CONTENTS

7. Michaelmas Fair, 28th October 1930

8. Farming During the War

9. Rail Tragedy Averted, 21st June 1936Years

10. Sale of Middle Scafell 22 Agust 1961

A FELONY AT HENDIDLEY

Taken from http://www.embertek.demon.co.uk/gene/bebbmain.htm#Top

Stephen Jones of the Montgomeryshire Genealogical Society related some information he'd heard, describing Bebb as an English name:
"Just to explain a bit, Murray Chapman has shown that there was a "plantation" of Arwystli with Derbyshire people by the Earl of Leicester in the mid 16th century and many of the English names in Montgomeryshire (e.g. Bumford, Wilson) go back to this phenomenon. Murray has examined muster rolls and Court of Great Sessions records for the period, extracting those people with English surnames. They show clearly that, apart from in Arwystli, there was no significant level of English surnames in any other part of Montgomeryshire at the time."

I wrote to Mr. Chapman. In his reply he mentioned a reference in the Montgomeryshire Court of Great Sessions, held Monday 21 May 1554 at Pool: (File Ref: WALES 4/124-1 m.22)

INDICTMENT against Margaret Paramore ^a of Hendidle, spinster, that on 14 February 1554, at Hendidle, she broke and entered the barn of Thomas Bebb and feloniously stole a canvas called a 'wyno shete' (5d) and another sheet (6d) belonging to the said Thomas Bebb. (That William Paramore of Hendidle, husbandman, having knowledge of the felony, feloniously received, abetted and consorted with the said Margaret [crossed out])

a: Confessed to the felony.

Signed David Lloyd, scribe.

Marginal Note: Felony. Confessed to the felony.

Endorsed: Prosecutor: Thomas Bebb. Witnesses: Roger Perks, David ap Owen.

Second Jury. A True Bill.

HENRY WILLIAMS, YSGAFELL,

AND THE FIELD OF BLESSING.  

Within the parish of Llanllwchaiarn, comprising of 4000 acres of enclosed land on the northern bank of the River Severn, stands a timber framed house of the fifteenth or sixteenth century. Together with nearby lands, it bears the name of Ysgafell.In the time of King Charles I, that house and estate belonged to an old Welsh family which had adopted the anglicised surname of Williams. The family once had a silver seal dating from King Edward the third's time.

In September 1646, a Mr Vavasor Powell was especially authorised by the Assembly of Divines to exercise his ministry in Wales. He was 25 and hailed originally from Knucklas, Radnorshire. He moved through Wales, preaching either in houses, barns, yards, fields or on mountains "Repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ".

Among his converts was Henry Williams the younger of Ysgafell. Vavasor lived nearby and had the opportunity of securing his influence over Henry. Their confessions of faith agreed with the Church of England. Their moral code was to live in accordance to the will of God. They preferred adult baptism to that of children and objected to episcopacy, tithes and forms of prayer. They were against war, oaths and capital punishment. They felt entitled to exercise civil and religious liberty.

Vavasor Powell was arrested in London in 1653 for denouncing Oliver Cromwell for being Lord Protector and was subsequently detained for a few days.

Oliver Cromwell

The following year, Vavasor prepared a paper which reached Cromwell, which remonstrated against Cromwell's assumption of supreme power. A poscript reads "Some of the subscibers were threatened with imprisonment, and orders were issued out to imprison some (whereof one was secured) namely, Mr Vavasor Powell, who was taken by a company of soldiers, from a day of fasting and prayer, at Aberbechan in Montgomeryshire, where many saints were gathered together, which caused him much sadness, yea, and much heartbreakings to them all, and he remained for some time a prisoner upon that account".

 

In the appended list of names, that of Henry Powell occurs twice, together with those of Richard Baxter, Vavasor Powell, Thomas Tudge, Lewis Price etc. A series of cruel persecutions against all non conformists was carried on under various pretexts, throughout the reign of Charles II pictured left, between 1660 - 1685.

On the 18th July 1660, an order in Council on a letter from Sir Matt. Price, High Sheriff of Montgomeryshire complained that Richard Price of Aberbechan, Sir Richard Saltenstall and Vavasor Powell, a most factious and dangerous minister, countenanced unlawful assemblies and seditious persons, that they be taken into safe custody and all informations etc, against them committed to the Board.

On the 24th July, Sir Matthew Price wrote to Secretary Nicholas that the fanatics hold frequent meetings, notwithstanding repeated warnings, and use threatening language. Before the late plot they gave each other bread  on a rapier's point and demanded back the arms taken from them, with threats of compelling their restoration. They have many concealed arms and long knives, prepared for Lambert's late insurrection, to cut the throats of all the Cavallier's in these parts. They intended the same now had Argyle's plot taken effect. Sent to their meeting of Aberbechan last Sunday, and ordered them to cease such meetings. They said they would not while they lived and cared not who forbade it. Committed some of the ringleaders to prison, among them Lewis Price and Vavasor Powell, who forwarded a petition for execution of the late King and have been promoters of sedition. No justice but himself dares interfere with them.

On the 30th July, a letter from Vavasor Powell to Henry Williams, Captain L. Price and Thomas Tudge at Pool, was 'secured' by Sir Matthew Price. The letter assures hid three friends that he is importunate, at the hazards of his own liberty, to secure theirs, that the sheriff refused it, but says they can be released tomorrow on bail for their appearance. They must prepare for more sufferings or expect strange deliverace shortly.

From this period the Welsh Baptists of Montgomeryshire, under the peaceful guidance of Henry Williams, appear to have given up all connection with politics. Nevertheless, they suffered merciless persecution under an Act of Parliament which received the royal assent in May 1664, and assumed that all the religious meetings of non-conformists were mere pretext for sedition.

Henry Williams was in prison from time to time for about nine years.

He had his house burnt to the ground by persecutors one time. One instance was when he was in prison. Mrs Williams was near her confinement - she took one child in her arms and another in her hand, thinking to go over the Severn to a friend's house to save her own life and the lives of her children, and leave her goods to be demolished as they thought proper.

One would have thought her situation was enough to melt any heart, but for all this, one of the soldiers with uncommon cruely and dreadful oaths, cocked his pistol at her and said "Where are you going?". But with that, his officer saw and heared him, and instantly knocked him down, saying, "You villain, she was trouble enough without you insulting her". So the officer very humanely, sent a guard with her and gave strict orders to see her safely across the river, and guard her to her friend's house, without any molestation.

Another time, when Mr Williams was preaching, the enemies rushed in upon him, insulted, beat and much abused him, then dragged him out and were to kill him.

These are just a few examples of how he was persecuted.

One year, around September or October, he was again plundered, his cattle taken from him and so on, which was the custom in those days. About that time, he had a piece of wheat sown, the crop the next summer of which was so wonderful, that possibly there never was seen such a thing before in any part of the world. There were two or three very good and full ears upon each of the stalks which grew from the root, called 'double triple'. This crop more than double made up the loss by the plunder the previous year. It astonished all the country.

Another instance saw some soldiers beset the house suddenly, in order to plunder as he was a minister, and did not come to church. This greatly alarmed the family. Mr Williams's father then lived with him. The old gentleman stood at the top of the stairs with a design to prevent the plunderers coming up the stairs, but the bloody me, with halberts and other weapons of cruelty, killed the good man on the spot. The minister had run out to hide some property, else he too would have been killed. There was no remedy then for innocent blood shed in that way.

There were two justices in the neighbourhood that had a particular hand in his persecutions, and one of them died suddenly at dinner, and the other coming home drunk from Newtown, fell in the Severn and drowned. Also the sheriff, or his deputy who plundered Mr Williams of his stock, fell off his horse in sight of Mr Williams's house and broke his neck and drowned at the same time. It was a small brook , it seems, and breaking his neck by the fall, it is likely his body pounded up the water and so gave rise to the report that he died double death at once.

 

The Ysgafell property was sold about the year 1784, by Mr Williams of Evenjobb, Radnorshire, to Mr Athelstan Hamer of Newtown. The late lineal representatives of the Williamses of Ysgafell, Mr Henry David Williams, afterwards of her Majesty's 54th and 26nd regiments, who visited the place in the year 1829, was informed of all circumstances of Mr Williams' life (from an Elegy written about him), by Mr Owen, the tenant farmer, who pointed out the field which produced the extraordinary crop of wheat, and the ford by which Mrs Williams had crossed the Severn. He spoke of the burning of the house and mentioned the tradition that two members of the family were buried in the garden, which then, in 1829, formed part of an orchard and more no signs of their interment.

Cae Bendith, or the Field of Blessing, was an object of interest to Welshmen and sometimes, a place of pilgrimage. 

An account of Henry Williams of Ysgafell. summarised below, was sent about 1778 to Mr Williams of Evenjobb, Radnorshire, by H. Jones of Black Hall, Kerry.   

Mr Vavasor Powell, Baptist minister died in 1670 and as he was in prison for about 9 years before he died, the congregation had no minister. They preached amongst themselves. Mr Henry Williams was one of these, and he was a very pious man. He made notes from sermons, and used them himself to preach when noone was available. He was well educated and a good man, and was encouraged to engage in the ministry. He undertook the task although times were very unfavourable.

In 1713, the following was written of Henry Williams. He is itinerant preacher, disabled from his ministry in 1662, but continued to preach privately in several places across the county. He suffered much for the sake of a good conscience, both by imprisonment and the spoiling of his goods. He endured all patiently and continued with the work of the Lord. He died about 1685, aged 60.

Man of Kerry (Article reproduced here courtesy of the Kerry News Magazine- August 2005) VAVASOR POWELL (1617-1670), a notable Nonconformist preacher, was a native of Radnorshire. His mother, Penelope Vavasor, was a native of Newtown. In his early days, having spent a short time at Oxford, he became curate and schoolmaster at Clun. Here he came under the influence of the Puritan preacher, Walter Craddock. He himself began to preach around the Welsh border country, preaching every day and several times during the day. From 1648 to 1660, he lived at The Goitre, Kerry. In 1650, he was instrumental in procuring an Act for the Propagation of the Gospel in Wales, and he helped to bring out three editions of the New Testament in Welsh, and an edition of 6,000 copies of the Welsh Bible. He was a staunch Republican, and opposed Cromwell assuming the Protectorship. For this he was arrested while preaching at Aberbechan, near Newtown, and taken prisoner to Worcester. In 1660 he opposed the Restoration, and spent seven years in prison in consequence. Many attempts were made upon his life, at Newtown, at Guilsfield, and at Machynlleth. Through his untiring zeal and complete self-sacrifice he made a lasting impression upon the life and character of the people of Mid-Wales. (Visit the KERRY NEWS website here; http://www.kerrynews.co.uk/ )

FOCUS ON THE MANY SCAFELL PROPERTIES AND NEIGHBOURS OVER THE YEARS

Montgomeryshire Express & Radnor Times                            Tuesday September 19, 1905

MAN KILLED AT NEWTOWN

Much sensation was occasioned in Newtown on Saturday evening by the news of a fatal accident on Milford Road. It appears that shortly after 8 o'clock, Thomas Jenkins, a middle aged man, employed at Blue House farm, Aberhafesp, was returning home from Newtown in the company of Mr Davies, Scafell farm, and was rounding that sharp corner of the road, just opposite the old toll gate, when he was suddenly struck down by a bicycle, ridden by Thomas Benbow, Aberhafesp.

Jenkins' head came into violent contact with the ground and Benbow fell over or upon him. With all haste, Dr Wilson was summoned to the spot by Benbow and upon examination he discovered  that Jenkins was suffering from concussion of the brain. The unfortunate man died in a short time. The ambulance arrived in about an hour and upon it the body was removed to the mortuary at the infirmary. Jenkins was an unmarried man. An inquest will be probably held today. 

FARMING YEARS AGO

Stan Wilson

 This article first appeared in The Newtonian, the journal of Newtown Local History Group  

Times were poor. The Great War had not long finished and many of the large farm estates such as Glanhafren and Glandulais which owned thousands of acres of land at the time, had to sell their farm holdings.

In 1921, the estate of Glanhafren was sold. Two of the lots for sale were Middle Scafell and Upper Scafell or Waenybricks. Middle Scafell, famous for the field of blessing, was where I was born, is pictured here.

My parents David Swain Wilson and Eliza Wilson nee Davies worked there for my mother's Uncle Pryce Davies after my father was discharged from the Montgomeryshire Yeomanry/Royal Welch Fusiliers at the end of the war.

Father was the son of William Tills Wilson and Jane Wilson, nee Swain. They married in London, when my grandfather worked as a milk carrier in Lambeth, although he was born in Beccles, Suffolk. Jane was the daughter of Edward and Jane Swain of Hollybush, Aberhafesp. William, with no farming background and Jane Wilson farmed Penyglannau before buying Wernfach in Aberhafesp. They had three children, my father David, Roderick and Dora.

Mother was the daughter of William and Esther Ann Davies nee Hamer of Newtown. William's father Richard, my great grandfather, was born in Berriew in 1807, and married Elizabeth Hughes in Bettws Cedewain in 1836. They lived at Bryn Bedwen, Kerry, then Y Graig, Dolfor before moving to live in Worthen where they died in 1881 and 1885 respectively. They had eleven children.

My grandfather William Davies lived at Middle Scafell, later called Scafell, until his death in 1914. My grandmother Esther lived until 1921, when she died at what was then described as the ripe old age of seventy-three. Their son Pryce continued with the farm.

Pryce Davies with the famous Scafell King.

In the Glanhafren sale, Middle Scafell, Lot 10, was described as a very desirable freehold stock farm. The picturesque black and white house contained an entrance hall, parlour, kitchen, back kitchen, tub house, cellar and six bedrooms. The farm buildings comprised of a wain house, loose box, fowl house, three piggeries, tieing for twenty seven cattle, bings, calf cote, barn and three bays, granary, stable for three, two loose boxes and trap house. There was also a factory cottage, which was a six-roomed workmen's cottage with garden.

Upper Scafell or Waenybricks, Lot 8, described as a freehold small farm, was brick built and slated, containing a barn and bay, stable for three horses, cow house for five cattle, wain house, piggery and yearling shed. The sitting tenant, Mr Richard Lloyd was issued with a notice to quit, and my parents moved to their new home in 1923. Mr Lloyd moved to be a tenant at Upper Rhydfelen.

During these difficult times, mother kept the farm going with her produce, selling eggs, butter and boilers, or old hens which had gone past laying age. They would however make wonderful broth, and were sold for 1/6 each (7.5p). She would take two at a time to town, then come back home to dress another two. When I was old enough, I delivered these boilers to people who had ordered them. Mother's produce would pay for hen food, coal and lamp oil.

Monies made by father through farming were saved to pay for buildings, repairs, corn and fertiliser. Generally, everything he worked for, in a way, went back into the ground to repay what was taken out of it.  

Stan as a boy with his father David Swain Wilson, right and Mr Morgan.

MICHAELMAS FAIR, 28^th OCTOBER 1930.

                                                            Stan Wilson

This article first appeared in The Newtonian, the journal of Newtown Local History Group

 "Women's' trousers tuppence a leg!" and  "Wash me well and keep me clean, and I'll never tell what I have seen!" These were the cries of some Newtown 'Cheap Jacks' or street traders in 1930.

 The Michaelmas, or October fair was here again, and schools closed for the day. I remember when I was 10 years old, my mother, Mrs Eliza Wilson, taking me to the funfair around five o'clock in the evening, before it went dark.

In 1930, mother kept between eighty and a hundred hens, Rhode Island Reds (below left) and White Wyandottes (below right), which could be bought for about 7/6d (37.5p) each and a few cockerels.

Mother took her eggs to 'Mrs Humphreys the cheese' in the Market Hall, and I would meet the late Charlie Evans' father, 'Dickybird' as he was known, with other farmers' wives selling eggs. Dickybird would arrive in his lorry at the Crescent, which only consisted of a lamppost in those days. Mr Evans paid 6d or 7d a dozen, but nothing for cracked eggs, although he sold them to a queue of local customers, waiting with basins, eager to learn when they could buy them. I was fortunate, because as I had helped him with unpacking other customers' eggs, he paid for any of our cracked eggs. He had a business with his wife and Charlie collecting eggs in Severn Square. Mr Evans was known as a 'huckster'. Hucksters would buy produce, including holly and mistletoe at Christmas, together with damsons, apples, plums and blackberries when in season and take them to cities such as Liverpool or Manchester to sell. In later years, they would visit farms to purchase produce.

Another huckster was a Mr Ewdell. He came to Newtown and was very popular, buying eggs and butter from local farmers’ wives in Market Street. On one occasion however, he bought some butter in all innocence, and took it to Birmingham to sell. It was analysed as containing some margarine, and he was heavily fined for this offence. He never returned to trade at Newtown.

A huckster traded in Back Lane, near the band room. He sold gutted rabbits, as there were plenty on farms then. Pairs of live hens and ducks were tied together with rags by their legs, and placed on the ground. During the day, some hens would break loose, and on the following morning, could be seen roosting in the trees nearby!

Mother also kept five Aylesbury ducks, which didn't fly. I recall her buying two ducks or 'runners', for breeding. She thought they too would be flightless. Unfortunately, when she undid the rags to free them, they both took to the air, and we never saw them again!

The Michaelmas Fair was a traditional pleasure fair, which attracted large numbers of visitors and street traders to Newtown and the many sideshows set up at The Gravel, opposite the current Post Office.

Visitors came by pony and trap, and were put up in places such as the Elephant & Castle, Bear and Black Boy, where stabling facilities were available. The pubs would be open all day. Not many people owned cars. Cooksons Garage in Severn Street sold Austin cars from £122/10/-, Morris cars from £125 and a new Ford could be bought for £100. Nearby villagers travelled to town by bus.

Many included the Pryce Jones sale as part of their fair day. On the 28th October 1930, Pryce Jones held a huge mid seasonal sale of surplus stock in every department. Items were offered at 'absolute clearance prices between 9am and 6pm'. It was described, as 'A money saving opportunity you must not miss'.

Mother and I would enjoy a cup of tea and cake from either Bebbs' Café, now Evans's, or Wigleys Café, now part of William Jones, Butchers, High Street, before venturing through town. 

In previous years, street traders had caused problems for the normal shop traders by blocking their entrances. This resulted in some traders, such as the saddlers’ shop in High Street, putting its own goods on the street to keep the Cheap Jacks away. The police had given instructions for 1930 that gangways to shops were to be maintained by traders to stop the friction between resident traders and street traders.

I found it amusing watching and listening to the traders selling their wares.

To attract customers, a clothier would shout ' Women's trousers tuppence a leg'. People couldn't resist the temptation of having a look. Another cry from a trader with crockery, trying to sell a bedroom chamber pot would yell; 'Wash me well and keep me clean, and I'll never tell what I have seen!'  

Linoleum sold from a lorry, would be thrown over the side and rolled onto the street to the cry of 'Five pounds! Four pounds! Three pounds! Who’ll give me two pounds?' These types of traders were called mock auctioneers. Their calling started at a high price, reducing to a lower one to secure a sale, the opposite way to how proper auctioneers sold goods. 

A street entertainer challenged the public to a bet that he couldn't be permanently chained up. Customers would wrap the chain around him and padlock it together. No matter how hard they tried, the entertainer would roll, wriggle and writhe on the floor until one of his arms broke free, and he could continue with his escape! 

I recall an early photographer with a small hand held camera, taking photographs. You were unaware that your picture had been taken, and it was produced for you to buy for sixpence. Inevitably it was an action photo.  

Traders' stalls stretched from the Lion Hotel to the Gravel. The acetylene lamps, which lit and heated the stalls, fascinated me. They made a gushing sound as the traders fired them up. Electricity would not arrive at Newtown for another couple of years or so. Normal lighting was either by gas, candle or paraffin lamps. 

Farmers drove their sheep and cattle through town to market. I helped my father by walking with the cattle, as part of a gang of local farmers, stopping the animals going up side streets. Once, some broke away and ran down an alley, straight into a clothesline. They returned startled and scared with all manner of clothing on their horns, frightening many people in town as the cattle ran through the streets!  

The Smithfield market hadn't been built in 1930, so the cattle market was held near the Horse Repository, close to where the Lion Works or old B.R.D. site now stands. When the market sales were over, the cattle dealers employed drovers to take the cattle out of town, either by cattle wagons on the trains, or by foot to local farms. 

Highlight of my day was going to the Gravel and the funfair! Here were hobby horses, driven by the steam engines, which pulled the caravans from the last fair location. Water was pumped from the river to supply the steam, which was also used in barrel organs to make their wonderfully distinctive music. 

The fair consisted of many challenging games. A coconut shy enticed you to knock a coconut off its stand with a wooden ball – your prize was a coconut! A shooting gallery, in which you fired four small darts from an air rifle into four separate targets with a bullseye and two outer rings in each. I had steady hands and a good eye for shooting by the time I was about fifteen, although I don't remember getting a bullseye. I regularly gave away my prizes of small teddy bears or ornaments. 

I also remember a large number board with a flashing light going around its edge and along the numbered squares. The game was to guess the number at which the light would stop.

I won a clock when I was ten years old, which disappointed my mother, as she wanted me to select a teapot! The clock lasted a long time.  

She enjoyed playing on the roll-a-penny stand, giving her the chance to win money. The penny rolled should not touch the line between the rows of winning monetary prizes, which went up to sixpence. 

Once I'd spent my pocket money, it was time to return home with my mother, back up the Bryn Wood. To this day I retain the happy memories of the smell and hiss of the steam engines, the music of the barrel organs and the banter of the traders with their customers. What tales my friends and I would share at Penygloddfa school the following day and all for sixpence, or just two and a half pence in today's money.

RAIL TRAGEDY AVERTED

Sunday 21st June 1936, conditions were getting worse after a great storm the previous day. Mrs Bernice Roberts from her home at Lower Talwrn, Mochdre, was looking at a scene down the valley which would have a greatn impact on the history of the area.

Her mother, Mrs Haynes was the station mistress at Ysgafell Station, some two miles from Newtown, on the valley floor below Mochdre. Her husband Eddie was a railway ganger and the couple lived at the station house at Ysgafell. Bernice and her father had decided to nstay at home, as Mrs Haynes and another daughter had gone to a Wesleyan anniversary in Newtown.

The rain continued to fall heavily, and Bernice and her father went outside tentatively.to look. Bernice recalls as they walked from their home at Scafell Halt to Dulas bridge "As we approached the stone arched bridge over Mochdre Brook, at Dulas, just before the junction with the Severn, we could not believe the horrific sight that lay before us. The normally peaceful brook had become a raging torrent, carrying livestock, including two cows still tethered in their stalls, furniture, masonry from higher up the brook."

Bernice stood on the bridge until her father's urgent cry made her leap off, not a moment too soon. "A tall alder tree came surging down, standing upright and with its full roots. It rammed into the bridge....the bridge was gone." The railway tracks however remained slung across the chasm.

As a railwayman, Eddie knew that a train was about to leave Caersws for Newtown shortly.Urgent action was called for. Stranded on the wrong side of the bridge they could not reach the telephone at the station. What were they to do? They split up to give warning, Bernice's task to run two miles down the line to Newtown. The rain poured down. Lightening flashed on the metals. There were no houses nearby wher she could phone or get help otherwise. She had to go on. She ran from near the 'Field of Blessing'. Her name means 'bringer of victory' and to be realistic, prosaic, she was at the time a county and North Wales hockey player. 

When she arrived at Newtown signalbox, the signalman acted promptly at her cry of "The bridge has gone" by telegraphing the Caersws station, and the train was held back.and disaster was averted. 

Bernice then worried about her father, but a neighbour drove her home, where she found Mr Haynes was alright and that he already knew of her safety - and that of the train.

Not only was the railway bridge destroyed, but the bridge carrying the main road was damaged beyond repair, below.

A teacher at Penygloddfa School, Newtown, at the time, Bernice was there as usual next morning, quickly followed by reporters and photographers galore.

Adapted from The Montgomeryshire Collections.

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