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History - The Kenfig CommunityHistory of Pyle |
The Pyle Inn
(built c.1786) An 18th Century Coaching Inn
The Beginning
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Built as a
Coaching Inn, the
date the Pyle Inn opened its doors has never been established, however, the man responsible for its possible
design and construction was a William Gubbins [1] who possbily lived
in the Pyle area as Parish records show that his daughter was christened at the church on 01 January 1787.
Entries on the expenditure of the inn's construction appear in the Margam Estate's annual accounts of 1788
beginning with the cost of digging out the cellars and foundations. The accounts of 1791 show that the works
were nearing completion - there is a record of a payment for the laying of a gravel road to connect the inn with
the main highway.
It would appear that the inn was completed and was operational by the end of 1791. Correspondence in the form
of a letter to Thomas Mansel Talbot of Margam & Penrice by a close friend outlined his planned holiday to Tenby, stopping
at Pyle enroute. The letter dated 24 August 1790, advises that 'The inn at Pyle is very small - don't forget to
write to Marment the innholder for beds etc. as soon as you can fix on what day you mean to be there'.
Accomodation & Facilities
The inn was built in the simple unadorned
Georgian style
common to the mansion houses of the day. To the right of the main building (as viewed from the front) was an 'L-shaped'
sinlge storey wing containing stables - more stables were located in a detached range alongside the road leading towards
y olde wine house known locally as the 'Tap'. These acilities provided up
to forty horses and an unknown number of wagons/carriages.
The west wing was balanced by another range on the left or eastern side of the main building, this is clearly
shown on an Ordnance Survey map of 1875 - it is believed this section of the inn contained the laundry.
Plans were made of the interior of the old inn in 1954 (shortly before its demolition), in its latter days
the inn had served as a block of flats for over ½ century. The three floors of the inn were laid out in identical
fashion with central corridors running the length of the building and rooms on either side.
On the first and second floors there were 10 rooms in all (five either side) each with a window acing out to front or rear.
Those at the front were 16 feet long from corridor to outer wall and 12-15 feet wide. The rooms to the rear were slightly
smaller, identical in length but only 9-12 feet wide.
The main staircase rose through the building between the first and second rooms at the eastern end. Another staircase
connected the western ends of the corridors for use of servants and staff.
There were four rooms at the front of the ground floor, two on either side of the entrance lobby connecting
the corridor with the front door. The westernmost of these rooms had a staircase connecting with the room immediately above.
One of the most important rooms lay centrally placed at the back of the house - originally a single room
some 20 feet long, a plan of 1954 shows it was was divided up into smaller rooms connected by a passageway.
Richard Warner (Second Walk Through Wales, 1798) outlines that there were 40 beds available at the inn.
A garden was laid out behind the building - an Ordnance Survey map of 1775 shows this had been laid out
in the abandoned quarry where the present Longlands Close now stands.
Additional Usage of the Inn
As well as catering for the travelling public the inn was also used as a convenient place for meetings of various
County bodies. At a meeting of Justices of the Peace and Commissioners of the Land Tax at Pyle on 24 January 1782 some
people from Llangynwyd attempted to petition the magistrates on behalf of men arrested or looting a wreck at Sker
a few weeks earlier - they claimed their protest was intended to be peaceful but the authorities believed otherwise
and two ringleaders were arrested and tried at Neath.
The appointment of the First Chief Constable for Glamorgan, Capt. Charles Napier was confirmed at Quarter
Sessions at Pyle Inn on 11 August 1841.
Local Folklore
There is a local story assosiated with the inn which falls into the realms of local folklore - there is supposedly
an underground passage connecting the Pyle Inn with Margam House some two miles distant.
Alongside the lack of motive for such an expensive feat of engineering is the fact that Thomas Mansel Talbot
was in the process of demolishing his house at Margam when the Pyle Inn was being built. It is thought that the elusive
tunnel was no more than an old sewer built to service the inn towards the nearby river Kenfig.
The Inn Keepers
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James Marment c.1790
The 1st keeper of Pyle Inn. He was an enterprising character, in 1794 he obtained a lease from Evan
Evans of Tythegston on a barn and 19 acres of land at Pyle known as Tir Catherine Leyson. The minute book of the
Burgesses of Kenfig indicate he also had an interest in land adjoining Cornelly Cross. In 1787 he filled in one of
the boundary ditches with stones resulting in a complaint from his neighbour to the Court Leet resulting in his being
ordered to remove them within a week.
When the 'Caterina' was wrecked at Sker in the latter days of 1781 he apparently formed a consortium to buy and
salvage the wreck. The Pyle Inn prospered under the management of Marment and aquired an enviable reputation from travellers
amongst whom it is claimed was the naval hero Admiral Lord Nelson.
Morgan Morgan c.1810
Very little is known about Morgan Morgan however the inn was given a facelift
during his tenancy where works continued into 1815 with the inn being closed for 7 weeks. In 1818
Lewis Weston Dillwyn
of Swansea met the Kenfig burgesses to be elected a Member of Parliament. Morgan Morgan died in October
1828 at the Medic Hall in Swansea aged 54. His wife Margaret had died 5 years earlier - they are both buried
in Pyle churchyard.
John Simpson
During his time at Pyle Inn, John Simpson would have met many of the most notable people of his day.
In 1825 Thomas Telford
presented his proposals for the improvement of the main highway through Glamorgan. In 1841 Frederick Napier
was appointed the 1st Chief Constable of the newly formed Glamorgan Constabulary.
In 1845 Pyle Inn was the venue or the inaugural meeting of the local Roads Board (appointed to replace
the Turnpike Trust)
and oversee the dismantling of the hated toll gates.
Between 1849-50 the great engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel
stayed at the Pyle Inn to supervise the laying of the main railway line through the district.
Mrs Evans (former housekeeper to John Simpson)
When John Simpson died his former housekeeper took over the running of the business. With the death of John Simpson
in 1886 the inn's liquor licence was taken away and the inn closed its doors for the last time. In 1896 the inn was
converted into flats with the entire premises being completely demolished in 1959.
End of an Era
Introduction of the Railways
The old coachmen called the railway train 'the whistling steam kettle' - this new mode of transport
finally drove the stagecoach companies out of business and trade at the Pyle Inn dwindled. John Simpson refused
to let his business die and maintained high standards to the last.
Footnote - Reference:
(1) - William Gubbins was the master mason involved with the building of Thomas Mansel Talbot's tomb and the
Orangery at Margam. He died on 01 May 1823 aged 81 and is buried at Margam Abbey - he lived in Cefn Cribbwr at the time
of his death. (Mumbles Marble & Margam
Neath Port Talbot County Brough Council) - the land on which the Pyle Inn was built was belonging to the Margam Estate
and as William Gubbins was the master mason here it would be plausible to say that he might have been involved with the
inn's design and construction, Rob Bowen, Kenfig.org LCG.
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HISTORY |
WAR YEARS |
COMMUNITY |
FOLKLORE |
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OLD PHOTOGRAPHS |
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1790 - Arrest of Innkeeper
In 1790 the innkeeper was arrested for debt and carted off to prison - as the keeper of a posting inn, the innkeeper
was responsible or collecting a certain amount of duty money in respect of every horse he hired out; the money
was then paid by him to the agents of a contractor who had an agreement with the Government to collect it.
In 1785-6 the amount of duty was increased by Act of Parliament but the innkeeper continued to charge his customers
at the former rate.
When the case came to court in 1790 it was heard by
The Court of the King's Bench
- this was the highest court in the realm other than Parliament itself, the Margam documents specifically state that
King George III was present
at the hearing even though the innkeeper wasn't. The innkeeper was sent to
Marshalsea Prison.
The Bench ordered the case be heard by an English jury in the nearest English County to Glamorgan - the contractors
then decided against proceeding with the matter further; by July the innkeeper was back in Pyle.
Patrons who stayed at the Inn
Most of those who stayed at the inn were gentry or business people. In 1805
Richard Fenton stopped there for
breakfast and afterwards noted in his diary that he had been charged 1s.6d for tea - at this time tea was a luxury item.
Thomas SkellOn 28 December 1806, Thomas Skell arrived at the Pyle Inn; a native of Laugharne he was not from the upper
echelons of society and was merely a private in the
Somerset Militia.
Skell noted that the staff at Pyle 'were very sivel to us' and that 'we was charged very resenably for everything we
coald for'.
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Rev. John SkinnerThe
Rev. John Skinner
(A Journal of a Tour of Wales, 1800) was loud in his praises for the inn. He declared 'A house of entertainment
in respect of situation and the attention of its occupiers, by far superior to any we have met with in the country'.
the same writer wrote, 'The house in summertime is continually filled with company staying here for weeks together
to enjoy the beauties and conveniences of the situation', 'we ourselves' he added, 'much wished to have prolonged our stay
for some days, but having so much on our hands, we were under the necessity of leaving it after breakfast next morning'.
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