Davies01.htm

Early Traces in the Rhondda

Ystradyfodwg was an extensive parish, stretching from the Breconshire border, and Bowen's "Steep, High and Barren Hills, abounding with woods..." in the north, to Porth, at the confluence of the two Rhonddas, in the south, taking in all the villages and hamlets of the Rhondda valley which would later grow into the towns of Treherbert, Treorchy, Tonypandy, and a number of other major centres of the South Wales Coalfield. But, difficult though it may be now to imagine it, the entire population of this area in the 1700's was less than 500. Even by the time of the first detailed census, in 1841, it had only reached the figure of 1,363. The following half-century, to 1891, was to see this grow by some 5000% to 68,721. The neighbouring parish of Llanwonno, whose villages and hamlets were to spawn towns such as Pontypridd, Abercynon and Mountain Ash, also experienced explosive growth, its population of a few hundred souls increasing to 1,614 by 1841 and to 30,712 by 1891. This was the country of Richard Llewellyn's "How Green was my Valley"; Llewellyn's character Huw Morgan reflects on the Rhondda, as it was when he was a young boy, before the 'Black Gold Rush': "Green it was, and possessed of the plenty of the earth. In all Wales there was none so beautiful". It is in this green paradise - in the parishes of Ystradyfodwg and Llanwonno, in the mid-eighteenth century - that we find the first traces of our Davies ancestors.

We start our story with William Davies alias Hopkin (#381), my great-great-great-grandfather. William was born in 1740, the son of John Hopkin and Ann Davies. He probably grew up at Cwmsaerbren farm which had been in Davies/Hopkin family hands for over two hundred years.

At the age of 26, on 9^th May 1770, William obtained a Licence to marry nineteen-year old Ann Thomas (#530), daughter of Morgan Thomas, a farmer from the neighbouring parish of Llanwonno. The couple started their married life together in Ystradyfodwg, where their first child, William (#545) was born, and baptised at the church of St. John the Baptist on 14^th March 1772 Shortly after this, William, Ann and son Willliam moved to neighbouring Llanwonno, to take over another family-held farm, Fanhalog, near Ynysybwl. At Fanhalog, a further nine children were born to William and Ann, including my great-great grandfather, Richard (#20), baptised on 9^th March 1782 at St. Gwynno's church, Llanwonno.

In 1783, William bought the freehold of Cwmsaerbren Farm, across the Rhondda Fawr from what is now Treherbert, from his brother-in-law Jenkin David, reportedly for about £1,300, but he remained with his family at Fanhalog initially, leaving Jenkin David at Cwmsaerbren for several years as tenant. Then, some ten years later, William and Ann and most of their sons and daughters moved to Cwmsaerbren, leaving their sons Thomas and John to run Fanhalog. We shall be returning to Fanhalog shortly, looking in more detail at those who grew up there, but if you want to go there now, take this link to the Fanhalog Davieses

Following William's death in 1799, it was William (#545), his eldest son, who took over the running of Cwmsaerbren, and he who inherited the freehold. By the time of his marriage in 1804 to Catherine Evan (#546) of Llanwonno, his brothers Richard and Evan had moved to their own farms further down the valley, his eldest sister Anne had married and his mother appears to have returned with the other unmarried sons and daughters to Fanhalog.

At Cwmsaerbren, eight children were born to William and Catherine, between 1805 and 1821; all were baptised at the church of St. John the Baptist, Ystradyfodwg. To follow their progress, take this link to the Cwmsaerbren Davieses.

Here, we shall follow Richard, who, by the age of 40, still unmarried, was running Bodringallt farm, in the same valley (the Rhondda Fawr), some five miles from Cwmsaerbren.

On 1^st May 1824, Richard married Gwenllian Rees (#63), daughter of Jenkin Rees (#106), a farmer of Gelli, just across the river. Gwenllian was one of five children - four girls and one boy, named William (#109), who entered the church and was for fourteen years curate for Ystradyfodwg and Llantrissant. Richard and Gwenllian remained at Bodringallt for only two and a half years after their marriage, during which time Gwenllian gave birth to two children - Jenkin (#146), and William (#150). These two had an elder stepbrother, Richard (#534), born 11 months before the marriage of Richard and Gwenllian. The young Richard (#534) was the result of a relationship between Richard senior and a domestic employee by the name of Ann Jenkins (#391). The clergymen who made entries in parish registers pulled no punches in those days; the entry for Richard's baptism says "Richard, Bastard son of Richard Davies and Ann Jenkins".

By 1827, Bodringallt was no longer a sleepy green hamlet. Although these were still early days, coal mining was underway, not only across the river in Gelli, Gwenllian's home, but also in Bodringallt itself. Both pits were to develop into substantial collieries in the decades that followed, to be joined by an iron works and a railway, all on or very close to land farmed by the Davies family. How much of this Richard and Gwenllian foresaw we can't know, but we probably need look no further for reasons to explain their decision to move from the Rhondda valley in 1827 and to take over Brynchwith Farm, in Llandyfodwg, the next parish, in the next, still-green valley - that of the river Ogmore.