Crug glas is roughly 'Green Hill' and it was in the Greenhill area of
Swansea on a hill looking across the valley of the Burlais Brook to the
Hafod.
My understanding is that Crug Glas was a Welsh Calvinistic Methodist chapel.
Calvinistic Methodists are now the Presbyterian Church of Wales.
http://www.ebcpcw.org.uk/en/connexion/hanes-e.htm
Where did your ancestors live? The state of most graveyards in Central
Swansea was overcrowded by mid-1850s and the Danygraig Municipal Cemetery
was opened in late 1850s, when there was some wrangling with the Bishop of
St David's over payments to the Vicar of Swansea. Except for a limited
number of family tombs, burials at St Mary's and St John's had ceased by
1860.
Danygraig was on the East Side of the river Tawe, beyond St Thomas.
Therefore people on the west side of the river (maybe 90% of population) had
to pay tolls to cross the bridges run by the Swansea Harbour Trust, in order
to get there. This may perhaps have been a reason for the cost of burial
there having been higher, and of course relatives wishing to continue to
visit the grave would look forward to continuing toll payments, and about a
mile walk mainly uphill on the other side.
In 1859 Danygraig was still only a few years old and may have been viewed
with suspicion. Problems with drainage, connected with old collieries
underneath, may not have emerged until several years later.
If Crug Glas was close to where they lived, or if they already had relatives
buried there, or burial there was cheaper or more convenient, they may have
chosen it. We may never know.
If you look at
www.swansea.gov.uk/cambrian and search 'Danygraig' or for
'Dan-y-graig' under 'Health and Welfare' (which is where cemeteries turn
up
in the Cambrian Index) you will find a part of the story. The cemetery
opened on 1st January 1857. It was 1st January 1858 before the Bishop agreed
to consecrate part of Danygraig cemetery. Search on 'Bishop' at dates 1856
to 1859. The report of the consecration was in the issue of 8th January
1858. A search on 'Cemetery' from about 1850 shows that the chapel at
Danygraig may not have been opened until 1864. There is also illuminating
information from W.H.Michael, a doctor, in the early 1850s on the subject of
burial grounds in Swansea.
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/GLA/Swansea/Chapels.html#Cemetery refers to
Crug-glas cemetery. See also the entry on Crug-glas in the chapels database
further up the page.
I may have rambled from the topic, but municipal decision-making processes
in mid-19th-century Swansea can be fascinating reading.
There is very little in the 'Cambrian', an English-language newspaper, about
any Welsh-medium chapels.
Jeff
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ellie Thomas" <ellie.thomas(a)ntlworld.com>
To: <glamorgan(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2008 4:32 PM
Subject: [GLA] Crug glas cemetery, Swansea
Hi List,
I have 2 daft-ish questions I'd like to ask, please.
First daft question: does anyone know whether Crug glas cemetery was a
multi-denominational burying ground in the 1860s? My 4xgreat grandparents
were buried there in 1860 and 1861, and from what I can see on the
internet
it seems to be a Methodist burial ground. So far as I knew John &
Elizabeth
followed the Established church - certainly they baptised their babies at
local parish churches.
Second daft question: can anyone tell me what Crug glas means?
Thanks,
Regards,
Ellie Thomas