Ebenezer Chapel, pictured above before its demolition in the 1960s, was one of the  earliest non- conformist chapels in the Rhondda built in 1830 and Bethania Chapel, further down the road, followed in 1869. One of the earliest of the modern eisteddfods took place in the fields near Ebenezer Chapel in the 1870s. Another forgotten story that intrigues me is that of the schoolboy Arthur Rees of Appletree, Dinas, who died tragically young. He was one of only two people, the other being a master from Porth County school, who solved a nationwide mathematical problem in a newspaper. He was described as a boy-genius by the Rhondda Leader having composed a number of sonatinas, hymn tunes, and romances for the piano. A supplement from the Rhondda Leader of April 11th,1908, reprinted a portion of his composition "Romance for a pianoforte". Forgotten supersitions are well worth a look for beliefs that people once held. Collieries in Dinas and Cymmer had men who would not work sections of the ground that were directly above a chapel, church, or graveyard because hallowed ground was to be left untouched. To smell of sweet flowers underground was usually a portent of a disaster, as was the sighting of a dove on the pithead cage. Houses were protected from the devil by having their front doorsteps whitewashed.