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Eliffantod ym Mhen-y-bont A Memory of John Abberley and read by David Morgan
Elephants in Penybont A Memory of John Abberley and read by David Morgan
Y Ffeiriau Hurio ‘Gogoneddus’ ym Mhen-y-bont Gan Derek Turner
The Glorious Hiring Fairs by Derek Turner
Marchnad Pen-y-bont Gan Derek Turner
Penybont Market by Derek Turner
Rasys Penybont
Penybont Races
Lluniau o bont ffordd Penybont
Pictures of Penybont Road Bridge
Atgofion am Wyliau yn y ‘Thomas Shop’ gan Mary Davies
Holidays at The Thomas Shop A personal account by Mary Davies
Lluniau o'r Gof
Pictures of the Blacksmiths
Gofau Penybont gan Geraint Hughes
Penybont Blacksmiths by Geraint Hughes
Wrth sefyll ger y Gofeb Ryfel, gellir dychmygu yr eliffantod a ddaeth gyda’r trên. 10,000 o bobl a 100 o stondinau wedi’u trefnu mewn ffordd blith draphlith o’ch cwmpas chi ac i lawr at yr afon. Byddai fflos candi, cychod siglo, a phobl yn gwerthu sosbenni, ynghyd ag ambell i feddwyn bondigrybwyll yn simsanu heibio i’r Babell Ddirwest. Roedd Beiblau yn cael eu dosbarthu mor glau fel bu rhaid i’r Crynwyr redeg yn ôl ac ymlaen i’r Pales i mofyn mwy o gyflenwadau; a hyn oll wrth ochr peth a ddisgrifiwyd fel, ‘carthbwll o lygredigaeth neu ganolfan anfoesoldeb sy’n llygru’r holl wlad o amgylch. Sefydlwyd y Ffeiriau Hurio, neu Ffeiriau Mop er hwyluso huro llafurwyr i weithio ar ffermydd a thai’r byddigions. Daeth pobl yn eu dillad gwaith, a rhodio gan obeithio cael swllt yn ernes o gyflog gan un o’r ffermwyr. Mae awgrym i’r Ffeiriau gychwyn yng Nghefn-llys pan gafodd siarter farchnad gan Arglwwyddi’r Mers. Mae peth dystiolaeth i’r Ffeiriau symud wedyn i Rhyd y Cleifion (sef rhyd y gwahanglwyfusion) hen enw am y pentrefyn wedi’i leoly yn bennaf ochr draw’r bont. Erbyn 1730, pan sefydlodd Edward Price ei siop ym Mhen-y-bont, bu eisoes gyfeiriadau at y ffeoriau ym Mhen-y-bont. Aethai yn eu blaen tan tua 1950. Er taw hurio llafur oedd y rheswm am y ffeiriau. a ddigwyddai dair gwaith y flwyddyn ar 13ego fis Mai, 11ego fis Medi a 26aino fis Hydref, hwyl a sbri oedd 99% o’r digwyddiad.
Ym 1857, ebe Roy Palmer, “Mae’r hen wyliau ar ddiwrnodau Nawddsant wedi’u chwalu a gobeitho bydd y ffeiriau pleser yn dilyn yn eu hôl yn fuan. Mae marchnadoedd yn llesol, ond dyw ffeiriau pleser ddim yn elwa neb ond y rhai sy’n gweithio i ddyhuddo at ddrygweithiau a throseddau eu cyd-greaduriaid.” Roedd y rhai oedd yn dal i gofio’r ffeiriau yn sôn amdanyn nhw fel uchafbwynt eu blwyddyn, cael ffrog newydd, a hyd yn oed cerdded y bedair milltir i Ben-y-bont i’w mynychu. Bu pobl dweud ffortiwn, stondinau taro coconyts, ceffylau pren, llawer o stondinau yn gwerthu pob math o bethau, pabell gyda chorrach i syllu arno, pebyll paffio, stondinau tsieina, galerïau saethu, siglenni, a stondyn yn gwerthu roc. Roedd Kate Jones o Glilmanowydd yn cofio’n arbennig Brwydrau Conffeti. Yn ei harddegau, ‘chwilio’r bechgyn’ fu llawenydd arbennig y diwrnod arbennig hwn.
Wedi’i ddethol o lyfr Geraint Hughes’ –Penybont a Village Historyac o’i draethiad at Grŵp Hanes Pen-y-bont a’i Gyffiiniau, gweler: https://penybontlhgnotes.wordpress.com/2014/05/06/penybont-and-district-local-history-group-meeting-at-thomas-shop-13th-may-2013-rev-geraint-hughes-the-fairs-and-market-at-penybont/
Standing by the War Memorial you might imagine, as well as the elephants that arrived by train, 10,000 people and 100 stalls arranged in a ‘higgledy piggledy’ fashion all around you and down to the bridge. There might be floating candy floss, swing boats, and people selling saucepans, as well as the inevitable drunk staggering past the Temperance Tent. Bibles were being dispensed so fast that the Quakers were running backwards and forwards to the Pales to get more supplies; and this alongside what was described as ‘a cesspool of vices or a centre of immorality from which the country all around is demoralised’
The Hiring Fairs, or Mop Fairs, were established to facilitate the hiring of labour to work on the farms and in the houses of the gentry. People came in their work uniforms and paraded in the hope of getting a shilling as a promise of a wage by one of the farmers. There is a suggestion that the Fairs may have started in Cefnllys when it obtained a market charter in 1297 from the Marcher Lords. There is some evidence that the Fairs then moved to Rhyd y Clefion (the ford of the injured), which is the old name for the old hamlet of Penybont situated primarily on the far side of the Bridge.By 1730 when Edward Price established his shop in Penybont there were already references to the Fairs at Penybont. They continued on until around 1970. Though hiring of labour was the reason for the Fairs, that occurred 3 times a year on 13th May, 11thSeptember and 26thOctober, but 90% of what went on was just fun. Roy Palmer on 1857 said: “The old feasts on Saint’s Days are now done away with, and I hope the pleasure fairs will soon follow in their wake. Markets are useful, but pleasure fairs benefitnone but those whose work it is to pander to the vices and crimes of their fellow creatures.”
Those people who could still remember the fairs talked about it being the highlight of their year, getting a new dress, and even walking the four miles from Cefnllys to attend. There were fortune tellers, coconut shies, hobby horses, many stalls selling all manner of things, a tent with a dwarf on view, boxing booths, china stalls, tinkers, shooting galleries, swings, and a stall selling rock. Confetti Battles was a particular memory of Kate Jones from Cilmanowydd. In her teens the special joy of this special day, however, was ‘looking for the boys’.
Extracted from Geraint Hughes’s Book –Penybont a Village History and from his talk to Penybont and District History Group, see: https://penybontlhgnotes.wordpress.com/2014/05/06/penybont-and-district-local-history-group-meeting-at-thomas-shop-13th-may-2013-rev-geraint-hughes-the-fairs-and-market-at-penybont/
Yn y flwyddyn dwy fil ag un, pan gafodd y wlad ei tharo gan y clefyd troed-a-genau, un o ganlyniadau'r aflonyddiad yma i amaeth lleol oedd cae Marchnad Pen-y bont. Os ydych chi ar bwys y Severn Armsa cherdded heibo i'r garej, cewch weld datblygad tai newydd sydd heb ei gwblhau. Mae'r datblygad yma wedi digwydd yn sgilcae'r Farchnad. Rheolir prif floc y tai ganGymdeithas Tai, gan gynnig ffynhonnell ychwanegol o dai i bobl leol. Ergyd drom i'r gymuned amaethyddol fu colli'r Farchnad. Yn y bôn, arena fusnes lle gwerthwyd da byw oedd y Farchnad, ond rhedai angen y Farchnad yn ddyfnach o lawer na hynny. Bu'r Farchnad yn achlysur pwysig dros ben i ffermwyr. Dywedwyd llawer am unigedd a deimlir gan lawer o ffermwyr wrth iddynt chwysu oriau bwygilydd ar eu pennau'u hunain. Daeth y farchnad â nhw at ei gilydd yn rheoledd.Mewn cwrdd diweddar o'r Grŵp Hanes i drafod hanes y Farchnad, clwyson ni sut gwelwyd colled y Farchnad, a sut mae llawer o ddicter o hyd dros ei chae.
Wrth gwrs, dechreuodd marchnadoedd yn yr ardal yn wreiddiol yng Nghefn-llys. Ym mil dau naw saith, caniatawyd Siarter Farchnad i'r pentre, i fod maeso law yn dre, ym mil tri dim pedwar. Er taw ychydig a wyddys am y farchnad yng Nghefn-llys, mae peth wybodaeth am farchnadoedd yn dal i weithredu tan ran gynnar yr ugeinfed ganrif. Ym mil naw un un mynegodd Prif Gwnstabl sir Faesyfed, trigolyn Pen-y bont, angen marchnad yn Mhen-y-bont er mwyn rheioleiddio rhai o'r trefniadau anffurfol amheus a wnaethpwyd yn y ffeiriau.
R.P. Hamer fu'r sbardun tu ôl i'r Farchnad, agorodd ym mil naw un naw. Fel ocsiwnîr gwnae'th R.P. argraff unigryw ar y ffermwyr gyda'i pipteenam fifteen, a shinam shilling. Mae'n debyg taw y rheilffordd achosodd lwyddiant y Farchnad. Roedd anifeiliaid yn arfer cerdded yn rheiolaidd o'r stesiwn ac roedd prynwyr yn dod o du allan er mwyn prynu da byw. Cafodd yr anifeilaid eu graddio am eu cyflwr; gwnaeth hyn osod y pris.
Am ragor o fanylion, gweler: https://penybontlhgnotes.wordpress.com/2020/04/13/penybont-and-district-history-group-notes-2nd-march-2020-main-topic-penybont-market-derek-turner-and-panel
In 2001, when the country was hit by Foot and Mouth Disease, one of the consequences of this disruption to local agriculture was the closure of Penybont Market. If you are by the Severn Arms and walk past Garage, you come to a new housing development that is partly completed. This development has come about following the closure of the Market. The main block of housing has been managed through a Housing Association giving local people an additional source of housing
The loss of the Market however was a severe blow to the farming community of the area. The market was essentially a business arena where livestock were sold, but the need for the market ran much deeper than that. The market was a very important social event for farmers. Much has been said about the isolation that many farmers feel as they toil away forlong hours on their own. The market brought them together on a regular basis. They could share worries with people who knew at first hand the challenges they face. At a recent History Group event to discuss the History of the Market we heard how the market was missed, how there is still considerable anger over its closure.
Markets in this area did, of course, start at Cefnllys. In 1297 the village, soon to be a town in 1304, was granted a ‘Market Charter’.While we know very little about the market at Cefnllyswe do have some knowledge of market activity going on through the Fairs until the early part of the 20thCentury. In 1911 theChief Constable for Radnorshire, a resident of Penybont, expressed a need for a market in Penybont to regularise some of the more ‘doggy’ arrangements made at the Fairs and informally.
RP Hamer was the driving force behind the Market that openedin 1919.As an auctioneer RP made a distinctive impression on the farmers with his pipteen for 15 and shin for a shilling. It was probably the railway that made for the prosperity of the Market. Animals regularly walked from the station and buyers came from outside of the region to buy animals. Animals were graded for their condition and this set the price. For more detail see: https://penybontlhgnotes.wordpress.com/2020/04/13/penybont-and-district-history-group-notes-2nd-march-2020-main-topic-penybont-market-derek-turner-and-panel