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.