Cwmbran History and Mystery - Rede Road

-

 This story wasn't included in my book Cwmbran History and Mystery as I had only heard one account of it and the activity could have been put down to natural causes.  The story I heard happened in the late 1960's, my parents had moved to a house in Rede Road and my Mam claimed she could hear footsteps in the house when there was no one else there.  I put this down to being alone in a new environment with central heating that may have made the floorboards creak.  Anyway, there was plenty of new housing in Cwmbran at that time so they were able to move.

Fast forward fifty plus years and I am told a second story of spooky goings on in a house in that area.  It is a similar story - footsteps and also the sound of ghostly wheels.

It is common knowledge these houses were built near the Henllys Incline where until around a hundred years ago the noise of trams carrying coal from the Henllys Colliery would have been an everyday occurrence but on one day in particular a terrible tragedy occurred.

Around the year 1814 Joshua Hanson opened a colliery in Henllys with a tramway down to the brickworks in Ty Coch.  The main section of the tramway was from the canal to Machine Cottage in Henllys, so called because it had a weighing machine situated there. Further sections led to the colliery and quarry. Today the incline is a public footpath.

One Saturday morning in July 1889, a man named Joseph Edwards was seen walking down the incline,  He was deaf and so didn't hear the rumbling of trams also travelling down the incline behind him.  There was a collision and about an hour later his lifeless body was found on the tramline.  His head had been sliced off and lay nearby.

Joseph was 67 and lived in Cider House near the Mill Tavern.  A look on the 1881 census revealed his occupation was a butcher and before that an agricultural labourer.  He lived with his daughter and son in law, Jane and Evan Pugh and his body was taken there to await an inquest.

We do not know at what point on the incline the accident occurred, how close to Rede Road, how far apart Joseph's body was from his head or how Joseph's remains were transported back to Cider House.  Maybe in one of the trams?  Perhaps the ghostly sound of wheels and footsteps is a replay of that fateful day and Joseph making his final journey home.


If you'd like to read more Cwmbran ghost stories my book is available on Amazon 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Hanbury Arms, Pontypool

-
Image
 This inn has made both local and national newspapers with it's stories of ghostly happenings.  The figure of a man has been seen in the pool room, glasses have smashed by themselves, lights switch on and off by themselves, barrels have split and strange whispers have been heard in the cellar which still has coffins in it. The date of the building is said to be around the 1830's, however it is mentioned in the Cambrian newspaper of 13th January 1821 when an auction took place there,  Also an article from the Monmouthshire Merlin of 6th February 1864 suggests it could be older still.  It reads -  "The numerous public houses or hotels that bear the name of the Hanbury Arms at once attest the popularity of the name, the oldest of which in this district is that occupied by Mr John Joshua, Trosnant, whose grandfather obtained the license for the house from the late John Hanbury Esq, somewhere about eighty years ago, who suggested to him that he should adopt the Hanbu...
Read more

Oakfield Inn - cwmbran

-
Image
  The first mention in old newspapers of the Oakfield Inn was in the  Illustrated Usk Observer of 10 th October 1863 when the Shepherd on the Hill Lodge held their anniversary gathering there. Around a hundred and twenty people sat down to supper provided by the landlord and his wife, Mr and Mrs Williams. Mr T Leadbetter was the chairman for the night and proposed loyal and patriotic toasts while entertainment was provided by harpist William Thomas of Merthyr. Like many pubs in the 19 th century the Oakfield Inn was used as a place to conduct inquests into deaths. Such was the case in June 1866 when Samuel Whittington, a middle aged man employed by Hill and Batt was drowned in the canal by the Halfway Hotel. He was taken out of the water quite quickly and surgeon J.S. Cousins called for but by the time he arrived the man had died. A verdict of accidental drowning was returned. By 1871 the Oakfield had passed to William Bevan, thirty-four. The census of that year ...
Read more