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Draethen
Draethen maps
Historic maps of Draethen and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Draethen maps
Draethen photos
We have no photos of Draethen, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Machen| Risca| Pontymister| Bassaleg| Bedwas| Pontywaun| Cwmcarn| Caerphilly| Allt-Yr-Yn| Llanbradach| Rumney| Rhiwbina| Pontllanfraith| Maes-Y-Cwmmer| Maesycwmmer| Newbridge| Newport| Llantarnam| Abertridwr| Ystrad Mynach| Tongwynlais| Cwmbran| Hengoed| Taffs Well| Blackwood| Cardiff| Radyr| Llandaff
Draethen area books
Displaying 1 of 3 books about Draethen and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Draethen
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Gwent memories
Childhood Memories
My grandfather lived in the tied cottage on the Plas farm in Lower Machen. His name was Albert Thomas, known as Bert. I have many fond memories of him and his cottage and playing around the farmyard and watching him complete his chores. I would stand for ages in the milking parlour watching him, Owen (owner of the farm), and his sons Stuart and Brian at work! All the cows had names and my grandfather used to make me laugh by talking to them and pretending they were answering him in moo language!
A 'not so nice' memory was the day I fell up to my waist in cow dung in the slurry pit on the farm while playing tag with my cousins Glyn and Clive! I can remember having to stand in the bath and my grandad washing me down and laughing his head off! He could not wait to tell my parents!
I also have fond memories of the girl who lived in the cottage next door. Her... Read more
Living on The Farm
I lived at 2 Plass Cottages until we were evicted in 1951 or 1952, my step dad worked on the farm, his name was George Squire.
Channel View
I've seen this photo in several places and it's always captioned as being 1965 - it's got to be before that because I lived in Channel View from 1960 to 63 just below those garages on the right of the photo - and in this photo the building hasn't even started.
I can remember playing behind those garages - even creating a little "graveyard" there for my deceased pet white mice. There's a path up to the canal from behind the garages (which is where this photo is taken from) and there was a great tree-swing with a death defying drop if you swung all the way out from the bank - I imagine there were quite a few injuries, if not broken bones as a result of that swing.
Happy days
Telephoning
The public telephone in this picture of Tredegar Street was outside my father's butcher shop. There were only two buttons to press: button A and button B, but people were terrified of pressing the wrong one. My father, Gomer Mumford, used to do the phoning for lots of people. Sometimes coins would jam in the mechanism so he would release them using a butcher's knife and pocket the money!
Next door, to the butcher shop my mother Adelaide opened a flower shop just before the Coronation. Bit by bit we added plants, fruit and vegetables. When sweets came off ration we also sold confectionery. Such was the pent-up craving for sweets that I remember selling fifteen 7 lb jars of Sherbert Lemons in a day. People queuing for the Palace cinema used to buy sweets and cigarettes from us. All the family would be on hand to cope with the tremendous rush of trade. We had a side window devoted to sweets for children. At lunchtime we would be pressed... Read more
Playing on The Canal
I spent many happy days here with my brother and sister. Playing in home-made boats made from corrugated tin, catching tadpoles and skating on very thin ice in the winter. I lived in Woodview Road and my grandparents lived in Mount Pleasant.
Memories of Risca
This shot brings back a hell of a lot of memories. We used to play on the canal bank here and fish for sticklebacks in the shallow bit under the bridge. I even had had my first real snog in the graveyard (nice!) over the bridge on the left. You can just see the Prince of Wales pub through the arch. The gate in the hedge on the left was the back gate to my garden.
I Miss my Family Home
This picture is of my family home just under the quarry to the left. My father Glyndwr 'Pancho' Parry was one of the council machine drivers that had to fill in the canal between the Darren bridge and 'the now' cycle path entrance. He did not enjoy doing that as it was so close to home for us and we missed the scape of things! Other than that I loved living there and thought I would live there for the rest of my life, unfortunately when my father 'passed' my mum wasn't well enough to stay alone in the house so had to sell it, it is now back on the market but beyond my 'means' unfortunately... The day the new owner came to view I was there; he didn't see me, it could have been my own father stood there at the fence, taking in the views; same build, flat cap, everything including his demeanor was 'Pancho'. Mr Vaughn will never know how good that made me feel..?? And... Read more
