Rhiwbina Living 61

This would later become Beulah
Road, but back then it was called
Heol Rhyd-y-Walla. Remember,
until quite late into the 19th century,
nearly the whole of the parish was
Welsh speaking.
And there was a narrow farm track
running northwards, towards Deri
Farm. Nothing to the west, just
fields.
No Rhiwbina back then. The area
was named Rhydwaedlyd after the
stream (Nant Waedlyd, the bloody
brook!), Rhydwaedlyd meaning the
ford on the stream. In all probability,
there was an ancient fording-place
here, where people and animals
could safely cross. There were even
earlier names - Rhyd-y-Walla and
various other derivatives.
Anyway, back to the sketch map.
By 1840 and the Tithe Map, the
ancient ford had gone and been
replaced by a simple humpback
bridge with the stream running
diagonally, but by 1875 and this
map, the stream had been locally
diverted and a flatter bridge
provided.
There were three farms that
converged at ‘the crossroads’;
the nearest was Ty’n-y-Cae to the
southwest, Pentwyn Uchaf to the
northwest, and many of the fields to
the east belonged to the Deri Farm.
The fields shown on the southeast
corner were an isolated pocket of
Graig Farm. Incredibly, the Graig
farmhouse still stands today, visible
from the motorway as you leave
the junction at Coryton towards
Newport.
There were at least 6-10 more
farms in the immediate area, but
perhaps we could look at them
Heol-y-Deri in 1903
another time.
On this sketch map, there’s no
railway, no Pen-y-Dre, and Heoly-Deri
was the narrow track
sometimes called Deri Road.
There were only a handful of little
cottages, and according to the Tithe
Map, there was a blacksmiths forge
on the southeast corner, with John
Jarvis and Evan Evans running it.
William Howells was living in a tiny
cottage adjacent.
In 1850, some local Christian
Independents (they used to be
called dissenters) from Watford in
Caerphilly, leased William’s cottage
and a corner of his field, to use as
a chapel. Over the years, the little
cottage became too small for the
growing congregation, and by the
time of this map, the cottage had
gone and a small chapel had been
built on the plot. They called it
Beulah. It wasn’t until 1891 that the
new Beulah Chapel that we see
today was built on the opposite
corner. The old chapel was then
used as a schoolroom.
Edgar Chappell in his definitive
book, lists a few of the field names
locally - Cae’r Efail (the Smithy
Field), Cae’r Bont Garreg (the
Stone Bridge Field) and Erw Pont
Rhydwalla (Rhydwalla Bridge
Enclosure). They’re so evocative.
I’ve also included an old
photograph above; it’s hardly
recognisable. It was probably taken
c.1903 with the newly constructed
Beulah Chapel on the right-hand
edge, and looking north. The stream
is there, the improved bridge and
nothing else. If the photograph had
a better resolution, the first building
you’d see would be Deri Farm!
So, what else was in the area back
then, and their stories forgotten?
- Castell Morgraig (on the top of
Thornhill) and the Twmpath
- Deri (the farm and the old tree)
- Pwll-y-Winci and Greenhill
- The farms of Ty’n-y-Parc,
Pantmawr, and the ‘lost’ farm of
Ffynnon-Wen
- And of course, Deri Mill, and the
Butchers Arms
Now Beulah Corner; but so
much ‘lost’ history. Or perhaps just
forgotten, waiting to be discovered.
Nigel Lewis is a member of AWEN@
thelibrary (awen.cymru@gmail.com)
The crossroads in 2003
35