Welcome to this blog about the coalmining community living in and around Saundersfoot in Pembrokeshire in the late 18th and 19th centuries.
One line of my ancestors came from this area, Begelly in particular. They were coalminers but while they no doubt left many marks below ground, they failed to leave too many in the records of the time. Having started my research into my family history around 1999 and finding little information to go on, I turned my interest instead to researching how they lived. I have been captivated by the local history of the area ever since.
Bonvilles Court Colliery early 1900s (Copyright Gary Davies)
I have two purposes in writing this blog. Firstly, I want to relay some of the research I have picked up over the last few years. Several of you “in the know” tell me it is new and interesting material covering both local and family history topics.
Secondly, I would like to encourage others to post both comments and articles. I know from our emails and/or speaking to you that many of you also have something to say about your family’s history in the area and I’d like this to be a platform for you to say some of it. The WordPress software I am using to host this blog allows anyone anywhere in the world to post a comment and, with the right access from me, a fuller post. My hope (fantasy?) is that new sources of original material such as letters, photos and diaries come to light. Fingers crossed.
Richard Nash with family (top right) born Begelly 1860; he is my great-grandfather; picture taken c. 1934 (Copyright J Mein)
Let me finish with 4 quick points:
- Having said what this blog is, I must add what it is not. This is not a history of mining techniques. My knowledge of these is non-existant. Anyone interested in this should peruse Martin Connop Price’s books.
- Posts will be around 500 words in length at most and should include relevant pictures. Underlying all the posts is the knowledge that, for most of our ancestors, life was tougher than we can imagine today.
- My research has covered the parishes of Begelly and East Williamston, Reynalton and St Issells although there will be references to other parishes in the coalfield such as Amroth and Jeffreyston.
- Feel free to link to these pages or copy written material from this blog if for non-commercial purposes. In return please do attribute my research if you do publish or pass on to other researchers – it’s a simple courtesy. Please note that most of the images on here are under copyright, details of which are embedded in the image and noted on the post.
So, please read on and tell me what you think by leaving any comments or questions you have. You can also to subscribe to receive notification of new posts and/or comments by RSS. If you know of others who might be interested, do let them know that this blog exists.
If you want to contact me “off blog” then email me at snorbensblog@aol.com
Regards
Jon
Hi Jon.
My TEAGUE family comes from Begelly {1750′s 1840′s} when my direct Teagues left Pem. for Aberdare, Glam, for work in the coal mines.
If by chance you come across any info on the TEAGUE’s please let me know.
As I think all the Pem TEAGUE’s are related into one family back in time.
Best Regards
James.
Hello James
As you no doubt know there were Teagues in Begelly from the 1851 census to the mid-1870s. George held the Miners Arms pub from around 1854 for most of this time. He had married into one of the long-established families in the parish.
He was fined £20 at the Narberth Petty Sessions by the Inland Revenue for mixing Guinea pepper in with the hops for the purpose of adulterating his beer. I bet his collier customers loved him for that! (Pembrokeshire Herald, 24/5/1861)
There’s a nice story in one of W R Morgan’s books about George and a frog. If you haven’t seen this I’ll dig it out for you.
Were his parents John and Mary who are in Begelly in the 1851 census? If so, I have some notes on burglary at John’s house in 1855.
You suggest that there were Teagues in the parish in the1700s. I have not come across them if so.
Jon
Hi Jon,
As you know I have particular interests in this part of the world, been a bit quiet of late but couldn’t resist having a peak .. well done
The photo of Bonville’s Court Colliery reminds me of my 2 x GGrandmother Mary Belt who was a housekeeper for quite a few years (until 1894, when she married and vanished) at Bonville’s Court House, owner Sarah Child – maybe the same Childs’ family of Begelly House? This is the last place I have a record of her, marrying in Sardis Chapel and stated residence as above.
Anyway keep up the good work, I’ll keep popping in
Regards
Kevin
Thanks for your comments, Kevin.
Yes, you are right. Sarah Child was the widow of James Mark Child of Begelly House. She was his 4th and last wife.
Probably by the time this picture was taken, the house had disappeared under the spoil heap. I have a sketch of the house and old tower from the 1840s. If I can sort out the copyright, I’ll post a copy on here.
Jon
Hi Jon,
Thanks for the information,
Was Sarah Child the last occupant of the house, do you know when she died?
It may be a pointer to my Mary Belt mystery after her marriage, but I do suspect she moved to Trecelyn (Newbridge, Mon) as the man she married, John Davies widow, stated his residence was there on the marriage certificate. I have a theory about this John, being the real father of Mary’s illegitimate son James Belt (my GGrandfather) born 1876 but not registered on his birth certificate. I think he moved to the Newbridge area and after being widowed he came back to Pembrokeshire and reunited with Mary Belt and whisked her off back to Newbridge, a nice little story if it was true, if only I could find them after 1894.
Regards
Kevin
Kevin
Sarah Child: I should have noted on the previous comment that her first name was Sally. She wasn’t the last occupier. She moved out sometime around 1904 and died in Llandudno in north Wales in 1911.
Have you found John/Mary in the 1911 census?
Jon
Hi Jon,
Well I failed to make any connection in 1901 but I did a search on the 1911earlier this year and found a possible candidate for Mary but not John .. I didn’t pursue it further at the time because the Davies surname is so common, perhaps I’ll revisit and see what comes up.
At the moment I’m going through some extracts you sent me last year from the Narberth Weekly .. I may have some questions to ask you once I get my head around what I need to ask you, seems like this weekend I’m getting the FH itch again!
Kevin
Hi Jon,
Well I had a look at the 1911 and found what I believe to be a match, ages correct, married years correct, both born in Pembrokeshire. I think thats as close as I could get under the circumstances
I had a suspicion that this may have happened as she also had 2 sisters who had moved to that part of the world and a branch of the family was there as well. The added bonus is the daughter because this means I may have found a parallel descendant line from Mary Belt that no one in my family new existed.
Regards
Kevin
My 3xgreat grandfather John Powell Matthew Myers had a connection with Bonville Court Colliery. Always interested in learning more about both.
Ah the illusive Mr Myers!
We swapped emails about him several years back. I’ve found good information on various of his contemporaries in the coalfield but next to nothing about him. As you no doubt know he took out a lease with James Mark Child to work the seams under Child’s estate at Bonvilles Court in 1840 but there’s no clear evidence for when he gave up the operation. He seems to have traded well and his name became eponymous for the local quality anthracite coal.
Not much else to add unfortunately apart from some titbits.
Any thoughts you have will be most welcome.
Jon
Hi Jon
I am in the process of looking up my family tree and came upon your site in the process of looking for any information on the East Pembrokeshire coalfield. According to the 1841 census my great great great grandfather, named Lewis Phillips, lived in the village of St. Issels and his listed occupation is that of collier. I must admit I was rather suprised at this information as like most people I thought that all the major coalfields in South Wales were in the Rhondda valley. Lewis, who was 25 in 1841 came from Swansea originally and is listed as living in Hill Street, St. Issels and being married to Susan, a local woman hailing from St. Issels. One can only presume he moved to Pembrokeshire for the work and met his wife there. The couple went on to have four children and the eldest one, called Thomas is also listed on the 1861 census as living in 39 Mountain Park, Begelly with his wife Elizabeth and is also listed as a coal miner. Thomas’s daughter Anne is the mother of my Grandmother Florence Lewis who was born in Begelly in 1895 and lived at 30 Broom, Begelly in 1895. Her father George Lewis moved to Pembroke dock around about the turn of the century and worked at the royal Dockyard there. It seems Lewis Phillips was a collier all his life and died at St. Issels in 1878 aged 67, his wife Susan died shortly afterwards. Their last address at St. Issels was Balls Caith, which appears to be a cottage. I can only presume that they were both buried at St. Issels church. It would certainly be interesting if you could dig up any interesting tit-bits about the Phillips or the Lewis’s and it would certainly be interesting to know which coal mine Lewis and Thomas worked at.
Yours sincerely
Leslie Rutledge
Hello Leslie
Some thoughts on your Lewis/Susannah Phillips:
1. His parents could be Jeremiah Phillips and Mary (nee Bowen) married Begelly 1796. They had a daughter Jane born in Swansea (according to census returns) abt 1809. In an earlier post on this blog I mused that there is some evidence for a major depression in local mining in the 1809-11 period so it is possible that Jeremiah and family lived in Swansea at this point. They moved back to the St Issells area before 1815.
2. You are right that Lewis at least was buried at St Issells. He was bured in the burial board plot at the church (see my blog post on the burial board register) on 23/11/1878, the officiating minister being Rev J Thomas, a non-conformist of some denomination. I haven’t found a burial for Susannah so assume she was buried in one of the local chapels.
3. One of their sons, David, died in a pit accident at Bonvilles Court colliery on 14/11/1867. There are a couple of local newspaper reports about this. He too was buried at St Issells in the burial board plot on 17/11/1867 by Rev Pascoe, Primitive Methodist (PM) minister. This may be a pointer to his mother, Susannah, being buried at the yard at Kingsmoor PM Chapel, now mostly cleared of stones. This chapel is a few hundred yards north of where Lewis/Susannah lived.
4. No employment records have survived for the local mining companies. It appears that David was working at Bonvilles Court colliery, close to where his parents lived. Lewis may not have worked there as there were several other collieries in operation throughout this period which were close as well eg Moreton colliery.
Hope this is of interest
Jon
Hi Jon
thank you for your answer, sorry I have not replied sooner but now living up in London I’m a little bit away from home and have not had much time to look up anymore of this recently until last weekend when I visited the castle at Haverfordwest. I am certainly sorry to hear about David, it is something I will have a look at. The problem I have with Susan/Susannah is that she constantly changes her name so it becomes more difficult to put the pieces together. Although two ladies of the name Susannah Phillips died in that area about the same time that she died I do not have a perfect match between date of birth and date of death. I did find a Susannah Phillips who died in the Haverfordwest area and was a much better match but could that really be her? Last weekend I went through the parish records of St. Issels church for baptisms and found the combination of Lewis and Susan only once, which was for a couple living in Wooden in 1837 and the child was called Ann. The father was listed as a collier so that fits. On the 1841 census Lewis does not list any of his children of that name. Of course it is possible that the child may have died by then but why are there not records of the baptisms of his other children Thomas, Mary, John and David at St. Issels church. Also I could find no trace of Susan/Susannah having been baptized in St. Issels church although she gives that parish as her birthplace, of course I do not know her maiden name so that was a problem. I also found no trace of Lewis and Susan getting married in St. Issels church, I went back to 1832 when they were both about 14 years old but alsa no trace …. hmm I think there’s a lot of mileage in this one. I would certainly be grateful for anymore information on this part of my family.
yours sincerely … Leslie Rutledge
And apologies for my tardy response…
Not sure I have anything else to offer on the death of Susan/na Phillips. Did any of her children migrate to south Wales? Maybe their mother went with them.
There is a baptism for one of Lewis/Susanna’s children at Begelly church, Thomas 28/3/1834, Lewis shown as collier of Pentlepoir Wells, St Issells. Although of course the other children may not have been baptised at all, the link to the Primitive Methodists I mentioned on the previous reply may point us towards the children being baptised at Kingsmoor PM Chapel. The baptism register for this chapel only survives for 1844 onwards and the chapel was open before this. THis is conjecture of course.
I’d suggest that Susanna’s maiden name was Williams as there’s a marriage at St Issells 12/7/1833 between Lewis Phillips and Susan Williams, witnesses Thomas Prickett and John Thomas. There’s a baptism for a Susanna Williams at St issells 8/12/1812 to John and Hannah Williams.
Jon
Hello leslie, My relatives are also called Lewis Phillips, he was killed in a mining accident in the Danygraig drift Colliery, Swansea in 1884 aged just 27. Lewis’s parents were Thomas and Elizabeth Phillips, Elizabeth nee Adams, all from Begelly Elizabeths parents were James Adams and Anne Adams Nee Brace, she also had 2 brothers, John, 14 and James, 11 all info on these I found on the 1851 Census. I wonder if our two stories are linked? Kind Regards, Jo
Hello Josephine,
thank you for your reply … sorry I could not reply to your message sooner.
Reading what you have said it seems that we have a 100% match so my question is … who are you and how are you connected to my family. As I mentioned earlier my Grandmother is Florence Lewis, who’s father was George Lewis from Monkton. His wife was Ann, Anne or Annie Lewis (nee Phillips) from Begelly. Ann was the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Phillips and was the sister of Lewis Phillips. Ann must have been 13 when Lewis was killed (sorry to hear about that).
I did not know that Anne Adams maiden name was Brace so thank you for that …. you mentioned that they had two sons which I was aware of but I also have two daughters Jane and Elizabeth on the 1841 census and I presume that they had more children as their ages at Jane’s birth was given as 30 so it’s reasonable to assume that they had children earlier than the 1841 census. Jane married some fellow called Thomas (haven’t looked into that one yet) but on the 1861 census Jane and her daughter Ann are listed as living with their mother Ann Adams at 32 Bunkers Hill.
Interesting that the owner of the Thomas Chapel Colliery on the day of the flood disaster 6th June 1838 was called William Brace (any relation to Ann Brace). Four of the six men who died were called Henry Lewis, William Phillips, John Bowen and James Thomas .. all of those names are somehow connected to me in the Begelly area … wonder if any of those poor souls were my relations.
Anyway Josephine if you have anymore information or need anymore information on the Begelly branch please give me shout.
Yours sincerely …. Leslie Rutledge
Hey Jon,
Fantastic blog.
I have discovered that I had relatives in St Issels involved in the mining community courtesy of the 1851 census.
John Childs, his son Lewis and his daughter Sarah, all worked at the colliery. His eldest daughter Elizabeth “kept house”.
Are these the same Childs of Begelly House or is it just coincidental?
Would love to know….
Thank you so much
Debs
Hello Debs
Apologies for the delay in responding. Nope, there’s no link that I know of with the Child family of Begelly House. The surname “Child” was not uncommon in Pembrokeshire at the time.
I have a couple of snippets of info on your John Childs if you are interested.
Jon
That would be amazing! Its all very well doing Ancestry. com but it can be only the” bones” you get and not the” flesh” to pad out the form. Its wonderful to know more about our past and I would be delighted to know more from you. Thank you.
John Child was a member of the Tenby Union Society, a benefit society, joining on 17th May 1817. Little original material survives for these early societies in the county, this information coming from a list in the Quarter Sessions records held at the country record office at Haverfordwest (PQ/7/Epiphany/1846). It lists him as a collier born in 1794 and had by 1846 claimed no sick days, surely unusual for the normally poorly colliers of the time. A Thomas Child – his son? – is also listed as a member joining 15/12/1838; he is a collier, born 1818 with 2 sick days claimed for in 1841. There’s a good article about friendly and benefit societies in Pembrokeshire in the Journal of the Pembrokeshire Historical Society – this links to an on-line copy: http://welshjournals.llgc.org.uk/browse/viewpage/llgc-id:1165908/llgc-id:1167232/llgc-id:1167239/get650/friendly%20societies
In the St Issells tithe award of 1843, John Child is shown holding a cottage, garden and 3 acres of fields from the Hean Castle estate at Little Churchton. By the looks of it, his property was other side of the road from the church heading up to Hean Castle, close to where the modern extension to the cemetery is. Three acres is not much but provided him land to grow some spuds and keep a few cows (two?). Many of the local colliers held small-holdings such as these, a benefit in the frequent downturns in mining activity but the Hean Castle estate charged him £5 5s in 1846 for this benefit (Pemb RO D/PEH/2/21), a hefty sum.
Jon
Hi
I would be interested to get in touch with Joyce Phillips re. her ancestor (William Morris). William’s GP (William Morris and Ann Morris nee Evans) were my Gtx3 GP. In the mention of William living with GM and 2 Uncles (and a Gt Uncle), one of the Uncles was my Gtx2 GF, George Morris. In 1881, William and Matilda lived at 108 Vale Terrace Tredegar, and his Uncle George and family lived at No 111.
Also, the Josiah Bowen of Woodside (Sardis Mountain) mentioned in your 28 July 2010 blog was George Morris’s father-in-law.
In addition to Ann Morris nee Evans being a Gtx3 GM on my mother’s side, one of Ann’s brothers, Henry Evans, was a Gtx3 GF on my father’s side. All down to the mass exodus in the 1870s-80s from Pembrokeshire coalfield to the South Wales Coalfields.
Regards
Chris Davies
Chris
Apologies for the delay in responding. I saw a post from you on one of the bulletin boards about contacting Joyce. Have you been successful?
Josiah Bowen was great-uncle of my g-gfather, Richard Nash.
The mining community around Begelly and St Issells were close-knit so you’ll probably find you have interests in most of the families in the area.
Jon
Hi Jon
I have just spent an hour or more reading your blogs and the comments and have found it all extemely interesting and very informative.
My great grandmother Sarah Jane Davies was born in Wooden in 1884, although christened at her mother’s home parish of Jeffreyston. Her father, James Davies’s occupation was a coalminer at that time. He was born around 1859 in Begelly and at his marriage to Esther Hooper in 1880, he records his father as being Thomas Davies, although I have yet to find a birth certificate or baptism record to confirm that.
Many thanks for sharing your research, I shall keep reading.
Regards
Sandra
Good morning Sandra
Thanks for your kind comments.
Where was James Davies living when he married Esther?
Regards
Jon
Hi Jon
I haven’t got all my notes to hand, but I think both their addresses were just Jeffreyston – they married there in 1880. They were in Gumfreston in 1881 where James was a farm labourer. Their son John was born and baptised in Gumfreston in 1883. By 1884 when my g grandmother Sarah was born at Wooden, he was a coalminer – not sure why she was baptised at her mother’s parish of Jeffreyston, I had wondered if they had been living there but that Sarah had been born at a relative’s home in Wooden. James and Esther were in Redberth, where they later settled, for the birth of their son William in 1886 and Catherine Ann (Annie) in 1888.
Sandra
Sandra
I have sent you some thoughts to your email address.
Jon
Hi Jon,
I have only recently discovered your blog and find it fascinating. I have found reference to several of my ancestors in your various articles. One entry that just caught my eye is “They Don’t Make Them Like That Anymore…”. I thought, initially, that the John Thomas referred to was my great-great grandfather who lived at Temple Bar and was married to Elizabeth (Betsey) Craig, but some of the information confused me. I wonder if you can clear it up for me.
According to the censuses my ancestor John Thomas was born in about 1828 (i.e. would have been 80 in 1908) and was indeed an Under Manager of a Coal Mine in 1891. However the 1901 census shows him as a farmer working on his own account at home. If this is true he would not have had 62 years of unbroken service at Bonvilles Court in 1908. Do you think that the slight age discrepancy and the fact that my ancestor appears to have left mining by 1901 must mean that the newspaper article is about a different John Thomas?
Hope you can help.
Best regards,
Mike
Thanks for your post, Mike.
Your comment makes good sense. However, who else could it be? The 1891 census establishes a clear link between the JT (married to Elizabeth Craig) and the role as under-manager at BOnvilles Court Colliery (BCC). Moreover, the St Issells Burial Board Register records his occupation as ‘Underground Manager’, residence Temple Bar, aged 82 at the time of his burial 8/12/1909.
Although of course John Thomas is a common name in the area, there’s no other likely suspect I could find to whom this article could have referred.
As you can tell, I am dancing around your point about the ‘farmer’ entry in the 1901 census without answering it. The reason is because I can’t explain it. We know from the landowner’s rentals (held at the Pembrokeshire RO, ref HDX/197/186) that John Thomas of Temple Bar was paying £10 10s in rent for a cottage and land at Temple Bar although how much land this was is not clear. I would assume, based on £1 per acre that it was around a 10 acre small-holding, not enough to survive on for a living. The figures for the area was 30 acres minimum to be a full-time farmer. So, he had probably had a few cows and a bit of arable. In this context, the appelation “farmer” might seem erroneous to our eyes.
So, this reference to a farmer in the 1901 census could simply be an enumerator’s mistake.
Interestingly my original source for the newspaper article was a short comment in the Narberth Weekly (11/6/1908) which refers to there being a short article about him in he South Wales Daily News (SWDN) including a photograph. When I checked the copy of the SWDN held at the British Library Colindale there was indeed a short article but no photo. I wonder whether there were different editions of this paper and the one the Narberth Weekly referred to is not the same as the one I read at Colindale. If you can find a copy of the SWDN with a picture in it and if you too have a picture of him, then you’d be able to compare them to see if they tally.
Back to you…I am always willing to be proved wrong!
Jon
BTW…his gravestone at St Issells states that he died ‘through injuries received at Bonvilles Court Colliery’. I couldn’t find any proof that this was a mine accident so never added him to the GENUKI list of local pit deaths that you can link to from my blog page.
My Grand Father William George Beynon worked underground at Bonvilles Court Colliery. I have somewhere one of his pay dockets. My Father who passed away last November 2011 aged 82 worked at Stepaside incline colliery which was owned by Edgar Howells at the time. When Stepaside closed down my Father worked in Seven Sisters Colliery for a while before returning to Kilgetty,