Y Filltir Sgwâr/The Square Mile: Tir Abraham-Harry

In a year long series Tom Maloney, from Abersychan, shows how you can love a place so well it becomes a part of you.

I have come to learning the Welsh language quite late on in life really and I have also come to realise that I am on a voyage of discovery about Wales, the country of my birth and most particularly about the locality in which I have lived the best part of my life as well.

There is always something new to learn and new connections to be made. Where is the starting point for this little article? I think I have to credit ‘Tir, The Story of the Welsh Landscape’ by Carwyn Graves for this one.

Tir

This fascinating book has firstly introduced me to the word ‘Tir’ which when translated from the Welsh means ‘Land’, but more importantly for me it explores the complexity that underlies understanding of the landscape, powerfully put in this small quote from the book’s introduction.

‘Yet understanding the tale of the Welsh landscape is no easy task. Different stories about the landscape run deep and, for centuries, have led to controversies of one sort or another. In many ways, the Wales of today is a blasted landscape: industrialised and polluted earlier than any other Western society.’

So many of the places that I like to roam could I suppose be thought of as ‘blasted landscapes’ in one way or another. For some, like the Lasgarn Woodland in Abersychan, the healing hands of Nature has softened the impact of industrialisation, while in others the contrasts remain stark.

There is no mistaking the stark legacy of mining at Hill Pits, Blaenavon, an area that until recently I thought I knew quite well. In a quiet moment of research this week I was looking at an old map of the area and a new name ‘Tir Abraham-Harry’ stood out for me in a little light bulb moment. This was Abraham-Harry’s Land as well.

Curiously, it still features on the most up to date OS map too, but until reading ‘Tir’ it had just not registered with me at all.

Old trails

Happily, it has led me to taking several walks over the past week along the old trails and tramroads that reside in this very exposed terrain.

I enjoyed several days when I was so reminded of the work of John Constable and of his dynamic depiction of ‘Stonehenge’ with its swirling clouds and incredible handling of watercolour.

Oh, how I love days like this!

Forgotten

The passage of time is often unkind to local history and much becomes forgotten. The Visit Blaenavon site gives the most information that I have been able to locate about the origins of the name.

‘Tir Abraham Harry, is thought to be named after its original occupant, is the largest of several early enclosed farmhouses that once existed on the hillsides here prior to large-scale industrialization.’

The visible outlines of the old house and surrounding enclosure walls are still quite substantial, but you have to make your way gingerly across a stream to reach its location on the hillside. Wellingtons are most definitely a must!

I like to take my mind back in time as I look at old, forgotten ruins and I think that the enclosure would have been very important in its day.

Boggy

The land hereabouts is incredibly boggy, especially in wintry weather and the possibility of ending up knee deep in dark, oozing peat is all too easily achieved. A living off the land must surely have been so hard won, such a testament to resilience and strength in the face of so many difficulties.

To my untrained archaeological eye, it would appear from the building materials that have been used that the house went through several phases of development, with the remnants of a fairly modern looking ceramic basin and pedestal suggesting that the house was inhabited until around the 1950s or 1960s.

Industrialisation has left its mark nearby in many ways and I have to admit that I have such conflicting thoughts about this history.

There are the obvious scars of course that should inform those who would seek to mine the land in the future, but there is also something of beauty in the legacy as well, especially in the small reservoirs and water courses.

Old industrial ponds and a sense of tranquility should not perhaps go together so well, but I do find myself taking moments of quiet reflection by these pools.

Though they have the appearance of still water from a distance there is a constant babbling, rhythm of water flowing in and out that is at one with the surroundings.

Dominating this hidden landscape is a stone-built stack. I remember well the surprise at seeing this structure for the first time some years ago. You just don’t expect to see anything of its style and quality just here.

Coflein – the online catalogue of archaeology, buildings, industrial and maritime heritage in Wales is simply excellent as a first point of call to get a snapshot of the history behind structures such as this.

‘Hill Pits, so-called because they were a pair of closely spaced shafts, were sunk in 1835 by Thomas Hill & Son and worked until c1893. The boiler stack relates to a secondary phase of coal winding at the pit, when a steam engine was employed.

Stack base for the boilers at Hill Pits, approximately 2m square and 7-8m high. Of snecked hammer-dressed sandstone. The base has a projecting band below the top, above which are rounded dressed stones, presumably for a round brick flue. Some other rounded dressed stones area strewn about.’

‘Snecked’ is a lovely new word for me and I just had to find out its meaning. There are quite a number of explanations available online and I very much enjoyed reading a short article by Bobby Watt.

‘The principal characteristic of snecked work is the keying together of parallel courses of stone. This is achieved by interrupting the level height of a horizontal course by placing a taller stone that reaches up into the next course. This vertical interlacing gives a wall a tensile strength that enhances its compressive strength.’ 

I get the same feeling that I have in an art gallery when I stand in front of objects like this, but again I must admit to having conflicting thoughts.

I understand that its purpose resulted in the spoiling of the land, but I still think of it as a work of art, quite probably a work of collaborative art. The tooling marks on the interconnecting stones indicate different hands at work and then there was the designer also. It is magnificent indeed.

Just a stone’s throw away the remains of more dwellings. Life and work, work and life were indivisible, people lived on top of their work here.

How would it have been to be constantly in the shadows cast by the pits and to know that each morning that is the place where you would return?

To finish a walk here, it is well worth a stroll down the tramline in the direction of Blaenavon, probably a distance of no more than two to three hundred yards.

This will take you to an engine house with what is left of a braking mechanism which formed part of an incline transport system in its day.

Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust gives the following summary of the significance of this archaeological survival:

‘Built structures associated with these workings form a key characteristic element of the landscape adding to the understanding of the industrial operations formerly carried out in the area; the present condition of these features is varied. Important examples include the brake engine house on Hill’s Pits tramroad incline, one of only two known in South Wales to retain parts of the breaking and winding machinery.’

Abraham-Harry’s Land packs so much into a relatively small tract of landscape and to add into the mix I had an interesting conversation one day with a local resident of Blaenavon who could remember people living at the farm.

He could not recall ‘Abraham-Harry’ ever being used; this was the Wilkinson’s place!

Some useful information:

Parking – For anyone wishing to visit the site there is a small parking area at Garn-yr-erw, along the main road between Blaenavon and Brymawr. To access Tir Abraham-Harry just cross the main road and follow the footpath that skirts heaps of colliery soil.

Bus Travel – Garn-yr-erw is on the 31 Bus Route between Blaenavon and Brynmawr.

Outdoor Clothing: Best to be prepared with good waterproofs, wellingtons and a walking stick on this walk.

I would recommend staying on the main walking routes. It is easy to find yourself in deep, watery bogs that are unseen from the main paths.