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Abercwmboi
Abercwmboi maps
Historic maps of Abercwmboi and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Abercwmboi maps
Abercwmboi area books
Displaying 1 of 2 books about Abercwmboi and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Abercwmboi
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Abercwmboi.
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or of a photo of Abercwmboi.
My Young Years In Abercwmboi
The first time I saw the photo it brought back very old memorys, because when I got up from bed in the mornings and opened my curtains the first thing I saw was the smoke from the Phurnacite Plant, as we lived in Park View Terrace which was not more than a few hundred yards from the site. The pond in the picture was where we used to swim in the summer and also we did some fishing in the same pond. My memory of the men that worked at the plant was they had to put on this yellow cream on their faces so that the tar would not burn their faces. There were some men who worked on coke ovens who had to were wooden clogs because the heat from the coke ovens was so hot if they had only everyday working boots they would have burnt away because of the heat . Thankfully the Phurnacite Plant is no longer throwing out its smoke and smells any more.... Read more
Childhood in Abercwmboi
I was born in Abercwmboi in 1954 but my parents moved south in 1956. We returned there several times every year, staying with my grandparents Eddie and Sue Milton at 39 Bronnallt Terrace every Christmas and again for several weeks during the summer. The last week was always spent in a caravan at Porthcawl, the best holidays I have ever had. I have so many wonderful memories of Abercwmboi - going from house to house on New Year's Eve just after the clock struck midnight, calling "Happy New Year" through all the letterboxes. Everyone would come out and hand us a few pennies for the New Year, it was safe for children to go out in the dark then. I remember looking across the lake at the lights of the phurnacite plant at night from my grandmother's bedroom window and thinking how cosy it looked. Everything was cosy there, the terraced houses, the open fires and the people, it was a truly close community. My other grandmother, May Ward, lived at 3... Read more
Childhood Memories
By accident i have just come across this site- shame there are no memories already entered for abercwmboi- As a child I remember looking out of my Grandfathers front door or his bedroom window at the wonderful array of lights coming from the phurnacite plant opposite- also teh smells! In those days (50/60's ) no one realized how bad the place was for our health.
My Grandad lived 29 Maple Terrace, and every year we would travel by coach in the early days -then later by car down to Sth Wales for the annual family visit, my Dad having left the viilage after he came out of the airforce at the end of the war. and settled in the east midlands - It was so different to where i was born, and we did enjoy our trips, we did lots of walking up the "mountain" behind Maple terrace.. up to 2 farms - well ruins of - where my dad had collected milk as a youngster in the... Read more
Happy Days
We used to live in 3 Cromer Street, with my Dad's Uncle Bert. If memory serves, Bert used to work at the Phurnacite Plant, but my overriding memory is of him selling 'Corona' pop from the house. He must have had a franchise of some sort, as there were always crates of the stuff under the stairs and a 'Corona' lorry used to bring the new stock.
Next door down (no 2) was a Mrs Roberts and up the street I remember Mrs Sweet and, a lovely old chap, Mr Jones (can't remember who lived where, but, one was no 5 and the other no 8). Mr Jones was an old collier and used to make me boats out of his 'blocks' (the timber that colliers brought home for firewood). We'd walk down Cromer Street, across the main road and then down between the Co-op and the (then) abattoir to sail these 'block' boats on the pond in the photograph - leaving a wake through the coal dust on... Read more
Haywards Shop, Graig Avenue
I have just seen a website comment from M Hayward, I remember the shop well. I lived in Graig Terrace, and often used the shop to buy magic Orange Maid lollipops, I would like to hear more from people who used to live in Abercwmbo in the 1950s and 1960s.
Regards,
Ann Griffiths
Haywards Graig Avenue
I was named after my uncle who was one of 2 boys, Arthur (my dad), and Maurice. My grandfather and grandmother had converted their front room to a shop which seemed to sell EVERYTHING.....We spent our annual holiday every year at number 5.. and I have many happy memories of visits to the Mumbles.. Porthcawl.. Barry and many more... and also of the many friends we met up with each year. Also... I have relatives, the Hedges family... still there in Abercwmboi?? I would love to get in touch if they are still in the area.
Mid Glamorgan memories
Aberaman
Having been born and reared in Aberaman, I spent many hours in the playing fields, even before it was named King George's field. Locally it is known as the hayfield, and even now is a source of pleasure for football and dog walkers. Sadly though, often the childrens playing area has been vandalised and it is no longer safe to 'camp' there overnight, as we once did, with a bottle of water and jam sandwiches!
In the picture given on the site, a car can be seen, driving down what was and still is, Tonllwydd. Walking up up this path is lovely, it takes you to ' the line' an old railway track, which once carried coal to and from the local collieries, including Tower.
Anyone care to add to memories?
