86
Houses and homes in Tredegar during the 19th century A Key Stage 2 Educational Resource Pack Part 4—Living Conditions in towns & countryside
87
Why did people move from the countryside to Tredegar during the 19th century?
Drawing of a family moving to South Wales during the 19th century
88
Most of the increase in the population of Tredegar during the early 19th century was due to people moving into the area from the countryside of South Wales. We know from census data that many people came to Tredegar during the first half of the 19th century from West Wales where people had relied on farming for their living for generations. So why would people want to move away from their homes and families in the countryside to live in a crowded, polluted and unhealthy town, to work in dangerous conditions, for very long hours, for so little money?
89
In Cardiganshire in 1805 the wage of a farm labourer was 4 to 6 pence a day with food or 6 to 10 pence a day if he provided his own meals. Normal hours of work were 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. from May to July, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. from August to September and from dawn to dusk from October to April. These hours were greatly exceeded during harvest time.
90
‘For dinner you will see a small farmer have half a salt herring with potatoes and buttermilk—his family must content themselves with just a little buttermilk and potatoes or after the farmer has finished his part herring, there is a scramble amongst the youngsters for bones to suck as a treat. Sometimes there would be a little skim-milk cheese with oaten bread, some better off than others had an occasional piece of bacon. Fresh meat is scarcely ever seen on the table.’
‘Bachgen bach o Felin-y-Wig, Welodd e 'rioed damaid o gig.’
‘The little boy from Melin-y-Wig had never seen a bit of meat’
91
A visitor to Cardiganshire in 1810 listed ‘broths’ that were eaten:
Cawl caws y tlawd (cheese broth of the poor) consisted of bread, hot water and salt.
Twym llaeth was a mixture of oatmeal and sheep's milk poured into boiling water and flavoured with herbs, leeks and barley.
Cawl dail (leaf broth) was just herbs and hot water. Cawl tato (potato broth) was a mixture of potatoes, hot water and salt. Large quantities of these broths and barley bread were made at a time but they rarely improved with keeping—a farm servant complained: ‘O Arglwydd, dyma fwyd, Cawl sur a bara llwyd.’ O Lord, what food, Sour broth and mouldy bread.
92
Labourers’ houses were made of thick walls of earth, 5 feet (152 cm) high and capped by a roof of deep straw, often held in position by hay rope bandages, weighted with stones at each end. The chimney, made of twigs and mud, was set at such an angle that the whole cottage looked like a ‘hen brooding over her chicks’. Often the only covering for a window was a piece of sacking. Smoke from a peat fire burning on the floor had to find its own way to the chimney, nearly suffocating everyone in the house. Right: A ‘grander’ home in West Wales during the 19th century.
93
A 19th century description of a ‘superior’ cottage described it as: ‘consisting of only one room where a mother was peeling potatoes for 6 small, half-starved-looking children while her husband was working in the fields. There was but one chair in the house and the only bed consisted of straw, spread thinly over wooden boards and covered by one blanket. On this bed a little girl, 5 years old, was lying very ill. Another house of similar appearance contained 14 children and only 2 straw beds!’
94
It was common for people and animals to share the same living spaces:
‘She occupied one end of the house, the cow the other and the pig resided in the passage, whose warm breath in the winter answered the purpose of a stove. The fowls had the run of the whole house.’
Farm servants sometimes lodged in the farmhouse but had no privacy, often sharing beds. Generally, the male servants slept ‘over the stable or cow house’, where a bed might be an old cart filled with straw; and where beds were provided, the bed-clothes were sometimes washed only once in 6 months; no washing or toilet facilities was available and the men often went to bed in their working clothes, without taking their boots off!
95
After 1815 things were about to get worse ‌ The end of a long war with France meant that the price of food fell. Farmers could only sell their produce at very low prices. With so little money, farmers could not afford to employ labourers and thousands of people were without work. Farm rents were very high and there were too many people trying to make a living from too little land. There was terrible weather in 1816 and so famine followed in 1817.
96
‘The whole of the Population ... is out of employment and have been so these 6 months ... The poor are attempting to prolong life by swallowing barley meal and water—boiling nettles etc—and scores in the agonies of famine have declared to me this last week that they have not made a meal for two days together… Hundreds have therefore been in the constant habit of begging from door to door … by which they gain a few handfuls of meal with which they hasten back to their famishing young ones … I declare to God ... that I fear half the labouring poor will perish as things are, before next harvest in this neighbourhood. The weather has been so cold—so dry—and the frosts … have continued till now … the Country looks nearly as bare of grass as in the month of March.’
David Williams, secretary of the local Association for the Relief of the Manufacturing and Labouring Poor, 7 June 1817
97
For women, one of their part-time jobs, gwlanna (gathering wool) now became a matter life or death. At the end of April, sheep from low lying farms were herded on foot to the mountains. On their way, the sheep started to lose wool from their coats. Women collected this wool from hedges and other places along the way to the hills where the sheep spent the summer. The collecting season lasted into June. On their journeys the women would stay overnight at farms, sleeping in hay lofts and helping with farm work. When travelling they often carried their boots or clogs around their necks to save on wear!
98
After filling their sacks, each woman returned home to wash, card, spin, and dye the wool. Then they began to knit and it was common for them to hold nosweithiau gwau (knitting evenings) when a number of knitters would gather round the peat fire to gossip, tell stories and of course, to knit. Because they were so poor, all this was done in the light of the fire. Such was the work of these women that the woollen stocking/sock trade in Cardiganshire was large and dynion sane (stocking/sock men) travelled from door to door buying knitted products, stringing them on poles which they carried on their shoulders.
99
Another way of adding to the family income was to gather lichen from rocks of the hilly areas. It was collected by women and children and sold. It was used to dye army uniforms red. People also gathered the seed pods of the gorse or furze plant. The pods were then beaten with sticks, laid out in the sun to dry and then rubbed to loosen the seed, which was sold.
100
Another way of earning extra money was the cutting of peat for fuel. It was then carried in loads of 60 pounds in weight (27 kg) by women to coastal areas where it was sold for between 4 and 7 pence a load. The peat was carried in baskets, which were strapped to women's backs, in such a way that their hands were free to knit whilst they walked!
Right: Cutting of peat for fuel
101
In the early 19th century, mountains and commons in Cardiganshire were being ‘enclosed’, which meant that the land became privately owned. Land enclosures threatened the livelihood of poor people because they were no longer able to get to areas that they had always used to collect peat and gather wool, lichen and gorse. Wealthy landowners and farmers gained most from land enclosures whilst labourers and people who owned no land were the losers. Violent protests took place across Cardiganshire against enclosures. On many occasions, soldiers were called in to deter protesters and protect surveyors who mapped the land. Eventually protest leaders were arrested and given harsh punishments. The rich had the power of the law on their side.
102
Another way that men earned extra money was to work at harvest time in Herefordshire and Vale of Glamorgan. Working from 3am to 7pm, they could earn enough money to pay their rent for the year. For many people in Cardiganshire, this seasonal move eventually became a permanent one. Better transport links between West Wales and the rest of Britain made moving easier. Contact with migrants (people who had already moved away) returning home to visit relatives also encouraged young people to move away from the countryside in search of higher wages and more secure work in the new industries of South Wales.
103
How can we find out more about Tredegar’s housing conditions in the 19th century? During the 19th century, there were a number of investigations carried out by government inspectors across Britain and Ireland into matters such as education, working conditions, care for the poor for example. The inspectors collected evidence from witnesses interviewed by them which they thought were relevant. The inspectors often interviewed people from all walks of life including rich and poor, old and young. The evidence was published by the government, often as an additional section, attached to the main report that was presented to parliament. This 19th century evidence provides us with valuable information about this time because it was taken from living witnesses who could speak from their own first-hand, direct experience.
104
Report by Seymour Tremenheere 1839
105
Report from the Children’s Employment Inquiry 1842
106
Report from the Children’s Employment Inquiry 1842
107
Report from the Children’s Employment Inquiry 1842
108
Report by Jellinger C.Symons 1847
109
A row of 3 storey houses at Beaufort Road, Sirhowy Hill, Tredegar.
110
Often separate families lived on different floors in the same house.
111
An example of workers’ housing from the 1800s at Mount Pleasant, Tredegar. These houses never had a water supply so people had to fetch all the water that they needed from a tap outside—up to the 1960s!