Pontymister - Western Valleys Tavern

[Chris101]

Hi

Does anyone know what happened to the Western Valleys Tavern or Inn in Pontymister/Risca?

My great grandparents, David and Jane Eliza Davies, kept it for a few years in the early 1880s, and it appears in the 1891 and 1901 censuses; in the latter it is the next listing to the police station.

In looking at old Ordnance Survey maps, there is no P.H. located near the police station, and in looking at Google Earth StreetView, there does not appear to be any building looking like an old pub near the police station.

Regards
Chris101

[ozlady]

Have a look at www.crosskeys.me.uk  There might be someone there who can help you.

[Chris101]

Ozlady

Thanks for the info. I've posted the query on their message board.

Regards

Chris101

[steve100]

Perhaps Risca library might be of help, I think there were a few books written about Pontymister/Risca? Next door to the police station now, is a small area with a few benches, I think this sitting area is probaly where the pub stood.

[Chris101]

Steve100

Thanks for the suggestion - I think that I will have to resort to going to the local library to answer the question.

I have looked at the 1883 and 1901 (scale 1:2500) Ordnance Survey maps for the area. Although the police station and a building on the opposite corner of Station Road (in the sitting area) are on the 1901 map, they are not there in the 1883 map. Yet, the pub is listed in the 1881 (plus 1891 and 1901) census.

Regards
Chris101

[GerryP]

I have been told by a couple of people of good authority, that the public house that was at the bottom of Station Road, Risca. (on the left) was the 'Globe'. Apparently it was once the 'headquarters' of Risca RFC. It is now a private house.

Regards, Gerry

[Chris101]

Hi GerryP

Thanks for the information – I think that you have solved my query. Following your reply, I did an Address Search in the 1911 census, and what was listed as the “Western Valleys Tavern” in the 1881, 1891, and 1901 censuses is listed as the “Globe Inn” in the 1911 census.

In looking though old 1:2,500 Ordnance Survey maps on the “Old Maps” website, and Google Earth, the pub must have been the (still-standing) first building on the right going up Station Road from Commercial Street. In the 1883 1:2,500 map, there is nothing on the Police Station site and nothing on the other corner; however, the pub is listed in the 1881 census, therefore, it must have been this first building on the right, which is shown on the 1883 map, and which is significantly larger than adjacent houses.

Regards
Chris

[GerryP]

Hi Chris,

I don't want to put a fly in the ointment, but I was in Newport Reference Library on Monday and took a quick look at the registers of electors for Risca. In 1889 and 1894 the two premises are listed and the same names are in both; Frederick Blake in 'The Globe', and William Purnell at the 'Western Valley Inn'!
So it appears that they were different premises. The pity is that it doesn't give a street location.
I have a 1901 map of Risca, and it does show a building on the site which is now a memorial garden. Perhaps you were right first time!
It may be worth your while looking at earlier issues of the Electoral Registers,and probably come accross the names of your family in the 1880's.

Gerry

[Chris101]

Hi Gerry
Your last posting prompted me to do what I should have done in the first place – look through the image files of the old censuses, street by street, on “ancestry.co.uk”. As it happens, I was suckered by the 1901 census listing sequence (Police Station, Western Valleys Inn, Station Road [2 entries], Station House, Glen House, Moriah Chapel), and looking in the wrong location.
 
In the 1881 census, the WVI entry follows a set of properties in Dixons Row, which includes the Prince of Wales Inn (present Dixon’s Place?), and in the 1891 census, the sequence is Station House, Station Cottage (2 entries), WVI, British Row (1 entry), and Prospect Cottages (16 properties). Old OS maps indicate that Prospect Row (Prospect Cottages?) is now called Mount Pleasant Road. Also, the 1883 (1:2,500) OS map shows that the original Moriah Chapel was alongside the canal, so possibly there was a police station there before the one built on the main road. Therefore, it would appear that the WVI was located somewhere in the vicinity of the bottom of Moriah Hill, near the site of the original Risca railway station. The current OS map and Google Earth images would seem to indicate that the WVI is long gone.

Regards
Chris