The Welsh Community in Tyldesley 1870

With the opening of the London and North Western Railway line through Tyldesley in 1864 and the extension of deep mining in the following decades, Tyldesley saw the immigration of Welsh miners and their families. Between 1871 and 1891 the population of Tyldesley doubled from 6,408 to 12,891. Some of the newcomers were from the mining districts of the South Wales coalfield. The Census of 1881 shows people from Merthyr, Bridgend , Pontypool, Ebbw Vale, Tredegar and Machen. However most came from North Wales, from the towns and villages of Saltney, Ruabon, Holywell, Ruthin, Brymbo, Llangollen, Abergele, Arnos, Wrexham and many more.

The Welsh brought their religion , language and culture. Chapels were built: in 1878 (a wooden construction on Shuttle Street) and in 1880 the Welsh Baptist 'iron chapel' on Milk Street. Later these were replaced by more permanent places of worship in 1894 and 1903.


Welsh Baptist Chapel, Shuttle St. 1894	Welsh Presbyterian Chapel, Milk St.1903

The Tyldesley Eisteddfod

The Tyldesley Eisteddfod was established and numerous concerts in Welsh and English were recorded in the local press from the 1880's.

"On Saturday evening the Welsh residents of Tyldesley, of whom there are about 500,nearly all of them being miners ........... held an Eisteddfod in the Congregational Schoolroom, Tyldesley. Mr. Dean in opening the meeting, spoke approvingly of the Religious zeal of the Welsh in Tyldesley....... The Rev. B. Jenkins , minister to the Welsh Baptists in Tyldesley, said an Eisteddfod was the Welsh mode of expressing their feelings and desires."

A full account can be found in 'The Welsh Community in Tyldesley 1870-1900' by Stan Smith (published by Tyldesley Historical Society 1999)