THE DEVELOPMENT OF CIMLA ROAD
Martyn J Griffiths
There has always been an old parish road over the mountain from Neath to Pontrhydyfen but the lower portion of Cimla hill was not always a part of it.If you look at early eighteenth century maps it is clear that there was no road from Neath directly to the Cimla and the only form of transport was on the wagon ways laid down by Humphrey Mackworth to service his pits on the Gnoll.
Part of O’Connor’s 1720 map[1] showing wagon ways on Cimla.
Eastland Road runs from left to right, from the top of Water Street heading towards Briton Ferry
O’Connor’s Neath Map of 1720 shows one of the earliest depictions of the place where Cimla Road would be built.'O' denotes wagon ways and 'E' denotes gin houses for raising coals.The wagon ways are shown as straight lines linking the various pits, descending from Cimla, crossing Eastland Road and heading for the river via what was later The Ropewalk.
The point where the wagon way crossed Eastland Road was the scene of considerable unrest early in the eighteenth century.The mining innovations of Sir Humphrey Mackworth that led to him dominating the coal export trade had made him powerful enemies.Amongst his rivals were Sir Edward Mansell of Margam and his cousin, Thomas Mansell of Briton Ferry.The latter was a magistrate so there were no difficulties in getting a ruling against Mackworth to the effect that he had obstructed the King’s Highway (Eastland Road was part of the main road from Neath to London) by crossing it with his wagon way.The Mansell faction tore up the rails only for Mackworth’s workforce to replace them.This was repeated on a further six occasions.
ROUTE ONE
The earliest road to Michaelstone (Cwmavon) was via Harle Lane and it took a much more indirect route than the later Cimla Road.The main road up the Neath valley on the east bank of the river Neath was from Penydre and, halfway along, there was a junction formed by a track leading east known as Nant Lane.Nant Lane led into Harle Lane - where Harle Street has now been built - into the Gnoll grounds and through what would later become the Fish Pond or Second Pond or Upper Great Pond as it was variously known, to continue through Brynnau farm and over the hill to Efail Fach.
The origin of the name Harle remains a puzzle but there is a village of Harley in Shropshire, about ten miles south of Shrewsbury and the Mackworth family came from the same county. There was a Harle(y) farm through which the lane passed before reaching The Gnoll and this is mentioned in 1658 as consisting of six acres, so pre-dates the coming of the Mackworth family.
The earliest mention of the name is to be found in a 1611 document at Cardiff Records' Office:
Leyson Evans was the tenant of Harle in 1611
This old road was said to be 'crooked and narrow in some part thereof, it was dangerous for carts or coaches to pass that way for fear of tumbling over the bank thereof and into the said river.'The 'said river' was a stream called Nant-yr-Eelarch (Alarch), this translates as 'swan stream' a brook that features large in early Neath ordinances.
The Gnoll Fishpond was created as part of the mansion gardens between 1721 and 1722 though there was a challenge in Parliament because of the affect it had on the Harle lane route to Pontrhydyfen.Sir Humphrey Mackworth was indicted in 1722 at the Court Leet (the manorial court) for obstructing the King’s Highway by building a dam and creating a pond over and across the highway.The court commented that the alternative road provided was of a better standard than the original.
The 1720 O’Connor map shows the Harle road passing to the left of the Fishpond (or Second Pond as it was also known). Does that mean that Mackworth’s alternative road was already built by 1720? Or did he later extend the Fishpond to submerge the road? If the former, then why is the road passing to the left of the Fishpond not shown on the 1740 map?
This map mid- eighteenth century map drawn by B Jones[2] clearly shows Harle Lane running from Penydre to Gnoll Pond and emerging the other side! At this time there was no Cimla Road.
ROUTE TWO
1722 Bodleian Map[3] showing new route
The East Turnpike Gate was, in 1764, positioned in Penydre at the junction with Nant Lane.This may seem strange as the road from there to the Cimla was by this time closed; but the purpose of the Gate would have been to catch traffic coming into (or leaving) town from Llantwit. The Gate was eventually moved about 1845[4] to the Tonna road above Llantwit to catch the extra traffic created following the construction of Gnoll Park Road.
The 1722 Bodleian Map[5] does show the alternative route to Harle Lane.The new road left Water Street (Market Street is shown on the plan as 'C' and is now known as Old Market Street), continued up Gnoll Avenue and probably up Preswylfa dingle before heading for Cringallt.No wonder then that the first South Turnpike Gate was erected in 1764 at the top of Water Street.There it would catch traffic both from Cimla and that entering down from Briton Ferry.
The map shows the track leading from the Gnoll 'to the Kimney (Cimla) and Cryngalt (Crynallt)' and over the Bwlch to Michaelston (Cwmavon).Part of this route may well now form a portion of Cimla Road. There was no direct route to Pontrhydyfen at this time but branches off the Michaelston road led to Efail Fach.
A 1925 newspaper report stated that 'according to Kitchen’s Coaching Map, the present road from Bridgend to Pontrhydyfen was the coach route.'[6] In fact this 'coaching' road did not go to Bridgend but ran from Neath to Llantrisant, a distance of 24 miles, via Bryn, Llangynwyd and Llangeinor.The route seems particularly tortuous and the distorted topography of Kitchen’s map (c1755) does not help decipher the exact roadway.In any event, we can still wonder at the arduous journeys of travellers in eighteenth century Wales.
Kitchen’s Coaching Map 1755 WGAS D/D Z134/2
ROUTE THREE
By the time of Yates Map[7] in 1799 a road to the Cimla from Eastland Road is clearly shown. The creation of a Neath Turnpike Trust after 1764 led to improvements in Water Street and the creation of Orchard Street.The road from Neath to Pontrhydyfen was not included in the 1764 Act of Parliament which was only scheduled to last for 21 years, but was included in an extension of that Act in 1785[8], therefore Cimla Road, as we know it, probably came into being sometime between 1764 and 1785.
The South Toll Gate was still shown in Water Street on a map of 1801. The siting of a Gate at the bottom of Cimla Road must only recently have happened to be shown on the Yates map.Probably the road was created between 1785 and 1799.The new South Gate in fact had two gates, one traversing Eastland Road and the other across Cimla Road.
After the creation of London Road in about 1830 there was another toll gate at the top of The Ropewalk.Sometime in the mid nineteenth century the South Gate was removed to Briton Ferry Road where the aptly named Southgate Street now stands, although the toll house remained in situ at the Eastland Road junction until the Drill Hall was built just before the Great War.
Yates map of 1799[9] showing the toll booths (TB)
The old toll house at the junction of Eastland Road and Cimla Road.[10] NAS/Ph/28/1/009
ROAD IMPROVEMENTS
The nineteenth century did not see much in the way of development along Cimla Road.Some houses were erected alongside the road near the junction with Eastland Road and, further up, some bigger houses such as Brynhyfryd House and Hill House (Cimla Court) were built around 1860.However, the removal of Henry John Grant of the Gnoll to Wormleybury and the subsequent sale of parts of the estate certainly had a lasting effect on the area.
1880 saw road improvements between the junction with Eastland Road and Westernmoor Road[11]but no housing developments took place.
The end of the Great War saw a large increase in unemployment.Town Councils had various ideas to combat this and in Neath a scheme for road improvement on the Cimla Road was drawn up.The cost in 1921 was estimated at £80,000.This was heavily contested in council chambers with the comment; 'The Cimla Road is not an outlet to any populous area, and such a big sum on improvements that are not absolutely necessary or essential at present, only means increasing the burdens of the ratepayers unduly.'[12]
Cimla Common 1921. The dotted lines on this OS map indicate sub-standard roads
The Depression years of the 1920s and early 1930s led to much work being created by local councils, particularly for the unemployed.In January 1926 the Town Council engineer proposed swimming baths, promenades and tennis courts at the Gnoll, road improvements in Cimla and Llantwit as well as other initiatives.[13]
The Afan Valley road was already on the cards but had run into difficulties because Port Talbot Town Council refused to co-operate.It was envisaged that such a scheme would cost £129,000, the majority being found by the Ministry of Transport with Glamorgan County Council also providing some funding.This was a 50% increase from the estimations of five years earlier.An immediate decision was not made but other schemes were approved.[14]
Three years later yet another attempt was made to go ahead with these plans. This time there was support and the scheme was put forward from Glamorgan County Council to the Ministry of Transport.However, it was not until 1931 that tenders were finally sent out.The road improvements stretched for a mile from Efail Fach to Cimla.[15]
HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS
Cimla Park – an area of the town not mentioned in any local history books - was a place that had been used by the town’s people for recreation since the 1860s. The Glamorgan Rifle Volunteers held their drill and sports day[16] there as early as 1864. It was a place where people could relax and picnic, where cricket and football matches could be played and where horses could be exercised.
In 1868 Mary Grant allowed Charles Evan Thomas permission to build three villas on Cimla Park. This is the first mention of housing in the area although, of course, there were much older cottages higher up the Cimla. The lease was quite specific with a condition that the exterior woodwork should receive 'three coats of good oil paint every third year.' Regrettably the plan showing the location, which was attached to the lease, is missing, but the proposed houses may well have included Hill House and Brynhyfryd[17] which were built at this time.
Cimla Park 1921
A more extensive development of Cimla Park was not started until after the sale of the Gnoll Estate in 1921[18], with the construction of the first section (8 houses) in Hawthorn Avenue[19].
A decade later building work went into overdrive where the appropriately named Cimla Crescent left Cimla Road just above the start of the hill and ran parallel with the boundary of the Gnoll Grounds to turn westwards and rejoin Cimla Road a short way below Cimla Common. Hawthorn Avenue was extended to join Cimla Crescent and Poplars Avenue was built to link Cimla Road with Cimla Crescent. Chestnut Road ran parallel with Cimla Road and linked to that road via the short Myrtle Road, giving internal access to the other roads on the estate. Houses being advertised in 1935 were priced at £425 but buyers needed a deposit of £25.
Prior to the outbreak of war in September 1939 a number of houses were built to fill the gaps on Cimla Road and there was a lot more building in Cimla Park.
A rolling programme of council house building also started at this time, beginning with Pine Grove, Lime Grove and Oak Grove. A smaller but still significant development was Kenway Avenue to the west of Cimla Road. Further private housing came after the sale of Glannant Farm and the building of the 'Wimpey' estate.
Developments along Cimla Road
1859-60 Hill House and Brynhyfryd
1909 Cimla Infants School
1912 Cimla Hospital
c.1926 Brynhyfryd Bowls Club
1930s Co-op Store
1936 Council housing
1936-7 Cimla Hotel
1953 Crynallt Junior School
1955 Neath Little Theatre
1963 Fire Station
1970 St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s Church
1973 Cefn Saeson Comprehensive School
2021 A new Cefn Saeson Comprehensive School
My thanks to fellow Neath Antiquarians, David Michael, Robert Davies and Hywel Rogers for helping to untangle information on the eighteenth century maps.
SOURCES
[1] D/D T 2297 - WGAS
[2] D/D Gn/E 1 - WGAS
[3] NAS Transactions 1988-9, 'Bodleian Manuscript and Mackworth Supremacy' - Anthony Hopkins.
[4] Herald of Wales - 28th March.1925
[5] A Bodleian Manuscript and Mackworth Supremacy - Anthony Hopkins, NAST 1988-9. (Ms Rawlinson C390)
[6] Herald of Wales - 28th March 1925
[7] People’s Collection - NLW
[8] Neath Guardian - 26th April 1935
[9] D/D P886 - WGAS
[10] NAS/Ph/28/1/009 - NAS (There is a house half-way up Cimla hill known as 'The Toll House' which used to stand at the entrance to a lane leading to Cimla (Tir-y-Cimla) farm, but it had no connection to turnpike toll-houses).
[11] JAS 2/3/29 - NAS
[12] Western Mail 7th July 1921
[13] Western Mail 6th January 1926
[14] Western Mail 12th December 1929
[15] Western Mail 22nd January 1931
[16] X 15/5 - NAS
[17] D/D Gn 539/540 - WGAS
[18] Gn/E 26/22 - NAS
[19] JAS 3/3/18 - NAS
NAS - refers to items held at the Neath Antiquarian Society archive in the Neath Mechanics' Institute
WGAS - refers to items held at the West Glamorgan Archive Service in Swansea
