Journals

 In this Journal we have published a previously unpublished ‘History of the Parish of Llanhilleth’ by H W Bailey. ‘Bill’ Bailey wrote the history in 1947 and a very poor and dilapidated copy has sat on top of the editor’s bookcase for many years. It has now been dusted off, although much is near illegible, the editor has redrawn all the drawings used in the original and through some cunning technical tricks the text was also able to be reproduced in full and retyped. Photographs have been contributed by members of the Llanhilleth History society and where possible exactly match the originals. We are indebted to Mr Lyn Maloney for the photographs he provided and to Miss Janet Karn for the retype. We have received additional information and hope to include it in a separate publication to be offered for sale in the locality shortly.

A small amount of research by Messrs Karn and Burchell turned up a ‘snippet’ on a past event in Tredegar town which we hope you enjoy.

A contribution to understanding more of the valleys landscape is on offer via the pen of Mr Howard Robinson. Howard has had several, mainly historical, articles published in various Welsh journals including ours.

In these often-troubled times we tend to be too busy with our own lives to notice the passage of time as it robs us of our heritage. One such ‘robbery’ was the loss of St John’ Church, Newchurch. It was thought as a reminder of its passing to reprint its demise as notified by the press of the day.

The location of Pwll Du lies just past the eastern boundary of our county borough. A survey of the area was undertaken in 2000 by the editor which has been used to help develop an understanding of an industrial landscape for students. Following several requests to publish this survey as well as to visit this ‘lost’ industrial hamlet made popular by the writings of Alexander Cordell we publish it here with a view of making it one of our field trips during 2026. Additional details of the social history of Pwll Du have been inserted into the landscape survey to put ‘meat on the bare bones’ of the survey to help the reader understand where and how the people managed to live upon the top of a bleak mountainside with few modern amenities considered so essential in today’s world. The editor would like to thank Mrs Ann Jones for granting access to her land which now encompasses the now lost hamlet of Pwll Du’.

Rodger Burchell

CONTENTS

1. Apologies
2. Obituaries
3. A Rediscovered History: The Parish of Llanhilleth – WH Bailey
4. An Ill Wind in Tredegar – A Report
5. A Glimpse of the valleys Past: – 1986 A Winter’s Walk – Howard Robinson
6. Disappearing Landmarks: St Johns Newchurch – A Report
7. A Field Survey of a Section of the Mountainside Around Pwll Ddu – Rodger Burchell
8. Website Annual Review – Carolyn Jones
9. Contributors to this Journal

Brought up in Ebbw Vale Rodger spent much of his life working at Ebbw Vale steel works. Afterr this he worked as a lecturer in Archaeological fieldwork and Practice, spent 5 years as a geophysical specialist for SiteScan Archaeological, as a field archaeologist for Glamorgan Gwent Archaeological Trust, (GGAT), Church & Site Archaeology and CADW among others.He is an active member of several history and archaeology societies and is a practitioner of the ‘Chartered Institute for Archaeology’. His studies included Welsh History and its sources, manuscripts, maps, etc, Archaeology, Industrial Archaeology, Local History, Landscape History and Archaeology. His MA (Wales) focussed on the history of Milling in Gwent and he has written several ‘historic’ walks for the surrounding area.