From: The Scenery, Antiquities and Biography of South Wales, from material collected during two excursions in the year 1803. Volume 1, by Benjamin Heath Malkin (1807)
Pages 268 – 272
In such a review of the increasing wealth and population, which these important manufacturers are yearly conferring on the country, we may well exclaim with Jago,
Hail, native British ore! of thee possess’d,
We envy not Golcenda’s sparkling mines,
Nor thine, Potosi! nor thy kindred hills,
teeming with gold. What! though in outward form
Less fair? not less thy worth. To thee we owe
More riches than Peruvian mines can yield,
Or Montezuma’s crowded magazines
And palaces could boast, though roof’d with gold.
This town, as it may properly be termed, is now by far the largest town in the whole principality. Its population, in the year 1802, was found to be upwards of 10,000; and it is supposed that it amounts at this time, December 1803, though at the interval only one year from the date of the numeration to considerably more than 11,000; and this is to be understood without the including the suburbs, as we made denominate it correctly enough, of Coed y Cymmer, on the Breconshire side of the River, the population of which is at least 1,000. Swansea, heretofore the largest town in Wales, exceeding every other town by at least 1,000 inhabitants, is now nearly, if not quite, doubled by Merthyr Tydfil. It is true, external appearance of Merthyr Tydfil is not to be compared with that of Swansea.
The House of Mr. Homfray at Penydarren is large and elegant, with fine and well planted gardens, greenhouses, hot-houses, and all the accommodations befitting the residence of a wealthy family: but the splendours of Merthyr Tydfil begin and end with this mansion. When the first furnaces and forges were erected, there could not exist the slightest glimmering of prescience, that this little obscure Welsh village would, in less than 40 years, grow up to such a magnitude, as to be far more populous than any other town in Wales.
The first houses that were built were only very small and simple cottages for the furnacemen, forgemen, miners, and such tradesmen as were necessary to construct the required buildings, with a common laborers who are employed to assist them. These cottages were most of them built in scattered confusion, without any order or plan. As the works increased, more cottages were wanted and erected in the spaces between those that had been previously built, till they became so connected with each other, as to form a certain description of irregular streets, very much on the plan of Crooked Lane in the City of London. These streets are now many in number, close and confined, having no proper outlets behind the houses. They are constantly very filthy for the most part, and doubtless very unhealthy. Some streets, it is to be observed, have within these few years being built, and more are building, on a better plan; in straighter lines, and wider, having decent houses, with commodious outlets, and other necessary attentions to cleanliness and health.
In some of the early, and rudely-connected streets, we frequently see the small miserable houses taken down, and larger and very respectable buildings erected in their stead. Such improvements are increasing with some degree of rapidity. Shopkeepers, innkeepers, forge-men, some of them at least, and in no inconsiderable numbers, are making comfortable fortunes, and consequently improving their dwellings. Mr. Crawshay, however, is more conspicuously qualified to set them an example of industry rather than elegance. His house is surrounded with fire, flame, smoke, and ashes.
The noise of hammers, rolling mills, forges, and bellows, incessantly din and crash upon the ear. Bars and pigs of iron are continually thrown to the hugely accumulating heaps that threatened to choke up every avenue of access. It is more humourously than truly said in the neighbourhood, that such scenery is most congenial to the taste, such sounds most lulling to the repose of the owner. The fact however is, that the situation of the Master’s dwelling was fixed long before Mr. Crawshay came into it; and when it is considered how conveniently it lies for the superintendence of the business, few men, brought up in the habits of commercial prudence, would consult agreeable prospects and domestic elegance, at the expense of that best security, the ever-watchful eye of a principal. The machinery of this establishment is gigantic; and that part of it, work by water, among the most scientifically curious and mechanically powerful to which modern improvement has given birth.
The most remarkable piece of mechanism in Merthyr Tydfil is the great water wheel made by Watkin George. Its diameter is 50 feet, and it has the power of 50 horses. It has the advantage of water from above, on its centre, and beneath it; or, in other words, it possesses all the forces of an overshot, breast, and undershot wheel. I apprehend it to be the largest in the Kingdom. Watkin George and William Aubrey, with the two principal engineers, and they are both natives of this country. Watkin George in particular, who planned and executed this immense undertaking, was a common village carpenter. Owing to his success in these mechanical inventions, he got forward by degrees, and became at last so useful to Mr. Crawshay, as to obtain a share in his works. He has lately quitted the concern with from thirty to forty thousand pounds in his pocket. This is one among the most remarkable instances of wealth acquired by the untutored ingenuity of natural faculties.