavon World Heritage Site prides itself on its authenticity. It is fortunate that it comprises a globally significant landscape of industrial relics and historical buildings, many of which now serve as major tourist attractions that collectively receive in excess of 200,000 visitors each year. St. Peter’s Churchyard, a monument in itself, provides fascinating testimony to the lives of the ‘ordinary’ men, women and children who shaped the town and landscape of Blaenavon during the Industrial Revolution. Every grave tells a captivating and personal story related to the development of the World Heritage cultural landscape. The unsung stories of the churchyard have enormous potential to contribute to the heritage values of the Blaenavon World Heritage Site.

Direct linkages exist between the lives of the individuals buried within the churchyard and the key features and attractions of the World Heritage Site today. Telling the people’s history through the churchyard would provide a blend between the World Heritage Site’s tangible and intangible values and would aid the site’s interpretation and promotion. Interpretation of the churchyard through appropriate means, especially utilising the vast potential of the World Wide Web and digital technologies, can allow for a virtual temporal-spatial exploration of the World Heritage Site.

This article has briefly illustrated how just a small number of the individuals buried within a churchyard contributed to an internationally significant heritage. Although only touching on a very small selection of the c.15,000 people buried within the churchyard, this article has attempted to show how the people’s story underpins the heritage sites and tourist attractions that are so popular with visitors today.

The White Horse Assembly Rooms and ‘Respectable’ Working Class Culture

This post focuses on the White Horse Inn and Assembly Rooms, located between King Street and Upper Waun Street in Blaenavon. The building, now converted into residential accommodation, is one of the largest within the town but has been somewhat overlooked in the various histories that have been written about Blaenavon. This is surprising as the building played a prominent and central role as a space in which a ‘respectable’ working class identity was articulated in Blaenavon between the 1860s and the 1890s. This piece aims to shed some light on the history of the White Horse and the important role it played in the social, cultural, political and economic life of the Blaenavon community in the late nineteenth century.

The White Horse Assembly Room (Photo Courtesy of Mr John Harris)

Most of the events covered in this article took place when the White Horse was run by Thomas James (1832-1888) and his wife Jane Gaut (1832-1888).  The James family were known to be highly respectable people and consisted of Mr and Mrs James and their four children, Ann Elizabeth, Emmanuel, Richard and Margaretta.  The family ran the public house and the adjoining assembly rooms from at least the early 1860s until 1889, when, following the deaths of both Thomas and Jane James in 1888, the property was sold at auction. In 1889, the auctioneer’s schedule noted that the premises comprised a hotel, assembly room, brew-house and malt and hop rooms, along with three adjoining cottages (1-3 White Horse Cottages), producing £19 10s per annum in rent.   It was a substantial building, well equipped to host a range of events and activities.

At the dawn of the 1860s, when the James family took charge of the White Horse, Blaenavon was developing into a fully-fledged town; its population stood at approximately 7,114 persons and new streets, houses and businesses were springing up accordingly. The principal employer in the town was the Blaenavon Company and hundreds of working class families in the town were reliant on the money earned by male breadwinners who worked at the company’s various mines, quarries, departments, forges and ironworks. To many workmen, especially those labouring in hot conditions, public houses provided relief after a hard day’s toil. In Blaenavon there was a plethora of pubs, beer houses and hotels strewn around the town. Some were places of ‘rough’ working class culture where heavy drinking, violence and vice prevailed but others, including the White Horse, were well-conducted establishments where the more refined aspects of a ‘respectable’ working class culture could be enjoyed and expressed.

In the early nineteenth century, blood sports, gambling and other ‘rough’ pursuits were popular among some sections of society. This is the champion fighting cockerel of Blaenavon (of c.1830) on display at the Blaenavon Community Museum.

By the 1860s a variety of friendly societies were flourishing in Blaenavon and frequently found their homes in the club rooms of public houses throughout the town, including the White Horse Inn. These societies were important institutions that provided benefits, support and a degree of social security to their subscribing members in an era when laissez-faire political ideology dominated the state’s attitude to welfare provision. People joined various lodges and orders, often influenced by their political or religious persuasions, in order to have the insurance that if they became ill or fell on hard times, they could rely on the support of their brethren. The friendly societies, however, were more than insurance providers as the lodges took on a social and cultural role. Many Blaenavon people were involved in these organisations and in the summer of 1870 it was reported that about 2,000 members of these societies paraded through the town’s streets in a day of local festivities.

During the early 1860s, the ‘City on the Rock’ Lodge of the Order of Loyal Alfreds met in the club room of the White Horse and held their anniversary celebrations and convivial meetings at the assembly rooms.  The anniversaries were quite impressive affairs. In August 1864, for example, two hundred members of the society, to the music of the Newport Factory Band, marched through Blaenavon before attending worship at the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel. They then proceeded to the residences of the directors and managers of the Blaenavon Company, where they were received by John Paton, the manager of the works, and Mr Kennard, the company director. Mr Paton provided each man with a glass of ale, whereas Mr Kennard donated three guineas to the lodge’s coffers. An excellent dinner, followed by speeches and singing was then enjoyed at the White Horse.  The Ancient Order of Foresters also held meetings at the White Horse. In 1871, it was reported that ‘Forestry’ was making rapid strides in Blaenavon, with nearly 400 members within three courts. In a well-received address to the Court of Strangers’ Home, Past Chief Ranger Thomas Grieve delivered a lecture on ‘Robin Hood and his Times’ at the White Horse in July 1871.

Popular readings and musical entertainments for men and women were frequently provided at the White Horse, often under the patronage of the works managers or company officials who were keen to foster a respectable and responsible culture among the working class. In 1867 the Pontypool Glee Society held an evening of musical entertainment under the patronage of Mr John Paton and other managers and agents of the works.  Regular performances were also held by the Blaenavon Glee and Madrigal Society during the early 1870s.  There were often large, satisfied audiences at these events and performances typically included singing, violin solos, comedic songs, string bands, and symphonies, concluded with the National Anthem, ‘God Save the Queen’.  The White Horse was also used by the managers to help strengthen relations with their workers. In August 1873, for example, John Paton treated all blast-furnace men to a good dinner at the White Horse over a two day period.

The White Horse certainly had a varied musical programme and attracted performers from far and wide. In April 1867, the assembly room hosted Mr Whitworth’s ‘Talented Troupe of Minstrels’, who performed to ‘a large and respectable audience’. A few months later, in September 1867, a ‘large and attentive audience’ turned out to listen to a concert, which included music by Miss Matthews, the organist of St Mark’s Church, Newport, and a number of vocalists. The concert was regarded as a ‘complete success’ with each song ‘rapturously re-demanded’.  In 1869 the internationally renowned opera singer Louisa Bodda-Pyne was due to perform at the White Horse but caused great disappointment when she missed her train connection from Merthyr and failed to make it to Blaenavon.

Blaenavon, typical of many towns in the coalfield, had a strong musical tradition with choirs, bands and musicians performing both sacred and secular music. Local people not only came to watch and listen to the concerts but also took part in these musical entertainments. A concert consisting of solos, duets, quartets and choruses was held at the White Horse on 6 April 1871 in aid of raising funds for the creation of the new Wesleyan Day Schools in Park Street. The choir was conducted by George Deakin, a local chemist. His daughter Annie Deakin performed as pianist whereas Mary Ann Witchell, the daughter of a local bootmaker, was at the harmonium.  A ‘miscellaneous concert’ was held in May 1869, which included performances by Blaenavon’s Ebenezer Chapel Choir and Thomas Grieve, a local violinist, who played ‘Tartini’s Sonata’ and ‘De Beriot’s 5th Air’, with ‘exquisite taste’.

The White Horse’s events were quite diverse and not confined to musical entertainments. The old Welsh custom of Nos Cyn Gauaf (‘the night before winter’) was observed there on All Hallows’ Eve, in which light-hearted frivolities took place to mark the ghostly occasion.  At such an event in 1879 a supper was held by Mrs James in which fifty young people attended an evening of glee, songs, speeches, dancing and music until 11pm.  In April 1868, the celebrated Professor Ewart provided amusement and entertainment when, under the patronage of Edward Kennard and John Paton, he brought his famous ventriloquism show to town.  In February 1869 R.W. Cousens of Swansea exhibited a pair of ‘magic lanterns’, with a range of dissolving views showing comic scenes, tales and ‘chromatropes’. On that occasion, the room was extremely crowded and somewhat disorderly due to the excitement that was generated. Nevertheless, it was in a good cause as the proceeds of the event were donated to Zion Bible Christian Chapel in Broad Street (now the band hall).  The following year, a crowded audience and some 700 schoolchildren came to the White Horse to view Mr Buckstone’s exhibition of African views.  Such events are likely to have been popular as they offered a novel, unique and tantalising glimpse of the world beyond industrial Wales.

A highlight of the year would undoubtedly have been the White Horse’s Grand Eisteddfod, held each year on Christmas Day. In 1867 the event, under the patronage of John Paton, was regarded as a great success as people came from ‘all parts of the hills’ to compete in prose, poetry, singing and recitation. John M Jones, a grocer from Broad Street, won prizes for two of his essays. Four local choirs competed for the choral prize and the top prize was won by Bethlehem Independent Chapel, under the leadership of Henry Gunter, with Ebenezer Chapel, led by Mr Protheroe, coming second. The following day, the White Horse held a Grand Christmas Ball, with a Quadrille band in attendance.  The White Horse therefore served as a space where members of the community could spend the festive period together, enjoying each other’s company as well as a range of cultural and musical activities.

The White Horse was not just used for pleasure, entertainment and frivolity. It was also home to political debate, industrial negotiations, discussion and even popular protest. Thomas James, the landlord, was a supporter of the Conservative Party and the White Horse sometimes hosted meetings and banquets for the Party. Following the election of Conservative Members of Parliament for Monmouthshire in the 1868 General Election, serious riots broke out, including at Blaenavon. Angry Liberal supporters, dissatisfied by the election results, attacked the businesses of Tory supporters in King Street and also targeted the White Horse. The rioters entered the premises, where Thomas James attempted to pacify them. He provided them with a barrel of beer and gave them ten shillings.  Charles Jones, one of the assailants, was witnessed sitting on a table within the White Horse Inn, saying “now we’ve plugged the barrel of beer, let us go to the Red Lion”. The White Horse was saved. The same, however, could not be said for the Red Lion Hotel in Broad Street which then bore the brunt of the attack.

Despite the landlord’s links to the Conservative Party and the close relationship the White Horse enjoyed with the managers of the Blaenavon Company, the coalminers’ trade union movement also had a strong association with the building. Meetings were held in the assembly rooms by trade unionists from the 1870s onwards, sometimes with up to a thousand people in attendance, where men would attempt to improve their working conditions and employment rights.  The meetings were held monthly or more often if required. Resolutions on whether or not to accept reductions in pay, to go on strike or to resume work were made and balloted on within those rooms. At the meetings Blaenavon workers also had the opportunity to listen to the reports of delegates who they had sent to represent them in regional meetings. Influential figures within the south Wales trade union movement also made presentations to the Blaenavon workers at the White Horse. For example, William Abraham MP, popularly known as ‘Mabon’, addressed the Blaenavon miners at the White Horse in 1891, where he was cordially received when he spoke at length on the need for combined organisation among the workers and unions of Wales.  Mabon went on to become the first president of the South Wales Miners’ Federation (‘The Fed’).

The union meetings were sometimes tense but significant and well-attended affairs. On 3 January 1873, for example, the assembly rooms were packed beyond capacity, as concerned workers flocked to keep abreast of the south Wales colliers’ and miners’ strike, in which about 60,000 men across the coalfield, including Blaenavon, had ceased work rather than accept a 10 per cent pay reduction.  Suspicions ran high during these times of industrial unrest. At a trade union meeting at the White Horse in February 1873, a reporter for the County Observer and Monmouthshire Central Advertiser was turned away at the door.

…no sooner had I appeared at the room door than a man named Challoner roared out in an excited manner, “No reporters! No reporters!” His example became contagious, and those who wished for my presence were over-awed. I could not have caused a greater excitement had I discharged a pistol among them…

The unions, in this period, were the domain of men, yet the consequences of the meetings had profound impacts on the lives of not just the men but also their wives and children. In 1875, during another period of industrial turmoil, the women of Blaenavon, to their surprise, were invited to attend a meeting of workmen’s wives at the White Horse. Hundreds of women apparently assembled at the doors only to be met by a bewildered Thomas James, who, not knowing of any such meeting, refused them entry. The meeting was a hoax and, once this was realised, an angry mob of women went in pursuit of the mischief-maker who had spread word of the meeting. Terrified, the prankster sought refuge in the White Horse but Mr James, fearful of the baying crowd outside and the damage they might do to his property, asked the man to leave. The man was then chased through the streets of Blaenavon until he got to the safety of the police station on Church Road.

The destitution, which resulted from protracted strikes or lock-outs, was no laughing matter to the families who were plunged into financial hardship. The White Horse, however, played a significance role in the alleviation of poverty. Dr Charles Bent Ball (later Sir Charles Bent Ball), during his time as Chief Surgeon of the Blaenavon Works, was concerned at the distress experienced by the children of workers during the industrial dispute of 1875. From his home he provided the needy with soup but the demand was so great that during the strike he made arrangements with Mrs James to hold a soup kitchen at the White Horse for children under the age of thirteen years. A good soup was provided for 800 children on the condition that they brought their own bowl and spoon with them. Each child was also provided with a large piece of meat or cheese and bread. Some 110lbs of prime beef were boiled, 120 loaves were distributed and 25lbs of cheese were given out to the needy children. Inspired by Dr Ball’s efforts, several friendly societies funded such initiatives.  Indeed, in April 1875, the White Horse Relief Committee was reported to have distributed soup, bread, meat and cheese to 2,500 famished children. The White Horse Committee was funded by subscriptions from members of Blaenavon’s various friendly societies but contributions also came from as far afield as Cardiff, London and Bristol. £35 11s had been raised, with the bulk of the money being spent on 540 gallons of first class soup, 400 loaves of bread, 360lbs of beef and 75lbs of cheese.

The White Horse pictured within the wider Blaenavon Townscape

In 1874 a special concert was held by the Blaenavon District of the Ancient Order of Foresters to provide funds for the Order’s Widows’ and Orphans’ Fund. The members of the Order and their families turned out in great number to support the event.  Industrial unrest and a lack of employment, however, threatened the sustainability of the friendly societies as some unemployed people were unable to pay for the subscriptions to renew their membership. A special concert, consisting of songs, glees, duets, string bands and comedy, was held on 9 October 1879 at the White Horse Assembly Rooms to aid these disadvantaged people. Thomas James provided the room and lighting free of charge and the band, singers and accompanists freely provided their services. The people of Blaenavon rallied together as a community to help those in need. The rooms were packed to the extent that hundreds of people failed to gain entry.   The event was so popular that a repeat performance was carried out, in aid of the Ancient Order of Foresters, a week later and, again, the rooms were full.  Fundraising was also carried out for individuals. In August 1880 a special concert was held at the White Horse by amateur musicians from Blaenavon, Dowlais and Merthyr, to aid an elderly man who, through ill-health, was no longer able to work.

The White Horse Assembly Room

Following the deaths of Mr and Mrs James in 1888, the White Horse Assembly Rooms continued in its social and cultural role with meetings and events being held by organisations and institutions as diverse as the Blaenavon Workmen’s Reading Room, the Blaenavon Habitation of the Primrose League and the 4th Battalion of the South Wales Borderers.  Political and industrial meetings continued to be held, including a conference of the Blaenavon workmen, held in the autumn of 1890, in which the men agitated for a greater say in the appointment of their doctors, whose services the workers paid for through deductions from their wages.  They were successful in achieving that aspiration and the Blaenavon Medical Aid Society became a strong example of a worker-led scheme of medical provision.

This article has attempted to provide some illustration of the multifaceted role played by the White Horse Inn and Assembly Rooms within the Blaenavon community. The White Horse formed a significant social space which was used by ‘respectable’ men, women and children for the purposes of recreation, entertainment, education and political expression. The White Horse was home to a culture that was endorsed, encouraged and often patronised by the managers of the Blaenavon Company. Its music, comedy, dance and seasonal festivities were enjoyed by thousands of people over many years. Furthermore, the White Horse was a building in which people worked together to improve their condition through friendly societies, trade unions, self-help schemes and relief committees. Thousands of Blaenavon people directly benefitted from the charitable activities organised at the establishment. This rather plain and austere looking building therefore provides a tangible reminder of the unique culture that developed in south Wales during the Industrial Revolution. It forms an important albeit somewhat underappreciated feature of the cultural landscape of the Blaenavon World Heritage Site.