Griffithstown

including Sebastopol and Panteg

(A description written in 1891)

See also Llanfrechfa and Panteg

Griffithstown is an Ecclesiastical Parish, formed in May, 1898, from Llanfrechfa Upper and Panteg, and includes Sebastopol, but under the provisions of the "Local Government Act, 1894," became a separate civil parish, and is governed by the Urban District Council of Panteg, and has a station on the Eastern Valleys branch .of the Great Western railway from Newport to Blaenavon, one mile from Pontypool, and 159.1/2 from London. It is in the Northern division of the county, Usk hundred, Pontypool union, petty sessional division and county court district, rural deanery of Usk, and archdeaconry of Monmouth and diocese of Llandaff.

The Brecon and Monmouthshire Canal runs through the parish.

The church of St. Hilda, built in 1887, is an edifice of stone in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles and south porch; it contains a memorial window, the gift of I. Butler Esq. J.P. and has 500 sittings. The register dates from the year 1898. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £200, in the gift of the Bishop of Llandaff, and held since 1898 by the Rev. James Edwin Dunn, of St. David's College, Lampeter, who resides at Sebastopol. There is a Parish Room, built in 1895.

The Baptist chapel, erected in 1875, seats 400 persons, and the Congregational chapel, built in 1885, seats 350: there are also chapels for the Wesleyans and Plymouth Brethren, and a Congregational chapel at Sebastopol, built in 1893.

The Mechanics' Institute was erected in 1874 at a cost of about £750, for the use of the workpeople of the Great Western Railway Company; a limited number of the public are also permitted to make use of the institute, which is in part supported by an annual grant from the company; attached to the institute is a small library of 1,000 volumes, and there is also a recreation ground.

Panteg Fire Brigade station was erected in 1898, at a cost of £200, by the Panteg Urban District Council; the brigade consists of a captain and 12 firemen.

The County Police Station, Broad street, was erected in 1892.

The Workhouse of the Pontypool Union,

which stands in Griffithstown, is a building of stone, erected in 1837, and enlarged in 1900; and there are also cottage homes, erected in 1881, and giving shelter to about 325 inmates.

Workhouse:

Rev. James Edwin Dunn, hon. chaplain;

John O'Keefe, medical officer;

John Richards, master;

Mrs. Eleanor Richards, matron

Here are the Head quarters of No. 3 Battery, the 1st Volunteer Artillery, Western division, Royal Artillery.

Post:

Post, M.O. & T.O., T.M.O., Express Delivery, Parcel Post, S.B. & Annuity & Insurance Office, 66 Commercial Street:

Francis Edward Jenkins, sub-postmaster. Letters arrive from Newport at 7.45 & 9.55 a.m. & 4.45 p.m.; dispatched at 11.30 a.m. & 6 & 7.30 p.m., week days only.

Post & M.O.O., S.B. & Annuity & Insurance Office, Sebastopol:

Edward Charles Francis, sub-postmaster. Letters arrive from Newport at 7.50 & 10 a.m. (callers only) & 5 p.m; dispatched, 11.10 a.m. & 5.50 & 7.30 p.m. week days only. The nearest telegraph office is at Griffithstown, 1 mile distant. Wall Letter Boxes: High Street, cleared at 11a.m. & 5.5 & 7.5 p.m. Kemys Street, 10.20 a.m. & 4.40 & 7.25 p.m. Staffordshire row, 10.45 a.m. & 5 & 7.15 p.m.

County Police Station:

Charles Hathersall, constable

Places of Worship:

St. Hilda's church: Rev. James Edwin Dunn, Vicar
Baptist, Commercial Street: Rev. John Howell Rees
Congregational, Kemys Street: Rev. William Whittington
Congregational, Sebastopol: Rev. Eber Davies
Wesleyan, Commercial Street

Plymouth Brethren, Hill Street

Schools:
A School Board of five members was formed Feb. 1895 ;

William Henry Vipond Bythway, Hanbury Road, Pontypool, clerk to the board

William Barrett, 27 Bridge St., Griffithstown, attendance officer

Board School, Park Street (mixed), erected in 1874, for 300 boys & girls; average attendance, 288; William Jacobs, master

Board School, Oxford Street (infants), erected in 1887 for 125 infants; average attendance, 120; Mrs. A.C.M. Loveless, mistress.

National School (mixed), Sebastopol, built in 1861, for 350 children ; average attendance, 330 ; Alfred Glover, master; Mrs. K. G. Biggs, infants' mistress.

Railway Station:

James Frank Ernest Harris, station master.

The population in 1891 was 2,022

(extracts from Kelly's 1901 Directory of Monmouthshire, transcribed by J. Doe)

 

 

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