TRELEWIS means Lewis’s Town. This place name commemorated
William Lewis of Bontnewydd, the farm on which TreLewis was built.
There is a tablet in the
parish church at Gelligaer in memory of William Lewis, founder of
Trelewis. Today
Trelewis is a small
village
in the
Taff Bargoed
Valley and is now part of the
Merthyr Tydfil
County Borough Council area; although, together with
nearby
Bedlinog,
it was until 1974 part of the
Gelligaer Urban
District Council area of the county of
Glamorgan.
The Bontnewydd Hotel dates from 1886 and
took its name from the original name of the district, Bontnewydd,
meaning 'new bridge'. Maen Gilfach, meaning ‘the Stoney Retreat’.
This district is popularly known as ‘Stormtown’ owing to its
location on an exposed hillside. It was planned and built in the
1930s as a ‘Garden Village’ development. The Ffaldcaiach Inn,
Trelewis is named after an ancient Animal Pound in the direction of
the river Caiach. The river Caiach formed part of a boundary within
the Lordship of Senghenydd in Norman times
Like Treharris, Trelewis developed in the late
19th century as a small community of mining families who depended on
the winning of coal. The most important communication link was
always to the source of employment, at the neighbouring Deep
Navigation Colliery from the 1870s. Improved transport links, in
terms of the roads and bridges, were encouraged by the opening of
the new collieries at Taff Merthyr in 1926 and Trelewis Drift in
1954. Taff Merthyr was the largest and deepest coal mines in this
Borough and is noted for the ‘Company Union’ and the ‘stay down
‘strikes of the 1930s. In the 1930s
Taff Merthyr coal miners sang the ‘ Red Flag’ before going
underground. The conflict between the ‘Company Union’ and the ‘Fed’,
reached its height in the Taff Merthyr Colliery when stay-down
miners ( SWMF ) took over this citadel of the SWMIU. When the Taff
Merthyr protestors were released from prison they were welcomed home
with banners which said ‘you have suffered for a cause and we are
proud of you’. Taff Merthyr and the Trelewis Drift both broke
many records and achieved outstanding success in the South Wales
Coalfield but this did not save them from closure in the early
1990s.
The Trelewis War Memorial was dedicated in May
1925 and had the names of the 45 men who the village who died in the
Great War and also 13 names from the Second World War. In February
2002 thanks to the efforts of local people, Shirley Bufton and
others, it was restored and moved to a safer location to avoid
vandalism. Today this impressive statue of a soldier stands on the
Ffald by the B4255 Nelson to Bedlinog Road. The moving of the
statue reflects the fact that there is a thriving community spirit
here. The population of Trelewis is 2,029
with 792 households; it has just 2 grocery shops, 2 pubs and 1 post
office. Parc Taf Bargoed a beautiful 54 hectare community park is
situated on the site of the former collieries and within its grounds
sits the Welsh International Climbing Centre. The Trelewis Junior
and Primary School celebrated its centenary in 1978 and was replaced
by a new school building in 1984. There is a modern active community
centre. There are a number of religious buildings here, St Mary’s
Church, Church in Wales founded in 1886, Ebenezer Chapel, 1889,
Welsh Independent, Trinity 1908, English Baptist and Taff Merthyr
Garden Village, 1936, Methodist. The
Trelewis Welfare
FC play in the village, and as of 2007-08 season, they
compete in the
South Wales
Amateur League (Second Division). Trelewis also has a
park and an outdoor bowls club, Trelewis Welfare Outdoor Bowls which
was founded in 1932. Trelewis is a ‘classic’ coal mining community
which has a history and traditions to be proud of.
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