One small piece of Welsh history that has left very few reminders is the story of the Rebecca Riots that occurred in the first half of the 19th century, which culminated in the battle between the Rebeccaites and the Civil Forces at Pontarddulais Tollgate on September 6th, 1843 where an unknown number of the rioters were wounded and three of the leaders captured. This conflict between the rioters and the newly formed Glamorgan Police Force under the command of the Chief Constable, Captain Charles Frederick Napier, made headline news in the National press of the day as well as being written about in French and American publications.

The riots were a mass protest against a build-up of injustices which had been allowed to accumulate due to the remoteness of West Wales from the centre of government which left the responsibilities of administration to local landowners and magistrates, who arrogantly ignored the unbearable burdens being placed on the country people by the new Poor Laws; Tithes, and the flagrant violation of the Turnpike laws by the Turnpike Trusts by setting up illegal gates. The magistrates even imposed fines on the people who refused to pay tolls at these illegal gates. Add to these grievances a series of bad harvests resulting in a great number of evictions, and the consequence was an outbreak of desperate retaliation.

Why the name 'Rebecca'? It was first heard during an attack on the Efail Wen tollgate on the Pembrokeshire border in May 1839 which was led by a huge and frightening man with a blackened face, and dressed in a woman's nightgown and wearing a wig of ringlets. This formidable figure was Thomas Rees (Twm Carnabwth), a devout member of Bethel Chapel ... when sober ... and also a well known prize-fighter. The story goes that only one woman - a tall and stout old maid named Rebecca - could provide him with a suitable garment, and during the raid, Twm was laughingly addressed as Rebecca by his followers.

But, the biblical quotation from Genesis chapter 24, verse 60, was continually on people's lips during the disturbances:
"And they blessed Rebecca, and said unto her, Thou art our sister. Be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of they that hate them."
This verse was shouted out from the pulpits and repeated by the God-fearing country folk who believed that by destroying the toll gates they were doing God's work.

After the incident at Efail Wen there were no further attacks on Welsh tollgates until the closing days of 1842, when the trustees of the Main Trust agreed to let Tom Bullin (a notorious 'toll farmer' who leased tollgates from various turnpike trusts) set up a tollgate by the Mermaid tavern, a short distance east of St. Clears crossroads. This 'trap' was just the kind-of object to arouse the anger of the people, and it was destroyed within hours as well as the Pwll gate and Taff bridge gate for good measure. This was the beginning of Rebecca's war against the Turnpike Trusts.