Hyam's Mineral Water Works

Hyam’s Mineral Water Works stands in Glendower Street, Monmouth, a 19th-century building once used to make soda water, lemonade and ginger beer. The Monmouth Civic Society gave it one of its 24 blue plaques for historical and social importance. It also appears on the Monmouth Heritage Trail, marking its place in the town’s story. Thomas E. Hyam opened the works in 1866 after starting as a corn and timber merchant. He later became mayor and a Justice of the Peace, and his family lived at Cornwall House and Parade House. The Duke of Beaufort praised Hyam’s mineral waters in 1870, saying he had found them excellent. The business grew to include proprietary medicines such as Hyam’s Anti-Influenza Tonic Water. Hyam also ran a saw mill and timber yard at Wyesham and owned boats for carrying goods on the River Wye. He opened a shop in Monnow Street designed by Lawrence of Newport and built by Lewis of Monmouth, noted for its curved plate glass windows and carved spandrels. After Hyam, Charles Ballinger took over in 1911 and traded as Ballinger’s Mineral Water Works until the 1960s. Ballinger also ran the Griffin Hotel in Whitecross Street and bottled Bass, Worthington’s Ales and Guinness Stout. Today the building is called Hyam Court and contains residential apartments. Its exterior still shows the care once given to Monmouth’s public buildings. The street itself remains part of the town’s heritage route, linking past industries to present homes. Visitors can walk the trail and see the blue plaque on the wall. The conversion from works to flats keeps the story of Hyam and Ballinger alive in the town’s streets.