Prominent People from the Meliden Mining Days

Reverend Edward Hughes, M.A. was vicar of Meliden for 35 years until his death in 1879. He was respected by all denominations and famous for the letter he wrote to his Bishop during the great strike of 1876. At a time when social distinctions were of the greatest importance, the Assistant Overseer would have considered himself of equal status. Mr Edward Parry, the Assistant Overseer of the Poor introduces three people he considers his social equal. Sadly, the first is no longer with us. This is a step back in time to see a snippet of the lives of 4 Prominent People from the Meliden Mining Days.

The Village Policeman

‘Maurice Jones was our policeman until a couple of years ago when he died quite suddenly at the age of thirty-seven. Although there were many who disliked him, he changed Meliden from a wild and unruly village to what you see today. His greatest achievement was taking control of the Meliden pay-day fair and insisting that the public houses close at night! He certainly lessened the drinking problem but in fairness the opening of the two chapels in 1860 and the powerful influence of the Reverend Hughes in particular, cannot be overlooked. I came to know P.C. Jones quite well in my capacity as the Assistant Overseer of the Poor. One of my duties is to investigate any illegitimate births as they usually end up in the workhouse where they are a financial burden to the parish. Discovering the father is usually difficult and I often relied on P.C. Jones who seemed to know everything—and what he didn’t know, his wife soon found out!

‘There are many stories told about him. One afternoon, he had cause to enter the Star Inn where he became suspicious when he noticed some of the men concealing their snap tins [metal waterproof food containers]. He discovered that after a shift, the men would often have a little black powder [gunpowder] left over and their tins were perfect to keep it dry for the next day. He pointed out the risk to the men and also to their families when they took the powder home and they agreed to discontinue the practice. He also insisted that the men stop carrying guns. The miners seldom eat meat but when they do, it is rabbit. Most used to take their guns onto Graig Fawr and others set snares down by the Ffrith.

The Preacher

‘The Reverend Robert Hughes, of Seion, is man of fire. It is fortunate that he is a man of the cloth because P.C. Jones once confided to me that he could never have managed him if he had been un anghywir! During the week, this Hercules of a man labours as the Talargoch Mining Company’s blacksmith and farrier. He looks after the two big horses that we see hauling trucks around the surface and he is our local vet—people even go to him to have their teeth pulled! To watch him working in the smithy at Maes Erw Ddu is exciting but not so nearly so exciting as the sermons he delivers at Capel Seion on Sundays. [Maes Erw Ddu (Black Acre Field) the Talargoch Industrial Estate but most of us just call it The Mines. The Welsh Presbyterians have a circuit of chapels which their ministers visit in addition to each looking after their own. When the Rev. Hughes is preaching at Seion, the two front doors have to be left open because the congregation is so large that late arrivals have to listen from outside.

He always begins in an ordinary tone of voice but then gradually increases the pace, power and pitch of his voice until he is practically singing the words at the top of his voice as he repeatedly striking the pulpit with his great fists. There can be no doubt about what will happen to those who are not amongst the chosen.

For the last twenty years, our children have been taught to read and write at school but most of their parents never had that opportunity. The Reverend Hughes teaches his congregation to read and write in Sunday School and on Tuesday evenings where he is assisted by his wife and the some of the wives of the Chapel Elders. Even Mr Denman, the schoolmaster goes to the minister of Seion to improve his Welsh.

The village headmaster

‘Mr. Edward Denman is a good friend of mine and a man whose occupation I should like least because of the Government inspections which have been making his life difficult. It is no secret that there are men in London who would like to eradicate Welsh speaking from our schools and when they hold inspections, they do it in English! Very few of the children speak English and when they fail to answer the inspectors’ questions, it is put down to their backwardness due to the unsuitability of the Welsh language for teaching! Mr Denman has no choice but to discourage the speaking of Welsh in school.

‘In one respect he is very fortunate—Meliden has a very fine school building. Built just over twenty years ago with financial assistance from the Government, Church, mining company, landowners, and farmers it was partly constructed by the miners themselves in their spare time. We even call it the Miners’ School.

‘Mr Denman has 302 children on his register—more than the National School in Prestatyn which has only 126. We all have a high regard for the school and attendance is good—except at harvest time when Mr Denman admits defeat. He teaches reading, writing, arithmetic, English history and course, because it is a Church School, they are taught the Scriptures and every child must learn to say their Catechism in English—even if they are chapel-goers. It goes without saying that the girls are not taught anything more than elementary arithmetic—to do more would be a shocking waste of time—Mrs. Denman teaches them sewing instead. Before the school opened, hardly anybody spoke English and most of the villagers signed their names with a cross. Now, more than half can sign their name and English can be heard in the shops and public houses.’