Video about the sad story of the young Emily Phillips who lived at Castle Inn, and court cases against Thomas Williams of Fachddu for child maintenance. Emily died in 1911, aged 25. With thanks to “Bethena” for permission to use this interesting video.
‘A Vision and a Venture‘
These are the English pages from the booklet written by Gwynfor Phillips. This interesting summary of some of the history of Talog highlights the significance of Thomas Thomas who founded the shop and was instrumental in the founding of Bethania Chapel. He and his family died in 1854 after he contracted typhus on a trip to the Lancashire Mills.
Source: Eddie Turner
When Mair Davies left school in Cwmogor, aged 13, she went to live with her aunt and uncle at Pantdwrgns, Talog, living there for 9 years. However, at the funeral of her father she felt she had to help people overseas, and offered herself to the Baptist Missionary Service.
She undertook training in Rhondda, Carmarthen, and London. Mair served as a Baptist missionary in India from 1927 to 1967. She was described as being like Mother Theresa, helping the weak and poorest. Many people of Talog remember her visiting wearing clothes from India, with her adopted daughter, Shontu. She is buried at Bethania Chapel.
Source: Eddie Turner
Talog shop was established in 1836 and in 1851 was run by Thomas Thomas. Several of the Thomas family died in an epidemic in 1854, and the family was nearly wiped out. Thomas Thomas died aged 41; his wife, Margaret, aged 39; a daughter, Mary was 17; and a son, David was 15. Two other children died young in other years; one at only 1 day old, and the other at 7 weeks.
Mr Turner said “Talog Shop was a thriving business. There was a warehouse on Carmarthen Quay where ships used to come into Carmarthen up the river. A railway to Carmarthen was built it 1852 and they had to put in a bridge that opened to allow ships to come in. You can see that bridge now from B&Q. The Thomas family owned or rented the warehouse. Goods came in by boat and were stored there, then brought to Talog.”
This involved using one of the tollgates in Carmarthen which featured in the Rebecca Riots.
In the 1900s Thomas Richard Thomas inherited the shop, and his younger brother, Walter Thomas went to London to work as a shop worker. Their sister lived in Troed y Rhiw, Talog. Walter Thomas returned from working in London to help run the shop, and they called it Thomas Brothers.
Mr Turner has some receipts showing that in 1913, as T.R. Thomas, it was a “Draper, Grocer, Ironmonger, Seed & Manure Merchant”, with “Funerals Completely Furnished”. In 1932 the heading was for “Thomas Bros. Grocers, Drapers and General Merchants”.
Mr Turner said “The shop sold all sorts of items, including fertilisers, feeding stuff – they reckoned you could get anything in Talog. They had their own cow and a field, so they had fresh milk. If you wanted a suit, they would measure you, then you chose the material from a book, the style you wanted, how many pockets you wanted, single breasted or double breasted, and you could have it within a week.”
This practice had ended by the time Mr Turner moved to the village.
Source: Eddie Turner
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