Carneddau

Frozen in time, the daily paraphernalia and records of a smithy stretching back to the 1700s and 1800s and stories and snippets of blacksmiths of the area.

 

As disclosed by the census returns, the smithy at Carneddau became a family concern over the generations.

In 1841 John Jones (33) was the blacksmith at Carneddau Smithy with his wife Alice (35), formerly Williams, and children Jane (7), John (3) and Alice (1). On 1 May, 1846, they had a daughter, Mary, at Carneddau. Mary

In 1851 John, noted as having been born in Llanrwst, was 45 and his wife Alice was recorded as being 39 and born in Llanllechid, Caernarvonshire. Their children were born in Llanrwst; John was 13, Alice 11 and twins Margaret and Catherine were 8 years old. It is thought that John senior died in 1858; this is subject to confirmation.

Another family was recorded as living at Carneddau, that of Joseph Thomas, 36, of Llanrwst. His wife Margaret, 36, was said in this census to have been born in Llandegai (in the next, she was said to come from Capel Curig). Their locally born sons were Robert, 3, and baby Joseph, aged 1 month. Ian Harker of Trefriw, aged 14, worked for them as a house servant.

The third family recorded as living at Carneddau in 1851 was David Davies, a 48 year old cooper from Llanrwst. His wife Ellinor was 25, and had been born in Ysbyty Ifan. The children Hugh, 2, Catherine, 1, and Grand-daughter Margaret Roberts, 12, who was in service with them, were all Llanrwst born.

In 1861 Joseph Thomas and his family are recorded as living at Carneddau. Joseph was 46, a joiner and farmer of 16 acres. His wife, Margaret, was 45 and born in Capel Curig. Their children, like Joseph, were Llanrwst born - Robert, 13, Sarah, 8, and Joseph 4. Their 39 year old dairymaid, Jane Roberts, was also Llanrwst born.

 

There were othe families in the area in 1861 with smithy connections. At Hen Efail (Old Smithy) lived William Jones, 36 year old labourer from Llangernyw, with his wife Ellen aged 34, from Trefriw. Their children were Alice, 16, Ellin, 8, Mary, 6, Jane, 4, and Elizabeth, 2.

Edward Edwards, 23, from Yspytty Ifan, was also a smith, and lived at Ty Canol. His wife was Catherine, 30, from Llanrwst, as were the rest of the household, daughter Margaret, aged 2, house servant Ann Roberts, 16, and visiting 11 year old Elizabeth Jones, a scholar.

Another Blacksmith lived at Hen Siamber (Old Chamber), Henry Jones, 30, of Trefriw. He had married a Gwytherin girl, and had obviously lived there until recently, as his wife Elizabeth, 21, and children David, 4, and John, 1, were all Gwytherin born.

In 1871 John Jones, 29, Blacksmith was likely the above John born in Llanrwst and now married to Sarah Hughes, 28, of Llanrwst; their son, David Hugh Jones aged 10 months, had been born 14 June 1870. Also living there was William Jones, a bachelor and apprentice Blacksmith aged 17 from Llanrwst. Also present on census night was David Davies of Llanrwst, an unmarried 22 year old agricultural worker who was visiting.

In 1871 the Mary born in Carneddau in 1846 to John and Alice was married to John Williams and living at 5 Evans Court, Llanbeblig, in the household of Owen Jones and his wife Mary, both aged 40.

In 1881: John Jones was 38, wife Sarah 37, David Hugh was 10, daughter Margaret Ellin was 2 years old, and their current servant was Willliam Jones of Llanrwst, aged 19, a blacksmith.

Also living at Carneddau was auctioneer and farmer robert Jones, 70, of Llanrwst and his wife Mry, 65, of Chirk. Ann Jones of Bethesda worked for them in the house.

In nearby Poethfoel widow Jane Hughes' married daughter Mary, 23, was described as a Blacksmith's wife - might she have married William Jones their previous apprentice? And might Sarah herself be another of Jane's daughters?

Blacksmith Richard Davies, 71, from Pentrevoelas, and his wife Jane, 68, from Eidda, Caernarvon, lived at Tainewyddion.

From Neston in Cheshire via Bangor to Talybont came recent arrival, blacksmith Thomas Evans,30. His wife, Jane, 26, came from Bangor and their children were born there, George A, 4, and Annie, one year old.

In 1891 Sarah Jones was now widowed and, aged 47, was described as the owner of the Smith Shop. Her daughter Margaret Ellin was now 12 and at school. Her son David Hugh was 21 and working as the blacksmith; he was now married to 21 year old Mary of Llanrwst. All were Welsh speaking. David had married Mary Davies of Fedw 27 December 1890; their witnesses were Richard Elwyn Wood and Sarah Davies. Richard Elwyn may have been one of the descendants of the Wood family of Voelas Lodge; though Gamekeeper Robert Wood was originally from Yorkshire, he and his wife had lived in Pentrefoelas for many years.

Sad to say, David was widowed by the time of the next census in 1901. Mary and David had brought five children into the world in the previous nine years, Sarah, 9, Margaret, 7, John, 5, Ceridwen, 4, and little Emily, aged 2. At this time he employed a young man from Nevin as a smith, 19 year old William Davies.

Other blacksmiths in the area at this time were William Thomas, 32, of Coed Mawr, and Evan Jones, 24, of Corniech.

"My great grandfather set up the smithy," says the present owner, "which could take us back to about 1787 or even further."

The original blacksmith's was on the site of the Cyffdy lodge. Evidence has been found which demonstrates this claim to be fact.

The then squire of Cyffdy used to have his coachman take him and his wife to Llanrwst once a week. One day he came back early and found his prized stallion, which had been taken in for shoeing, mounting a mare.

"That's it!" said the squire. "Take your smithy off my land! I am going to build a lodge on that plot!"

The old blacksmith devised a plan of action. He consulted a friend who had the field opposite and, the next time the squire went in to town, hammered some stakes in the ground, and roped off an area of land opposite the old smithy.

The squire returned and saw the roped off area.

"What are you up to?" he demanded.

"I have bought this land and I am going to build a new smithy," said the blacksmith.

"Over my dead body!" said the squire. "You can have the cottage at the back."

And that cottage is the site of the present smithy.

Here is a story preserved and told down until today in Melin y Coed.

It's about the anvil and Y Cipar, William Evans of Fronwen, as told by Arthur Jones to Trevor Morris:

William Evans, Fronwen, called in one day at the Carneddau smithy. He was great friends with the blacksmith there.

It so happened that another customer present that day was reputed to be the strongest man in Pentrefoelas (at the southern end of the Conway Valley). This man spoke to William Evans.

"I hear you're quite a strong man, William Evans," he said. "Can you do this?"

He picked up the small anvil, and carried it round the house.

"Well, let's see," said William Evans. He picked up the anvil in his turn and carried it around the house twice.

"Well, can you do this, then?" asked the strong man of Pentrefoelas, and he picked up the big anvil, and carried it round the buildings.

"Let's see," said William Evans. He picked up the big anvil, and carried it around the buildings twice.

The strong man of Pentrefoelas left Carneddau "like a dog with its tail between its legs," the story goes.

"Gei di ddim trafferth efo hwna eto," said Williams Evans to the blacksmith. "You won't get any trouble from that one again."

And that's the sort of competition the men had among themselves in those days, as to who was the strongest.

Another famous local Blacksmith:

Author Donald Shaw, in his "The A-Z of Betws-y-Coed"(Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, Llanrwst), tells a nice little story about Robert Wynn, who had fallen and broken his favourite sword while searching for Dafydd ap Siencyn's cave on Carreg Gwalch above Gwydir Castle, home of the Wynns. He'd had this sword with him in service under William III and the first Duke of Marlborough, and was pretty upset at the damage. He was directed to the workshop of blacksmith Maurice ab Hugh, who was able to repair broken items in such a way as to make the join invisible. He performed his secret process on the sword, and in gratitude Captain Wynn, besides paying him well, had a stone placed on his grave: "Here lyeth the body of the late ingenious Maurice ab Hugh, who was buried the 24th day of October, 1735, aged 66".

There was plenty of work for blacksmiths in the era of horse drawn carriages. J Aelwyn Roberts relates that Cernioge, a beautiful farmhouse on the A5 road between Pentrefoelas and Cerrig y Drudion, was once one of the main stagecoach stopping places between London and Holyhead. Horses were changed every seven miles, but the farriers who changed the horses were so quick the stop only took a few minutes, and often travellers wouldn't even bother to alight from the coach to stretch their legs. At Cernioge, however, a staff of farriers would examine the horses and blacksmiths and wheelwrights would carry out coach repairs. Everyone went in the house, then almost three times as large as it is now, to eat and drink and possibly visit the four-holed privy in the grounds. Young Queen Victoria came to Cernioge on her way from Wynnstay to Beaumaris and drank tea in one of its sitting rooms, a fact recorded by a plaque on the wall.