Background:
Imagine waking up on a Sunday morning and realising you had to walk over 6 miles, over the nearly 2000 foot Craig y Llyn mountain through bogs and marshes, to be able to worship at your local Parish church. Blaengwrach was at this time in the parish of Glyncorrwg and as there was no church nearer they needed to travel to St John the Baptist church in Glyncorrwg to worship.
This is what faced the small population of the hamlet of Blaengwrach back in the 16th century, as it was a legal requirement brought about by the “Act of Uniformity” passed by government in 1559. Failing to do so would lead to a fine of 12 pence, which was a lot of money in those day’s. (About £14 in today’s (2021) money, and about a day’s wages for a skilled tradesman in 1560)
To walk from Blaengwrach, which lies at around 200 ft above sea level to Glyncorrwg you would need to ascend a further 1,1512 feet to the top of Craig y Llyn, then descend 1,135 feet to arrive at Glyncorrwg. (See graph below.)
They would have needed to either walk or travel by horse to their local Parish church, the ancient St. John the Baptist church in Glyncorrwg, to be able to worship on a Sunday. This church can be traced back in written records to the 16th Century with architectural evidence going back to the 13th Century chancel arch which now unfortunately has been demolished. Some are of the opinion that the foundation of this church goes back even further than this to the “Age of the Saints” in the 5th and 6th century. (But this is unproven at the moment)
It was not until the Chapel of Ease, a Perpetual Curacy, was built circa 1595 – 1600 in Blaengwrach, that the people of Blaengwarch could worship closer to home. Prior to this they had to travel to Glyncorrwg to worship. The building of Y Capel Bach (the Little Chapel) as it was known, was brought about by a request from George Williams, part of the Williams family of Aberpergym, who had bought Clun y Bont, and had realised the long walk necessary to get to Glyncorrwg to worship.
He petitioned the Bishop of Llandaff to build Y Capel Bach by way of a Cywydd written by the famous bard Sion Mowddwy. (The Cywydd took the form of a begging poem, the only cywydd ever written begging for a church to be built), emphasising the fact in the cywydd that St John the Baptist church in Glyncorrwg was too far away and too difficult a journey to get to. The result of the building of Y Capel Bach meant that instead of the people of Blaengwrach having to travel to Glyncorrwg to worship, the Priest would now come to Blaengwrach to carry out services at Y Capel Bach.
A short history of the roads of the day:
It is quite clear that for centuries, even back to Roman times and probably longer, that tracks on the top of the mountains would have been used by the people of the valley’s as their main thoroughfares. They would have had to have kept to the high ground, as the valley floor would have been impenetrable and even robber infested.
At this time the valley floor was full of bog’s and marshes, it was prone to flooding from the river and the steams flowing down from the mountains, and on top of that, the valley floor and lower slopes of the valley were heavily wooded and full of brambles and gorse bushes. (The story goes that a squirrel could have traveled between Neath and Pontneddfechan without touching the valley floor).
The population of the valley’s at this time would have beens very sparse with only a few farm houses in the area, if the farmers needed to buy or sell anything they would have had to travel by these ancient mountain tracks to either Neath or Merthyr. The ancient track on top of Craig y Llyn is called Cefn Ffordd (Back Way), it can be traced back in written records to the 12th century. But, as there are two Roman marching camps between Resolven and Neath adjacent to the track it probably existed even then, or maybe earlier.
Ffordd y Ffeiriad:
The track called Ffordd y Ffeiriad (The Way or Route of the Priest) would have been attributed to this track after the building of Y Capel Bach in circa 1600. The priests from St. John the Baptist church in Glyncorrwg would have used the track to travel to Y Capel Bach in Blaengwrach to carry out services there.
There is no reference on any map to the name Ffordd y Ffeiriad, and there are no written descriptions of the actual route of the track. The track was used for about 250 years from 1600 up until 1850 when the Parish boundaries changed and Blaengwrach and Resolven parishes were joined together religiously, which made sense from a geographical point of view. After that date the Vicars and Curates of Glyncorrwg were not responsible for Y Capel Bach and therefore didn’t need to make the hazardous journey to Blaengwrach.
Therefore after 1850 the track gradually fell into disuse and was only used for local purposes. It was further compromised early in the 19th century, by the increased use of the new Turnpike road on the valley floor, the planting of forestry trees between the villages, and the reduced access caused by the collieries and opencast above Blaengwrach,. These changes eventually led to the track becoming less and less used and over time and eventually being erased from people memories.
The investigation:
Apart for a small mention of the track in D. Rhys Philips book, the History of the Vale of Neath, on page 322 on the 1994 facsimile edition of the book, there is not much information available to be able to trace the route of Ffordd Y Ffeiriad. So with little clues to go on I began to research the possible route of this trackway.
There are some small clues in the Cywydd written by the Welsh Poet Sion Mowddwy, at the request of George Williams, and delivered to the Bishop of Llandaff. There is mention in the poem of a “fragrant valley” and also mention of “bogs and marches”. From the description it is easy to identify the bogs and marshes between the valley’s, but a bit more difficult to identify exactly where this fragrant valley was.
With regard to the mention in the Cywydd regarding a fragrant valley, the cutting below references the “aromatic air” of the Rhondda valley.
I think we can assume that the Neath valley, which is only the other side of Craig y Llyn from the Rhondda valley, would have been exactly the same, with wild flowers and mountain plants in abundance on the slopes of Graig y Llyn above Blaengwrach, leading to a what was referred to in the Cywydd as a “fragrant valley”.
Evidence from Ordnance Survey and Tithe Maps:
A detailed look at old Ordnance Survey (OS) maps and including the Tithe maps of 1846 / 47 unearthed some clues. On the OS map NLS 1888 – 1913 there is a point on the top of Craig y Llyn, where is crosses the ancient mountain track from Neath to Merthyr called Cefn Ffordd ( Back way ), there is pile of stones called Carn yr Offeiriad. This looks like it was a way marker for the Priests who used the route between Glyncorrwg and Blaengwrach.
There is a drawing of St John the Baptist church from which it clearly shows in the mountain background a view of this track, in my view, a deliberate nod by the artist, to the use of this track by the priests of the mother church to travel to Blaengwrach.
Evidence from Tithe Maps:
Looking at the Tithe maps (1847) for Glyncorrwg it is clear that there is only one path leading from Glyncorrwg to the top of Craig y Llyn that went in the direction of Blaengwrach, (see left hand screenshot below).
Also, on the Glyncorrwg Tithe map, when it comes to the boundary of the the village it delineates a track leading to Blaengwrach.
The opposite is shown on the Blaengwrach Tithe map right hand screen shot), the Parish road goes past St, Mary’s church and up towards Graig y Llyn. When it gets to the Celar farm it turns right towards Blaengwrach farm, it then crosses a tributary of the Gwrach brook by means of a ford to the South of the farm. When it reaches the edge of the hamlet of Blaengwrach the Tithe map delineates a track heading from Glyncorrwg.
On the Blaengwrach Tithe map I have shown in blue, the tracks which connect all the farms in this area. You can see from the map all the smaller tracks also connect to the larger track shown in red. This would indicate to me that as all the other tracks led to the red track that this red track was the main thoroughfare.
This is the road everyone would have used to get to the top of Craig y Llyn where they would have found the mountain road Cefn Ffordd which went between Neath and Merthyr. The area in question was not very populated at the time and if they wanted to buy anything they would have needed to either go to Neath or travel to Merthyr to buy or sell anything they needed. (By all accounts it was a busy track which only stopped being used when the turnpike road was built on the valley floor.)
Glyncorrwg Parish Tithe Map of 1847, Blaengwrach Parish Tithe Map of 1846.
My Conclusion:
Both the Glyncorrwg and Blaengwrach tracks meet quite close together, at the Carn y Offeirad on the Cefn Ffordd mountain track.
Both the Glyncorrwg track and the Blaengwrach track to Cefn Ffordd are ancient tracks that would have been used by the the people of Blaengwrach and Glyncorrwg hamlets to access Cefn Ffordd, which as I have mentioned previously was the main road of it’s day to get to Neath or Merthyr.
One I had put the two tracks together I thought that this was the most probable route of Ffordd y Ffeiriad.
I was then lucky enough to come across the Ordnance Survey First Series map of 1833, sheet 36, which showed the whole of the route, so confirming my thoughts.
I hope one day to walk this route while I am still able, and maybe we can get the relevant authorities to recognise the name Ffordd y Ffeiriad and have it added to the the maps, and to get the track properly signposted as well.
Then, wouldn’t it be a great idea to have an annual walk between St Mary’s church and St John the Baptist church to commemorate the history of both churches and the Glyncorrwg Priests and people from Blaengwrach who would have travelled over Craig y Llyn on this track called Ffordd y Ffeiriad.
References and Resources:
The History of the Vale of Neath – D Rhys Philips p. 332.
Through Cloud and Sunshine – Roger Lee Brown ~ ISBN 0 907117 14 7 (paperback)
https://www.nls.uk ~ Ordnance Survey Map NLS 1888 – 1913
A Vision of Britain through time ~ Ordnance Survey First Series 1833 sheet 36.
https://www.library.wales ~ Tithe maps for Glycorrwg 1847 and Blaengwrach 1846.