Charles III
89-556: 51°37′N 3°39′W / 51.61°N 3.65°W / 51.61; -3.65 Maesteg ( / ˈ m aɪ ˌ s t ɛ ɡ / Welsh pronunciation ) is a town and community in Bridgend County Borough , Wales . Maesteg lies at the northernmost end of the Llynfi Valley , close to the border with Neath Port Talbot . In 2011, Maesteg had a population of 20,612. The English translation of Maesteg
178-488: A Civil List pension of £300 a year. Following the death of Robert Southey in 1843, Wordsworth became Poet Laureate . He initially refused the honour, saying that he was too old, but accepted when the Prime Minister, Robert Peel , assured him that "you shall have nothing required of you". Wordsworth thus became the only poet laureate to write no official verses. The sudden death of his daughter Dora in 1847 at age 42
267-418: A character in works of fiction, including: Isaac Asimov 's 1966 novelisation of the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage sees Dr. Peter Duval quoting Wordsworth's The Prelude as the miniaturised submarine sails through the cerebral fluid surrounding a human brain, comparing it to the "strange seas of thought". Taylor Swift 's 2020 album Folklore mentions Wordsworth in her bonus track " The Lakes ", which
356-406: A few miles above Tintern Abbey " have been a source of critical debate. It was long supposed that Wordsworth relied chiefly on Coleridge for philosophical guidance. However, scholars have recently suggested that Wordsworth's ideas may have been formed years before he and Coleridge became friends in the mid-1790s. In particular, while he was in revolutionary Paris in 1792, the 22-year-old Wordsworth met
445-612: A free weekly, printed in Cowbridge , and The Llynfi News , a free monthly paper, based in Maesteg. Maesteg is home to Maesteg Park A.F.C. an association football team founded in 1945 and affiliated to the Football Association of Wales . There are four Welsh Rugby Union teams in Maesteg. The oldest is Maesteg RFC , founded in 1877, while Maesteg Harlequins RFC was formed in the 1920s. Other rugby union teams from
534-653: A larger work called The Recluse . In 1804, he began expanding this autobiographical work, having decided to make it a prologue rather than an appendix. He completed this work, now generally referred to as the first version of The Prelude , in 1805, but refused to publish such a personal work until he had completed the whole of The Recluse . The death of his brother John, also in 1805, affected him strongly and may have influenced his decisions about these works. Wordsworth's philosophical allegiances, as articulated in The Prelude and in such shorter works as " Lines written
623-471: A majority of Labour members for over forty years. Following mass resignations from the local Labour Party as a result of an internal row over candidate selections, several Councillors resigned from the party and now sit as independents. The make-up of the council as of June 2019 is 9 Labour and 8 Llynfi Independents members. The largest religion in the valley is Christianity; the majority of denominations are Nonconformist . There are many churches and chapels in
712-680: A new site, at a cost of £17,000,000. The Welsh-medium Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Llangynwyd then relocated to the former school's previous premises. The pupils of St. Mary's and St. Patrick's pursue their secondary education in Archbishop McGrath Catholic Comprehensive School, located in Brackla , a few miles to the south. Maesteg Town Council has seventeen representatives covering the four electoral wards of Maesteg East (5), Maesteg West (5), Nantyffyllon (3) and Caerau (4). Until recently, there had been
801-420: A poetic Prospectus to The Recluse in which he laid out the structure and intention of the whole work. The Prospectus contains some of Wordsworth's most famous lines on the relation between the human mind and nature: ... my voice proclaims How exquisitely the individual Mind (And
890-468: A population of 21,000. Before the development of industry in the 1820s, the Llynfi Valley was a sparsely populated area of scattered farms. The nearest settlement was the village of Llangynwyd , located on the hillside about two miles south of the present-day town centre of Maesteg. Close to Llangynwyd is an extensive earthwork known as Y Bwlwarcau ("the bulwarks"), an Iron Age enclosure that
979-509: A rustic, woodland air, And she was wildly clad; Her eyes were fair, and very fair; - Her beauty made me glad. “Sisters and brothers, little maid, How many may you be?” “How many? Seven in all,” she said, And wondering looked at me. “And where are they? I pray you tell.” She answered, “Seven are we; And two of us at Conway dwell, And two are gone to sea; “Two of us in
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#17327719418991068-651: A site now largely occupied by the Tesco store and car park. The works, which became known as the Llynfi Ironworks (or "The New Works"), was started by the unsuccessful Cambrian Iron and Spelter Company and was bought by the ambitious Llynvi Iron Company in 1845. The Cornstores section of the Maesteg Sports Centre and the adjoining base of a blast furnace remain as links to the Llynfi Works and
1157-628: A verse tragedy set during the reign of King Henry III of England , when Englishmen in the North Country came into conflict with Scottish border reivers . He attempted to get the play staged in November 1797. However, it was rejected by Thomas Harris , the manager of the Covent Garden Theatre , who proclaimed it "impossible that the play should succeed in the representation". The rebuff was not received lightly by Wordsworth, and
1246-502: A writer in 1787 when he published a sonnet in The European Magazine . That same year he began attending St John's College, Cambridge . He received his BA degree in 1791. He returned to Hawkshead for the first two summers of his time at Cambridge and often spent later holidays on walking tours , visiting places famous for the beauty of their landscape . In 1790, he went on a walking tour of Europe, during which he toured
1335-542: Is Maesteg ; the other two stations are the most recently built Maesteg (Ewenny Road) , and Garth station which serves the Garth and Cwmfelin villages situated just outside Maesteg. The Rail linc bus service used to replace a withdrawn rail service from Maesteg to Caerau , but it was removed in January 2012 due to council cutbacks. In the past, there were other railway stations in Maesteg. Llangynwyd Station used to lie on
1424-411: Is 'fair field'. Historically a part of Glamorgan , the growth of the town started with the opening of ironworks in the 1820s and 1830s. Once a coal mining area, the last pit closed in 1985. With the decline of the coal industry and, more recently, the closure of one large factory producing cosmetics and another manufacturing vehicle components, the valley has become a residential/dormitory area for
1513-410: Is a Welsh-speaking minority. The 2011 census reported that 11% of people over the age of 3 spoke Welsh. However, there were large discrepancies between age groups. 27.9% of 3-15 year olds spoke Welsh, 8.6% of 16-64 year olds spoke Welsh, and the lowest proportion was among the over 65s at 5.3%. Primary and secondary education is available through the medium of Welsh, there are Welsh-language chapels, and
1602-664: Is a division of land in Wales that forms the lowest tier of local government in Wales . Welsh communities are analogous to civil parishes in England but, unlike English parishes, communities cover the whole of Wales. There are 878 communities in Wales. Until 1974 Wales was divided into civil parishes . These were abolished by section 20 (6) of the Local Government Act 1972 , and replaced by communities by section 27 of
1691-501: Is generally considered to be The Prelude , a semi-autobiographical poem of his early years that he revised and expanded a number of times. It was posthumously titled and published by his wife in the year of his death, before which it was generally known as "The Poem to Coleridge". Wordsworth was Poet Laureate from 1843 until his death from pleurisy on 23 April 1850. He remains one of the most recognizable names in English poetry and
1780-678: Is probably a remnant of the earliest settlement in the Llynfi district. During the Middle Ages , the valley was part of Tir Iarll (the Earl's Land), an area "famous for its game coverts, its woods and sparkling streams" that was set aside as a hunting reserve by Robert Fitzhamon , Earl of Gloucester, the Norman conqueror of Glamorgan. Up to the 18th century, many of the farms of the Llynfi Valley were centres of local culture. For example, Llwydarth,
1869-469: Is the last green field That Lucy's eyes surveyed. Wordsworth, Dorothy, and Coleridge travelled to Germany in the autumn of 1798. While Coleridge was intellectually stimulated by the journey, its main effect on Wordsworth was to produce homesickness. During the harsh winter of 1798–99, Wordsworth lived with Dorothy in Goslar , and, despite extreme stress and loneliness, began work on
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#17327719418991958-460: Is the most successful MVC in the Llynfi Valley and Bridgend County Borough Council area. There is also a women's choir: Harmony Ladies Choir. There are two mixed groups, Noteworthy Choir and Take Note contemporary vocal group. Maesteg Musical Theatre Society (previously Maesteg Amateur Operatic Society) is a multi-award winning society which performs a musical and concert every year in Maesteg. Maesteg Children's Choir hosts many concerts throughout
2047-642: Is thought to be about the Lake District . In April 2020, the Royal Mail issued a series of postage stamps to mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Wordsworth. Ten 1st class stamps were issued featuring Wordsworth and all the major British Romantic poets, including William Blake , John Keats , Lord Byron , Samuel Taylor Coleridge , Percy Bysshe Shelley and Walter Scott . Each stamp included an extract from one of their most popular and enduring works, with Wordsworth's " The Rainbow " selected for
2136-512: The Alps extensively and visited nearby areas of France, Switzerland, and Italy. In November 1791, Wordsworth visited Revolutionary France and became enchanted with the Republican movement. He fell in love with a French woman, Annette Vallon, who, in 1792, gave birth to their daughter Caroline. Financial problems and Britain 's tense relations with France forced him to return to England alone
2225-627: The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 and the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011 . William Wordsworth This is an accepted version of this page William Wordsworth (7 April 1770 – 23 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge , helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication Lyrical Ballads (1798). Wordsworth's magnum opus
2314-535: The Peace of Amiens again allowing travel to France, in 1802, Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy visited Annette and Caroline in Calais . The purpose of the visit was to prepare Annette for the fact of his forthcoming marriage to Mary Hutchinson. Afterwards, he wrote the sonnet " It is a beauteous evening, calm and free ", recalling a seaside walk with the nine-year-old Caroline, whom he had never seen before that visit. Mary
2403-640: The Rhineland together. Dorothy suffered from a severe illness in 1829 that rendered her an invalid for the remainder of her life. Coleridge and Charles Lamb both died in 1834, their loss being a difficult blow to Wordsworth. The following year saw the passing of James Hogg . Despite the death of many contemporaries, the popularity of his poetry ensured a steady stream of young friends and admirers to replace those he lost. Wordsworth's youthful political radicalism, unlike Coleridge's, never led him to rebel against his religious upbringing. He remarked in 1812 that he
2492-520: The University of Durham . The following year he was awarded the same honorary degree by the University of Oxford, when John Keble praised him as the "poet of humanity", praise greatly appreciated by Wordsworth. (It has been argued that Wordsworth was a significant influence on Keble's immensely popular book of devotional poetry, The Christian Year (1827). ) In 1842, the government awarded him
2581-520: The Ancient Mariner ". The second edition, published in 1800, had only Wordsworth listed as the author and included a preface to the poems. It was augmented significantly in the next edition, published in 1802. In this preface, which some scholars consider a central work of Romantic literary theory, Wordsworth discusses what he sees as the elements of a new type of verse, one that is based on the ordinary language "really used by men" while avoiding
2670-479: The Crown . In Wales, all town councils are community councils. There are now three communities with city status: Bangor , St Asaph and St Davids . The chair of a town council or city council will usually have the title mayor (Welsh: maer ). However, not every community has a council. In communities with populations too small to sustain a full community council, community meetings may be established. The communities in
2759-576: The Lake District. This was the immediate cause of the brother and sister's settling at Dove Cottage in Grasmere in the Lake District, this time with another poet, Robert Southey , nearby. Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey came to be known as the " Lake Poets ". Throughout this period, many of Wordsworth's poems revolved around themes of death, endurance, separation and grief. In 1802, Lowther's heir, William Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale , paid
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2848-508: The Maesteg area, several of which have been converted into flats because they are no longer used for religious purposes. There is a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses in one of Maesteg's villages, Nantyffyllon. Maesteg has a tradition of music and theatre, including a rich tradition of singing. At present, there are two male voice choirs – Cor Meibion Maesteg A'r Cylch (Maesteg and District Male Voice Choir) and Maesteg Gleemen Male Voice Choir. Regarding competitions and awards, Maesteg Gleemen
2937-458: The Maesteg line a few miles east of where Garth Station is today, and Maesteg (Neath Road) was on the old Port Talbot Railway Line, but these are now closed. The original Maesteg station was situated a few yards west of the terminus that is there today. Remains of the original station remain behind the Asda supermarket, including the platforms and the bridge joining the two platforms. The old track
3026-667: The Opposition Andrew RT Davies MS ( C ) Shadow Cabinet ( current ) Prime Minister Rt Hon Keir Starmer MP ( L ) Secretary of State for Wales Rt Hon Jo Stevens MP (L) Principal councils ( leader list ) Corporate Joint Committees Local twinning see also: Regional terms and Regional economy United Kingdom Parliament elections European Parliament elections (1979–2020) Local elections Police and crime commissioner elections Referendums A community ( Welsh : cymuned )
3115-526: The Pastor, who dominates the last third of the poem. Behler has pointed out the fact that Wordsworth wanted to invoke the basic feeling that a human heart possesses and expresses. He had reversed the philosophical standpoint expressed by his friend S. T. Coleridge , of 'creating the characters in such an environment so that the public feels them belonging to the distant place and time'. And this philosophical realisation by Wordsworth indeed allowed him to choose
3204-472: The Port Talbot, Bridgend and Cardiff journey to work areas. 11% (1,867 out of 20,702) of the town's population speak Welsh with 27.9% of 3-15 year olds speaking the language. It is one of the few areas of Wales where the traditional Mari Lwyd is still celebrated during Christmas. The community of Maesteg had a population of 17,580 in the 2011 census and includes Nantyffyllon . The built-up area having
3293-568: The area include Nantyffyllon RFC and Maesteg Celtic RFC . For a time, Maesteg was also home to the now-defunct rugby league team South Wales Scorpions . The town is home to two cricket clubs. Maesteg Cricket Club was founded in 1846 and won the South Wales Cricket Association League Cup in 2016. Maesteg Celtic Cricket Club is based at Garth Welfare Park; they have won the Welsh Cup three times and
3382-628: The autobiographical piece that was later titled The Prelude . He wrote several other famous poems in Goslar, including " The Lucy poems ". In the Autumn of 1799, Wordsworth and his sister returned to England and visited the Hutchinson family at Sockburn. When Coleridge arrived back in England, he travelled to the North with their publisher, Joseph Cottle, to meet Wordsworth and undertake a proposed tour of
3471-558: The buoyant coal industry and the success of the new factories during the years 1950–75, the population of Maesteg and district stabilised at about 20,000, roughly the figure today. With the creation of more jobs in the Bridgend and Port Talbot districts, the Llynfi Valley gradually became a residential area, a process which speeded up with the terminal decline of the coal industry during the period 1977 to 1985. Llynfi Valley metal-working centres Llynfi Valley collieries Maesteg Market
3560-570: The churchyard lie, My sister and my brother; And, in the churchyard cottage, I Dwell near them with my mother.” “My stockings there I often knit; My kerchief there I hem; And there upon the ground I sit, And sing a song to them. “And often after sunset, sir, When it is light and fair, I take my little porringer, And eat my supper there. “How many are you, then,” said I, “If they two are in heaven?” Quick
3649-575: The collections An Evening Walk and Descriptive Sketches . In 1795, he received a legacy of £900 from Raisley Calvert and was able to pursue a career as a poet. It was also in 1795 that he met Samuel Taylor Coleridge in Somerset. The two poets quickly developed a close friendship. For two years from 1795, William and his sister Dorothy lived at Racedown House in Dorset—a property of the Pinney family—to
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3738-772: The community boundaries within their area every fifteen years. The councils propose changes to the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales , which prepares a report and makes recommendations to the Welsh Government . If the Welsh Government accepts the recommendations, then it implements them using a statutory instrument . For example, in 2016 four new communities were created in the City and County of Cardiff . The legislation surrounding community councils in Wales has been amended significantly in
3827-431: The couple and grew close to Mary. The following year, Mary gave birth to the first of five children, three of whom predeceased her and William: Wordsworth had for years been making plans to write a long philosophical poem in three parts, which he intended to call The Recluse . In 1798–99 he started an autobiographical poem, which he referred to as the " poem to Coleridge " and which he planned would serve as an appendix to
3916-467: The development of the coal industry, the local population increased from about 10,000 in 1891 to almost 30,000 in 1921. Between 1890 and 1925, the valley gained a worldwide reputation as a producer of Admiralty-grade steam coal, high quality coking coal and what was regarded as the best house coal in South Wales . Due to the quality of the steam coal, North's Imperial Navigation coal was included on
4005-897: The festivals around Easter, May Day and Shrove Tuesday . Wordsworth was taught both the Bible and the Spectator , but little else. At the school in Penrith, he met the Hutchinsons, including Mary Hutchinson, who later became his wife. After the death of Wordsworth's mother, in 1778, his father sent him to Hawkshead Grammar School in Lancashire (now in Cumbria ) and sent Dorothy to live with relatives in Yorkshire . She and William did not meet again for nine years. Wordsworth debuted as
4094-868: The first division of the South Wales Cricket Association on seven occasions, including a record four times consecutively. Both clubs play in the South Wales Cricket Association Division 1. Community (Wales) Heir Apparent William, Prince of Wales First Minister ( list ) Rt Hon Eluned Morgan MS ( L ) Deputy First Minister Huw Irranca-Davies MS ( L ) Counsel General-designate – Elisabeth Jones Chief Whip and Trefnydd – Jane Hutt MS (L) Permanent Secretary Sixth Senedd Llywydd (Presiding Officer) Elin Jones MS ( PC ) Leader of
4183-527: The first time. In 1828, a 15-mile horse-drawn railway was completed between Porthcawl and Garnlwyd in the Llynfi Valley. This was the Dyffryn Llynfi and Porthcawl Railway (DLPR); it was extended to the Coegnant district near the head of the valley in 1830. The railway opened up the district and led to the formation of an iron company, which began building a works on Maesteg Uchaf Farm, near the site of
4272-506: The following year. The circumstances of his return and subsequent behaviour raised doubts about his declared wish to marry Annette. However, he supported her and his daughter as best he could in later life. The Reign of Terror left Wordsworth thoroughly disillusioned with the French Revolution, and the outbreak of armed hostilities between Britain and France prevented him from seeing Annette and his daughter for some years. With
4361-562: The formation of North's Navigation Collieries Ltd in 1889. The colliery company was led by Colonel North , the "Nitrate King". In 1900, another company, led by Sir Alfred Jones of the Elder Dempster shipping line, also developed collieries in the valley. Due to the expansion programme set in motion by the two mining companies, two of the local, former iron company collieries (Coegnant and Garth) were modernised, and two new large collieries were sunk at Caerau and St John's (Cwmdu). With
4450-483: The headquarters of Menter yr Iaith Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr is based in the town. The Welsh-language author and Welsh-medium education campaigner Norah Isaac was born and raised in Caerau. She was described as 'the most influential individual in the history of Welsh-medium education' by Iolo Wyn Williams in his book Our Children's Language: The Welsh-Medium Schools of Wales, 1939-2000 . Wales' first ever Welsh-language nursery
4539-618: The home of the influential Powell family, was a centre for writers and poets in Glamorgan in the 17th century. According to the Daily Telegraph , Maesteg was the first place in the UK where Japanese knotweed was spotted in the wild, sometime before 1886. The origins of the present-day community in the Llynfi Valley date from the late 1820s, when the area's considerable coal and iron ore resources were developed on an industrial scale for
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#17327719418994628-545: The human mind. In response to Wordsworth's poetic program that, “when we look / Into our Minds, into the Mind of Man- / My haunt, and the main region of my song” ( The Excursion ), William Blake wrote to his friend Henry Crabb Robinson that the passage " caused him a bowel complaint which nearly killed him”. Following the death of his friend, the painter William Green in 1823, Wordsworth also mended his relations with Coleridge. The two were fully reconciled by 1828 when they toured
4717-421: The identical emotion that the poet and his sister nourish: "We leave you here in solitude to dwell/ With these our latest gifts of tender thought; Thou, like the morning, in thy saffron coat,/ Bright gowan, and marsh-marigold, farewell!" (L.19–22). This kind of conversational tone persists throughout the poet's poetic journey, which positions him as a man in society who speaks to the purpose of communion with
4806-421: The language and structural patterning of the poetry that a common person used every day. Kurland wrote that the conversational aspect of a language emerges through social necessity. Social necessity posits the theme of possessing the proper knowledge, interest and biases also among the speakers. William Wordsworth has used conversation in his poetry to let the poet 'I' merge into 'We'. The poem "Farewell" exposes
4895-444: The mid-1810s, perhaps because most of the concerns that characterised his early poems (loss, death, endurance, separation and abandonment) had been resolved in his writings and his life. By 1820, he was enjoying considerable success accompanying a reversal in the contemporary critical opinion of his earlier works. The poet and artist William Blake, who knew Wordsworth's work, was struck by Wordsworth's boldness in centring his poetry on
4984-717: The mysterious traveller John "Walking" Stewart (1747–1822), who was nearing the end of his thirty years of wandering, on foot, from Madras , India, through Persia and Arabia , across Africa and Europe, and up through the fledgling United States. By the time of their association, Stewart had published an ambitious work of original materialist philosophy entitled The Apocalypse of Nature (London, 1791), to which many of Wordsworth's philosophical sentiments may well be indebted. In 1807, Wordsworth published Poems, in Two Volumes , including " Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood ". Until now, Wordsworth
5073-591: The pair moved to Alfoxton House , Somerset, just a few miles away from Coleridge's home in Nether Stowey . Together Wordsworth and Coleridge (with insights from Dorothy) produced Lyrical Ballads (1798), an important work in the English Romantic movement . The volume gave neither Wordsworth's nor Coleridge's name as author. One of Wordsworth's most famous poems, " Tintern Abbey ", was published in this collection, along with Coleridge's " The Rime of
5162-709: The play was not published until 1842, after substantial revisions. I travelled among unknown men I travelled among unknown men, In lands beyond the sea; Nor, England! did I know till then What love I bore to thee. 'T is past, that melancholy dream! Nor will I quit thy shore A second time, for still I seem To love thee more and more. Among thy mountains did I feel The joy of my desire; And she I cherished turned her wheel Beside an English fire. Thy mornings showed, thy nights concealed, The bowers where Lucy played; And thine too
5251-411: The poetic diction of much 18th-century verse. Wordsworth also gives his famous definition of poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility", and calls his own poems in the book "experimental". A fourth and final edition of Lyrical Ballads was published in 1805. Between 1795 and 1797, Wordsworth wrote his only play, The Borderers ,
5340-651: The population of the Llynfi Valley decreased by almost a third as many left the district to seek employment in the new light industries growing up in areas such as West London and the English Midlands . For many years after the Second World War , the local coal industry employed well over 2,000 workers and new jobs were created in local government-built factories and in new industries in the Port Talbot and Bridgend journey-to-work areas. Due to
5429-546: The present-day town centre, in 1826. The company took its name from the farm, and by 1831 two blast furnaces were in operation and the first rows of workers' housing had been completed near the Maesteg Ironworks. Around the same time, one of the first zinc smelters in Wales was set up on Coegnant Farm near the northern terminus of the DLPR. In 1839, work on a second, larger, ironworks commenced at Nantycrynwydd Farm on
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#17327719418995518-602: The prestigious Admiralty List of the twenty–six best Welsh steam coals. In 1908, the Cunard liner Mauretania was entirely fired by Llynfi coal when the ship established a new record for crossing the Atlantic. By the early 1920s there were over 7,000 miners at work in the valley. However, as the area depended to such a large extent on the coal export trade, it was seriously affected by the trade depression of 1928–38 . During that period of acute poverty and large-scale unemployment,
5607-401: The progressive powers perhaps no less Of the whole species) to the external World Is fitted:—and how exquisitely, too— Theme this but little heard of among Men, The external World is fitted to the Mind; And the creation (by no lower name Can it be called) which they with blended might Accomplish ... Some modern critics suggest that there was a decline in his work beginning around
5696-487: The same Act. The principal areas of Wales are divided entirely into communities. Unlike in England, where unparished areas exist, no part of Wales is outside a community, even in urban areas . Most, but not all, communities are administered by community councils , which are equivalent to English parish councils in terms of their powers and the way they operate. Welsh community councils may call themselves town councils unilaterally and may have city status granted by
5785-444: The stipend of £400 a year made him financially secure, albeit at the cost of political independence. In 1813, he and his family, including Dorothy, moved to Rydal Mount , Ambleside (between Grasmere and Rydal Water), where he spent the rest of his life. In 1814, Wordsworth published The Excursion as the second part of the three-part work The Recluse even though he never completed the first or third parts. He did, however, write
5874-420: The time, it has since come to be widely recognised as his masterpiece. Margaret Louisa Woods portrayed the young Wordsworth in her novel A Poet's Youth (1923). Ken Russell 's 1978 film William and Dorothy portrays the relationship between William and his sister Dorothy. Wordsworth and Coleridge's friendship is examined by Julien Temple in his 2000 film Pandaemonium . Wordsworth has appeared as
5963-573: The town hall. As part of Bridgend County Borough , the local commercial radio station is Bridge FM . Maesteg is also on the fringes of the broadcast area of the Swansea -based local commercial radio stations Hits Radio South Wales and Swansea Bay Radio . The town is also served by three local newspapers: The Glamorgan Gazette , published weekly, has its main office in Bridgend , but prints news related to Maesteg; The Gem , formerly The Recorder ,
6052-551: The urban areas of the cities of Cardiff , Swansea and Newport do not have community councils. As of the 2001 United Kingdom census , there were 869 communities in Wales. 84 percent, or more than 730, have a council. They vary in size from Rhayader with an area of 13,945 hectares (34,460 acres) to Cefn Fforest with an area of 64 hectares (160 acres). They ranged in population from Barry with 45,053 recorded inhabitants to Baglan Bay with no permanent residents. The twenty-two principal area councils are required to review
6141-421: The valley's significant 19th century iron industry. The two ironworks, with associated collieries and new housing, transformed an area of scattered farms with a population of about 400 in 1821 into a growing township with a population of 4,000 by 1841. The Cambrian/Llynfi Works attracted investment capital from a number of prominent figures of the early Victorian period, including the poet William Wordsworth , who
6230-826: The very common mass of that society. Again; "Preface to Lyrical Ballads" [1] is the evidence where the poet expresses why he is writing and what he is writing and what purpose it will serve humanity. Wordsworth remained a formidable presence in his later years. In 1837, the Scottish poet and playwright Joanna Baillie reflected on her long acquaintance with Wordsworth. "He looks like a man that one must not speak to unless one has some sensible thing to say. However, he does occasionally converse cheerfully & well, and when one knows how benevolent & excellent he is, it disposes one to be very much pleased with him." In 1838, Wordsworth received an honorary doctorate in Civil Law from
6319-440: The west of Pilsdon Pen . They walked in the area for about two hours daily, and the nearby hills consoled Dorothy as she pined for the fells of her native Lakeland. She wrote, "We have hills which, seen from a distance, almost take the character of mountains, some cultivated nearly to their summits, others in their wild state covered with furze and broom. These delight me the most as they remind me of our native wilds." In 1797,
6408-503: The year, and Curtain Up Youth Theatre has been performing musicals since the turn of the millennium. The rock band Funeral for a Friend originates from Maesteg. The Welsh national anthem " Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau " was first performed in Maesteg, in the vestry of the original Capel Tabor which is now Maesteg Workingmen's Club. The artist Christopher Williams was born in Maesteg in 1873: seven of his paintings are on display in
6497-411: The £4,000 (equivalent to £451,114 in 2023) owed to Wordsworth's father through Lowther's failure to pay his aide. It was this repayment that afforded Wordsworth the financial means to marry. On 4 October, following his visit with Dorothy to France to arrange matters with Annette, Wordsworth married his childhood friend, Mary Hutchinson, at All Saints' Church, Brompton . Dorothy continued to live with
6586-469: Was a Cambrian shareholder in the early 1840s, the gin distiller Sir Felix Booth , and the writer and radical politician Dr John Bowring . Bowring invested heavily in the Llynfi Works in the mid-1840s and, for a number of years, that part of the valley around his works was known as Bowrington. During his association with the Maesteg district, he campaigned in Parliament for a decimal system of coinage and
6675-588: Was a key figure of the Romantic poets. The second of five children born to John Wordsworth and Ann Cookson, William Wordsworth was born on 7 April 1770 in what is now named Wordsworth House in Cockermouth , Cumberland (now in Cumbria), part of the scenic region in northwestern England known as the Lake District . William's sister, the poet and diarist Dorothy Wordsworth , to whom he was close all his life,
6764-680: Was a legal representative of James Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale and, through his connections, lived in a large mansion in the small town. He was frequently away from home on business, so the young William and his siblings had little involvement with him and remained distant until he died in 1783. However, he did encourage William in his reading, and in particular, set him to commit large portions of verse to memory, including works by Milton , Shakespeare and Spenser which William would pore over in his father's library. William also spent time at his mother's parents' house in Penrith , Cumberland, where he
6853-458: Was anxious that Wordsworth should do more for Caroline. Upon Caroline's marriage, in 1816, Wordsworth settled £30 a year on her (equivalent to £2,400 in 2021), payments which continued until 1835, when they were replaced by a capital settlement. We Are Seven I met a little cottage girl: She was eight years old, she said; Her hair was thick with many a curl That clustered round her head. She had
6942-555: Was born the following year, and the two were baptised together. They had three other siblings: Richard, the eldest, who became a lawyer; John Wordsworth, born after Dorothy, who went to sea and died in 1805 when the ship of which he was captain, the Earl of Abergavenny , was wrecked off the south coast of England; and Christopher , the youngest, who entered the Church and rose to be Master of Trinity College, Cambridge . Wordsworth's father
7031-433: Was difficult for the ageing poet to take, and in his depression, he ultimately gave up writing new material. William Wordsworth died at home at Rydal Mount from an aggravated case of pleurisy on 23 April 1850, and was buried at St Oswald's Church, Grasmere . His widow, Mary, published his lengthy autobiographical "Poem to Coleridge" as The Prelude several months after his death. Though it failed to interest people at
7120-574: Was exposed to the moors but did not get along with his grandparents or uncle, who also lived there. His hostile interactions with them distressed him to the point of contemplating suicide. Wordsworth was taught to read by his mother, and he first attended a tiny school of low quality in Cockermouth, then a school in Penrith for the children of upper-class families. He was taught there by Ann Birkett, who instilled in her students traditions that included pursuing scholarly and local activities, especially
7209-431: Was highly regarded by the makers of Admiralty -tested anchor chains. However, as the Llynfi site could not be adapted for the production of steel, iron making ceased in the Maesteg area in 1885. During the mid-1880s, with the closure of the Llynfi Works and its associated collieries, the Maesteg district, with a population of about 10,000, faced an uncertain future. However, the local coal industry then began to expand with
7298-409: Was known only for Lyrical Ballads , and he hoped this new collection would cement his reputation. Its reception was lukewarm. In 1810, Wordsworth and Coleridge were estranged over the latter's opium addiction, and in 1812, his son Thomas died at the age of 6, six months after the death of 3-year-old Catherine. The following year, he received an appointment as Distributor of Stamps for Westmorland, and
7387-546: Was largely responsible for the introduction of Britain's first decimal coin, the florin or two shilling piece (now the ten pence piece). John Bowring lost his capital in the trade depression of the late 1840s, although the iron company continued trading. After his Llynfi venture, John Bowring became British Consul in Canton , China , and was Governor of Hong Kong from 1854 to 1859. The iron industry in Maesteg continued, with varying degrees of success, until wrought iron making
7476-563: Was opened in Maesteg in 1949. Maesteg has six English language state primary schools : Cwmfelin, Plasnewydd, Caerau, Nantyffyllon, Llangynwyd and Garth. Plasnewydd is one of the biggest primary schools in the Llynfi Valley , with just over 400 pupils, and is an Eco-School . There is also a Catholic primary school, St. Mary's and St. Patrick's, and a Welsh-medium school, Ysgol Cynwyd Sant. There are two comprehensive schools in Maesteg. The English-medium Ysgol Maesteg School , previously known as Maesteg Comprehensive School, recently moved to
7565-520: Was removed in 2007 during a land reclamation project. The present stations were reopened by British Rail in 1992. Maesteg bus station is situated to the rear of the town hall . First Cymru operate the majority of the services from this station. Services run to Bridgend , Swansea via Port Talbot , Caerau Park , Llangynwyd and Cymmer . In common with the rest of Wales, the town has two official languages, English and Welsh . The majority of people in Maesteg are native English speakers, but there
7654-492: Was replaced by the manufacture of cheaper, mass-produced steel during the 1870s. In its heyday, after the opening of the broad gauge, steam-hauled Llynfi Valley Railway in 1861, the Llynfi Works had a reputation for producing high-quality iron. In the mid-Victorian period there was a flourishing export trade to Southern Italy and Turkey ; rails were exported to the United States and Llynvi "Navy Quality" No.3 Cable Iron
7743-612: Was situated at the ground floor level of Maesteg Town Hall and offered a variety of goods until the final stallholder left in 2018. Maesteg has three railway stations , all on the Maesteg Line . Services are operated by Transport for Wales and run directly to Cardiff Central via Bridgend . The services usually continue to Cheltenham Spa via Newport and Gloucester with one early morning service to Ebbw Vale Town . Previous, long-distance extensions to London Waterloo and Wrexham General were short lived. The terminus station
7832-408: Was the little maid’s reply: “O Master! we are seven.” “But they are dead; those two are dead! Their spirits are in heaven!” - ’T was throwing words away; for still The little maid would have her will, And said, “Nay, we are seven!” From the "We Are Seven" poem The year 1793 saw the first publication of poems by Wordsworth in
7921-582: Was willing to shed his blood for the established Church of England , reflected in his Ecclesiastical Sketches of 1822. This religious conservatism also colours The Excursion (1814), a long poem that became extremely popular during the nineteenth century. It features three central characters: the Wanderer, the Solitary, who has experienced the hopes and miseries of the French Revolution , and
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