A visit into the past: Day 5 - the Vicar of Griffithstown

Today’s trip to Newport and Griffithstown (outside Pontypool) was more of an afterthought, intended only to have a quick look at the places where my grandfather, Thomas Powell Davies, became a curate and then a vicar (an unexpected 'career path' for someone with such uncertain and humble origins). Once again, the day turned out to turn up far more ancestry insights than we had ever expected.

The picture of 'TPD' that used to hang in my parents' home

We started by parking outside St. Woolo's in Newport where clerical records show he became curate soon after his ordination in 1918. Flowers had recently been lain outside the cathedral on the anniversary of the death of over twenty Chartists, shot dead by troops in the town in November 1839.

Outside St. Woolo's

We walked the short distance to the house in York Place where the 1921 census shows the Powell-Davies family lived, including my own father, then aged just 10.

56 York Place, Newport 

We then drove to find St. Hilda's, Griffithstown, where my grandfather was the vicar from about 1923 until he retired soon after the war ended. We knew the family had lived in the vicarage, my Dad attending West Monmouth Grammar School in Pontypool, before going to university in Cardiff (at some point also ending up in a sanatorium with TB). 

The Vicarage, next door to the church 

The vicarage turns out to have been a big house! We were told it had two staircases and five bedrooms. An old photo of a family wedding, with St. Hilda's in the immediate background, seems to have been taken in the back garden of the house.

TPD the vicar officiating at his step-sister's wedding

By a chance arrival on a Sunday just after the morning service, we found out a lot more than we would otherwise have done. We met a number of welcoming churchgoers. Richard, the incredibly helpful Treasurer, went out of his way to find what records he could find from that time, starting with some framed drawings above a staircase of previous vicars, including my grandfather.

The "Rogues' Gallery"

Upstairs,  an official board of previous 'incumbents' also included his name (and, here at least, without a hyphen between 'Powell' and 'Davies' we noticed).

The inside of the church (and a very well-heated one at that!) looked familiar from some unlabelled old family photos I found in my Dad's things - but confirmed where they had been taken. 

Inside St. Hilda's 

Richard then invited us into the church hall to look through some of the old annual vestry meeting records and church council minute books.

Just some of the many old records 

These are books that I hope to return to again - this time with some advance warning to Richard - in order to have more time to look through fully. Nevertheless, he kindly allowed me time to read at least some of the parish records, including references to my grandmother, Thomas' wife Isabella, too.

Isabella's name heads this list

The minutes from the wartime years were especially interesting. They record a 1939 discussion on how best to "blackout" the church, especially "if the war were lengthy".

A later discussion of the issues involved with sharing premises with the ARP is distinctly reminiscent of 'Dad's Army' !

A touching find was a note my grandfather had written in the 'record of services' as he was about to retire.

It reads: "so ends 23½ years as Vicar. Memories of failures & disappointments are many, but also memories of joy, work, friends, & church gatherings crowd the canvas too." That's a precious insight into the character of a grandfather who died long before I was born.