I remember going to a friends house once….
Well, to her grandmothers actually. She lived on Collenna road. She had lived in Tonyrefail all her life and was in her 70’s. This was now 30 years ago, when I was a child. Bored, we were looking for something to do and the lady said, “go over St John’s and look for the tunnels!” We both gave a puzzled expression and this prompted her in to a story…… We told a story of tunnels under the church where the monks would hide together with church gold.
Imagine! An old church, an overgrown cemetary and underneath hidden from everyone.. Tunnels and Gold !!
I think we were too scared to explore that day, but I remember not long afterwards, telling my own Grandmother this story. She was born in 1927. She told me that there was a tunnel between the church and Capel farm where girls who got in to trouble would go to have their babies. My grandmother said she clearly remembered, her family, and other residents of Tonyrefail telling the younger generation, that if they misbehaved they would be taken to the tunnels and put in the Workhouse!
I think this story started my love of history. I have always been fascinated by this type of history and the stories of the older generation. When Tonyrefail history and folklore society was running, I went to see an elderly gent who was then living in Mountain Ash House (the last house and big house at the very top of High Street) behind the graveyard as he had some history of the house to share with me. We got talking and in particular about Capel Farm and the Church. He told me that his grandmother had told him that, there was a tunnel somewhere in the church that was connected to the farm and that young ladies who got pregnant out of wedlock could go to the church service on a Sunday and then stay behind after the service and were then moved to the farm through the tunnels. Their families could then say that they had gone away to work or away to stay with family returning after the baby was born, but he had no information on what happened to the babies. He also told me that there was a tunnel connecting St Johns to the church in Llantrisant and it isn’t far as the crow flies and that monks would hide there with Church gold.
Around the same time, I met up with Walter Jones as he had some very early maps and a census to share with me as part of my folklore research and I mentioned both tunnels to him. Walter told me that he was also aware of these stories and strongly believed them to be true. He said that the foundations and site of the church went back to the 11th century which of course made the church catholic. Walter said when he researched he had found that there were many stories, some documented that the tunnels were made during the time when Henry VIII started to get rid of the Catholic churches and the monks would hide in the tunnels with the churches gold and artefacts when the Kings army came knocking. I believe in the very least there would have been some sort of priest hole, even if it didn’t connect to Llantrisant or Capel Farm Workhouse. Walter said he was also aware of the “work house story” but didn’t have as much info on it.
During my research on this, I have found news paper records from 1850’s to 1910’s that mention Capel Farm Fach Workhouse. This was located in the small row of cottages opposite the church. One day, my husband and I were sat outside the Red Cow having a pint when an older gent asked if he could sit on the end of our bench as there was no other room outside. We got talking and history etc come up as he said he has been local all his life. I was explaining to him about the story I had heard recently about St Johns and Capel Farm.
He told me that he had been part of the team that demolished the farm building and that the building had huge and extensive cellars and that some were not part of the original build and seem to have been dug in after its original build. He said from what he saw there he believed that the story if the Farm having a tunnel connecting to the church and the farm being a work house was totally believable and probable in his opinion, due to the number of rooms and overall size below the farm.
By A Spooner
