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Broad Oak
Broad Oak maps
Historic maps of Broad Oak and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Broad Oak maps
Broad Oak area books
Displaying 1 of 6 books about Broad Oak and the local area. View all books for this area
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Memories of Broad Oak
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Dyfed memories
Llandybie Before And After The Bypass
This photo shows the by-pass (Heol Gwilym) after its construction around 1962. Prior to by-pass construction, the A483 went through the village. The by-pass effectively neutered the village and thereafter its character deteriorated as a result. Coming before the demolition of the Plas, Llandybie's oldest building, The Corner House, Old Red Cow Waunllan, Cawdor Stores, the village lost much of its character. The closure of Pencae colliery in 1958 ushered in an era of opencast mining which decimated the surrounding fields and farms particularly Piode Fawr, Caergroes along with the hamlets of Blaenau, Saron, Caerbryn.
Llandybie as A Child
I was born in Llandybie in 1945 at number 9 Woodfield Road. My mother and father were Bronwen and Harold Owen and I have two sisters and one brother. The only neighbours names I can recall are Mr and Mrs Tudge(?) although I don't remember them.
My father was a miner in the Pencae pit as was my grandfather Tom Owen of Pentregwenlais.
Across the road from the house was the playing fields and the river where apparently I spent quite a lot of time trying to catch tiddlers. The Miner's Hall is where we would go to watch films on Saturday mornings and beyond that the bowling green where my Uncle Eirwin would play. The rugby pitch was also located close to the Hall and that was my favourite place, watching the games. At the corner of the main road and Woodfield road was a farm which I think was owned by the Lloyd family whose daughter I used to play with.
My other grandparents lived in Blaenau, Tim... Read more
David Griffiths
My G G grandfather David Griffiths was one of the blacksmiths in Llandybie. he lived at Henbont and had many children all who stayed and married in the area. I would love to be able to find out who and where the relations of said family members are today. David was the son of William Griffiths blacksmith of Talley, David's brother William was Blacksmith of Llansawel and who's younger brother was Morgan Griffiths who when his grandfather William passed away took over Talley forge.
If anyone knows of this family please contact me as i would love to hear from you.
Msharonmeek@apol.com
Ancestor
On tracing my family tree I found out that I was related to William Giffiths,born 1812 in Aergorlech. I recently went to view the village and surrounding countryside and it is a really pretty village located next to Bechfa forest, the bridge is a fasanating design and the river beautiful.
Black Lion
My parents, Joan & Roger Graham, bought the Black Lion pub in 1963/4? and concentrated on building the business up and making it a large part of village life. With the full co-operation and hard work of my parents and the villagers, Abergorlech won the 'Best Kept Village in Wales' from 1964-1966. I have a photo of them outside the pub following their win in 1964. Dad introduced pub games and Mum her wonderful cooking (her chicken pie was second to none) and it soon became the hub of the village. I can remember a few wonderful Saturday nights when some of the men of the village sounded out their voices after a few bevvies, and what a beautiful sound that was. I returned to Abergorlech last June with my sisters-in-law. We were overwhelmed by the stunning beauty of the area (just as I remembered) and had a very good lunch in the Black Lion. It now has the addition of a restaurant where Dad's beer storage was, but I was... Read more
Abergorlech
I moved with my parents, Ron and Edith Burnett, to Abergorlech in 1952 when I was 10 years old. My father worked for the Forestry Commission, and we lived in the Forestry House about a mile west of the village. In those days it was called Dysgwylfa. I went to school at the two room primary school, Mr. Phillips was my teacher. We lived there for 5 wonderful years. Our house had no electricity and the village had only a small generator that ran only at night and only for lights. There was no TV, no central heat, no refridgerators. It was a very rustic life. Women were not allowed in the bar area of the Black Lion, at least it was.frowned on. My dad used to tell us about the beautiful singing that would happen on Friday or Saturday nights in front of the fire. He used to often come home with tears in his eyes because he was so moved by the singing. Boyo was the name of... Read more
My Childhood
I was born on Heol y Baw, which is off Heol y Dre... one of the pictures you have on here is of a cottage on Village Street ..known as Heol y Dre.. I spent many many hours in this cottage, when the Morris`s lived there, they were a mining family. My house was around the corner on Heol y Baw, next to Cwm y Glo Farm. The house was owned by the Coal Board. My foster parents Mr and Mrs Roberts lived there till Mr Roberts retired from the pits, then they moved to Is y Llyn. This is another part of Cefneithin, it was a brand new council estate. I was around nine years old, I went to the school in the photographs and have a lot of good memories of the place. My friends now live in the cottage on Heol y Dre, have sent them a link to this page. x
