Memories of a Resolven Mountain Farmhouse – and more
This article is regarding a publication which has local and general interest.
The following information was written by Marian, the daughter of Gwenllian Hannah Rees who was born in ‘Hendreowen’ , a mountain farm above Resolven in 1910 and died just two months short of her 105th birthday in 2015. Gwenllian was part of the well known and respected ‘Rees’ family and had three sisters, Margaret, Annie, and Eunice, and a younger brother, William John.
Gwenllian’s parents, William and Margaret Ann Rees, were tenant farmers at ‘Hendreowen’ and Gwenllian was their third child. When her life began. she was nurtured in the secure and loving surroundings of a mountain farmhouse learning, along the way, that hard work was a big part of life. Gwenllian and all the family were fluent Welsh speakers as Welsh was the first language in the locality at that time.
Of course, attitudes and beliefs were totally different then. How life has changed since those years!
Some years later, the family moved from ‘Hendreowen’ to ‘Ty’n y Cwm’, another mountain farm on the side of the steep Clydach brook valley, above where the Glyncastle Colliery was situated.
Here, Gwenllian grew to be a young woman with ambitions to learn all she could about everything, eventually leaving the Resolven area at eighteen to train in her chosen career.
However, the ties to Resolven, the mountains, home and Jerusalem Chapel were strong and her connections with the area and her family never went away. She was always proud of her heritage.
When Marian was a small child, her mother, Gwenllian would always find time to tell her about her own childhood and young life. This continued throughout the years and during their time together. About 18 months before she died in 2015, she helped Marian choose the title of a yet unwritten book which is now shortly to be published.
Authenticity is one of the book’s important assets. All the events and happenings are completely true.
In an age where it can sometimes be difficult between truth and fiction, this book will open a door into ordinary lives lived by ordinary people in very different times.
Marian, the writer says the book moves forwards and backwards through time, triggered by events to create a continuity through the generations – back in time to her grandmother Margaret Ann, and forward again, following Gwenllian’s journey.
Marian started writing the book so that the history, stories and way of life would live on for her children, grandchildren and extended family and friends, many of whom still live in and around the locality of Resolven, and wanted to create the images, atmosphere and feeling of that changing era. However, as the book developed, the author wanted to share it with a wider audience, particularly future generations of young people who would have little idea of how life was for Gwenllian when she was their age.
Marian Townsend, the author of ‘The Cloth and the Pot’, grew up in South Wales in a happy home steeped in music. She then moved to London in 1961 to train as a physiotherapist at Guy’s Hospital. There followed a successful career spanning sixty years with the NHS, marriage, and two children. Along the way, she has climbed and mountaineered – as far as Southern Patagonia on one occasion!
The publication by Troubadour is due on 28th August 2026, written in English and is now on their website in advance of the publication date.
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