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The ruins of ordinary lives

6/3/2013

3 Comments

 
You come across them at the edges of footpaths, ivy wrapped, tumbled-down, remnants of their former selves, but still they whisper 'home'. And you wonder about the lives begun, shared and ended between the walls that used to stand there, beneath the roofs that kept people safe and warm. 
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The ruins above belong to Llan Ton y Groes on Mynydd Brombil, a stone cottage that was occupied until around the late 1940s. To the left, in better condition than the cottage's scrabble of stones, is the sheep dip built by the people who lived and worked here. There couldn't have been a better spot than this, a place of real life stories and events, to launch the first volume of Allen Blethyn's Port Talbot Historical Notes in February 2013.  
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You can buy your copy of PTHN at the former Gateway bookshop in Forge Road, soon to be Book Bound, and read Allen's research into a string of cottages and houses that once stretched the length of Cwm Brombil, the homes of farmers, labourers and miners. There was once a mine here, named for the valley, opened c.1780 by the English Copper Company to supply their works at Taibach. It closed in 1880 but you can still see the entrances to the two levels if you know where to look. And Allen does. 

Sources
Blethyn, Allen, Port Talbot Historical Notes Vol 1 Spring 2013, pp.9-30, privately published, www.historicalporttalbot.com
Lawrence, Ray, The Collieries of the Afan Valley and the Port Talbot Areas, privately published 2008
Evans, Leslie A, The History of Taibach & District, Alun Books, Port Talbot 1982 
3 Comments
AllenBlethyn link
7/3/2013 12:44:51 am

Only The Taibach Brick Girl could compete with Lynne.

Reply
Cristobal Ramirez link
7/3/2013 02:00:37 pm

Excellent!!!!!

Reply
MONICA SELWAY link
15/3/2013 02:22:43 am

Just obtained a copy of Port Talbot Historical Notes Journal Vol .1 Spring 2013.Very interesting read,very informative.Farms Great read located in the Havod of great interest to me,my ancestors the Llewellyns of Wendderi and Baencyniron farms I have been tracing for a number of years,gone back to 1650s on the Wendderi.Lovely to see the farms mentioned.Great local history read.

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    Lynne Rees

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    Lynne Rees was born and grew up in Port Talbot and blogs as 'the hungry writer' at www.lynnerees.com. Her book, Real Port Talbot, an upbeat and offbeat account of the town and surrounding area, from Bryn to Sandfields, from Margam to Baglan Bay, and everything in between, is published by Seren Books.

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