All around the Twmbarlwm area the Forestry Commission has had a
significant impact on the landscape over the last eighty years and many
farmsteads that eked out a living have long disappeared, to be replaced by
conifer plantations. On the Rhyswg, Mynydd Maen, Mynydd Medart and Twmbarlwm,
farms with evocative names such as Gunnock (Cnwc), The Trwyn, Gnoll, Hafod
Fach, Darren and Cwmbyr Uchaf and Isaf have left little on the historical
record for us to remember them. This is the abridged story of just one of those
farms. An earlier version of this article appeared in the CTS
Journal 'Twmbarlwm News' in the summer of 2012.
 |
| The overgrown ruins of Hafod Owen farm today |
The Nant Gwyddon valley, which reaches the Ebbw
River at Abercarn, is the less
accessible and little known sister to the Nant Carn valley, which is situated
just a mile to the south. In the nineteen seventies and eighties this valley
was opened to tourism, walks were waymarked and a picnic site was constructed. However,
the limited access by road to the upper valley, coupled with the development of
the forest drive in neighbouring Cwmcarn, meant that the Gwyddon developments
were neglected and finally abandoned. The valley was then closed to public
traffic and returned to its main vocation as a Forestry Commission plantation.
Visitors to the Gwyddon today will often find themselves alone in this
beautiful valley of pine trees.
The Hanbury family of Iron Masters of Pontypool built a
furnace in the upper valley in 1580 and, from then on, the broad leaf woodland
on the steep sides of the valley was utilised extensively by charcoal burners;
however, the Gwyddon has always been the more remote, sparsely populated and
agriculturally marginal of the two. Evidence from historical documents suggests
that there were only two farms in the Gwyddon and these were located high above
the valley floor on nooks, or platforms, cut into the hillside. This article, the
first of an occasional series, looks at Hafod Owen, the less well known of the
two farms.
The Location of Hafod
Owen
If you were to visit Hafod Owen today you might be excused
for doubting that anyone could ever have lived in such a place. Situated high
above the Gwyddon valley at grid reference ST24662 96874, it is hard to imagine
a more inaccessible setting for a farm house in south-east Wales.
However, for around three hundred years there was a working farm at this
location, which provided a living for more than a few generations of hardy
Welsh hill farmers. In the nineteenth century Hafod Owen consisted of a farm
house and outbuildings. Due to restricted space on the site, it was unlikely to
have been a Welsh long house; rather it may possibly have been a 17th or 18th
century direct entry house or a small ‘bwthyn’ or cottage. The buildings occupied a narrow shelf, or
nook, on a steep hillside on the eastern side of the valley towards the top of
Graig Hafod Owen. The farm and its associated buildings were situated just off
an old track way, which led out of the Gwyddon valley up to the Rhyswg and
Mynydd Maen Common.
 |
| the 1879 OS map of Hafod Owen farm |
The 1839 tithe map seems to indicate two parallel buildings
with their eastern/right side gable end built into the hillside, with another
smaller building located between these. The remains of the gable ends of the
two main buildings may still be seen. At least one of these was incorporated
into the later bakehouse, constructed by the Forestry Commission during the
1920s.
 |
| a closer view |
On the 1879 Ordnance Survey map (1879-1882 1: 2,500) it
appears that a larger building has been constructed between the parallel
buildings. This feature could also be interpreted as a garden.
The early occupation of
Hafod Owen farm
The
earliest reference to Hafod Owen found to date (August 2012) comes from “ Henry,Earl of Pembroke’s survey of the manor of Mynyddislwyn in 1570” (Dr Madeleine
Gray’s article NLW journal 1997
p171-196). The reference (on page 187) refers to Morgan Thomas previously Lawrence ap Phelip….a tenement
called Havoed Owayne valued at 16d. This seems to take us back to the middle of
the sixteenth century and only 20-30 years after the dissolution of Llantarnam
Abbey.
The reference (on page 187) relates to the leasing by ‘Morgan
Thomas, previously Lawrence ap
Phelip’ of ‘a tenement called Havoed Owayne valued at 12d’. This seems to take
us back to the middle of the sixteenth century and only 20-30 years after the
dissolution of Llantarnam Abbey.
In his paper ‘The View Across the Valley’ Robert Weeks notes
the following, which both confirms and adds to the evidence quoted above:
There are no commons except one
parcel called Monith Mane . . . Morgan John Morgan hath encroached of the
lord's waste 40 acres near Havod Owen from Nant y Cie to Nant Hafod Owen.
The Weeks paper continues:
‘Here, it seems, we have direct documentary evidence for the
creation of the field system at Hafod Owen. Rather than being a medieval
creation, Hafod Owen appears to have been established in the early seventeenth
century, at a time when new farm buildings were being built across Mynydd
Maen.’
In a later section, Weeks tells us:
‘In 1653 two women, Gwenllian John and Jane John Morgan
proved upon oath that their grandfather, Morgan Thomas, and their father, John
Morgan Thomas, held, “a tenement and parcel of land called Havod Owen”. Its
bounds are described thus.
From a brook called Gwithon, upwards
to a brook called Nant Havod Owen, up to the spring thereof, and from that
spring as straight as may be, to another spring of a brook called Nant Ci, and
along the said brook called Gwithon again, and a great part thereof is and were
enclosed by the said Morgan Thomas.’
On the basis of this evidence, Robert Weeks believes Hafod
Owen to be a squatter encroachment of the early seventeenth century. However,
as we have noted, the 1570 survey reference uses the name (although in an
earlier spelling, ‘Havoed Owayne’) so it is probable that there was a much
earlier, possibly mediaeval, shepherd’s summer dwelling (hafoty) at the
location, which would have been occupied between the months of May and
September. This may have originated in late mediaeval times when transhumance
was practised by the Cistercian lay brothers of Llantarnam Abbey. It was they,
rather than the monks, who occupied and maintained grange farms at Chapel
(Cwmcarn) Cil-lonydd and Rhyswg, on the Abercarn side of Mynydd Maen.
The nineteenth century
occupation of Hafod Owen farm
Hafod Owen was certainly a tenanted working farm throughout
the eighteenth and nineteenth century. The farm, and surrounding land, was the
property of the Manor of Abercarn. In the late eighteenth century the Manor was
owned by the industrialist Samuel Glover. In 1808 it was purchased by Benjamin
Hall (1778-1817) of Hensol Castle
on behalf of Richard Crawshay of Cyfarthfa, Merthyr Tydfil.
A few years after this date the ownership was transferred to Hall, who was by
this time married to Charlotte Crawshay, and was a business partner of the
Crawshays. The Abercarn Estate was subsequently incorporated into the Llanover
Estate following the marriage of Benjamin Hall the younger (1803-1867) to
Augusta Waddington of Ty Uchaf Llanover in 1823. It may be assumed that the Llanover Estate
still own the land, although it is now leased by the Forestry Commission and
occupied by conifer plantations.
The first mention of Hafod Owen in the nineteenth century
comes from a series of ‘Land Tax Assessments’ of the 1820s: ‘Avod Owen
Tenant: Lewis Williams (Owner:
Benjamin Hall Esq)’.
Censuses taken between 1841 and 1911 record two related
families living at the farm: Jenkins and Davies.
About the Jenkins Family
Evidence from the birth records of the children indicates
that the Jenkins family moved into Hafod Owen Farm between 1835 and 1838. They
had previously resided at Gelligaer. William Jenkins had been born about 1793
at Trellwm Breconshire. William’s wife Mary had been born at Bedwellty in
around 1796. The couple were married around 1820. In 1841 and 1851 the census
lists William Jenkins as the farmer of 40 acres. Also listed are his wife Mary,
and their children Sarah, David, and Cicelia plus
William Morris, a single live-in
agricultural labourer. The elder two children had been born at Gelligaer in
1830 (or 32) and 1834 respectively but Cecilia had been born in 1838 at Mynydd
Islwyn, the parish in which Abercarn was at that time situated. There is no
census data available for 1861 but it seems reasonable to assume that the
family were still resident at Hafod Owen at this time.
About the Davies Family
 |
| John Davies (1834-1919) farmed both Hafod Owen and the Trwyn farms |
Sarah, the eldest daughter of William and Mary Jenkins,
married John Davies on the 17th
February 1861 at Mynyddislwyn church. John had been born at Llanfair, Monmouthshire
in 1834 and was the son of Francis and Leah David (Davies) of Goytrey near
Llanover. Francis is listed on the 1841 census as a woodcutter. In 1851 the
family were living at Ty Coed, Goytrey and Francis and John are both described
as labourers. At the time of his marriage John was aged 28, described as a
woodcutter, and residing at Hafod Owen. Sarah was aged 32 and also residing at
Hafod Owen, Neither could write. John and Sarah had seven children: Mary A
1862-1886, Lewis 1863, John 1864-1933, William 1865-1928, Leah 1869-1897, Sarah
1871-1879, and Thomas 1873-1879.
By the 1871 census John Davies is the tenant farmer at Hafod
Owen. He occupied the farm with his wife Sarah, their children and John’s
elderly and widowed father Francis (aged 74), who saw out his days following
his wife’s death in 1867 with his son and growing family. Francis was to pass
away in 1879 at the grand old age of 82. By 1881 John Davies is 49 years old
and described as the farmer of 100 acres and all of the family are engaged in
work on the farm.
 |
John's son Lewis Davies (1863-1915) is listed as the last resident of
Hafod Owen farm before the Forestry Commission took ownership |
By 1891 the Davies family had re-located to Trwyn Farm on
the opposite side of the Gwyddon valley, although John Davies continued to be
listed as working both farms. The last mention of the farm prior to WWI is a
reference on the electoral register for January 1913 to Lewis Davies as being
resident at ‘Aberdowyn’. There is a final reference to Lewis in the Kelly’s
directory of 1923: however, he had died in 1915 and by this time the younger
John Davies and his family were tenanting Old Crumlin farm, John Davies the
elder having died in 1919.
Forestry Commission Tied
Cottages at Hafod Owen
By the late 1920s the Forestry Commission had taken
possession of Hafod Owen. The 1927 electoral register lists Aberdowyn Farm as
being occupied by Harry Porter and Hiram
Watkins. Could they have been converting the old buildings and building the new
double bungalow? Due to the lack of documentary evidence it must be assumed
that they cleared the site, before constructing several new buildings for the use
of their forestry workers. Only one of these structures, the combined pig sty
and stable, remains in situ. In 1928, 1 & 2 Hafod Owen have come into
existence and at least four families – the
Walkers, the Boobyers, the Reeds and the Jameses – lived at the location
between 1927 and 1943.
Eva Reed, who is now 93 and lives at Cwmbach near Aberdare,
resided there with her family between September 1928 and November 1942. Her dad
Tom Boobyer worked for the Forestry Commission planting conifers and cutting
ferns in the Nant Carn valley around Twmbarlwm. She remembers that he would
walk over the mountain to work each morning leaving home at 6 to arrive at work
for 7am. He used to arrive back at
home at 6 to 6.30pm. For this long
day’s labour he earned 35 shillings (£1.75) a week.
 |
| Tom Boobyer (third from right) and Forestry colleagues circa 1940 |
During this period there were two attached bungalows at Hafod
Owen. A bakehouse and toilet were located at one end (near the forestry track)
and a stable and pig sty at the other end, adjacent to the path over to the
spring. There was a large water tank on the far side of the bakehouse, which
was used for washing but never for drinking. Drinking water came from the
spring. Eva and her sister Eunice used to take cans down to the spring to carry
water back to the bungalow.
.
Eva describes the bungalows as looking, from a distance,
like a hospital: there were five windows on the front of each and the doors
were all on the same side. She describes their bungalow as having three
bedrooms, a large lounge and a kitchen which contained a salting stone for
salting the pork from the pig. Apparently this stone took up so much space in
the small kitchen it was also the general work surface. In the bungalow they
had a fire which they used to fuel with wood. A little later they had coal
delivered and dropped off on the mountain near Ysgubor Wen on the other side of
the valley. Eva’s sister and dad would go over with the horse and cart to
collect it. The coal was kept in the bakehouse. On a Saturday the family would
go down to Abercarn to the shops. There they would stock up, buying bags of
Spiller’s flour with which to make bread.
After the Boobyers had lived at Hafod Owen for a little
while, Eva’s mother became desperately ill with TB. She was confined to bed for
6 months. The doctor advised that she should drink a quart of milk a day. Eva
and her sister would walk over to Gadylonydd farm, (which she translates as ‘Leave
us alone’) to collect the milk. This was probably Cil-lonydd, which was at that
time kept by a Mrs Williams. They walked down to the end of the valley over the
brook and then up the hill to Ysgubor Wen to get there.
During the late 1920s and early 30s Eva would walk to school
with Horace Hammett and Mary Lewis. Horace lived at Brook Bungalow near where
the picnic site was later located and Mary lived up at the Trwyn farm, which by
this time had been converted into three tied cottages by the Forestry
Commission.
 |
| Mrs James and Mrs Boobyer standing outside the bungalow at Hafod Owen circa 1940 |
When the Boobyers moved to Hafod Owen in 1928 the Walker
family were already in residence in the larger bungalow (number 1). They were a
gypsy family and Mrs Walker would walk down to Abercarn in a straw hat with her
basket to sell pegs. Her husband, like all the men, worked on the forestry. The
Walkers had three children: Bert their son, Irene, and a younger daughter
called Lottie. Around 1931 the Walkers moved to Llanybydder in west Wales,
where the family still resides. After the Walkers came the Simmondses; and they
in turn were replaced when Bence Reed and his family arrived in 1935. Eva
eventually married Les Reed and they had a very long and happy married life at
Cwmbach. The James family came after the Reeds moved to Lydney in the Forest
of Dean. This would have been about
1940. A bad attack by fox on a freshly bought brood of hens was the straw that
broke the camel's back on their life up there. And Mr and Mrs Boobyer finally
left Hafod Owen to return to Cwmbach in January 1943. There is no evidence that
the location was ever occupied, even on a temporary basis, again. John
Saunders, whose dad John Owen Saunders farmed at Penheolybadd Fach in Henllys,
recalls gathering in the sheep at Hafod Owen around 1949-50. He clearly
remembers a large brick bungalow there, although it was empty and quite
derelict by this time. It may even have been sufficiently open for sheep to get
inside.
 |
| The remains of the stable and pig sty at Hafod Owen |
The research on Hafod Owen
and the other lost farms on Twmbarlwm and Mynydd Maen continues apace and there
will be updates to each post as they arise. If you feel you can contribute in
any way please sign up to the Lost Farmsteads of Twmbarlwm and Mynydd Maen
group page on facebook.
Rob Southall
