August 23rd 1856 – Mamhilad Sheep Stealing
On the 1st instant three fat sheep were stolen from the flock of Mr John Lewis, and on the 14th nine sheep belonging to Mr John Phillips of Goytre were also stolen.
In each instance the sheep were traced to the mountain, in the direction of Blaenavon.
September 11th 1858 – Goytrey Sunday School
On the 1st inst. At the house of Richard Pruett (Woodland Cottage, Pengroesoped) the children of Goytre Infants Sunday school in number about 30, were liberally treated to tea and cake.
This treat was not a little appreciated by the happy band of children on the occasion.
Mr and Miss Smith were present.
November 6th. – Mr Morgan sudden death – previously of Mellin Coed
Sudden death at Glascoed – On Friday evening as Mr Morgan, a farmer of this place and who formerly farmed at Melin Coed Goytrey, was returning from the fair, he dismounted near Mr Davis Williams, Monkswood.
In attempting to get on horseback he fell and died in the course of a few minutes. After the body was discovered and conveyed to the Beaufort Arms.
The deceased was doubtless attained with apoplexy.
September 5th, 1873.
(To the Editor of the Monmouthshire Merlin.)
Sir—-The statements made in various newspapers,–respecting the closing up of a small reservoir in my field on, the Walnut Tree Farm in this parish, are so, inaccurate that I shall feel obliged by your printing the enclosed letters in your next, as they appeared in the Western MaiI of the 1st instant.
Yours truly, THOMAS EVANS.
(To the Editor of the Western Mail.)
SIR,—The account given by your Pontypool reporter of the so-called well in the middle of my field, and closed by me, is so inconsistent with fact that you will oblige by inserting the subjoined letter, addressed by me last week to the Pontypool Free Press, in which, the facts of the case are clearly stated.
The supply of water in my well in the wood, and near the road, has been tested, and the yield from the springs is two gallons in five minutes. One side is gravelly, therefore the water does not always run away, but soaks through the gravel.
On Wednesday next, at four p.m., my servant will empty the well of its waters once more, so as to give an opportunity to anyone who may be incredulous of seeing with his own eyes how pure and ample is the supply of water from the several springs in the well, which is fed by no drains.
If you will kindly send a reporter to the spot, either from Cardiff or Pontypool, I will pay his fare to and fro, and he will be able to decide whether or not “it is a hollow, filled with dead surface water,” or a real spring of pure water.
On Friday last my servant caught a boy of Louisa Wait’s, and a girl of the railway labourer, John Collins, John Williams’s tenant, in the act of stirring the water to make it muddy, having first filled their cans with clear water.
Since an attempt was made last month for the first time in the history of the property, to trump up a prescriptive right to the reservoir in my field (which I am prepared to disprove) the water in this well has been systematically troubled, and the offenders have been found out at last.
It is not true that I have any quarrel with the inhabitants of my parish, but a small number of them connected with the British school have been led on by John Williams and Louisa Wait, to make it a party question, and to stir up strife.
Yours truly,
THOMAS EVANS, Rector of Goytrey.
Nantyderry House, August 18.
(To the Editor of the Free Press.)
SIR,–l have neither leisure nor inclination for controversy with persons who deal simply in reckless assertions, utterly devoid of truth. The facts with regard to my wells are simple enough. I have cleared out a well, at my own expense, for the accommodation of my neighbours (for whom, by-the-bye, I am in no way compelled to provide), and here there is an ample supply. Not content with this, one or two of them, for reasons best known to themselves, covet access to a more distant reservoir, situate in the middle of one of my fields, and fed by my own drains. Even here I was willing to act kindly and grant permission to those who sought it, to make use of these waters. But when a certain Mrs. Wait, backud by her friend, Mr. John Williams, boldly trespassed upon my property and asserted a right to transgress without my permission, no course was left to me but to vindicate my title by closing the well altogether. If my right is really disputed, let it be tried in the usual way but if the lowest class in the neighbourhood, led on by those who should know better, attack my property in an unlawful way, punishment will overtake them sooner or later. As to the attacks directed against my kindly dealing in the parish and neighbourhood, nobody knows better that they are unfounded than John Williams himself, except, indeed, those abettors of higher station, who keep themselves prudently in the background.
Yours, &c.,
THOMAS EVANS, Rector of Goytrey.
Nantyderry, August 20.
(Note: More details regarding this altercation can be viewed here)