Dowlais Educational Settlement and the Quaker John Dennithorne, by Christine Trevett

Author: Christine Trevett. Review by David Harries

'It appeals to locals because of its wealth of history; it appeals to Friends as it shows what can be done to relieve distress.' | Photo: Book cover (and detail) of Dowlais Educational Settlement and the Quaker John Dennithorne, by Christine Trevett

Merthyr Tydfil has a long, colourful history. The valley is made up of many distinctive communities, including Treharris (with its Fox, Fell and Penn Streets), through Quakers Yard (with Friends’ burial ground), and on to Aberfan and Dowlais. The area was once famous for iron works and coal mines, but by the 1930s there was huge unemployment and poverty, alongside some bad housing.

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