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Rebecca Riots
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The Rebecca Riots took place between 1839 and 1842 in South Wales and Mid Wales. They were a protest against the high tolls which had to be paid on the local Turnpike roads. The riots ceased prior to 1844 due to the fact that the act to consolidate and amend the laws relating to Turnpike trusts in Wales was passed.
Many toll-gates on the roads were operated by trusts which were supposed to maintain and even improve the roads, funding this from tolls.
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Encyclopedia
The Rebecca Riots took place between 1839 and 1842 in South Wales and Mid Wales. They were a protest against the high tolls which had to be paid on the local Turnpike roads. The riots ceased prior to 1844 due to the fact that the act to consolidate and amend the laws relating to Turnpike trusts in Wales was passed.
Many toll-gates on the roads were operated by trusts which were supposed to maintain and even improve the roads, funding this from tolls. However, many trusts charged extortionate tolls and diverted the money raised to other uses. Even where this was not the case, the toll-gate laws imposed an additional financial burden on poor farming communities and people decided that enough was enough. They took the law into their own hands and gangs were formed to destroy the toll-gates.
These gangs became known as Merched Beca (Welsh for Rebecca's Daughters) or merely the Rebeccas. The origin of their name is said to be a verse in the Bible, Genesis 24:60 - 'And they blessed Rebekah and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them'. This verse was shouted many a time from the religious urban dwellers.
Prior to detroying the toll gates, 'Rebecca' would call to his followers who were also dressed as women and perform a scene which involved the following words;
"What is this my children? There is something in my way. I cannot go on."
"What is it, mother Rebecca? Nothing should stand in your way," would come the reply.
"I do not know my children. I am old and cannot see well."
"Shall we come and move it out of your way mother Rebecca?"
"Wait!" replied 'Rebecca', "It feels like a big gate put across the road to stop your old mother."
"We will break it down, mother. Nothing stands in your way."
"Perhaps it will open...Oh my dear children, it is locked and bolted. What can be done?"
"It must be taken down, mother. You and your children must be able to pass."
These would be followed with the words "Off with it then, my children." This would then in turn lead to the destruction of the toll gates.
The accepted leader of those first protests, Thomas Rees (Twm Carnabwth), wore women's clothes when leading attacks. Some versions of the story say that these clothes were borrowed from a lady called Rebecca living near his home at the foot of the Preseli hills. The story states that this woman was an old maid and her clothes were borrowed due to the fact she was the only woman tall enough and large enough in the village. Local records do not bear this out - and the wearing of women's clothes was an established part of traditional Welsh justice (the Ceffyl Pren, wooden horse), of which Twm Carnabwth is remembered as a notoriously enthusiastic participant.
The first protests, led by "Rebecca" destroyed the toll-gates at Yr Efail Wen in 2 attacks in Carmarthenshire in 1839. But Twm did not participate when the attacks flared again 3 years later. Other communities adopted the name and disguise, and other grievances besides the toll gates were aired in the riots.
Anglican clergymen from the established Church of Wales were targets on several occasions. The Church of England could demand tithes and other ecclesiastical benefits even though most of the population of Wales were Nonconformists. Other victims were petty local villains such as the fathers of illegitimate children.
The riots caused at least one fatality, in the small village of Hendy, in which a young woman and gate keeper named Sarah Williams died.
She had been warned beforehand that the rioters were on their way but refused to leave. On the night of her death she could be heard shouting "I know who you are" by a family living up the road who had locked their doors from the rioters. A few moments after this a gunshot could be heard. The family refused to open the door to look until a few minutes later when they could hear something scraping the door. They opened the door to find Sarah Williams dead on their doorstep.
The riots ceased after several ring leaders Shoni Sguborfawr and Dai'r Cantwr were convicted and transported to Australia. The protests prompted several reforms, including a Royal Commission into the question of toll roads. Most of the hated toll-gates were legally removed in 1844.
The Rebecca Riots in fiction
The Rebecca Riots were the setting for the novel, "Hosts of Rebecca", by Alexander Cordell, Blorenge Books, ISBN 1-872730-19-1
In 1948 Dylan Thomas wrote the screenplay for a film, Rebecca's Daughters, and eighteen years later (in 1966) a novel of the same name. The film was not released until 1991, and starred Peter O'Toole, Paul Rhys and Joely Richardson.
The name of Rebecca is also mentioned in the context of the Merthyr Rising of 1831 in the song "Ironmasters" by the British folkpunk band "The men they couldn't hang" on their album "Night of a thousand candles".
External links
- A comprehensive guide to the Rebecca Riots -
- Victorian Powys for Schools - in Rhayader
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