2022-2023
Gwasanaeth ar ycyd ar gyfer Cynghorau Abertawe a Castell-Nedd Port Talbot
A joint service for Swansea and Neath PortTalbot Councils
Adroddiad Blynyddol Archifydd y Sir
Annual Report of the County Archivist
West Glamorgan Archive Service collects documents, maps, photographs,film and sound recordings relating to all aspects of the history ofWest Glamorgan. It is a joint service for the Councils of the City and County of Swanseaand Neath Port Talbot County Borough.
Our mission is the preservation and development of our archive collections, to safeguard our documentary heritage and to enable research in order to furtherour collective knowledge. Weare committed to providing information and the opportunity to engage with archives to everybody.
West Glamorgan Archive Service
Civic Centre
Oystermouth Road
Swansea SA1 3SN
01792 636589
Front cover:
Alexandra Road in Swansea decked out with bunting for the Coronation of King George VI, 1937 (D/D Z 1142/1)
westglam.archives@swansea.gov.uk
www.swansea.gov.uk/westglamorganarchives
@westglamarchive
We were delighted to host the Ancestry filming crew again in September, this time redigitising our parish registers in high definition and colour. The Welsh parish register collection will be relaunched on Ancestry once they have finished the project across all Welsh archive offices.
West Glamorgan Archive Service is run jointly by Swansea and Neath Port Talbot Councils in order to preserve access to their archives and to other archive collections which it has received and collected on theirbehalf. Residents of the two local authority areas and researchers from across the UK and overseas access ourarchive collections, both online and inperson, in order to carry out a wide variety of research.
The archives for some years have been faced with the implications of the proposed closureof Swansea Civic Centre. The decision (formalised in December 2021) to move the archives to a city centre Hub located in the former British Home Stores on Oxford Street isone which presents opportunitiesfor the Service alongside some challenges. On the one hand, the archives will benefit from a more central location inSwansea and ease of access immediately alongside the Local Studies Library: on the other hand, the new facility will need to fit into a multi-purpose building and this has required considerable care and attention to ensure that the archival storage area reaches the required BS 4971 for the conservation and care of archive library collections.
At the time of writing this report, the City Centre Hub project has passed RIBA Stage 3, which relates to spatial co-ordination within the building. A detailed floorplan has been developed which places the archive searchroom on thefirst floor and the archive strongroom on the second (top) floor, the two connected by a document lift. The newsearchroom has seatingfor ten people at document tables, three seated at PC desks and one using a microfilm reader. There is a reception area with lockers, space for reader registration and a small shop.
RIBA Stage 4 relates to technical design, and a number of challenges have been thrown up and addressed as to howthe archive strongroom will maintain environmental stability in accordance with BS 4971. The design will incorporate adehumidifier unit in order to prevent excessive humidity developing in the highly airtight newstrongroom. Doors will be tightly sealed and each entrance (including the document lift) willhave a lobby which acts as an airlock. Temperature control will be maintained through a cavity wall or plenum which is cooled when necessary during
hot spells of summer weather, or if the internal heating of the building in winter percolates upstairs to the strongroom.
The archive storage area has been designed with 25 years of expansion space for the collections, which is the standard lifetime expectation of such a building. The move will present a welcome opportunityfor the Service to once again take in large accessions of archive material, which it has been unable to do nowfor some years because of lack of remaining space in its strongrooms.
The Oxford Street Hub represents a considerable investment by Swansea Council in regenerating its city centre. The investment has also beenmade possible through a grant from theWelsh Government ‘Transforming Towns’ fund. A condition of the latter’sfunding for the Hub project is that the Council will at the same time undertake a study into thefeasibility of creating a single ‘fit for purpose’ archive repository in Swansea, able to house multiple partners who together can secure access to our heritage with long-term benefits for current and future generations. The participating partners are our two parent local authorities and the two universities in Swansea.
In the archive sector, West Glamorgan Archive Service is not alone in struggling to recover its pre2020 user base, and the consensus amongst colleagues in England andWales appears to be that family historians are the group least likely to return to use archives, given that the majority of family history resources are now available online on a subscription or pay-per-viewbasis. Many more people took out subscriptions during the Covid lockdowns and have not returned to us. It is impossible however to resist the move to a digital world, and the development in online resources is welcome for the many people who live toofar away from the area to make a personal visit. We shall have to learn to value remote use of the archives as much as we do physical access to them.
The Neath Archives Access Point reopened to the public on 25 April 2022 after a gap of two years
Improving on an existing online resource, the website company Ancestry were at the archives during the autumn to re-digitise our parish registers in higher definition and full colour. Digitisation of paper and parchment records is not the only way in which the Archive Service is responding to the move to digital and it is becoming increasingly pressing for the Service to create a digital repository for born-digital records (records which have always existed only in electronic form). During the year work has progressed towards a consortium approach to this acrossWales, and the Archive Service plays a constructive part in this process, which is led by Glamorgan Archives.
Mention should also be made of volunteersfrom the Glamorgan Family History Society who have returned after a gap of two years to continue their indexing of someof our other name-rich archives of interest to genealogists. After such a long period, it is a joy to welcome back old friends alongside a new generation of users. More recently the Swansea Branch of the GFHS have been holding their monthly meetings in our Family History Centre, another reason to celebrate and renewour close links with the community of familyhistorians.
Visit of pupils from Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bryn Tawe, March
A parish register awaiting conservation at Gwynedd Archives, to whom we outsource most of our conservation work. The following pictures show its transformation.
The primary role of the Archive Service is to preserve our documentary heritage for the benefit of future generations, receiving additional gifts and deposits of archive material while maintaining and developing the greatest degree of access to the collections in our care. There are several strands to this work, including seeking out and receiving newaccessions of archives, cleaning, boxing and conserving what we already hold, then cataloguingand publicising our collections.
Most of our conservation work is carried out under contract with the conservation unit of Gwynedd Archives at their main headquarters in Caernarfon. The pictures in this section show how conservation work thereon our collections brings our documents back into a useable condition.
During the year, the Archive Service has continued to collect material of archival value relating to our two local authority areas from institutions and individuals. Afull list of accessions received is to be found belowin Appendix 2 and several of the most interesting accessions are featured in our local history articles further on in this report. Here are some key highlights of the year 2022/23.
The Covid pandemic has had the unfortunate effect of hastening the closure of some of the chapels in our local area. Such occasions are inevitablythe source of sadness to the remaining members and it is important that the extant records are preserved, in recognition of the efforts of the congregation and the place the chapel held in its community, and in viewof their value as a
resource to family and local historians. Two notable collections were received, from Gorphwysfa in Skewen (Calvinistic Methodist) and Bethel,Llansamlet (Welsh Independent), which are described in more detail in an article by AndrewDulley later in this report.
In 2018, to commemorate the centenary of the end of the First WorldWar, the service digitised and indexed the rolls of honour it holds. This in its turn has prompted the donation of many more rolls of honour. Three were received during the reporting year, from Gorphwysfa, Skewen, Tabernacle in Cwmrhydyceirwand Bethania, Neath. Among them arefine examples of calligraphy and artistry, and the information about the men from their congregations who went tofight in the war is invaluable. They are being added to the online resource,which willbe updated in time for thisyear’s Remembrance Day.
Arguably the most illustrious and well-travelled of our local male voice choirs is the Morriston Orpheus Choir, and it was with great pleasure that the Service received the choir’s sizeable collected and collated archive earlier in the year. These consist of minutes, programmes, photographs and cuttings and constitute a coherent and vital record of one of the region’s cultural icons. The records are being listed at the moment and it will be a short while before they can be made available.
Changes to the lawin relation to the registration of marriages were mentioned in last year’s report. This change rendered redundant all the long-form marriage registers that had been used, in one form or another, since 1837, and all the current registers were then returned to the local registrar for closure, before being offered either to the incumbent, minister or secretary, or to the Archive Service. As a result, and following somethingof a concerted campaign, we have received a full set of marriage registers from most of the churches and many of thechapels in Swansea Registration District. The consequent discussions with members of the clergy have resulted in the deposit of other types of registers as well, including a hitherto ‘missing’ Llangyfelach baptism register, which was shared for a time with Morriston, and further records from Swansea St James, Oystermouth and Ystalyfera.
Some important photographic collections have also been received during the year. For example, there is an album compiled by G. Elfed Jones of Cwmbwrla, which shows many previouslyunseen views of the town, including a tennis match at St Helen’s in 1939, illuminations to celebrate the coronation of George VI, and an interior shot of the CwmfelinWorks. This collection is the subject of an article in this year’s report by Emma Laycock.
In a similar vein, we received more of the collection of Derek Gabriel, an amateur photographer who skilfully documented the changes he witnessed taking place incentral Swansea and his home suburbof Sandfields. He had arranged his photographs thematically into a three-volume compilation entitled ‘Lovely Ugly Swansea’, which stretch from the 1960s to the 1990s, a period when Swansea’s initialpost-war rebuilding was complete, but further work to rationalise and modernise the city was ongoing. There are images of buildings before and afterdemolition, panoramas and street scenes, iconic shops,churches and other prominent buildings, and even shots of circus animals, camels and elephants, walking along St Helen’s Road in the 1970s.
Of allthe photographic archives received during the year, possibly the most important is the Swansea Library Photograph Collection. It is extensive and was amassed over many decades. In
scope, it is similar to the photograph collection amassed at Swansea City Archives (now at West Glamorgan Archives), and while considerable duplication was expected, in reality there is very little and the majority of thepictures arenewto our holdings. Original order has been maintained throughout: there are aerial views, portrait photographs of celebrities and important local people, photographs of buildings, docks, parks and gardens, streets (alphabeticallyarranged), transport and the SecondWorldWar. There is a list at file level, but a detailed item-level catalogue isin the process of being prepared to facilitate access.
The earliest records received during the reporting year were donated through the kindness of a researcher who purchased them in an onlineauction. They are early title deeds, whose provenance is obscure, but their state of preservation and the geographical area they come from suggests that they all comefrom the same source, which might have been a solicitor’s office. They are title deeds of various properties in and around Neath and the upper Swansea Valley, and they date from Tudor times down to the nineteenth century. Theirfaded script records the lives of Neath residents who were contemporaries of Elizabeth I and whose names are not known from other records. Listing these will be time-consuming, but the finished catalogue will include a traditional calendarof the deeds, to help to provide access to them.
2026 will see the centenary of the first Adoption of Children Act, which made adoptions legal in England andWales, leading to the setting up of agencies for adoption and later local government involvement. Since the earliest records willalso soon be 100 years old, archives across the country are investigating the survival and whereabouts of these earliest records and advocatingfor theirdeposit in local archives. They will be of interest to both family and social historians. The success of the project will be very dependent upon the co-operation and support of a wide range of record-keeping and care professionals across local government and the independent sector to ensure that national datasets of adoption records are bothfull and accurate.
Over the years,West Glamorgan Archives has worked with other institutional partners on a number of innovative projects. The Archive Service continues to play its part in some creative and thought-provoking projects and several of our collaborations are featured here.
As reported last year, the Family History Centre in Swansea will be the locationfor a ‘Clip Corner’ or access point for the archives of severalWelsh television companies (BBCWales, S4C and HTVWales) via the lead partner National Library of Wales, which holds the original tapes.
It is anticipated that this facility will open in summer 2023 as one of the first batch of ClipCorners to be opened across Wales by the NLW.
Hosted by Swansea Council through its Cultural Services department, sponsored and supported by a range of city partners and participating schools, The World Reimagined was an innovative arts project which ran in late summer and autumn of 2022. It saw a set of artist-commissioned globes placed along a trail running through central Swansea, each one linked to a theme connecting us to the historic transatlantic slave trade, to past stories of colonialism and their echoes in the present.
Alongside other of the city’s cultural and heritage institutions, the Archives was proud to be a part of this partnership project and in particular to help the project team in the creation of the linking historical narrative.
Numbers using the archives in Swansea and Neath have continued to recover but are nowhere near the 4,957 recorded in 2019/20 just before the pandemic. However the 2022/3 figure is almost triple last year’s figure of 679. In 2020/1 only 98 visits were recorded.
Totalmembersofthepublic visitingtheArchiveService during2022-2023:1,962
42 enquiriesbypost
127 new reader’s ticketswereissued
505 pupilsandteachers attendedsessions forschools
2,251 enquiriesbyemail
6,189 followersonsocial media
6,604 documentswere consultedinour SwanseaandNeath searchroom
83,150 hitsonour catalogueentries onthe Archives
Hubwebsite
251,442 recordsinour onlinecatalogue
452,638 viewsweremadeof our digitised recordsonthe Ancestryfamily historywebsite
In late 2022, the Archives once again took part in the Survey of Visitors to UK Archives, although the results are not yet available. This is a qualitative survey of British archives, recording the user experience and customer satisfaction.
With the demise of the annual CIPFA statistical survey, quantitative comparison of WGAS with others is nigh-on impossible.
Anecdotally, all services across the UK are facing the same challenges of loss of at least some of their established user base.
One of the most encouraging signs of recovery this year has been the return of face to face education sessions in the archive searchroom, after several years of online-onlyactivity with schools.
The first school to visit the archives since the pandemic was Gowerton Primary School which booked four sessions in October and November to study the Elba Colliery disaster of 1905, which killed eleven Gowerton men. Apart from Gowerton, schools using the service this year have included Bryn Tawe, Clydach, Cwmrhydyceirw, Pen-y-bryn, St Thomas, Tirdeunawand Townhill.
A total of 505 pupils engaged with the service in 2022/23.
The Archive Service joined in an all-Wales bid for funds from the Anti-racist Wales Culture Heritage and Sport Fund, which was successful.
The work will consist of two workstreams – a search for outdated terminology in our catalogues and raising staff awareness of racism. Sadly, a third workstream for the digitisation and web-mounting of archival material relating to Wales’ links to the historic transatlantic slave trade failed to gain funding.
Archive staff have also been in involved in discussions about the use of archives to meet the needs of the new Curriculum forWales in teaching pupils howto research their local area. The first phase of this project will involve selected primary schools using archival resources atWGAS to develop a research question and start theirresearch.WGAS will produce a videofor them on how to get started. In the second phase, it is envisaged that the primaries will work with their associated secondary schools to develop a shared understanding of their local area and how it has developed over time. In the third phase, the schools will produce a video or other record of theirprimary/secondary school collaborative journey.
Andrew Dulley hosting a visit of Pantygwydr Baptist Church members to see the archives, MarchLong-serving member of staff Don Rodgers reached retirement age at the end of March, vacating his post of Archives Assistant, although he will continue in his other post of Office Manager working one day a week.
We were delighted after a gap of several years to be able to recruit a newArchive Trainee, and Bethany Amos from Abergavenny started with us in March. She has written a local history article further on in this report.
It is with great sadness that I have to report the sudden and unexpected death of one of our former members of staff, Rosemary Davies, in January. As an archivist with a specialism in family history, Rosemary was a familiar face behind the counter for many of our researchers, particularly those who visited our archive access points in Neath and Port Talbot.
Retired member of archive staff Elizabeth Belcham at the neighbouring stall at the Swansea Local History Fair in October. Help for the WGAS stall came from another of our retirees, Liza Osborne.
The chair and members of theWest Glamorgan Archives Committee have continued to showtheir interest and supportfor the work of the Service during the year, for which I am grateful. I would also like to record my thanks to the Neath Antiquarian Societyfor assisting in the reopening of the Neath Mechanics Institute.
Kim Collis West Glamorgan County ArchivistMay 2023
As at31March2023
Chairman
HM Lord Lieutenant of West Glamorgan
R. Louise Fleet JP
Vice-Chairmen
City and County of Swansea
Councillor R.V. Smith
County Borough of Neath Port Talbot
CouncillorW. Carpenter
Representing the City and County of Swansea
Councillor P.M. Black CBE
Councillor L.R. JonesMBE
Councillor E. King
Councillor J. Pritchard
Representing the County Borough of Neath Port Talbot
Councillor J. Hurley
Councillor N. Jenkins
Councillor R. Mizen
Councillor S. Renkes
Representing the Diocese of Swansea and Brecon
A. Dulley MA, MSc
Representing the Diocese of Llandaff
Vacant
Representing Swansea University
Prof. L. Miskell FRHistS
Representing the Neath Antiquarian Society
Mrs J.L.Watkins
City and County of Swansea
Head of Cultural Services
Ms T. McNulty MA
Neath Port Talbot County Borough
Head of Legal Services
M.C. Griffiths LLB
County Librarian
W.John MCLIP
As at31March2023
WestGlamorganArchives
Civic Centre, Oystermouth Road, Swansea SA1 3SN Tel. (01792) 636589
Neath AntiquarianSocietyArchives
Neath Mechanics Institute, 4 Church Place, Neath SA11 3LL Tel. (01639) 620139
Email:westglam.archives@swansea.gov.uk
Website:www.swansea.gov.uk/westglamorganarchives
The medieval documents held atWest Glamorgan Archive Service are relatively fewin number, but they comprise some of the jewels of our collections. They are something of a closed book to most researchers, due to the script and language in which they are written, and to remedy this, we have been publishinga series of translations to improve access to them. This year, wefocus on the faded and barely legible remains of the contract recording the betrothal of Edward, Prince of Wales and Isabellaof France, a marriage that would lead to death and a document whose story is, on several levels, ironic and poignant.
Edward II was the son and heir of the formidable Edward I, ‘Hammerof the Scots’, who in1284 effected the complete conquest of independent Wales. At his birth in Caernarfon extravagant prophesies were made, declaring that he would be a new Arthur and lead England to glory, but this was not a life to which the young princewas suited. These were politicallychallenging times requiring good judgement and strong leadership, and his reign would ultimatelyend in disaster.
Edward grew up to be a tall, athletic young man. Hefought on some of his father’s campaigns in Scotland and was known to be fond of music. He was appointed Prince ofWales in 1301, the first member of the English royal family to hold the position. In 1307, he was knighted in ostentatious style inWestminster Abbey, and later in the year, following his father’s death, he was proclaimed King Edward II. He was a highly eligible bachelor in an age when marriage in the upper echelons of society was often treated as a means to a political end and in1303 he was promised in marriage to Isabella, daughter of Philip IV ‘the Fair’of France. At the time, she was just coming up to eight years of age. This was not a love match, but a calculated union, backed by Pope Boniface VIII, to settle disputes between the crowns of England and France regarding the former’s claims to Gascony, Normandy, Aquitaine and Anjou. The betrothal was formalised in Paris in a document dated 20 May 1303.While Isabella and her parents were allthere in person, Edward himself was absent and sent two proxies to stand in his place, blissfully ignorant of the impact his marriage would have on his life. The contract document declared that as soon as she came of age, the young princess and the prince would be married. This happened some five years later, when Edward had only recently become king and his bride was the tender age of twelve.
Edward’s sexuality has been much discussed by historians, although without concrete evidence, it is impossible to be categorical. Indisputable however is that he had very close friendships with male advisors, startingwith Piers Gaveston, who had come to hisfather’s court when he was still a teenager. After the royal marriage, the king and Gaveston largely sidelined Isabella, Edward even sitting with his favourite in preference to his wife at the coronation feast, and they increasingly incurred the wrath of many of the barons who resented the arrogant behaviour of Gaveston and the close relationship he enjoyed with the king. Isabella also disliked the situation, but, perhaps feeling she had no other option, learned to live with it. She bore four of Edward’s children, including the future Edward III. Gaveston meanwhile was twice forced into exile, only to
return, while relations between the king and barons continued to deteriorate to the point of armed conflict. Finally, in 1312, Gaveston was captured and killed at the orders of the earlofWarwick.
While Isabella tolerated herhusband’s first favourite, she detested his second: Hugh Despenser was lord of Glamorgan and the two became close following Gaveston’s death. She was increasingly excluded from matters of state by Edward and Despenser and by 1322 the king and queen had effectively separated. In 1325, she was sent to France to negotiate a treaty.While she was there she joined forces with the exiled baron Roger Mortimer (they may have begun an affair) and the two returned to England with an army, intent on deposing the king. Edward fled toWales in panic, sending documents and treasure ahead to Swansea Castle for safe keeping. His aim was to set sailfor Lundy and cross from there to Ireland to raise an army, but rough weather kept him ashore. He took refuge where he could, in Cardiff, Caerphilly, Margam, Neath Abbey and possibly Swansea, but it was allin vain. On 16 October 1326 he was captured, forced to abdicate afew months later and imprisoned in Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire. The circumstances of his death are mysterious,and while most historians agree he was murdered, legend adds the gruesome insertion of a red-hot poker, an ignominious end to an ineffective king.
The store of treasure left by the king in Swansea Castle was ransacked and when the royal commissioners came to retrieve it, a string of prosecutions followed. It is surmised that the famous brooch, uncovered atOxwich Castle in 1968 and now at the National Museum in Cardiff, might have formed part of it. It is also possible that the document that promised the ill-fated marriage of Edward and Isabella was looted at the same time. Nobody knows what happened to itduring the next five centuries, but it came to light again in Victorian times, when Dr David Nichol was settling the bill with one of his Gower patients, who offered him a box of documents in lieu of payment. Among them was the marriage contract of Edward and Isabella. DrNichol was a memberof the Royal Institution of SouthWales and allowed his fellowmember George Grant Francis to take steps to preserve it.Writing in Archaeologia Cambrensis in 1848, Francis explained:
‘I anxiously sought out any and everything likely to add to the interest of our then infant museum; amongst others, my friend, Dr. Nicol, brought from his stores a small box containing sundry musty parchments and curious seals, several of them sadly decayed; the foregoing interested me much, and being in extremely tender condition, I carefully backed it with tissuepaper, mounted it on a panel of oak, glazed and framed it, inserting the three seals which were found tied up with it. It now adorns the study of the worthy Doctor; would that it were transferred to the museum, with his other donations.’
The doctordied in 1865 and around ten years later the Royal Institution purchased the document and put it on display. There it remained, in its frame, while humidity and daylight combined to fade and degrade until it was barely legible. Belatedly, in 1985 it was transferred to Swansea University Archives, where most of the Royal Institution’s archives were then stored. It was sent to the National Library of Wales for treatment, but conservators concluded that it was too badly damaged to restore. This is part of theirreport:
‘The damage to the document is probably in the main due to long exposure to sunlight; the parchment is very frail and much of the script is now illegible, even under ultra-violet light. It was judged best to leave the document on its paper backing rather than try to reback it. A coat of varnish was removed from the face of the document. In 1986 the seals were no longer attached to the document.’
The original document, reference RISW DN 32
In 2004 allthe Royal Institution’s archive collections were transferred toWest Glamorgan Archives for safe keeping and cataloguing and that is when we first acquired the marriage contract of Edward and Isabella. It is not on display today. Skilled conservators gave it the best treatment they could: they have cleaned it, restored the three seals and mounted everything in a solid box. But it is impossible to reverse the damage that has been done.Thankfully, a photograph was taken around the time when the document first came into the museum and this is also preserved among the Royal Institution’s archives. In it, the document’s fragile state isvery obvious, but cruciallyits text is legible. Using this, we have made a fresh transcription and translation, as follows:
A Touz ceus [qui ce]s presentes lettres verront et orront Looys Filzdu Roi [de] France Cuens de Evreux Robert de Burgoigne et Jehan de Bretaigne duks et Pierre Sires de Chambli Chevalir et Chambellan notre Seigneur le Roi de France messages et procureurs du dit roi a ce establiz Salut.
Nous fesons savoir que comme il ait este prononcie par le Pape comme par privee persone et comme Benoit Gaytan par la vertu du compromis [fait en] li que mariage se face de monsireEdouardfilz du Roi dengleterreet de madame ysabelfille le Roi de France notre Seigneur devant dit [sitost] comme elle vendra en aage defaire mariage dedenz les quatre mois apres ce qu il en ara este requis depar notre dit Seigneur le Roi o douaire de dis et wit mile libres de tornois petiz de rente sur certeinnes condicions [et] peinnes mises et ajostees en la prononciation desus dite et es lettres faites sur ce.
Et quant au ditmariage il ait oste les epeschemenz qui i estoient ou poaient estre par raison de lignage et ait dispense par auctorite dapostole et empres la dite prononciacion aucuns traitiez et acorz aient este euz et faiz a mostereulentre les messages et procureurs des diz Rois condicions et peines mises et ajostees quant a la fermete du dit mariage si come elles sont plus pleinement contennes es lettres faites sur ce.
Nous la prononciacion les traitiez et les acorz desus diz et chascun diceus sur les peines et sur les condicions de[sus] dites comme messages et procureurs du dit notre Seigneur le Roi en nom de li pour li pour ses hoirs et pour ses successeurs et pour madame ysabeldesus dite Ratefions agreons et approvons et prometons en nom du dit notre Seigneur le Roi a les tenir garder et acomplirfermement sur les peines desus dites
To all who shall see or hear these present letters, Louis, son of the King of France, Count of Evreux, dukes Robert of Burgundy and Jean of Brittany and Pierre Sires de Chambli, knight and chamberlain of our lord the king of France, messengers and agents of the said king appointed for this purpose, Greeting.
Wemake it known that whereas it has been pronounced by the Pope as a private person and as Benoit Gaytan*, by virtue of the promise made to him, that there shallbe a marriage between lord Edward son of the king of England and lady Isabella daughter of the king of France our lord aforesaid, and that as soon as she comes of age to be married, within four months after, there will be required from our said Lord the king a dowry of eighteen thousand little livres tournois of revenue upon certain conditions and penalties set and declared in the pronouncement mentioned above and the lettersmade about this.
And as regards the said marriage, he has removed the impediments that were or may have been by reason of lineage, and has acted by apostolic authority; and after the said pronouncement certain treaties and agreements were had and made at Montreuil between the messengers and procurators of the said kings, with conditions and penalties set and added for securing the said marriage, which are morefully contained in the letters made about this.
Weratify, agree and approve the pronouncement, the treaties and the agreements aforesaid, and each one of them, upon the penalties and upon the conditions, as messengers and procurators of our said lord the king, in his name, for his heirs and his successors and for lady Isabella aforesaid, and we promise in the name of our said lord the King to keep, guard and firmly accomplish them subject to the penalties mentioned above.
Item les diz Contes de Savoie et de Nicole comme messages et procureurs du dit Monsire Edouardfilz du dit Roi dengleterrepour li et innom de li fiancerent presentement en la presence du dit notre Seigneur le roi de France et de haute dame madam Jehenne par celle meime grace Reine de France mere de ladite madame ysabel icelle madameysabel present et receuant [et] elle presenz ses diz parenz et les diz procureurs recevanz fianca le dit Monsire Edouard en la main de honor[able] pere Gilepar celle meime grace
Arcevesque de Narbon sur les peines et sur les condicions desus dites.
En tesmoign de laquele chose nous avons fait sceller ces lettres de noz seaus. Donne a Paris la vintieme jour de mai En lan de grace milTrois cenz et Trois.
Furthermore the said Counts of Savoy and of Lincoln, as messengers and procurators of the said Lord Edward, son of the said King of England, for him and in his name, do hereby betroth, in the presence of our said Lord the king of France, and of her highness lady Jehanne by that same grace Queen of France, motherof the said lady Isabelle, the same lady Isabelle, who is present and accepts; and she, being present, her said parents and the said proctors accepting, betroths the said lord Edward by the hand of the honourable father Giles by that same grace Archbishop of Narbonne, on the penalties and conditions mentioned above.
In witness of this matter we have made these letters sealed with our seals. Given at Paris the twentieth day of May in the year of grace one thousand three hundred and three.
Andrew Dulley Assistant County ArchivistThis transcription and translation, along with the story of Edward II, his ill-fated marriage and reign, were made into a feature on the WGAS website for LGBT History Month in February 2023.
* Benoit Gaytan is a French version of Benedetto Caetani, the birth name of Pope Boniface VIII.
Women’s History Month is celebrated in March every year. This year the Archives created a Women’s History section on our website. The pages include stories focusingmainly on women who have not already been recognised or written about and showcase documents within our collections. Thefollowing article tells one of those stories.
Elizabeth Ann Clement was born 1 January 1892 in Taibach. Her family moved to the Miners Arms Public House, Pontrhydyfen in 1899, when her father took upthe licence. By 1911, she was a barmaid at the public house. She spokeWelsh and English.
Elizabeth was a member of the Royal Welsh Ladies’ Choir (also known as Madame Hughes Thomas’ Ladies’ Choir). Madame Hughes Thomas formed the choir in 1905 (Clara Novello Davies had formed the first Royal Welsh Ladies’ Choir in 1883). It was a female only choir, led by a female conductor, with the women often performing in traditional Welsh dress. Membership of the choir appears to have been restricted by economic means. Wedo not know how these women raisedfunds to travel overseas for up to 6 months at a time, but one newspaper noted that 20 out of the 22 choristers were pupils of Madame Hughes Thomas. Therefore, the women needed the financial means to pay for music lessons.
The Archives hold a diary written by Elizabeth, while on tour with the choir through Canada and America (D/D Z 13/1). Written between 7 September 1911 and 1 April 1912 the diary records the places they visited, the hotels they stayed in and the venues they performed. The following are some extracts of that diary:
Madame Hughes Thomas’ Ladies’ Choir taken while on tour through America and Canada (D/D Z 13/2/1)
9 September 1911 “Had a decent nights’ rest, slept in the same birth with a lady from Montreal (with her child)…felt boat a little bit shaky as the sea was very rough. On retiring to bed, felt the boat give an awful jerk. Esther and I went running up to see what was up…a man in third class had fallen over board…could not save him”
14 September 1911 Quebec, QC “The day we landed…everyone was in a very excited condition. An interesting part was the getting of the baggage, everything had to be examined, it was amusing to see all the trunks opened. Then it was thrown down a slide…we had a coach of our own on the CPR (Canadian Pacific Railway)”
16 September 1911 Lake Superior, ON “then we came in view of Lake Superior, the sight was simply lovely, train was going in and out of rocks and sometimes would see the engine right ahead, as the curve was so great”
27 September 1911 Moose Jaw, SK “Arrived in Moose Jaw at 12 o’clock…went for a grand motor ride, over the prairie and to the Indian Reserve, in which there was three hundred Indians”
9 October 1911 Pincher Creek, AB “We drove five miles from station in buses, along the most dreadful roads, one can imagine, but oh, the view was glorious, stretches of wild and cultivated prairie on either side of a long rough track, with the Rockies stretching away to the right and a most glorious sun rising to our left”
11 October 1911 Fernie, BC “we passed through a place called the Great Divide, the division between Alberta and British Columbia. Here we met a Dick Bowen of Garw, he is the Chief of the police, he took us through the jail, and showed us the cell in which a man hung himself one-time”
12 October 1911 Cranbrook, BC “All hotels full, slept in car, the scenery was glorious on our way…been told that not one per cent of Canada has been cultivated, yet this seems almost incredible when one thinks of the hundreds of people that are coming out here continually”
24 October 1911 NewWestminster, BC “Met Mrs Kate Wynne Matthison, the old Welsh contralto and mother of the great Edith Wynne (actress). Most pathetic sight to see the old lady, when she saw us all she got so excited, she was nearly 90 years of age, and she sang wonderfully well”
30 Oct 1911 Blaine, WA(Canada-USborder) “We had quite a novel experience at the hands of the Customs, we were stopped on our way from Vancouver at Blaine and made to leave the train, we were put into the detention room and endless questions asked us, before they would permit us to continue with our journey”
1 Nov 1911 Seattle,WA “such wonderful buildings and stores, there was one in the course of erection that was to be 42 stories” (believe this is Smith Tower)
14 November 1911 Roseburg, OR “Our concert was held in a hall, a wonderful place for sound, our voices sounded more like sixty than twenty and every number was encored over and over”
Miss Elizabeth Anne Clementr, taken at San Francisco (D/D Z 13/2/3)20 November 1911 Red Bluff, CA “We all rose in a hurry when Mr Michael came into the car with an orange in his hand, which he had picked himself. We felt really we were in the land of fruit and sunshine, there were palms all along the streets…California is really beautiful”
23 November 1911 Sacramento, CA “Had our photographs taken in Welsh costume and left for Grass Valley…we utterly failed to have decent tea in California it is grey in colour and of a most peculiar flavour”
30 Nov 1911 San Francisco, CA “Frisco is a beautiful city, it is wonderful how they have built it up in so short a time, we saw a great many ruins”(after the San Francisco earthquake of 1906).
3 December 1911 San Francisco, CA “This morning we were taken for a glorious trip around Frisco…the trip was mostly taken up by driving very slowly through the Golden Gate Park…We got to the shore of the Pacific, which was a sight to behold, the sea was just glorious. On our way back we passed through China town, all the people were walking about in their national costume which presented a glorious sight to behold”
4 December 1911 Pacific Grove, CA “a most delightful spot, right on the coast, a lovely spot quite a contrast to the lively towns we have lately been visiting…Had a delightful concert Madame asked me to sing ‘Can Cusg’”
12 December 1911 Los Angeles, CA “A gentleman named Mr Griffiths took us motoring…we drove through a park, huge place called Griffith Park which he had presented to the city, on our way here we saw a company photographing for moving pictures…in the evening we took a car to
Extract from the diary of Miss Elizabeth Anne Clement (D/D Z 13/4)
Venice, where we gave a concert. How can I describe this place? It is situated on the coast, it was as I should imagine a picture of Fairyland, here were all kinds of amusements going on…surprised at meeting Freddie Welsh the Welsh boxer”
27 December 1911 Las Vegas, NV “Awakened at 6.30 to find ourselves rushing across a desert, covered in sand. This desert extends half over California and entirely over Nevada…arrived Las Vegas 12.30, a small mining town”
30 December 1911 Salt Lake City, UT “Were met by several Welsh people…we went to an organ recital in the Mormon Tabernacle…the Temple is a huge building, oval shaped and must seat some thousand people. The ceiling and part of the walls was composed of skins of animals”
2 January 1912 Malad, ID “The population of Malad is two thousand, fifteen hundred of these are Welsh”
18 January1912 Denver, CO “Went out to see just a little of Denver in the morning, went up the Tower (Daniels & Fisher Tower) which is three hundred and fifty feet high”
19 January1912 Boulder, CO “A fine town and possess some very decent buildings…Matinee in a school, audience fair, mostly children. Sang the national anthem but not one child stood up, contrast to the children at home, when our national anthem is sung”
17 Feb. 1912 Washington DC “quite a very small place”
27 Feb. 1912 Chicago, IL “Hurrah we are going to Chicago this afternoon for a few hours. At last we are in the great city, trains moving overhead, buildings rather after the style of London. Went over several stores one large one in particular Marshall Field which is world renowned. We saw some very high buildings, one 38 stories high”
6 March 1912 Indianapolis, IN “Indianapolis today, fine city, magnificent buildings, especially the Post Office…town rather reminded us of Cardiff”
27 March 1912 Pittsburgh, PA “Mr Cosgrove with us today at Pittsburgh, we were all delighted to see him as we knew we should have an idea as to when we were going home. Probably on the 1st or 2nd of May”
28 March 1912 Pittsburgh, PA “Important concert in Pittsburgh tonight at the Carnegie Hall, most beautiful building, huge hall entirely composed of white marble. All the girls stayed in private houses”
The choir returned home on 11 May 1912. They were only home for 6 weeks before they left for a tour of South Africa on 22 June 1912. Elizabeth Clement was part of that tour, along with the following women: Marianne Squires, Ida Owen, Mabel Scott, May Edwards, Megan Harries, Myfanwy Rowlands, EstherWilkins (aged 16), Annie Jones, Carrie Jones, Flossie Bowen, Susie Phillips, Edith Hooper, Peggie Herbert, Bessie David, Phoebe Griffiths, Alice Lewis, Beatrice Lewis, Cassie Buncombe and May Jones. They were away for another 3 months before returning home at the end of September 1912.
Katie Millien ArchivistD/D Z 13/1-4
On 5 April 2023, thanks to grants from Welsh Government and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History transferred on loan to the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth an oak chest containing a hundred year old Peace Petition signed by almost 400,000 Welsh women.
The project is supported, amongst a range of other partners, by Archif Menywod Cymru: Women’s Archive Wales, who are seeking volunteers to transcribe and index the digitised petition. By kind permission of its author Catrin Stevens, the following article is reproduced from the latest AMC:WAW newsletter.
A seven-mile long petition, collected in eight months by 412 organisers with 390,296 signatures, that is 60% of the women ofWales in 1923. It is an amazing story, about a petition which was completely forgotten untilabout eight years ago but which fires the imaginations of allthose who hear about it today. Thanks to the hard work and enthusiasm of the group called Heddwch
The delegation from the Welsh League of Nations Union on the steps of the White House, 21 February 1924 with the Memorial (picture courtesy Welsh Centre for International Affairs, Temple of Peace Archives)
Nain/Mam-gu (Grandma’s Peace), the story is being rediscovered and the Peace Petition Partnership has been established to remember and celebrate the Memorial and the huge achievement of the women who organised it.
Following the tragic slaughter of the FirstWorld War there was a strong desire to try to ensure that such a tragedy would never occur again. Thus, the League of Nations Union was established to try to bring nations around the world together to talk before resorting to the use of arms again. Wales was part of this movement, because 40,000Welsh men and women had been killed during the war. But the USA had not agreed to join and this weakened the League significantly. The Memorial from theWomen ofWales to theWomen of the United States of America in 1923-24 was an attempt to persuade the women of America to pressurise their government and their President to change their minds and join theUnion.
They prepared a memorandum to explain the petitioners’ message. It ends with these words: “ We appeal to you Women of the United States of America ... to aid in the effort to hand down to the generations which come after us the proud heritage of a warless world.” Then, following an important meeting of the Union’s female members in Aberystwyth in May 1923, the committee meetings, the public meetings and the canvassing from door to door began in earnest. 412 local organisers were enrolled to carryout the task. Some walked miles in wind and rain to knock on doors. It was signed by rich and poor, by university graduates and women with little formal education, women of every political, religious, social and cultural background. Nothing like this had ever been attempted or achieved inWales before.
By the end of January 1924 the petition was ready to be taken by ship to America. Three prominent women, who were passionatefor peace were chosen: Annie Hughes Griffiths,Mary Ellis and Elined Prys for the deputation. Following Mary Ellis’ carefulpreparations they received an incredible welcome in a magnificent dinner in NewYork in the company of 400 American women who represented about 16 million of their fellow-Americans. The Memorial was presented to them
Detail from the Memorial (picture courtesy Welsh Centre for International Affairs, Temple of Peace Archives)
formally and they particularly wanted to know whether any women from theirown homeareas inWales had signed it. Three days later the deputation was received by the President, Calvin Coolidge, in theWhite House, and eventuallyit was arranged that the petition would be kept safely ‘for all time’ in the Smithsonian Institute inWashington.
2023-24
But that is not the end of the story. Thereare firm plans afoot to get the petition back toWales this year - to celebrate its centenary. Once this happens it will be digitised professionally. Then it will need to be transcribed so that everyone can see and read it on the web - to see whether her/his grandmother signed it for peace and to celebrate this. A whole army of volunteer tanscribers will be required to fulfilthis enormous task. But if 412 local organisers without the aid of emails, WhatsApp, texting and all today’s modern technology succeeded in collecting the signatures in the first place, surely we can find 400 volunteers today to undertake the transcription of 1,000 signatures each?
Wedo hope membersof Women’s ArchiveWales will be ready and willing to help with this taskin their own homes on their own computers. That would be an amazing contribution to the history of women, toWelsh history and to the history of campaigning for world peace. So, contact Women’s ArchiveWales for more information about this remarkable project - the members of the Peace Petition Parthership will truly appreciate your help.
Catrin Stevens Archif Menywod Cymru: Women’s Archive WalesYou can contact AMC:WAW through the email address info@womensarchivewales.org
During the year, a photograph album was transferred from Swansea Libraries to the Archives. The photographs contained in the album show various views of Swansea taken between 1934 and 1939.We see Swansea decorated with illuminations for the 1935 Royal Jubilee and 1937 Coronation. There are also pictures of Gower, Llangyfelach, Gendros and of industrial works.
The photographer whose album this was, George Elfed Jones, was born in Swansea in1910. The 1911 census shows him living at Middle Road, Gendros with his father, a tinplate worker and his mother,occupation given as housewife. He attended University College Swansea where he studied alongside notableWelsh physicist Eddie Bowen and Myrddin Lloyd, librarian and Welsh scholar. The former later went on to play a significant role in the development of radarand the latter became a notable scholar of theWelsh language.
The album shows howSwansea celebrated the Silver Jubilee of George V in 1935. The floral clock in Victoria Park was decorated with the phrase ‘Time Flies’ (see picture above) and both Brynmill Lodge and the Patti Pavillion were lit up with strings of light bulbs.
1937: Coronation of King George VI
Just a few years after his father’s Silver Jubilee, in1937 the UnitedKingdom celebrated the Coronation of King George VI and images showhowSwansea was decorated for the occasion.
Swansea’s
Aside
Coronation decorations in Swansea, 1937 (clockwise from left) Alexandra Road; Guildhall; Patti Pavilion; the Floral Clock in Victoria Park industry from these royal celebrations, the album contains photographs of Cwmfelin Steelworks furnace (1935) and TirJohn North Electricity Generating Station (c.1937).Middle Road, Gendros, the photographer’s home, alsofeatures, as in these views from 1937.
Wealso see views of Llangyfelach and Mynydd Newydd Common as they were in the 1930s.
The Island, Llangyfelach, 1938
Other photographs include images of a professional tennis tournament held in St.Helen’s in 1939. The tournament was between American players BillTilden and Donald Budge as partof a European Tour.
Professional tennis at St.Helen’s, 1939
‘Glorious Gower’, 1938
A few pages are dedicated to what G.Elfed Jones refers to as ‘Glorious Gower’ with images of Tor Bay, Oxwich Point, Caswell Point, Langland, Three Cliffs Bay and Paviland. One of the photographs is noted as being ‘The Swansea Technical College Teachers’ Biology Class Excursion to Oxwich’
In this Coronation year, the album provides an interesting insight into Swansea in the 1930s and in particular how it celebrated some past royal events
Emma Laycock ArchivistArchives
Photograph album created by G. Elfed Jones, 1934-1937 (D/D Z 1142/1)
Yn ystod y flwyddyn, cafodd nifer fawr o gofnodion eglwysi a chapeli eu derbyn, fel y gellir gweld o’r rhestr derbyniadau ar ddiwedd yr adroddiad hwn. Mae llawer ohonynt yn cynnwys cofrestrau priodas ac mae hyn yn ganlyniad uniongyrchol i’r newidiadau i’r gyfraith ynghylch cofrestru priodasau yn 2020. Roedd hyn yn ei gwneud yn ofynnol i’r Cofrestrydd gau pob cofrestr priodas, ac o ganlyniad cafodd nifer fawr o gofrestrau, a gedwir mewn coffrau eglwysi a chapeli yn flaenorol, eu trosglwyddo i’r Gwasanaeth Archifau o’r Swyddfa Gofrestru. Gwnaeth gyfnodau clo Covid ymestyn y broses drosglwyddo, ond mae mwyafrif y cofrestrau a ddisgwylwyd wedi dod i law.
Canlyniad tristach arall yr pandemig Covid fu tranc rhai eglwysi. Mae cynulleidfaoedd a oedd wedi lleihau, ac wedi’u gwahardd rhag ymgynnull yn ystod y cyfnodau clo, wedi gwneud y penderfyniad caled i ddod â’r achos i ben. Mae dau gapel hanesyddol wedi trosglwyddo eu cofnodion i ni, Bethel, Capel yr Annibynwyr, Llansamlet a Gorphwysfa, Capel y Methodistiaid Calfinaidd yn Sgiwen. Rydym yn ddiolchgar iddynt am wneud hynny a gobeithiwn y bydd eraill mewn sefyllfa debyg yn gwneud yr un peth cyn bo hir.
Dechreuodd yr achos yng Ngorphwysfa ym 1810 pan sefydlwyd Ysgol Sul yn Sgiwen gan gapel Bethlehem Green yng Nghastell-nedd. Salem oedd enw yr adeilad bychan a ddefnyddient, fel y dywedir wrthym, a nodir ysgoldy ar yr hyn sydd Bethlehem Road heddiw ar y map degwm. Erbyn y 1840au roedd Sgiwen yn llinell o fythynnod ar hyd y ffordd o Gastell Nedd i Dreforys, ond roedd gweithfeydd a glofeydd gerllaw a digon o waith i ddenu mwy o bobl. Tyfodd yr Ysgol Sul a phenderfynwyd ei chorffori yn eglwys Methodistiaid
During the year, a large number of church and chapel records have been received, as can be seen from the list of accessions at the end of this report. Many of them consist of marriage registers and this is a direct consequence of the changes to the law regarding the registration of marriages in 2020. This required all marriage registers to be closed by the Registrar, and as a result a large number of registers, formerly held in church and chapel safes, were transferred to the Archive Service from the registry office. The Covid lockdowns prolonged the transfer process, but the majority of the expected registers have been received.
Another, sadder consequence of the Covid pandemic has been the demise of some churches. Diminishing congregations, banned from congregating during lockdown, have regretfully taken the decision to bring the cause to an end. Two historic chapels have transferred their records to us, Bethel in Llansamlet (Welsh Independent) and Gorphwysfa in Skewen (Calvinistic Methodist). We are grateful to them for doing so and we hope that others in a similar situation will do the same before long.
The cause at Gorphwysfa began in 1810 when a Sunday School was established in Skewen by Bethlehem Green Chapel in Neath. The little building they used was called Salem, we are told, and a schoolroom is marked on what is now Bethlehem Road on the tithe map. By the 1840s Skewen was a string of cottages along the road from Neath to Morriston, but there were works and collieries nearby and plenty of employment to draw in more
Calfinaidd yn ei rhinwedd ei hun yn 1845. Rhoddwyd y gorau i Salem, oedd bellach yn rhy fach i’w chynulleidfa, ac adeiladwyd capel newydd o’r enw Zion ar Old Road. Mae’r adeilad yn dal i fod yno heddiw ar ochr ogleddol y ffordd gyferbyn â’r gyffordd â Heol Jenkins. Erbyn y 1890au, roedd hwn ei hun yn rhy fach, ac yn hytrach nag adeiladu eto ar yr un safle, daethpwyd o hyd i dir newydd ar St John’s Terrace, ac yno adeiladwyd Gorphwysfa ym 1893-4, efallai y dewiswyd ei enw i ddynodi penderfyniad y byddai’r achos yn aros yma. Gwnaeth hyn yn wir, nes i’r penderfyniad gael ei wneud i gau’r eglwys yn 2022.
Mae’r cofnodion mewn trefn dda iawn ac yn cwmpasu gweithgareddau yn Zion a Gorphwysfa. Mae set bron lawn o adroddiadau blynyddol yn ymestyn dros ganrif neu fwy o 1907 i 2013. Mae cofrestrau bedyddiau yn mynd yn ôl hyd yn oed ymhellach i 1861 ac mae priodasau o 1931 i 1992. Mae cofrestrau’r aelodau, a geir yn aml yn ddryslyd ac yn mewn cyflwr gwael, wedi’u cadw’n dda ac yn addysgiadol, yn dyddio’n ôl i 1850. Mae cyfrifon yr eglwys yn yr un modd yn drefnus a hygyrch, yn dyddio’n ôl i 1853. Mae cofnodion cyrdd eglwys yn llai helaeth ac yn mynd yn ôl i 1932 yn unig. Ymhlith yr eitemau addurnol a arbedwyd o’r eglwys mae sawl ffotograff mawr a rhestr anrhydedd sy’n cofnodi enwau saith deg o ddynion a ymladdodd yn y Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf.
Roedd pethau tebyg yn digwydd yn Llansamlet, dwy filltir i’r gorllewin. Dechreuodd Bethel hefyd fel Ysgol Sul, a sefydlwyd yn Nhai’r-ysgol yn 1815 trwy bregethiad y Parch. John Davies, gweinidog Capel Mynyddbach, ac adeiladwyd y capel cyntaf yn 1818. Wrth i’r cynnulleidfa dyfu, cafodd hwn ei helaethu ac ailadeiladu yn olynol. Ym 1839 ychwanegon nhw oriel, yna ei hailadeiladu’n gyfan gwbl ym 1850-51, gan ddefnyddio’r adeilad gwreiddiol fel tŷ’r gweinidog. Ymdrechion cymunedol oedd y rhain: roedd glowyr yn gweithio yn eu hamser hamdden i gloddio’r cerrig a ffermwyr yn helpu i’w gludo.
Genhedlaeth yn ddiweddarach, roedd y capel hwn yn annigonol unwaith eto ar gyfer anghenion y gynulleidfa a chafwyd trafodaethau ynglŷn â sut i wneud mwy o le. Penderfynwyd ailadeiladu yn hytrach nag ymestyn, ac felly gosodwyd carreg sylfaen yr adeilad newydd gan
Henry Hussey Vivian ar 7 Awst 1879 ac agorwyd y capel newydd, a godwyd i gynllun y Parch. Thomas Thomas, yn 1880. Gosodwyd organ ym 1931-1932.
Ar ôl yr Ail Ryfel Byd, dechreuodd y gynulleidfa ddirywio’n araf. Yn ystod y 1970au a’r 1980au rhannodd Bethel weinidog gyda Saron, Birchgrove. Yn dilyn y pandemig Covid, daethpwyd â’r achos i ben yn 2022. Er mai dyna oedd diwedd achos yr Annibynwyr
people. The Sunday School grew and it was decided to incorporate it as a Calvinistic Methodist church in its own right in 1845. Salem, now too small for its congregation, was abandoned and a new chapel, named Zion, was built on Old Road. The building is still there today on the north side of the road opposite the junction with Jenkins Road. By the 1890s, this was itself too small, and rather than build again on the same site, a new plot was found on St John’s Terrace, and there Gorphwysfa was built in 1893-4, its name perhaps chosen to reflect a determination that this was where the cause would stay. This indeed it did, until the decision was taken to close the church in 2022.
The records are in very good order and cover activities in both Zion and Gorphwysfa. There is a practically full set of annual reports spanning a century or more from 1907 to 2013. Baptism registers go back even further to 1861 and there are marriages from 1931 to 1992. The registers of members, which are often found to be confusing and in poor repair, are well kept and informative, dating back to 1850. The church accounts are likewise orderly and accessible, dating back to 1853. The minutes of church meetings are less extensive and go back only to 1932. Among the decorative items that were saved from the church are several large photographs and a roll of honour which records the names of seventy men who fought in the First World War.
Similar things were happening in Llansamlet, two miles to the west. Bethel also began as a Sunday School, established at Tai’r-ysgol in 1815 through the preaching of the Rev. John Davies, minister at Mynyddbach, and the first chapel was built in 1818. As the congregation grew, this was successively extended and rebuilt. In 1839 they added a gallery, then rebuilt it entirely in 1850-51, using the original building as the minister’s house. These were community efforts: colliers worked in their spare time to quarry the stone and farmers helped out to transport it.
A generation later, this chapel was again insufficient for the needs of the congregation and discussions took place about how to increase capacity. It was decided to rebuild rather than extend, and so it was that the foundation stone for the new building was laid by Henry Hussey Vivian on 7 August 1879 and the new chapel, built to the design of the Rev. Thomas Thomas, opened in 1880. An organ was installed in 1931-1932.
After the Second World War, the congregation began slowly to decline. During the 1970s and 1980s Bethel
Cymraeg yng Nghapel Bethel, nid dyna oedd diwedd y capel fel addoldy Cristnogol. Yn union fel yn Siloh, Glandŵr, ac yn gyd-ddigwyddiadol yn Saron, Birchgrove, mae’r capel yn cael ei adnewyddu a bydd yn fuan yn gartref i eglwys newydd.
Mae’r cofnodion o Fethel yn dyddio’n ôl i’r 1870au, felly nid yw ei hanes cynnar yn cael ei gynrychioli, ac mae bylchau yn rhai o’r cyfresi o gofnodion. Mae cofnodion eglwysig yn mynd yn ôl i 1877, ond mae nifer o’r llyfrau ar goll. Yn yr un modd mae rhestrau aelodaeth yn anghyflawn, er bod cyfres weddol gyflawn o adroddiadau blynyddol o 1941 ymlaen. Nid oes bedyddiadau na phriodasau, ac er bod yma fynwent, daw’r unig gofnod sy’n bodoli o bwy sydd wedi’i gladdu yno o arolwg o gerrig beddau a gynhaliwyd yn 2012. Ar y llaw arall, mae llawer mwy o luniau, wedi’u nodi’n bennaf, yn dangos gweinidogion, swyddogion yr eglwys ac aelodau o’r gynulleidfa. Er enghraifft, mae llun Miss Catherine Evans, a dynnwyd yn y 1940au, oedd athrawes yr Ysgol Sul am dros 70 mlynedd. Yn yr un modd, mae trefnau gwasanaeth yn nodi digwyddiadau pwysig ym mywyd yr eglwys, gan gynnwys gweinidogion newydd a gwasanaethau pen-blwydd. Yn olaf mae sawl recordiad tâp o gymanfaoedd canu a gynhaliwyd ym Methel yn ystod y 1970au.
Roedd y capeli hyn yn eistedd yng nghanol eu cymunedau. Yn ogystal âg addoldai, roeddent yn fannau lle gallai pobl gyffredin ddal swyddi o bwys, archwilio a defnyddio eu doniau cerddorol, cyfarfod a pherthyn. Ar gyfnodau pan oedd y Gymraeg yn cael ei heithrio o fusnes swyddogol a gwahardd mewn ysgolion, roedden nhw’n rhoi cyfle i bobl ddysgu darllen ac ysgrifennu eu hiaith eu hunain. Mae’r byd wedi newid mewn sawl ffordd, ond rydym yn cadw cofnodion eu hymdrechion er mwyn i genedlaethau’r dyfodol eu gwerthfawrogi. Rydym yn ddiolchgar i’r ddau gapel am roi eu cofnodion i ni ac yn gobeithio y bydd eraill yn gwneud yr un peth.
shared a minister with Saron, Birchgrove. Following the Covid pandemic, the cause was brought to an end in 2022. While this was the end of the Welsh Independent cause at Bethel Chapel, it was not the end of the chapel as a place of Christian worship. Just as at Siloh, Landore, and coincidentally at Saron, Birchgrove, the chapel is being renovated and will soon be home to a new church.
The records from Bethel date back to the 1870s, so its early history is not represented, and there are gaps in some of the record sequences. Church minutes go back to 1877, but several of the books are missing. Membership lists likewise are incomplete, although there is a fairly complete series of annual reports from 1941 onwards. There are no baptisms or marriages, and although there is a burial ground, the only extant record of who is buried there comes from a survey of gravestones undertaken in 2012. On the other hand, there are many more photographs, mostly identified, showing ministers, church officers and members of the congregation. For example, there is Miss Catherine Evans, photographed in the 1940s, who was a Sunday School teacher for over 70 years. Similarly, there are orders of service marking important events in the life of the church, including new ministers and anniversary services. Finally there are several tape recordings of singing festivals held at Bethel during the 1970s.
These chapels sat at the centre of their communities. As well as centres of worship, they were places where ordinary people could hold positions of importance, explore and use their musical talents, meet and belong. In times when the Welsh language was excluded from official business and discouraged in schools, they gave people a chance to learn to read and write their own language. The world has changed in many ways, but we preserve the records of their endeavours for future generations to appreciate. We are grateful to both chapels for giving us their records and hope that others will do the same.
Bethel, Llansamlet, c.1910 (D/D Ind 12/1/1)
On occasion, the accession of a single photograph into the archives can lead to the discovery of a web of interrelated stories that contribute to our shared understanding of a place. Earlier this year, we were given a photograph which shows the Strand, a less well-known part of Swansea, during the SecondWorldWar. The back bearsthe stamp of Swansea professional photographer Jack Thomas and in handwriting ‘Taken Oct 29 1941’. The picture itselfshows a warehouse. In the midst of a line of cars, large sacks are beinghoisted onto or off a lorry. One sack is captured in mid-air next to workers controlling it from the first floor. Tracing the history of this building, and the land on which it stood,reveals the industrial characterof the Strand and the road’s importance to the economy of Swansea, a role which persisted over three centuries, almost to the present day.
The Swansea Corporation Burgesses had managed the tidal shores of the Tawe as theirfreehold, for centuries, with theStrand following the former right bank of the river.1 Although there are limited surviving archives from the medieval and early modernperiods, the documents we do hold suggest it was undeveloped and somewhat marshy at this earlier time.2
View of a warehouse on the Strand, Swansea, dated 29 October 1941 (P/PR 4/5/1)However, during the eighteenth century, the Burgesses clearly recognised the economic potential of developing wharves beside the river. Theysigned lease agreements with several prominent businessmen. The area depicted in the photograph was the subject of a deed of 1733, which leased land to industrialist Robert Morris.3
Robert Morris, manager of a copper-smelting enterprise in Llangyfelach since 1727, was permitted to ‘Erect a dock… for the Loading of Ships’ and could use the shore ‘for the Setting down Coales’. Robert’s second son, John Morris, continued to use this wharf in the decades that followed, as evidenced by a 1768 counterpart lease.
Samuel and Nathaniel Buck’s beautifully-drawn print ‘East View of Swansea’, originally published in 1748, quite clearly shows the Strand and its wharves. The depiction of sailing vessels and cargoes on the wharf suggests a level of economicprosperity to the town which the artists were no doubt keen to capture.
Our land parcel of interest was transformed into a timber yard for shipbuilding and ship-repairs when merchants David Francis and John Richardson signed a lease agreement in 1834.4
The area changed significantly in 1852 when the town opened its first dock after obtaining an Act of Parliament for it in 1836.5 The Strand was nowadjacent, not to a curve of the river Tawe, but to a ‘floating dock’.
Extract from the Local Board of Health Map, 1852.(TC 67/6/1)
Detail from Samuel and Nathaniel Buck’s East View of Swansea (1748)
Plan marking the parcel of riverside bank leased to industrialist Robert Morris in 1733 (edited detail taken from ‘Historic Swansea’, p.82, see note 1. for the reference)
Atwentiethcenturywarehouseandfellmongersfactory
A deed of 1889 shows how the timber merchant’s yard made way for development of the site by manufacturers T. P. Parry and Frederick Rocke.6 Their ‘fellmongers’ building and associated tan pits are marked on a March 1888 insurance plan published by Charles E. Goad (a fellmonger is a dealer in hides or skins, particularly of sheep). They appear to have produced both leather and woollengoodsonsite. Onthe1897revisionoftheGoadplan,thepremisesarenowa‘fellmongering warehouse and factory’, with ‘air drying on [the] roof’.
Parry and Rocke’s ‘fellmongers’ factory, labelled on Goad’s Insurance Plan (1888)
Revision of Goad’s Insurance plan showing first appearance of Parry and Rocke’s warehouse (1897)
A letter to the South Wales Evening Post in August 1953 (right) exposes the dangers and long working hours in the factory in the earlytwentieth century. However, an article in the Western Mail of 18 May 1928 reveals that the company closed the factory in 1926 and moved its operations toWarrington. When Parry and Rocke then petitoned against the Great Western Railway (North Dock Abandonment) Bill, they said that the premises had lainempty for the previous eighteeen months and the company was seeking a newtenant.
Plan showing (pink) plot of land leased to Parry and Rocke (1889)
Detail from the plan contained in the Great Western Railway (North Dock Abandonment) Bill (1928)
Atwenty-firstcenturycarpark
Although the Blitz leftmuch of Swansea’s town centre in ruins, the warehouse appears from the picture to have been more or less intact and in usefor storage. Whilst the broken windows may have been the result of blast damage in February 1941, it appears to be relatively minor and may instead be the result of petty vandalism while the building had lain empty.
Given the proximity of Weaver’sflourmill to the warehouse, the sack being hoisted may be of flour or grain. Grain from North America was vital to keeping the population from starving during wartime and Swansea was a key Atlantic port for this trade – between them the ports of Cardiff, Swansea and Newport handled over 6% of the UK’s imports during the period 1940-1941.7 Wedo not know if the line of cars was parked in connection with businesson the Strand or else possibly because the town centre beyond was stillinaccessible to motor traffic.
The 1961 Goad Insurance map shows the warehouse (or its site) being used as a motor showroom after the war. It is not known exactly when the building was demolished but the site was subsumed into the construction of the Parc Tawe retailpark in the 1980s. Thus a site rich in industrial history is lost in a post-industrial era and has become a shoppers’ car park. Documents however survive as a permanent testament to its past and we can hope that in time, just like this photograph, more may come to light.
Beth Amos Archive TraineeThe following reference works and documents are all available in our Swansea searchroom:
1. W.C. Rogers, Bernard Morris andWest Glamorgan Archive Service (WGAS), Historic Swansea (Llandybie: Dinefwr Press, 2005), xxv.
2. Ref.: D/D MG 1: O. Cromwell, ‘O. Cromwell’s Survey of Gower. A.D. 1650’ in Surveys of Gower and Kilvey and of Several Mesne Manors within that Seigniory, edited by Charles Baker and G. G. Francis (London: T. Richards, 1861), 1-94, 31.
3. EA 1/39: Counterpart lease agreement between the Swansea Borough Burgesses and Robert Morris relating to riverside land on the Strand [title deed] (1733).
For an account of Robert Morris’ earlycommercial success in the copper-smelting industry largely based on his own contemporary letters, see RISW/DOC 11/9: Robert Morris, History of the Copper Concern and Matters Incidental Thereto: Extracted from the Letter-Books 1774 [Manuscript] (c. 1926).
4. EA 1/269: Counterpart lease between the Swansea Borough burgesses and timber merchants Francis and Richardson [title deed] (1834).
5. D/D SHa/1/1: Plan of the Harbour of Swansea and of the River Tawe from the piers to the Forest Weir, with the proposed improvements [plan] (1836).
6. TC 102/91: Agreement for T. P. Parry and F. Rocke to lease a piece of ground on the Strand [title deed] (1889).
7 https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/battle-of-atlantic/liverpool
The Archive Service is grateful to thefollowing individuals and organisations who have placed local and historical records in its care during the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.
Rt Hon. Lord Anderson of Swansea; W Anderson; Ms P Bashford; S J Beale; Mrs E Belcham; Cllr. P Black; A Blethyn; G Borsden; Ms C Brettle; Dr D Brook; Rev. P Brooks; Mrs J Broome; Ms H Chappell; Ms K Charles; B Churchward; P Clement; Ms K Cobb; Ms J Cooper; R Cooper; Mrs C Davies;MrsMDobbins;HDunthorne;MsJEvans;RevdCanonKEvans;MrsGFalck;MsGFildes; Rev. I Folks; G Gabb; DGabriel; R George; Ms K Gibbins; Ms J Gruffudd; Ms K Gulley; P Hall; Mrs H Hallesy; D Hancock; E Harris; S Harris; Rev. Canon T Hewitt; Dr P Jackson; J James; Mrs A James; H Johnson; B Jones; Ms C Jones; G H Jones; Mrs J Jones; Mrs M Jones; Ms U Jones; Ms CKing;MrsLKneath;MsAKnudson;Rev.HLervy;JLewis;JILewis;MrsGLewis;MsMLey;Ms C Lloyd; Ms E M Mackender; D G Madge; Dr G Matthews; J McMurtrie; A Morgan; Ms E Morgan; Ms K Morris; P Murray; Ms I Naylor; B Niedergang; Mrs E Niedergang; D Owen; J Parkhouse; Ms SPinch; JPreece;T Price; Cllr.S Pursey; C Reed;JRichards; MRidge; MrsCRobbins; ARobins; Mrs J Sabine; Ms S Samuel; H Simpson; Mrs S Simpson; J Skidmore; Ms J Smith; Mrs A Sparkes; J Stewart; J Thomas; Mrs J Thomas; J H Thomas; K Thomas; Ms R Thomas; K Tucker; Ms M Venes; G Warren; C West; D Williams; Ms D Williams; Mrs L Williams; Miss M Williams; Prof M Williams; Ms SWilliams; RWilliams; C Wilson-Watkins; Ms JWood; Rev. DrJ Wright.
Abbey Primary School; Archif Menywod Cymru; Benefice of Three Cliffs; Bethania Welsh Baptist Church, Neath; Bethel Chapel, Llansamlet; Capel Gorphwysfa, Skewen; City and County of Swansea Financial Services; City and County of Swansea, Committee Clerks; City and County of Swansea, Commons Registration Section; City and County of Swansea, Education Department ; City and County of Swansea, Lord Mayor’s Office; City and County of Swansea, Marketing Department; City and County of Swansea, Natural Environment Section; City and County of Swansea, PlanningDepartment; Clydach Junior School; Davies, Ingram & Harvey; Devon Heritage Centre; Gower Festival; Gower Festival Society; Llanrhidian Higher Community Council; Lord Mayor’s Office; Merched y Wawr, Cangen Lonlas; Merched y Wawr, Cangen Pontarddulais a’r Cylch; Morriston Orpheus Choir ; National Health Service; Neath Antiquarian Society; Neath Port TalbotCountyBoroughCouncil;NeathPortTalbot,ElectoralServicessection;NeathTownCouncil; Nottinghamshire Archives; Old Dy’vorians Association; Pantygwydr Baptist Church; Parish of Cockett; Parish of Killay; Parish of Morriston; Parish of Oystermouth; Parish of South West Gower; Parish of Swansea, St James; Port Talbot Historical Society; Ramboll UK Limited; Records Management Service; Rectorial Benefice of Central Swansea; Rotary Club of Swansea; Royal Institution of SouthWales; Strick &Bellingham Solicitors; SwanseaCoroner;Swansea LabourLeft; SwanseaLibraryService;SwanseaRegistrar;SwanseaValleyHistorySociety;TabernacleChapel, Cwmrhydyceirw; The Gower Society; UpperKillayWomen’s Institute; Wellington College Archives.
The archives listed belowhave been received by gift, deposit, transfer, purchase or bequest during the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023. Not all items are available for consultation immediately and certain items are held on restricted access.
SHRIEVALTY
High Sheriff ofWest Glamorgan: warrant of appointment of Stephen Hugh Rogers JP as High Sheriff ofWest Glamorgan, notice of appointment and declaration of Robert Hywel Parker Williams as Under Sheriff, April2022 (H/SW 49/1-3)
High Sheriff ofWest Glamorgan: declaration of Mr Stephen Hugh Rogers JP as the High Sheriff of West Glamorgan, 12th April2022 (H/SW 49/4)
H.M. CORONER
Swansea and Neath Port Talbot Coroner: inquest and non-inquest cases, 2005
Neath Port Talbot Coroner: dailyrecord book, 2007-2009
H.M. PRISON, SWANSEA
Swansea Prison: nominal register: men, 1883-1884; nominal register: women, 1885-1887, 18831887
HOSPITALS
National Health Service: plans for Continuing Care Unit, Morriston Hospital, Swansea, 1979
UNITARY AUTHORITIES
Neath Port Talbot County Borough
Electoral registers, 2020-2023 (CB/NPT RE 43-47)
Neath Port Talbot Commons Register maps, c.1965-2011
City and County of Swansea
Proclamation of King Charles III in English andWelsh, with covering letter, 10 Sep. 2022 (CC/S LM 2/1)
Swansea Council minutes, 2017-2021 (CC/S CC26/13-30/30)
Designation map and order of the Gower AONB, 1956, management plans 1973-2006 and history 2005, 1956-2006 (CC/S NE 1/1-9)
Programme for the inauguration of Cllr Peter Black as the RightWorshipful the Lord Mayor, 2019; Programme to mark Honorary Freedom to HMS Cambria, 2018; Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales: Review of the Electoral Arrangements of the City and County of Swansea, Draft Proposals Report, 2019 (CC/S CE 13/1)
Swansea Commons Register maps, c. 1965-2011 and Commons Register application forms and supplemental maps, 1968
Film showing the visit by Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to St Thomas Community Library, 7 Mar. 2008 (CC/S CE 10/7)
Estyn report on local authority education services for children and young people in Swansea, 2013 (CC/S Ed 3/24)
Pensions stock certificates; stock registers; correspondence, 1974-1983
Slides of Kilvey and Lower Swansea Valley during clearing and construction work, 1970s-1990s (CC/S Pl 11/1)
Swansea Library Collection
Consultation documents: Mannheim Quay Housing proposal from SHAW Housing Association, 1989; A Strategy for Swansea City Centre fromWest Glamorgan County Counciland Swansea City Council, 1990; Swansea City Centre Strategic Framework from the City and County of Swansea, c.2005; Swansea Tall Buildings Strategy, 2015 and Swansea 2020 Swansea’s Economic Regeneration Strategy, c.2005, 1989-2015 (SL/PC 5-6)
Adolygiad o Ardal Gadwraeth Treforys (a survey of the Morriston conservation area, inWelsh), 42887 (SL PC 7/1)
Welsh Speaking Population census reports, 1951-1961 (SL PR 4/1-2)
Glamorgan Structure Plans and Minerals Local Plan, mid 1990s; Swansea Enterprise Park Reports, 1982-1990; SouthWales Docks statements of trade, 1957-1972, 1957-mid1990s (SL PR 1/1-17; SL PR 2/1-5; SL PR 5/2, 5/4-5)
‘The Price we Pay’ - a poverty profile of Swansea 1997, 1997 (SL PR 5/6)
City and County of Swansea Unitary Development Plan pre-depositconsultation document, 2003; City and County of Swansea Development Plan, adopted 2008 and LliwValley Borough Council Northern LliwValley Local Plan, 1993, 1993-2008 (SL PR 5/1, 5/7-8)
West GlamorganWater Board: Towy Abstraction Scheme, Manoravon Intake, brochure, 1960s (SL PR 5/1)
SouthWales Constabulary annual reports, 1970-1989 and 1995-1998; Swansea Chief Constable’s Reports, 1946-1968; Annual Report of theWatch Committee 1937, 1946/School Medical Office, 1932; SouthWales Constabulary Inspection Reports, 1990-2004, 1932-2004 (SL RP 3/1-10)
Swansea Library Photograph Collection, comprising photographs of Swansea, Gower and the surrounding area, including buildings, churches and chapels, castles, beaches, parks,
personalities, aerial views, ships and maritime, transport, schools, SecondWorldWar, eisteddfodau, and of local streets, 19th-21st century (SL PIC 1-24)
West Glamorgan County Council, Education Department: files relating to Section 12, 13 and 14 notices regarding school mergers and closures, 1976-1987
Glamorgan County Council: annual reports of the Medical Officer of Health and Principal School Medical Officer, 1953-1970 (GCC/HE 1/1-11)
Swansea Rural District Council: report on the application for conversion into an urban district, by Edward Harris, 1929 (UD/Lw234A)
Llanrhidian Higher Community Council: minutes, 2022-2023 (P/111/45)
Neath Town Council:minutes and reports, 2001-2019
Abbey Primary School, Neath Abbey: log book, admission registers, photographs relating to Skewen Lower Schools, 19th-21st cent. (E/N 26/1/10-E/N 26/4/6; E/N 20/6/1)
Bishopston School: class photograph, c. 1910 (E/W 3/2/2)
Clydach Junior School:log books, 1994-2012 (E/W 5/1/10-12)
Dunvant Junior School: three photographs of football and cricket teams. Allhave a list attached with the players’ names, 1964-1966 (D/D Z 1153/4-6)
Dynevor School, Swansea: ‘The Dy’vorian’ - magazine for former pupils and teachers of Dynevor School, 2020-2022 (E/Dyn Sec X 2/12-17)
Neath Grammar School for Girls: school magazines 1932-1958 (E/N G Sec 8/1-27)
Neath Grammar School for Boys: school magazines 1966, 1969 and 1973 (E/N BG Sec)
Ragged School, Swansea: minutes, 1869-1971 (E/S 46/1/1-2)
Swansea MetropolitanUniversity: records relating to the University, including research notes and finished project on the history of SMU and allthe colleges and institutions that made up the university’s history.
Swansea Training College: photograph of all the staff and students, 1929 (D/D Z 1138/1)
Clydach: registers of marriages, St. Michael and All Angels Trebanos, 2006-2019 and St.Mary’s Clydach (P/302/CW/94-95)
Cockett: marriage registers, 2005-2021 (P/325/CW/92-95)
Ilston: minutes of the West Gower Ruridecanal Conference and of Ilston PCC, treasurer’s records, 1990s-2020s
Killay: marriage registers for St Hillary’s, Killay and St Martin’s, Dunvant, 1973-2021 (P/307/CW/37-39)
Llangyfelach, St Teilo-on-the-Clase: marriage register, 1963-1970
Morriston: registers of baptisms, marriages, banns, confirmations and services, PCC minutes and annual reports, photographs and accounts, early 20th cent.-2018 (P/312/CW/116 onwards)
Oystermouth: marriage registers and service registers, 1984-2021 (P/115/CW/328-335)
Penrice: marriage register, 1971-2007 (P/118/CW/17)
Port Eynon: marriage register, 1997-2016 (P/119/CW/105)
Rectorial Benefice of Central Swansea: St Mary’s Church: marriage registers, 1989-2006 and 2012-2019, and St Matthew’s Church: service register, 2000-2010, 1989-2019 (P/123/CW/13791380; P/323/CW/27)
Rhossili: marriage register, 1997-2011 (P/121/CW/34)
Swansea St James: Baptism, marriage and banns registers, service register and churchwardens’ accounts, 1944-2019 (P/335/CW/63-69)
Swansea St Nicholas-on-the-Hill: marriage register, 1989-2020 (P/336/CW/26)
Swansea St Thomas:marriage register, 2017-2021 (P/326/CW/173)
Ystalyfera: registers of baptisms, banns, services and confirmations, 1938-2022 (P/329/CW/40-45)
Baptist
Bethania, Neath: Roll of Honour, n.d., c. 1918 (D/D Bap 55/2/1)
Caersalem Newydd, Treboeth: marriage registers, 1961-2019 (D/D W/Bap 45/1/1-10)
Pantygwydr Baptist Church, Swansea: marriage registers; deacons’ minutes, 1930-2017 (D/D Bap 50/149-156)
Tabernacle, Cwmrhydyceirw: Roll of Honour for the First WorldWar, 1914-1918 (D/DW/Bap 26/3)
York Baptist Church, Swansea: marriage register, 1985-2005 (D/D Bap 30/4/1)
Calvinistic Methodist
Gorphwysfa, Skewen: minutes, accounts, membership records, baptism and marriage registers, annual reports, pictures, cradle rolls and roll of honour, 1850-2013 (D/D CM 19)
Trinity, Sketty, Swansea: marriage registers, 1981-2016 (D/D CM 23/4/1-2)
Presbyterian Church, Swansea Road, Pontarddulais: marriage register, 1984-1994 (D/D CM 31/1/1)
Gopa, Pontarddulais:marriage register, (D/D CM 15/10)
Tabernacle, Penclawdd: marriage registers, 1921-2017 (D/D CM 30/1/1-10)
English Congregational
Peniel Green, Llansamlet: marriage register, 1981-2006 (D/D E/Cong 1/7)
Welsh Independent
Bethel, Llansamlet: minutes, annual reports, membership records, financial records, photographs, commemorative items, tape recordings and church histories, 1877-2021; Additional records including minutes, membership records, seating plans and items relating to the renovationof the organ, 19th-21st cent. (D/D Ind 12)
Bethel, Penclawdd: marriage registers, 1899-2013 (D/D Ind 46/18/1-11)
Other denominations and religions
Pentremalwod Assemblies of God Church: marriage register, 1981-2000 (D/D FC 10/1/1)
Seventh Day Adventist Church, Sketty: marriage registers, 1968-2007 (D/D SDA/S 2/1-2)
Kingdom Hall, Uplands, Swansea: marriage register, 2020 (D/D JW 2/1/1)
Kingdom Hall, Ynysforgan: marriage register, 2003-2015 (D/D JW 3/1/1)
Guru Nanak SikhTemple, Llansamlet: marriage register, 2005-2020 (D/D Si/S 1/1)
D. O. Thomas, solicitors: deeds, 19th and 20th centuries
Deeds and documents relating to 3 Somerset Place (later renumbered as 452 Mumbles Road), 1860-1989 (D/D Z 1131)
Pre-registration title deeds of no. 44 St George’s Terrace (later102 Hanover Street),Swansea, 1865-1985 (D/D Z 1133/1)
Deeds of properties in the parishes of Llangyfelach, Llangiwg, Cadoxton-juxta-Neath and Neath, 17th-18th century
Court judgement in relation to premises in Neath and Cadoxton-juxta-Neath, 1833
Royston Kneath collection: bundle of deeds relating to a house at Hunts Bay, Pennard, anda house in Mirador Crescent, Swansea, 1867-1941, and medieval deed relating to properties in Patrixbourne, Kent, dated 20 Oct. 1529
Windsor Williams Revell & Co., solicitors: deeds and documents relating to the estate of the Cuthbertson and Windsor Williams families, mostly in the Neath and Aberdare areas, 19th-20th century; Grants of probate of the wills of Howel Cuthbertson, Thomas DawkinWindsorWilliams and HuwDawkinWindsor-Williams, 1921-2004
Pre-registration title deeds relating to 29Walter Road, Swansea, 1872-1960 (D/D Z 1136/1)
Pre-registration title deeds relating to property at King’s Lane, the Strand, Swansea, 1839-1885 (D/D Z 1137/1)
Lease of Glyn Castle Farm [near Resolfen] in the parish of Llantwit-juxta-Neath, 1684 (D/D Z 1147/1)
Title deeds of no. 405,Neath Road, Plasmarl,Swansea, 1845-1938 (D/D Z 1151/1-5)
Lease of Cefn-gorwydd Farm in the parishes of Loughor and Swansea, 18 July 1754
Records of Strick & Bellingham, solicitors: papers and deeds relating to theTelfourd and Major families, 1856-1902
Title deeds relating to MatthewStreet, Swansea; ship’s bill of sales; receipts, 1829 - 1870s
Glamorgan County Cricket Club - St Helen’s Balconiers, 2017-2020; Swansea Bay Rotary Club foundation documents, 1992; Swansea Rotaract Club minutes, 1991-1996, 1991-2020 (D/D Z 560/23-28)
Glynneath HorticulturalSociety: minutes and accounts, 1984-2011 (D/D GHS 1/1-3/1)
The Gower Festival: Papers relating to the Gower Festival, 1974-2022 (D62/2/46-47; D 62/3/2031; D 62/4/3; D 62/5/2)
The Gower Society: minutes, newsletters and programmes, 2021-2022 (D56/1b/4; 2; 3a)
Morriston Orpheus Choir: minutes, constitution, photographs, programmes and contribution books; records of the Morriston Orpheus Choir Supporters Association (MOCSA); records relating to the YoungWelsh Persons of the Year competition including application forms, programmes, photos, subject folders, posters, late 20th - early 21st cent
Port Talbot Historical Society, Arthur Rees Collection and Peter Knowles Collection: photographs and other documents relating to the history of Port Talbot and district, 19th-20th cent.
Royal Institution of SouthWales: newsletters and annual reports, 2020-2023; programmeof events 2022-2023 (RISW X2/4, 5/1 and 6/1)
Swansea Valley Historical Society: photographs of Pontardawe RFC teams, 1892-2014
Upper KillayWomen’s Institute: minutes of group, monthly and committee meetings and annual report and year book for Pen-y-fro Group, 1968-2016 (D/DWI/PF 1-4)
Documents relating to Malcolm Harris’ involvement in the Swansea Little Theatre and Dylan Thomas Society, specificallyperformances of ‘Under Milk Wood’ including scripts, programmes, brochures and photographs. Also includes memorabilia relating to ‘Under Milk Wood’ touring to Poet’s Theatre, Harvard and elsewhere, 1970s-1990s (D/D Z 1135/1-10)
Script for radio broadcasts in 1927 byW. H. Jones entitled ‘Quaint and Curious Customs of Gower Part III’ and ‘Gower in Legend and Story (no. 8)’, 1927 (D56/12/25/1-2)
Bishopston and Murton Roll of Honour, First and SecondWorldWars, commissioned and paid for by Graham Jones Bishopswood Farm, Bishopston, 1914-1945 (D/D Z 1140/1)
Swansea War Dead - SecondWorldWar Index and lists detailing name, rank, date and cause of death, cemetery and cemetery reference and age. Divided into sections for servicemen and women of the Merchant Navy, Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, Army, and civilian deaths. Compiled by CharlesWilson-Watkins, 2023 (Searchroom library)
Letters written by Cyril G. Howard while on active service in the SecondWorldWar; photographs relating to his military service, 1940s
Photographs from the front taken during the SecondWorldWar, c.1940s (D/D Z 1134)
Merched yWawr, Cangen Lônlas: minutes, correspondence, financial records, 1967-2021 (WAW 49/1/1-49/4/3)
Merched yWawr, Cangen Treboeth: minutes; records relating to 50th anniversary celebrations; 1978-2020
Merched yWawr, Cangen Pontarddulais a’r Cylch: minutes, agendas, correspondence, accounts, 1975-2020 (WAW 48/1/1-48/3/1)
Swansea Labour Left: Swansea Labour Left minutes, reports, newsletters; also includes papers relating to Labour Co-ordinating Committee, 1981-2012 (Lab/SLL 1/1-2/5)
Parliamentary election notice relating to David Llewellyn Mort, Swansea East, 25th Oct 1951
Right Honourable Lord Anderson of Swansea Collection: Swansea Labour Association annual reports and other papers, 20th century(D/D Z 743/298-27)
CommunicationWorkers’ Union: records including cash register, accident register and photograph album, c.1985-2010
Three photograph albums of Communication Workers Union Swansea at meetings, rallies and parties, c.1987-2007
Documents relating to the building of Port Talbot Tidal Harbour from the estate of Mrs Irene Thomas of Baglan, 1960s-1970s (D/D Z 1112/3)
Correspondence related to tin and steel works in West Glamorgan, 1927-1952 (D/D Z 585/17)
Photographs of railway and viaduct construction at Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, and engraving of Swansea Harbour, 19th century-early 20th century
Letter from Thomas Greenewood regarding sale of lead, 1681
Ramboll UK Limited: 1 file of photographs, negatives, CDs, notes regarding building work on Oystermouth Castle in 2003 and 2005, 2003-2005 (D/D Z 1150/1)
David Evans department store: papers collected by Cyril Davies including photographs (staff, interior, publicity, parades, celebrities), brochures, staff magazines and ephemera, mid-late 20th century
Postcard of Langland Bay showing the hotel and beach tents, c.1920 (P/PR/77vii/4/36)
A. Leslie Evans collection: Box of slides of Port Talbot, c.1950s-1960s
Photographs of past presidents of the Royal Institution of SouthWales, and photographs of Ynystanglws House, near Swansea, 1980s-2000s
Photograph of Swansea and District Shiplovers’ Society dinnerheld in the Merchant Navy Hotel, St Helen’s Road, Swansea, 22 May 1955. Includes event speaker CaptainWilliam Storm Harrison, second from right, in the nearest rowfacing the camera. Also includes copy SouthWales Evening Post articles about theoccasion, and another naming several prominent society members, 3 June 1954
Peter Hall video collection: biographical, historical and civic films relating to the history of Swansea. Includes footage of the Proclamation of King Charles III at the Guildhall, Swansea. 2022-2023 (D/D Z 717)
Photographs of Loughor, Gowerton and Gorseinon, also Swansea and Mumbles, 20th-21st centuries (D/D Z 1141/1/1-1141/4/2)
Royston Kneath Collection: photograph album from Ynys y Plant Children’s Home, 1950s (D/D Z 837/4/1); Photographic negatives (glass and celluloid) by the South Wales Evening Post and Herald ofWales relating to war damage, royal visits and local events, 1940s-1960s
The Derek Gabriel Collection: Photographs of Spring Terrace and other Swansea street scenes, 1950s-1980s (D/D DG 4/5-26)
Photograph album of views of Swansea. Including civic buildings and grounds, training college, Alexandra Road during the Coronation, various works, Morriston, Llangyfelach, tennis matches at St. Helen’s and Gower beaches. Photographs taken by G. Elfed Jones, a graduate of UCW Swansea, 1935-1939
Scanned copies of a collection of photographs of locations in and around Swansea, 1979 (D/D Z 586/6/19a-b)
Sketch entitled “The Lady Suffragette with her Lord and Master”, signed “Yours Truly, Abertawe ‘08. The sketch is initialled with what looks like MDand LD, 1908 (D/D Z 349/12/1)
Volume of 24 views of Swansea & Mumbles, 19th century
The best in sound and form and hue: John Squire, Musician and Artist (1833-1909) by John Hugh Thomas, 2022
Poetry by Evan Jones (1891-1938) of Cwmllynfell, c. 1920s-1930s
Article entitled ‘John Charles Williams (1876-1936): Kidwelly born American Industrial Magnate and Philanthropist’ by MichaelWilliams, 2022 (D/D Z 1145/1)
‘Carmel, Aberavon’ by Allen Bleddyn. Translated by PeterWilliams, 2021 (Searchroom Library)
Volumes 3 and 4 of a genealogy by DerekWilliams relating to families in theWest Glamorgan area, especially Llandeilo Talybont and Llangyfelach, replacing earlier versions donated previously, 2020 (D/D Z 198/11-13)
Publication entitled ‘Circling the Square: Cwmbwrla, Coronavirus and Community’, 2020 (D/D Z 1149/1)
Swansea Valley History Society newsletters, Spring/Summer 2022; St Paul’s Church, Glais, 18911981 centenary brochure; official opening of Ystalyfera County Library, 1966; Cilybebyll Parish Magazine, Oct 1956; Pontardawe RFC Centenary Year Carnival brochure, 1981; copies of articles written by Leonard Mars relating to the Swansea HebrewCongregation, 1994-1999, 1956-2022 (D/D An 33/1-5)
‘The Men of Mumbles Head: a poem’ by T. Idris Jones, c. 1903; Programme for a Grand Concert at Herbert Road English Baptist Church, Melincrythan, 1900
‘Resolven: a timeline’, 1838-1910 (D/D Z 1148/1)
Papers relating to David Jones Lewis of Gilfach, Carmarthenshire, 1820s
Diary of Olive P. Lovering of Clydach while a student inParis, 1919-1920 (D/D Z 1129/1)
Newspaper cutting signed by Capt. D J. Jones (Potato Jones) addressed to Miss Lethlane 28 Nov 1941, 1941 (D/D Z 1130/1)
Record of the visit by Swansea residents to Nantong, 1986; photographs of Neath and Cefn Coed Pit, 1986; early 20th century (D/D Z 165/39-41)
Waunarlwydd Coronation Festivities Souvenir Programme for the Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, May 12th 1937 (D/D Z 1156/1)
Diaries of Florence M. Leaver, 1887-1901; correspondence between Iris E. Mead and Tom Crocker, 1943-1945; scrapbook belonging to Peggy Mead containing newspaper cuttings relating to Parliament, 1937-1952; Passport of Norman V. Leaver, 1937; ‘L’Illustrazione Italiana’, 1893, 1887-1952 (D/D Z 1134/1-8)
Arthur Rees Collection: additional items from the Arthur Rees Collection, 1811-1978
Records relating to the life of Brian Simpson, including photographs of staff at Lloyds Bank,Wind Street/Temple Street; photographs of Swansea Chamber of Commerce members; bundle of notes relating to Private R A Simpson; bundle of papers relating to Richards Turpin (Shipping) Ltd; bundle of miscellaneous papers, 1916-1990; papers relating to Brian Simpson as ex-president of RISW including concert programmes, newspaper cuttings and ship brokers certificate, c. 20th century.
Photographs of Swansea Schools’ Association League, 1956-1958; photographs of a wedding, n.d.; items relating to Cleavdon College and a Miss McLoed, 1950s; Tenants Handbook, n.d.; deeds relating to various properties, 1866-1950s
Union cards of Gilbert H. Jones of Swansea from apprenticeship to retirement, 1944-1996 (D/D Z 1146/1)
Reminiscences of MrsJoan M. Broome (née Griffiths) of Neath, 2022 (D/D Z 1139/1)
Papers relating to the Swansea artist Mike Jones including posters, programmes, leaflets; papers relating to the artist Lynnford Jones; photograph of crash site ofWellington Bomber on hill side in the Swansea Valley, late 20th-early 21st centuries
Clive Reed Collection: additional papers relating to Pontardawe and area, 19th-20th centuries
Various framed portraits of family members linked to Kilvrough Estate; also certificates, 20th century
4 small handwritten diaries by an unnamed person, 1910, 1911, 1915, 1920 and a box of black and white photographs from the Front during the SecondWorldWar,1910-c.1940s (D/D Z 1134/913)
Documents relating to Arosfa, Baglan Road,Port Talbot; marriage certificate between James Gwyn Thomas and LucyWilliams, 1906, 1906-1947
‘The Gowertonian’ magazines, 1937-1940; Dynevor School annualprize giving, programme, 1970; Swansea Male Voice Choir programmes and tickets, 1970-1971; and admission card for the Prince ofWales’ visit to Swansea, 1969, 1937-1971 (D/D Z 1154/1-8)
Photograph album containing items relating to the life of Katie Irene James (1908-2000), and musical compositions and poetry by Arthur Morris James (1903-1930), early20th century
County Borough of Swansea Police, reunion at Morriston Golf Club, 20 May 2022 (D/D Z 1144/1)
Mae Gwasanaeth Archifau Gorllewin Morgannwg yn casglu dogfennau, mapiau, ffotograffau, recordiadau ffilm a sain sy’n ymwneud â phob agwedd ar hanes Gorllewin Morgannwg. Mae’n wasanaeth ar y cyd ar gyfer Cynghorau Dinas a Sir Abertawe a Bwrdeistref Sirol Castell-nedd Port Talbot.
Ein cenhadaeth ywcadw a datblygu ein casgliadau o archifau, diogelu ein treftadaeth ddogfennol a chaniatáu ymchwil er mwyn datblygu ein casgliad. Rydym yn ymroddedig i ddarparu
gwybodaeth a’rcyflei gyflwyno’r archifau i bawb.
Gwasanaeth Archifau Gorllewin Morgannwg
Canolfan Ddinesig
Heol Ystumllwynarth
Abertawe
SA1 3SN
01792 636589
Back cover:
Fireworks night at Ynys y Plant Children’s Home, Swansea, 1957 ((D/D Z 837/4/1)
archifau@abertawe.gov.uk
www.abertawe.gov.uk/archifaugorllewinmorgannwg
@archifgorllmor
Gwasanaeth ar ycyd ar gyfer Cynghorau
Abertawe a Castell-Nedd Port Talbot
A joint service for Swansea and Neath PortTalbot Councils
