Fair View and Llwyn Helig , confusion resolved.

The Society recently received this mail from Mr John Lewis of Hertford, Herts,  who has strong links to the village of Resolven. 

Dear Trefor Jones

 I contacted you by telephone 2 weeks ago and must apologise for taking so long to get back to you. I have been dealing with a medical emergency.

 

I am attaching a letter (pdf file) and an image (jpg file) that I hope you will consider for publication on your excellent website for the Resolven History Society.

 

All the best for now.

 

John Lewis

The contents of the letter are transcribed below.

Dear Trefor Jones,

I am writing to provide further information concerning the two houses on Glynneath Road, on the way to Abergarwed, destroyed by a landslip in 1965. This event was recalled on your website in February 2016 and again in February 2020, when you published a letter by Anne Thorne correctly naming the houses involved  as Llwyn Helig and Fair View, not "Hirwaun cottages" as previously incorrectly reported which was further along the road towards Resolven.

Llwyn Helig was the home of Thomas Llewelyn and his family , and Fair View was the home of my maternal grandparents Sydney and Olive Willett and their family . The houses were built by my grandfather who was skilled in masonry. My grandmother was Thomas Llewelyn's sister and my mother was one of the children raised at Fair View. I visited both houses and stayed at Fair View with my parents for holidays in the 1940s and 50s.

Fortunately a part of the original plans of the two houses drawn on drafting linen has survived and passed down to me through the family. I attach a scanned copy of the front elevation. Llwyn Helig on the left and Fair View on the right. The plans are dated from October 1910 , so the houses would not have been occupied before then. The 1911 Census shows that both families were resident in Company Street, Resolven in April 1911.

I hope the information will be of interest to the readers of your website. Some may remember the houses before they were destroyed in the landslip of 1965.

Kind regards,

John Lewis .

Many thanks to Mr Lewis and Mrs Thorne for clearing this up, once and for all. !!!

Trefor