Baptised in a Canal
In 1936, eight-year-old William Forward travelled with his family and fellow Saints to the cottage of Charles Jones, located close to the Monmouthshire and Brecon canal at Llanover (in the Usk Valley, Brecon Beacons National Park).
From their Varteg home, they headed east descending the valley side down the Snail Creep, to Cwmavon (Pontypool), then walked up the other side to Llanover Road, and crossed fields and trod lanes until they arrived at the Goose and Cuckoo pub (near Llanover) where they took a break with lemonade.
Refreshed, they continued to the Jones’ cottage, adjacent to the Pantglas Mill on Gwenffrwd Brook. William and his cousin Glyn changed their clothing in the mill to prepare for their baptism.
The boys then walked up the farmer’s field and across the canal bridge to join the Saints for the baptismal service, before going down into the canal for their baptisms. William was baptised, then Glyn. They were confirmed in the Jones’ home. Following the service, the company made their way home to Varteg the way they had come, a ten-mile round trip.
It was not only the two cousins who were baptised at this location. Church records list 57 members who were baptized there from the early 1900s over a period of about thirty years. The Jones family were among this number. So too were many of William’s family, including his mother, Ivy, and father, Charles Forward, who were baptised by Charles’ uncle.
Modern chapels now have their own baptismal fonts, so a trip like the one Willian and family took to the Monmouthshire and Brecon canal for baptisms, is an experience of bygone years. William Forward, who is 94, is the last living survivor of that era.
The canal, at this location near the Pantglas Mill, is a special place where one can take in the quiet, beautiful setting, and envisage and celebrate the baptisms of those that have gone before.