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Abercrave memories

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Memories of West Glamorgan

Childhood Memories

I spent my childhood summer holidays with my Nanny at 7 Crown Row, Cwymtwrch, a whitewashed cottage on the main road. My Aunty Annie lived further up the road, opposite the grocers shop. Next door lived my 'Aunty Molly', she had a son called David. We used to play a game with marbles on a board his dad made him. He also played the organ. I remember all the children used to put on plays in one of the neighbour's sheds, we used to buy crepe paper and make our outfits. My aunty's name was Annie Harris, my uncle was Dae John. My father was Jim Williams, he was a miner and died at the age of 43 as a consequence. I still have a cousin in Cwmfllynfell called Marion and her husband is Tal. My aunty's garden backed on to the railway and I used to rush out to wave to the driver. There was a stream just behind the railway and we used to go on long walks.... Read more

A memory of Lower Cwmtwrch

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The CWM

As a child we spent many weekends in Cwmtwrch. My grandparents Horrace & Betsy Williams lived there. We spent a lot of time down at the river skipping rocks and cooling off. My grandmother always cleaned the telephone booth across the street from her house - I can still smell the Dettol when I think of it. I have great memories of being there, Dado in his green house taking care of his beautiful flowers, and Mamo carrying buckets of coal into the house for the stove. I remember building a kite and flying it at the top of the hill in a field. We often hopped on the bus to go to Swansea and eat lunch at the Windsor Cafe. This summer I will be bringing my husband and 2 kids to Cwmtwrch for the first time, my Aunt kept the house as a cottage, so I am really looking forward to seeing the place again.

A memory of Lower Cwmtwrch, shared by Sharon Bondy.

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Childhood Memories of Lower Cwm

Sometime in the late 1940s my family moved from Upper Cwmtwrch to the Gurnos Council Estate in Lower Cwmtwrch and lived there for the next nine years. I have many memories of the place. The main source of entertainment was the cinema. On Saturday morning I would get on the bus to Cwmllynfell to attend the cinema in the Workingmen's Hall situated on the Square. Most of them were cowboy films. A shilling was sufficient to buy the bus and cinema tickets and leave enough for a packet of chips! I still attended the primary school in Upper Cwm. On one occasion, after school, I climbed a Yew tree on the bank of the River Twrch to look at a pigeon's nest. When the bus arrived suddenly I slid down the tree quickly. When on board I noticed that one of my jacket sleeves was missing. At first I thought someone had cut it off with a scissors! Then it dawned upon me - it had... Read more

A memory of Lower Cwmtwrch, shared by David Lougher.

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The Chapels

In the 1940s and 50s social life in Cwmtwrch was centred on the chapel and public house. There were eight active chapels, each with its own distinctive architecture, and representative of the major non-conformist denominations in Wales at that time. There were three Welsh Baptist Churches - Beulah, Capel Newydd, and Bryn Seion; two Independent Chapels - Bethel and Ebenezer, and three others - Bethania Welsh Calvinistic Methodist, The Mission Hall, and a Forward Movement Mission. The Roman Catholic and the Church of Wales were conspicuous by their absence. As a child I attended the Mission Hall Sunday School and Band of Hope. The Mission Hall was a wooden structure with a tin roof, in sharp contrast to the fine buildings of the other churches. The highlight of the year was the Whit Sunday procession when all the Sunday Schools in the village marched to the Ffynnon (an ancient sulphurous water spring) in Lower Cwmtwrch for an open-air Gymanfa Ganu (hymn singing festival). The Sabbath was fairly strictly... Read more

A memory of Lower Cwmtwrch, shared by David Lougher.

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The Railway

I was born in 1941 in Cefncoed House, Pentwyn, overlooking Gwys Railway Station, Upper Cwmtwrch. I lived there for 7 or 8 years before moving to the Gurnos, Lower Cmwtwrch. My family lived in a compound made up of five houses built by my grandfather, Richard Lougher, for his children.

The village had a road, a railway, and the River Twrch running through it. In Upper Cwm the road crossed the river in three places with the railway crossing the river and road in one place. The railway also crossed the River Gwys, a tributary of the Twrch.That's enough about crossings.

When I think about Cwm the images that come to my mind are those of the railway, Gwys Station, and the steam engines that stopped there. As children we would travel by train up the valley to visit my grandparents in Brynamman - only six miles away. The highlight of the year was the family trip, by rail, to the Mumbles. We would get on the train... Read more

A memory of Upper Cwmtwrch, shared by David Lougher.

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