Correspondence relating to Mr Merrick, the argicultural tenant of land adjoiningg the Brynmawr Jewish Cemetery, 1979/1981

Description

These letters concern the tenancy of Mr Merrick.

Mr Merrick was the agricultural tenant of the land adjoining the Brynmawr Jewish Cemetery and these letters concern the end of this tenancy. The contents of the letters include the history of rent payments by Mr Merrick and his father, the notice to quit served by The Brynmawr & District Jewish Burial Board, his counter-notice and the Agricultural Land Tribunal. The letters also include photocopies of three receipts which have not been digitised.

Other topics include Joel Lyons's retirement, the sale of the land to the Council and a note on why the Council need the land, as they were said to have been digging graves at the bottom of their own cemetery which had begun to fill up with water during the winter.

The letters in this collection are dated between 7 September 1979 to 15 July 1981 and are written and sent by Anthony Morris, Mr Merrick, Gerald Robinson, Joel Lyons, Digby Turner and Company, and O. Haydn Richards, the Gwent Town Clerk. Although many letters do not have names at the bottom of them, from the contents of previous letters it can be assumed that they are written by Anthony Morris.

Brynmawr Hebrew Congregation was founded in 1889 and the opening of the Brynmawr Synagogue took place in June 1901. The trustees were Barnett Isaacs, pawnbroker; Isaac Isaacs, pawnbroker; Isaac Brest, house furnisher; and Isaac Goldfoot, draper. In 1920, they opened in the Brynmawr Jewish Cemetery. Abel Myers of Abersychan paid for the land purchased from the Brynmawr Urban District Council and conveyed by a document of 23 October 1919 to five men: Abel Myers, pawnbroker, of Abersychan; Jacob Morris, jeweller, of Brynmawr; Isaac Brest, furniture dealer, of Brynmawr; Joel Ballin, draper, of Brynmawr; and Jacob Myers, clothier, of Nantyglo. The land measured 2 acres, 3 roods, and 3 perches, and the cost was £206.

Sources:
'The Jewish Community of Brynmawr, Wales' - Jewish Journal of Sociology: jewishjournalofsociology.org/index.php/jjs/article/download/15/16;
'Brynmawr Hebrew Congregation': https://www.jewishgen.org/jcr-uk/Community/val1_brynmawr/index.htm.

Depository: Gwent Archives.