Skip to content

Places

People

John Davies (1891 – 1965). Master Farrier.
Where did the Anvil First Ring for John Davies, Champion Farrier of Great Britain Five Times?

Mair Davies (1895 – 1970). Baptist missionary, live at Pant Dwrgans, Talog.
Mair Davies, Baptist Missionary

John Harries (). Miller.
John Harries of Talog Mill
Rebecca Riots

John Howell (). Surgeon.
John Howell, 1781 – 1819. Surgeon in East India Company

Jacob Jones (). Land owner. Agreed to rent land for Bethania Chapel
Bethania Chapel
Bethania Chapel Graveyard and Memorial Plaques

Emily Philips (1896 – 1911).
The Affiliation Case of Emily Phillips, Talog. An Edwardian Carmarthenshire scandal

Gwynfor Phillips (). Chapel Deacon and Secretary. Talog Historian
Thomas Thomas – a vision and a venture
Bethania Chapel Graveyard and Memorial Plaques

David Thomas (still living). Talog Resident. Welsh learner of the year 2021 and Gorsedd member (2022) .
David Thomas, Welsh Learner of the Year

Thomas Thomas (). Shopkeeper.
Thomas Thomas – a vision and a venture
Talog Stores
Rebecca Riots
Bethania Chapel Graveyard and Memorial Plaques

Thomas Richard Thomas (), shopkeeper, Talog Stores. In 1914 he lent the Eisteddfod Committee £40 to purchase and store a marquee (approximately equivalent to £11,614.73 in 2021). In 1920 TR Thomas organised transport from Cynwyl Elfed station of the ex-army hut which became YMCA Hall in Talog.
100 Years of Talog Hall

Eddie Turner (still living). Talog Resident. He married Mair Phillips in 1956 and they moved in with his mother-in-law in Talog. Mair’s father, Gomer Phillips, was born in Sarnau, Talog. Her grandfather was a cooper and ran the Castle Inn pub.  Gomer and at least one brother were teetotallers.
He supplied much of the information for the following posts:
100 Years of Talog Hall
Talog Stores
Bethania Chapel
Mair Davies, Baptist Missionary
Rebecca Riots

Gwilym Wilkins (). Chapel Deacon, and conductor of the Bethania Chapel choir.
Bethania Chapel Graveyard and Memorial Plaques

Professor Henry Harford Williams (1931 – 2018). Founding Director of the Open University in Wales. Born in Meidrim, became an eminent scientist, an expert in fish parasitology. He was buried at Bethania Chapel in 2018.
Bethania Chapel Graveyard and Memorial Plaques

Talog Stores

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.

The Early Days
Some early receipts
Thomas Bros with lorries
Talog Stores and Post Office
21st Century – HDG Farm Supplies

Source: Eddie Turner
Photos: