Collena Farm and owner Evan Pritchard as an example, explaining how the land he owned went down to the river where the Non Pol club now stands.  And how he built two mills, one for corn and one for wool on the river in Mill Street.  The mills where there for many years (the wool mill for 60 years) but after his death, the family could no longer afford to keep the farm and sold it, moving into the village and opening a shop.  The mills remained there until the coming of the railway lines which cut through the mill ponds.  The wool mill was then turned into a smithy.

Again referring back to Thomas Morgans book, Hanes Tonyrefail, Walter explained that in 1860 the population of Tonyrefail was around 60, not starting to grow until the railway lines which had gone in to the Rhonnda in 1860 came to Tonyrefail in 1874.

Walter also explained why blacksmiths where so numerous in the area, telling us that as the valleys where generally not suitable for crop growing, most farmers in the area raised livestock and as most local farmers had their own source of meat their only option to sell was to travel further, so the blacksmiths made the shoes for the animals long walks. Either to the coast where they would be put on boats to Bristol or London. or through the Rhondda as far as Northampton which could take 14 days.  He also told us that farmers used Welsh Corgis to drive the livestock.

The next part of out talk involved the old items that Walter brought along with him,

Horn & Bleeder

firstly was the horn and bleeder, he explained how when cattle where ill farmers used to bleed them, using me as a guinea pig he showed how the bleeding was done. The bleeding was carried out until modern antibiotics where released.

Yardstick

Walter then picked up a stick around the size of a walking stick, he explained how the yardsticks where owned by managers and overmans of the mines, and how they had several uses including lifting the lamps up onto their hooks and measuring the distances between the rails which where used for supports underground.

Tool Bar & Lock

Next out of the box was something id not seen before, a toolbar and lock that was used by the miners to secure their tools

Tin box

Lastly we had a metal box, Walter asked us if we knew what it was, it was safe to say that most did not. It turned out to be a box which was placed in front of an open fire and used to cook various things including welsh cakes.

This is only a small part of what Walter said on the night, I really hope he will come back again in the future to give us another talk.. it was a wonderfull evening

written by Steve Kiff