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Family History Beginners Board / Re: aber house Nantymoel .( Llandyfodwg)
« on: Tuesday 07 May 19 16:46 BST (UK) »
Hello Pamela 7416,
I'm afraid I can't spool back to the occupants of Aber House, Ogmore Vale as long ago as 1878/79. I can however, confirm that you're correct in saying that Aber House was a Colliery Manager's residence. My grandfather Thomas Williams (and his wife and four children) lived in Aber House in the 1930's and 1940's. The youngest of those four children was my father Alun Williams who had many memories of living (first at Clyddach Court) and growing up in Aber House, including hurtling down the steep drive on his "Fairy cycle" and/or "Gambo" and colliding with the gates at the bottom of the drive. Those same gates were taken off their hinges almost every Christmas morning by raucous (and probably inebriated- despite the Temperance Movement!) miners before waking the household with a rousing chorus of "Christians Awake".
Both my grandfather and grandmother were fervent Welsh speakers (and both were Gorsedd Bards) and when my father was growing up if he asked for anything in English, he was roundly ignored! There was a major age gap between my father's eldest sister (who actually taught him at school!). The next eldest sister subsequently married the Welsh poet, novelist and twice-Chaired bard T. Rowland Hughes.
I'm sorry not to have been able to answer the 1878/79 occupancy conundrum but thought some family recollections of Aber House might not go amiss. I'm never sure whether the correct address is Ogmore Vale or Nantymoel (main claim to fame is that the Nantymoel fire-station burnt down!) but Aber House still proudly stands under the towering mass of the Bwlch.
Best wishes,
Chairperson
I'm afraid I can't spool back to the occupants of Aber House, Ogmore Vale as long ago as 1878/79. I can however, confirm that you're correct in saying that Aber House was a Colliery Manager's residence. My grandfather Thomas Williams (and his wife and four children) lived in Aber House in the 1930's and 1940's. The youngest of those four children was my father Alun Williams who had many memories of living (first at Clyddach Court) and growing up in Aber House, including hurtling down the steep drive on his "Fairy cycle" and/or "Gambo" and colliding with the gates at the bottom of the drive. Those same gates were taken off their hinges almost every Christmas morning by raucous (and probably inebriated- despite the Temperance Movement!) miners before waking the household with a rousing chorus of "Christians Awake".
Both my grandfather and grandmother were fervent Welsh speakers (and both were Gorsedd Bards) and when my father was growing up if he asked for anything in English, he was roundly ignored! There was a major age gap between my father's eldest sister (who actually taught him at school!). The next eldest sister subsequently married the Welsh poet, novelist and twice-Chaired bard T. Rowland Hughes.
I'm sorry not to have been able to answer the 1878/79 occupancy conundrum but thought some family recollections of Aber House might not go amiss. I'm never sure whether the correct address is Ogmore Vale or Nantymoel (main claim to fame is that the Nantymoel fire-station burnt down!) but Aber House still proudly stands under the towering mass of the Bwlch.
Best wishes,
Chairperson