Maerdy

A notebook written by Eos Davies a precentor of Siloa Welsh Congregational Church in Maerdy, in the early years of the twentieth century, gives us an excellent insight into the early years of Maerdy as it evolved into a thriving mining township. He explains that Maerdy derived its name from the large farmhouse situated there on the banks of the River Fechan. It was at this farmhouse that neighbouring farmers and shepherds would meet to transact business and attend court for the district. This farmhouse was therefore called the stewards' or mayors' house or Maerdy in welsh. It was at this house that the first recorded religious services were held in 1877, a joint service of the Calvinistic Methodists and Congregationalists. Some indication of the size of this farmhouse can be gleaned from the fact the service was held in the parlour of the house, a space capable of holding sixty worshippers.

In 1874 Mordecai Jones of Brecon and Nantmelyn purchased the farmhouse and lands with the intention of sinking a pit and constructing a railway to link up with the Taff Vale Railway, and in December 1876 the Abergorky vein of coal was struck in the pits' no.1 shaft. The output from this vein was one hundred tons a day, and Maerdy soon became what Eos Davies described as an 'Eldorado'. Subsequently the mines were leased to Locket's Merthyr Company and the pits' output increased from nearly 30,000 tons in 1879 to over 160,000 tons by 1884. In 1877 Maerdy consisted of the farmhouse, a few huts for the workers at the mine and just 48 houses.

By 1880 the influx of workers to the area and their families led to the Rhondda School Board deciding that Maerdy needed its own school. The Maerdy mixed day school was subsequently opened in that year. The opening ceremony for which included a two hundred strong children's choir and tea and cake for all the children, provided by Mr. William Thomas general director of the colliery. To cater for the leisure needs of the workers a coffee tavern and reading room was opened in 1881. Later in 1905 the Maerdy Workmen's Institute was built on the same ground that the Tavern had stood on. This Institute was to play a central role in the cultural and leisure life of the community of Maerdy for many decades. A list taken from the Committee Minutes of the Institute, of the organisations that used the Hall between 1918 and 1922, gives us an insight into the role the hall played in Maerdy society and also into the array of clubs and societies that existed in the area at that time. The site was a gift from the landlords of the Maerdy estate to the workmen of the Maerdy collieries, and the entire Institute cost £9,000 to build and furnish. The building was on three floors and consisted of, in the basement a lesser hall, billiards room and offices. On the first floor cloakroom, ladies reading room, men's reading room, library, refreshment room, and offices, and on the upper floor a large hall capable of holding 1,000 people. This original building subsequently burned down in 1922 killing its then treasurer Mr. John Jones whose body was found in the caretakers' cottage adjoining the main building. A little over two years later in 1925 the Institute was reopened, the local miners having raised £20,000 for it's rebuilding.

Thus from its beginnings as a tiny rural hamlet Maerdy, by 1909 had become a thriving mining community of 880 houses, and a population exceeding six and a half thousand. It had its own school, chapels and a wealth of social and cultural societies catering to the needs of a busy industrial township.