Crumlin

(A description written in 1891)

A Village in two Parishes, viz. Llanhilleth and Mynyddislwyn, in the southern division of the county; 166 miles from London, 5 west from Pontypool, 10 north-east from Caerphilly and 12 miles north from Newport. Pontypool Petty Sessional division and County Court district.

It has two railway stations, one called the High Level, on the Pontypool to Swansea road, and the other the Low Level, on the Western Valleys section of the Great Western railway. Before the introduction of the railways, Crumlin was a secluded village, scarcely known to any beyond the few persons resident there: it occupies one of the most picturesque spots in the county and is surrounded by natural features of unsurpassed loveliness: the name is said to be derived from Cromlech, a designation given to Druidical monuments.

The Village stands in what is termed the South Wales Coal Basin, and in the neighbouring quarries are often found fern fossils of calamites and lepidodendrons; and, in the shale, fossil ferns and other cryptogamic plants.

Crumlin Hall, an elegant mansion in the immediate neighbourhood, in the Swiss style, designed by Owen Jones Esq. is the property of of Philip Samuel Philips Esq. and is leased to William Edgar Williams Esq., the present occupier.

Close to the Village stands the stupendous Crumlin Viaduct, a remarkable monument of ingenuity and skill, which has attracted many thousands of visitors from all parts of the world: it stretches across a mountain gorge upwards of 230 feet deep, connecting two mountain tops together by means of a structure of singular grace and elegance: the length of iron work is 1,500 feet, and including the abutments of masonry 1,658 feet; the height is 200 feet or from the top of the handrail to the underside of the foundation, 208 feet: 2,500 tons of iron were used in its construction; the cost being £62,000, and its construction occupied between three and four years. The Western Valleys branch of the Great Western railway intersects the West Midland line here; the former runs from Newport through the valley traversed by the river Ebbw, to the great iron works of Blaina, Nant-y-Glo and Ebbw Vale, all lying about 7 or 8 miles north from Crumlin; the other railway, in which the connecting link between Swansea, Aberdare and Pontypool road, to Chester and Liverpool and the north, originally known as the Taff Vale extension of the Newport, Abergavenny & Hereford railway, but is now as the West Midland (Newport section), is also worked by the Great Western Railway Company.

Here is a Wesleyan Chapel

Post, M.O. & T.O., S.B. & Annuity & Insurance Office (Railway Sub-Office. Letters should have R.S.O. Mon. added) Thomas Pugh, receiver. Letters arrive from Newport at 5.50 a.m; North mail, 9.32 a.m; & dispatched, North mail, 2 p.m; London and all parts 1.30 & 8.10 p.m.

Schools:

Board School (mixed & infants), under the Mynyddislwyn School Board, built in 1885, for 280 children; average attendance, 140 boys & girls & 100 infants; Walter Jones, master; Miss Selina Staton, infants' mistress.

Inland Revenue Officer: Henry Kendall Milsom, Newbridge

Railway Stations:

Great Western, High Level, James Lidster, station master

Great Western, Low Level, George Mann, station master

(extracts from Kelly's 1891 Directory of Monmouthshire, transcribed by J. Doe)

 

 

 

 

 

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