36. Tydvil Hotel - 1891

The Tydvil was opened in 1891 by Welsh builder, mason and architect Rees Coventry Rees. The original building was his residence, along with his wife Eliza and five children, before he received permission from the Ward to establish a hotel. First known as the Rees Tydvil Hotel, Rees later renamed the hotel after his birth town, Merthyr Tydvil, a mining town and once the largest town in Wales. 

In 1892, Eliza died in childbirth, and later the baby also died. A new licensee for the Merthyr Tydvil, William Cole, is listed in the same year. Now a widower with five young sons and a sixteen-year-old daughter, Alice, Rees gave up the hotel and established a stone shop not far away on Oxide Street, which became his family home. 

In 1886, Rees left Alice in charge of the household and went off to Western Australia to work as a miner. He was away for 10 years. His fortunes did not improve, but the Tydvil Hotel has retained part of the name he gave it. 

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