Rhiwbina Living

Church records for births, weddings
and deaths). Who were their
children? Perhaps we’ll never know.
The Census returns begin to help.
Who was Rachel Lewis of the Mill
and Tir Pudur Farm? What’s her
story? And what about George
Lewis who owned the narrow strip
of land which later became The
Butchers Arms; does anybody
know?
During the summer months, the
fields would be heavy with crops,
and by harvest time, the labourers
would be hard at work in the fields.
Corn stooks scythed by hand and
then gathered into haystacks,
and then the haywains and heavy
horses.
Meals were probably shared in the
fields, with much singing, dancing
and games. I wonder what the
songs and poems were? This must
have been a fantastic time, but all
lost now!
Within the Tithe Map of 1841, the
landowners and tenants were all
listed; even the names of farm fields
were noted, giving clues as to how
they were used. As Rhiwbina was
predominantly Welsh-speaking
back then, many of the farms and
fields had Welsh names. These
include Deri (known then as Tir
Pudur), Pentwyn (now Whitchurch
Golf Club House), Ty’n-y Cae, Ty’ny-Parc,
Glannant (now a Toby Inn),
Greenhill, Graig, and a tiny farm
alongside the old woollen mills
named Cwmgwynlas. There were
probably more; Rhiwbina Farm was
probably the oldest, dating from
before the conquest!
Eventually, roads were constructed, as seen here on Manor Way
One tenth of the harvest was
gathered into the parish tithe barn in
part payment of rent. Our tithe barn
was located on the Merthyr Road
just south of the Hollybush pub;
the biggest building in the parish.
It must have been really ancient,
with stone walls and a thatched
roof. The sketch gives a flavour of
how it might have looked at harvest
time. It’s not there anymore as the
thatch caught fire in February 1900,
and the whole thing was destroyed.
Another of our lost buildings!
It wasn’t long after this idyllic
pastoral scene that everything
seemed to change. The roads
improved, the railway arrived,
and the Victorian era stamped its
presence.
history
Farm practices changed with
mechanisation; fewer farm
labourers were needed. But over
the following decades, Rhiwbina
expanded, with houses and schools
built. Buses, cars, and bicycles
became common and shops and
chapels popped up. There are
hardly any fields left now.
What a change in just 200 years.
The population of Rhiwbina now
exceeds 11,000, with 28% listed
as ‘professional’. And how many
agricultural? Precisely 0%.
Yes, what a change! But we still
have our midsummers.
Nigel Lewis is a member of AWEN@
thelibrary (awen.cymru@gmail.com)
Rhiwbina was very much a rural place for a long time
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