A sad and lonely journey, Cefn Golau, Tredegar

Image: © Robin Drayton Taken: 20 Jul 2013

David and Ann Williams The inscription on this statue reads: "David and Ann Williams of No 7. Heater's Row, Tredegar are shown carrying the dead body of their infant son, John, for burial towards Cefn Golau Cemetery. John died of cholera, a fatal disease caused by drinking polluted water, which swept through Tredegar in 1849 claiming 203 lives. John's weather worn gravestone at the cholera cemetery reads: 'Er cofarwydd am John, mab David ac Ann Williams, o Dredegar, yr hwn a fu farw Medi 13 1849 yn 4 mlwydd a 2 fis oed' (In memory of John, son of David and Ann Williams of Tredegar who died 13th September 1849 aged 4 years and 2 months old). "In 1884, Evan Powell's History of Tredegar reported that, 'In August, 1849, another visitation of cholera was at our doors...in less than a month there was scarcely a street in the town that had not been visited by the king of terrors. The death rate rose so rapidly, the fatal cases were so numerous, and the symptoms so terrible, that the doctors were completely bewildered. When a funeral procession proceeded towards the cemetery, doors were closed, passers-by hurried out of sight, and scarcely sufficient number in many cases were found to convey the victims to their resting places.'" For a picture of the cemetery see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/498760 .

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