Liverpool Welsh

Cliciwch yn y fan hon i ddarllen  ol rifynnau o'r Angor

Cliciwch yn y fan hon i ddarllen "The Welsh Builder in Liverpool" - Dr Gareth Carr

Welsh Streets of Toxteth

The Welsh builders were responsible for building what are termed the Welsh Streets; that means 12 streets and 400 terraced houses. The Welsh were in the forefront of the vast building program that took pace in Victorian Liverpool. These houses in Toxteth were built for ordinary men and women, most of them involved as bricklayers and joiners and carpenters and plasterers. These workers had usually learnt their skills in the Welsh heartland of Anglesey, Caernarfon, Merionethshire, Denbighshire and Flintshire. They were escaping from constant unemployment, poverty and disease, particularly TB. They found their liberty and fellowship in Toxteth, Anfield, Everton, Walton and Bootle. The Welsh builders were expected to choose a name for their newly-built streets. You find all over Liverpool streets with Welsh names. In Toxteth you find the best examples with beutiful sounding nams such as Madryn, Elwy, Rhiwlas and Teilo. From these streets one could see the so-called Welsh cathedral, where puplit giants, the calibre of Dr Owen Thomas (minister from 1871 to 1891) and Dr John Williams (1895-1906), were outstanding pulpit orators. It was called Princes Road Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Church and during the ministry of Dr Thomas and Dr John Williams it was full every Sunday evening with at least 1,500 in attendance. The building today is a shell but it needs to be renovated. In the 21st century the Welsh streets were to be demolished, the final date set as 14 October 2010 but due to constant campaigning, we managed to postpone and finally stop the destruction. We were helped by the fact that one of the Beatles, Ringo Starr, was born in Madryn Street in a period when many of the Welsh families had moved out to Aigburth, Allerton and Mossley Hill.

            These streets were built by builders who had a clear purpose and one of the most important among them was John Williams (1817-1906), Moss Bank. His son, William Henry Williams, became an influential councillor on the City Council, becoming Lord Mayor in 1909. They waved the Welsh Dragon in Liverpool and at least five generations of the family were Welsh speakers. That means 104 yesrs of civic and cultural contribution. Another  builder was John S Jones (1842-1898), Fernhill Street. A native of Cardiganshire in West Wales he was a Liberal in politics, full of dissenting corrections and also a temperance leader. He came to Liverpool in 1870 and within ten years he had build Gwydir, Kinmel and Elwy Streets. A contemporary of his was Evan Evans (1894-19240, Borrowdale Road, Wavertree. He was responsible for building Madryn and Teilo Streets. Born in Bwlchtryfan on the Llŷn peninsula, he also built Gredington Street in the Dingle, where a large number of Welsh houses were built by the Welsh due to the Second World War and the blitz. The Toxteth riots destroyed houses that William Jones (1785-1876) of Cerrigydrudion built. His best work is seen in Catharine Street but many of the buildings he built were burnt in the riots, especially in Upper Parliament Stereet. But we can rejoice that there are plenty of remarkable houses still around in Liverpool that testify to the Welsh builders’ contribution. 

A Short Biography

Rev Dr D Ben Rees is a West Walian educated in the Universities of Wales, Liverpool and Salford, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the foremost historian of the Liverpool Welsh. He has written over 30 books in Welsh and English on aspects of their history, his latest being The Welsh in Liverpool: A Remarkable History. He has served the Presbyterian Church of Wales as an ordained minister for 61 years, 55 of them in Liverpool. He is a founder member of six charities and societies as well as the Merseyside Welsh monthly paper which he has edited for the last 46 years. He is married to Meinwen who served as a teacher in Liverpool and has two sons. In 2018 the City of Liverpool made Dr Rees a Citizen of Honour and in 2005 the Rotary Movement presented him with the Paul Harris Fellowship Award for his contribution to the movement in the city of Liverpool. 

 Taro Post

Annwyl Olygydd,

Braf iawn oedd gweld a chlywed y Parchedig Tecwyn Ifan yn pregethu ac yn arwain yr oedfa ym Methel fore Sul Mawrth 23ain (drwy Zoom).

Deuthum i adnabod Tecwyn neu Tec's, fel yr oeddem yn ei alw, pan oeddwn yn fyfyriwr yng Ngholeg y Drindod, Caerfyrddin yn gynnar yn y 1970au.

Ar y pryd, roedd o yn fyfyriwr yng Ngholeg y Bedyddwyr, Bangor ond byddwn yn cyfarfod ag ef yn gyson yng Nghaerfyrddin pan ddeuai i lawr i gyfarfod fy nghyd-fyfyrwyr  o’r un flwyddyn, sef Iestyn Garlick a Cleif Harpwood ynghyd a Phil ‘Bach’ Edwards a fyddai’n dod i fyny o Gaerdydd. Wrth gwrs daeth y pedwar yma yn fwy adnabyddus fel y grŵp gweriniaethol 'Ac Eraill'.  

Yr unig dro i mi glywed Tecwyn yn pregethu, cyn ei glywed ym Methel, oedd yng Nghapel Heol Y Dŵr Caerfyrddin tua 1973. Cofiaf ei destun sef "Ai ceidwad fy mrawd ydw fi". Hyd yn oed yn y dyddiau cynnar hynny roedd ganddo'r ddawn o greu pregeth afaelgar, fel y gwnaeth ym Methel.

Fel cerddor ac awdur caneuon rhagorol, cyfeiriodd at eiriau Leonard Cohen yn ei bregeth ym Methel ac at Dafydd Iwan yn y bregeth honno yng Nghaerfyrddin gan orffen gyda'r geiriau

'Pan welaf waith y glöwr, a'i gwaed ar y garreg las,

Pan welaf lle bu'r tyddynnwr yn cribo gwair i'w dâs,

Pan welaf bren y gorthrwm am wddf y bachgen tlawd,

Rwy'n gwybod bod fod rhaid i minnau sefyll dros fy mrawd.'

Nid wyf wedi gweld na siarad â Tecwyn ers y dyddiau hynny, dros hanner can mlynedd yn ôl. Hoffwn ddiolch i swyddogion Bethel, ac yn arbennig i Dr Ben Rees am wahodd Tecwyn i bregethu, daeth â llawer o atgofion melys yn ôl.

David Williams (Karslake)