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Graigwen
Graigwen maps
Historic maps of Graigwen and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Graigwen maps
Graigwen photos
We have no photos of Graigwen, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Pontypridd| Porth| Ynyshir| Abercynon| Church Village| Llanfabon| Abertridwr| Tonyrefail| Trealaw| Treharris| Penrhiwceiber| Penygraig| Tonypandy| Llwynypia| Llantrisant| Mountain Ash| Llanbradach| Ystrad Mynach| Talbot Green| Gilfach Goch| Ystrad| Merthyr Vale| Ferndale| Aberfan| Taffs Well| Caerphilly| Hengoed| Miskin| Maesycwmmer| Maes-Y-Cwmmer
Graigwen area books
Displaying 1 of 2 books about Graigwen and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Graigwen
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Mid Glamorgan memories
Hopkinstown New Cinema
My father-in-law, Frederick Walter Francis, was projectionist at the Hopkinstown New Cinema (or New Theatre). It is well known that the first 'talkie' film (with sound) was The Jazz Singer, but before it made its debut in London, the film and equipment were tried out in small locations throughout the country. Mr Francis related that one of those locations was Hopkinstown, and that he had the honour to be among the first to see (and hear!) the new entertainment medium in England.
Hopkinstown
I was born in 50 Hopkinstown Road, right by the school. My name was then Heather Jones. I am now in Austraila, NSW. I have been back and it all looked so small and the roads. I was in the jazz band and was in pantomimes that my uncle would do, his name was Bill Price, and it was a lot of fun.
Good Times
I was born in Hopkinstown and lived in 58 Hopkinstown Road, I will never forget the place, I have been away for a long time but plan to go back soon.
The Children's Home, Woodland Terrace
My sisters and I lived in the children's home at 40 Woodland Terrace, Maesycoed from 1972 till 1975. I remember the staff being very caring but occasionally strict. Us younger ones were banished to the massive garden! We used to sit on the wall at the back of the garden and wait for a man with a delapidated truck hollering "Any old iron". Sometimes we used to sneak through the bushes and head off into town which was down a very steep footpath. If caught, the dormitory was our sanctuary for a couple of hours! We went to a Victorian-looking primary school, I think it was near Dan-y-graig or Dan-y-llan. I'm sure it was called Maesycoed Primary School but my memory is a little hazy. I do remember that a little down the road opposite the school and up a steep hill were fields of fern and heather. The staff used to take us there for walks, probably to tire us out! I could wax nostalgic about those days but... Read more
Llansamlet School in 1973 to 74
I remember first going to this school as if it was yesterday, my mum also went there and I remember my mother saying that she had a teacher and her name was Maisie Clements and another who did geography, so when I went there they were both still there teaching us. I never liked the geography teacher because he always had a massive long stick on his table that reached to the back of classroom and he used it to whack us on the head or shoulders to get us to concentrate, his name was Mr Williams, I am sure whom ever was taught in this school in 1971 to 73 would remember him and Maisie who drank her whiskey behind the blackboard and wore cherry red lipstick and a wig that hung round her neck, she was the religious education teacher, she was crazy but I did like it there and I can still remember a few of my friends who attended there when I did so come on... Read more
Born on The Graig
"It's only wind or powder on the stomach"my Mam had said as she walked home from the ammunition factory on a cold Autumn evening. The "wind" or "powder" was born on the 2nd December 1942. I, Colin Gronow, had arrived, born in the middle of a war! I was the third child born to my parents, Mam, who worked in the "arsenal" at Bridgend, and Dad, who was a coalminer. I had a sister June,and a brother Creighton. My brother was ten and June was eleven. I've always wondered why there was such an age gap, I suppose the war had something to do with it, because during an air raid my Mum and Dad took shelter in the coal cellar under the house, and well, they had to do something to take their minds off the bombing! So here I was, a little boy, born on the Graig, ready to face the world. The Graig is a district about half a mile from the centre of Pontypridd, a small town in the... Read more
Memories of The Graig
I was born in the house of Williams the Milk on the corner of Graig Avenue; my over-riding memories of the following few years are mainly of the horse and cart Mr. Williams used, pulled by his horse "Dolly". I sometimes went on the milkround with them, travelling through the Graig, Treforest, Merthyr Road, to Trallwn,and finally through Taff Street. At the Tumble Mr. Williams would get "Dolly" up to a gallop to cross the square and pass under the railway bridge to make a left turn into Union Street; it was often touch-and go whether "Dolly" would make it up the steep hill and round the corner. I went to a school in Maesycoed and remember going to bed in the afternoons. There was a small bakery near the school and to this day the smell of fresh bread triggers of memories of those years. I also have vivid memories of Sion's pond. It was a very eerie place for an imaginative mind,with those dead trees sticking out of... Read more
