Scenes at Bryn-Hafod – good, bad and indifferent

From the collection of

Archif Sgrin a Sain Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru / National Library of Wales Screen and Sound Archive
Established in 2001, the National Library of Wales Screen and Sound Archive holds an unrivalled collection of films, TV and radio broadcasts, video tapes and sound recordings relating to Wales and the Welsh, from 1898 to the present day. The collection spans multiples formats and genres, both professional and amateur.

Scenes at Bryn-Hafod – good, bad and indifferent


The Merrett girls, bitten by the bug, dance the Charleston, dogs swing, Mrs Merrett putts and a small boy goes head-over-heels!

The family of Cardiff industrialist Herbert Henry Merrett get the craze for the Charleston dance – even the dogs get into the swing! Mrs Merrett practises putting on the lawn and a young friend – John Campbell – demonstrates his talent for head-over-heeling. Chickens are fed by O'Driscoll and Haycroft girls on Barry Island, and winter conditions provide a chance for all to test their feet on the ice (probably at Llandaf Fields, Cardiff).

Herbert Henry Merrett (1886-1959) started work at the age of 13 in the Cardiff docks offices of the Cory Bros. and became Chair of Powell Dyffryn coal company, receiving a knighthood in 1950 and being made a 'Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur' in 1957 in appreciation of the links he forged with France/Europe. He married Marion Higgins and they had 3 children: Norman, Joan and Margaret. They lived at Bryn Hafod, Pwllmelin Road, Llandaf, Cardiff, 1927-1939, during which time he purchased a house (built c.1805) in nearby Michaelston-le-Pit that he had at once demolished and in its place a neo-Georgian mansion built – 'Cwrt-yr-Ala - designed by architect Percy Edward Thomas, into which the family moved in 1940.


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