Local Builders

Over the past months we’ve looked at various houses in the village, but these have generally been so old that there is no record of who actually built them. In June last year we ‘dipped a toe’ and discovered a little about Cornishman Sam Bennett, and his family, and the houses that they built on Manor Way, Birchgrove and off Kelston Road. This generated a lot of comment, so here’s another article about some of our other local builders:

JOB DAVIES
On the Tithe Map of 1841, Old Church Road (or Church Road as it was then called), snaked from the junction of Merthyr Road, past (old) St Mary’s Church and the Fox and Hounds pub to join up with Ty’n y Parc Road. At the junction with Ty’n y Pwll Road is shown a terrace of cottages with large front gardens, called ‘Job’s Row’. A parcel of land adjacent was also owned by Job Davies. The terrace is no longer there, but another terrace of stone-walled cottages still stands. These are opposite the Community Centre

Job Davies lived in Llandaff and was a recognised builder. In all probability, the early cottages were either built by him, or he acquired them and demolished and rebuilt at a greater density when there was a need for extra houses during the middle/late 19th century. The census returns for 1861 and 1871 show that the cottages were tenanted by local families with lots of children. The old corner shop and first cottage near the bend look like they predate the existing terrace. I wonder if they were part of the originals?

Does anyone know of the families, or what became of Job Davies?

FREDERICK MILLWARD
Most people recognise Millwards Terrace, on the main road, opposite Island Cottage, the funeral home. This terrace of stone-faced houses was built by Frederick Millward, and they even have a date plaque set up high on the middle house of the terrace. They are of later construction than Job’s Row and have stone facings with brick detailing and slated roofs and canopies over each front door. Very handsome Victorian houses with special character. These houses seem to be more substantial than many in the village, and I’m sure that their owners and occupiers could tell wonderful stories over the years. Does anyone know?

These houses weren’t the first built by Frederick Millward, as we understand that many of the terraced houses in Ty’n y Pwll Road were also built by him in earlier years

We don’t know a lot about Frederick, but his end was very tragic. It seems that there may have been financial problems in finishing Millwards Terrace and some of the materials might have been ‘borrowed’ from other building sites. Frederick was arrested by the police on two separate occasions, and on the second time was found dead in the police cells. At the time there were many newspaper articles about this. All so sad

EDWIN WILLIAMS
Another local builder. Edwin Williams built Tabernacle chapel in the 1860’s and went on to build the parish offices in Bishops Road sometime later. He was, however, quite a prolific housebuilder. Janet his great-granddaughter tells us that he hailed from Pontypridd originally but moved to Whitchurch as a young man. He built the houses opposite Tabernacle on Brook Road, and also a pair of semi-detached houses alongside the stream abutting Millwards Terrace. His builder’s yard was behind Tynant, the end house. He also built another large house just north of Tabernacle called Pensford, which is now the tapas bar, and the terrace of houses in Glandwr Place

Edwin’s claim to fame though was to build the mansion Coryton House for Sir Herbert Cory in 1900. This is still standing, just south of the Village Hotel, and is now a special school. The photograph below is of Coryton House about 1920, with the local hunt meeting outside

Sir Herbert was a formidable businessman, as a shipowner and with directorships to 35 companies. He would later become Sheriff of Glamorgan and MP for Cardiff South for many years. Not a man to tangle with. Janet tells us that there was a terrible row between Edwin and Sir Herbert about the cost of ‘extras’ that had been requested, and this ended in court. Sir Herbert had a large legal team whilst Edwin represented himself. Everything pointed to a victory for Sir Herbert, but when Edwin presented all of his paperwork for the extras, with everything signed by Sir Herbert’s agent, their case collapsed and Edwin was awarded his full claim! A real David and Goliath victory for Edwin. This was reported in all the local newspapers at the time

We’ll visit local builders again, another time, but if anyone has any stories to share about other builders and how our village grew, we’d love to hear them

Thanks to Janet Williams for the information about Edwin Williams, and to Steve Nicholas for the use of the old photograph of Coryton House

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