Cyfarthfa Ironworks – Page 6

Merthyr’s Bridges: The Iron Bridge

In our series looking at the bridges of Merthyr, we come to Merthyr’s most iconic bridge, and indeed one of Merthyr’s most iconic lost structures – the Old Iron Bridge.

Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

The Old Iron Bridge, or the Merthyr Bridge as it was originally called was commissioned by William Crawshay to replace a stone bridge that had been washed away by a flood. This act was not entirely altruistic on the part of Crawshay, as the only other bridge across the River Taff in town was Jackson’s Bridge, which had been built in 1793 by the Dowlais Iron Company.

Watkin George, the principal engineer at the Cyfarthfa Works was tasked with designing the new bridge, and he conceived a structure fabricated with cast iron sections. To span the River Taff, George had to design a bridge that would span between 65 to 70 feet from bank to bank, so single cast iron beams would be impractical, as they were limited to 20-25 feet in length due to the possibility of the iron failing due to the continuous traffic that would use the bridge.

He decided, therefore to build a structure comprising three separate sections between 22 and 24 feet long, the thickness of the iron being one and a quarter inches, and he constructed the bridge as a cantilever, with the two end sections mounted on buttresses built on the banks of the river with a convex central section fixed between them.

Work started on the bridge in the middle of 1799, and was completed by April the following year. The new bridge had an overall length of 64 feet, and was five feet wide.

The bridge was in constant use as the only bridge in the centre of Merthyr until a new bridge – the Ynysgau Bridge, also called the New Iron Bridge, was built next to it in 1880.

Ynysgau Bridge with the Old Iron Bridge behind it. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

The amount of traffic using the bridge can be illustrated in the table below (originally from Merthyr Historian Vol 2, used with the kind permission of The Merthyr Historical Society). Following construction of the new bridge, The Old Iron Bridge was used primarily as a footbridge.

Courtesy of the Merthyr Tydfil Historical Society

In 1963, the bridge was dismantled as part of the refurbishment and ‘improvement’ of Merthyr. The remains of the bridge – indeed the vast majority of it, now lie gathering dust in a warehouse in Merthyr, and all attempts by local historical groups to have the bridge re-erected somewhere in the town (it can’t be re-erected in its former position as the river has been widened), have failed.

One of the most iconic views of old Merthyr – the Old Iron Bridge with Ynysgau Chapel. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

To read a fuller account of the history of the Old Iron Bridge, try to get hold of a copy of Volume 2 of the Merthyr Historian where you will find a marvellous article about the bridge by Leo Davies.

Merthyr’s Ironmasters: The Hill Family

Richard Hill I (died 1806), who had had experience in Anthony Bacon’s iron-works (at Cyfarthfa and Hirwaun), became Bacon’s trusted manager of the Plymouth Ironworks. He was elected a burgess or freeman of Cardiff in 1784. He married Mary, the sister of Mrs. Bacon, and named his youngest son (born in 1784) Anthony, after Anthony Bacon. On the death of Anthony Bacon, as all the natural children were minors, the estate was placed in Chancery, and the receiver, William Bacon, granted a lease of the Plymouth furnace for fifteen and a half years from Christmas Day 1786, to Richard Hill I, during the minority of Thomas Bacon; this was approved by the Court of Chancery. Hill entered into an arrangement with Richard Crawshay of Cyfarthfa, to supply the latter with pig-iron, and seeing the possibility of increasing his output and of enlarging his works, he secured several leases in order to extend the mineral property attached to the works. About 1794, Richard Hill I had very serious trouble with the Glamorganshire Canal Navigation, then recently opened, for improperly taking the water from the Taff river which he required for his Plymouth works. Richard Hill II (died 1844), his son, then aged twenty, closed the sluices between the canal and the mill-race, and had a desperate encounter with the canal lock-keeper, as a result of which the lock-keeper was awarded substantial damages at the Glamorgan Great Sessions. At the next Great Sessions, Richard Hill I obtained a verdict in his favour and was awarded £300 damages for injury to his works by the Glamorganshire Canal.

In 1799, Thomas Bacon, who had been granted the Plymouth works under his father’s will, became of age, and agreed to surrender to Richard Hill I all his interest in the Plymouth works, and this he confirmed in 1803 when he was 24 years of age. Being now in full possession of the Plymouth works, he with his sons, Richard II and John Hill, entered into an agreement with the Dowlais and Penydarren iron companies for the construction of a tram road for their joint use, from their works to join the Glamorganshire canal at Navigation (now Abercynon). In the same year, 1803, Richard Hill I, who was a practical engineer, agreed to construct a tram road for the joint use of the same three companies to convey limestone from the Morlais Castle quarries. It will thus be seen that Richard Hill was on very good terms with the neighbouring ironmasters, which was far from being the case between the Penydarren and Dowlais companies.

Richard Hill and son were anxious to improve their business by adding a forge and mills, but were very short of capital for such extension. Partners were sought, and A. Struttle advanced £15,000 and John Nathaniel Miers (son-in-law of Richard Hill I), £5,000 to form the Plymouth Forge Company with a capital of £20,000. Work now proceeded briskly at the Plymouth iron-works where Richard Hill I was ably assisted by his sons, Richard II and Anthony Hill (1784 – 1862). But on 20 April 1806, Richard Hill I passed away leaving all his estate to his widow, Mary, his three sons, Richard II, John Hill (of London), and Anthony Hill, and his two daughters, Elizabeth, and Mary, the wife of J. N. Miers (of Cadoxton Lodge). By 1813, Messrs. Struttle and Miers seceded, and the three brothers became partners. On account of the withdrawal of capital, the brothers had to obtain a loan on mortgage of £54,000 from Messrs. Wilkins of the Brecon Old Bank. Richard Hill II for a time lived at Llandaff and looked after the sales side of the business, while Anthony ably managed the productive side, but the burden of the huge loan was a great impediment for many years to the successful working of the concern.

In 1806, the three furnaces at Plymouth produced 3,952 tons of pig-iron, while in 1815 the same three turned out 7,800 tons. A fourth furnace was erected at Plymouth and in 1819 the first furnace was erected at Dyffryn and c. 1824 two others were erected; like all the others these were worked by water-power in which Anthony had great faith — he was very slow in adopting steam-power as the other iron-masters were doing. With Anthony Hill as managing-partner the works were carried on with great vigour and ability, and their brand of bar-iron had a special value and was known for its excellence throughout the world. The produce of the blast furnaces continued to increase year by year. In 1820, it was 7,941 tons, in 1830, over 12,000 tons, by 1846, it was over 35,000 tons.

In 1826 John Hill sold out his interest to his brothers, Richard II and Anthony. Later, No. 8 furnace was built, which was said by Mushet, the great authority on iron manufacture, to be the largest in the world. Richard and Anthony continued as sole managers until the death of Richard in 1844, after which Anthony continued as sole managing director until his own death at the age of seventy-eight on 2 August 1862. Anthony Hill was regarded as the most scientific iron-master of his district. He carried out many experiments for the improvement of iron-making, and was the patentee of many new methods. Gradually he succeeded in paying off the loan burden and attained great wealth. His death was keenly felt in the district, as he had been ‘associated with good deeds, with broad and enlightened measures for his people’s comfort, for their religious welfare, and their education.’ He established a new church at Pentre-bach, and endowed it with £200 per annum; he also founded the Pentre-bach National School and left a sum of money for the ‘Anthony Hill scholarship’ for secondary schools which is still in existence. After his death the works were sold to Messrs. Fothergill, Hankey and Bateman for £250,000; they came to an end c. 1880.

The remains of the Plymouth Ironworks. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

Many thanks to the Dictionary of Welsh Biography for allowing me to reproduce this article. To view the original, please follow this link – https://biography.wales/article/s-HILL-PLY-1786

Merthyr: Then and Now

In the latest post in our ongoing series we have a couple of photographs of the area just outside the gates of St Tydfil’s Church.

In the first photograph, taken in the early 1900’s we can clearly see the famous Star Inn, where Admiral Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton stayed when they visited Cyfarthfa Works in 1800.

Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

The second photograph, taken in 2012, shows the area completely changed.

That’s progress for you – an important part of Merthyr’s history replaced by an advertising hoarding.

The Decline of Merthyr

In 1859, the Penydarren Ironworks closed. 160 years ago today (26 February 1859), the remarkable article transcribed below, written in anticipation of the closure appeared in the Merthyr Telegraph. It makes fascinating reading as the language used is so striking and almost poetic…a far cry from today’s brand of journalism.

Over the thresholds of a thousand houses stream the long and darkening shadows which forerun events of a stern and saddening character. In a few months that fierce light which so long has glared around Penydarren will be invisible, and the incessant clang of iron and harsh vibrations of monster machinery will no longer be heard. Penydarren works will belong to the past.

For several weeks the inhabitants of this town and neighbourhood heard of the rumoured sale of Penydarren works with incredulity. They could not believe that so great an establishment would be broken up, the works fall into decay, and the men scattered to the four winds of heaven. Yet, at last, the dread truth has forced itself upon our convictions, and we now doubt not that the end of Penydarren is at hand.

The Dowlais Iron Co., holding large works on the extreme edge of the mineral basin, have been for some time progressing with less than its usual vigour in consequence of a deficient supply of mine and coal. It is true new pits have been sunk at Cwmbargoed, but it will be two or three years before they will begin to yield, the enormous depth forbidding any earlier success, though the men are incessantly employed. Thus it became a serious consideration with the Trustees, where, and by what means, the requisite supply should be obtained from to meet the demand. The adjoining mine and coal field of the Penydarren Co. and the known desire of Mr. W. Forman to part with it, offered a solution of the difficulty, and hence, after a consultation and discussion by the principals of each place, one has been merged into the other, and Dowlais has become worthier even than before of being styled the largest iron-works in the world.

We may anticipate that on the opening of the new mill – a mill unequalled in the locality, a large number of additional workmen will be employed; the miners and colliers also may be expected to continue working as usual; but, we apprehend, there will still be many unemployed, and the change will tend to deteriorate the value of house property considerably in Penydarren, and the upper part of Merthyr, from Pontmorlais to Tydfil’s Well. There can be no doubt but that there will be much suffering in one way or another. Young men, full of vigour, may try their fortunes elsewhere broad shoulders and muscular arms will never fail to obtain their owners bread and cheese, but the old men, the semi-pensioners, the half used up veterans, cannot be expected to seek a subsistence in other districts, cannot be expected but to crawl, feeble worn-out beings, into the last resort of humble life – the Workhouse.

In addition to this, the first step towards a decline, we see evidences around us of a gloomy character. The lease of the Dowlais works is said to last only during the minority of the Marquis of Bute. When he comes of age a new lease, under new and perhaps impossible conditions, may be required.

It is also rumoured, on what authority we know not, that the Plymouth iron-works are for sale, and no one, acquainted with Mr. Hill, will hear this without fearing that the change of ownership, by whomsoever made, cannot be for the benefit of the workmen. No matter how good the next employer may be, new brooms have a tendency to sweep clean, and brush away old and good usages, pensions, perquisites and benefits to an alarming extent.

Again, at the Cyfarthfa works things wear an alarming aspect. The lease is yet unsettled. Mr. Crawshay has stated the sum he will give, and we all know that he will abide by his word, and blow out the whole of the furnaces rather than yield. And let us add that were Mr. Crawshay, unfortunately for us all, to be succeeded by another, we might find the system of iron-making on the hills introduced into Cyfarthfa, with its attendant Truck shops, which, God forbid for the sake of poor humanity! To this Truck the Crawshays have ever been firm opponents, much to their honour and the welfare of the town.

All these shadows warn us to be prepared for coming evils – to be on the alert towards lessening the trials of disastrous times – to prepare our several homes against the menacing storm.

Merthyr is a town called into existence by the discovery of the minerals underneath. With their exhaustion it fades as rapidly as it rose.

In these facts we trace the presages of decline. The tree which resists the skill of the gardener may exist for a time, unimproving, unprogressive, but when the storm comes the resistance is but weak, and beneath the tempest it falls!

Merthyr’s Ironmasters: Anthony Bacon

Following on from the last post, here is the latest article about Merthyr’s Ironmasters.

Anthony Bacon was born at St Bees near Whitehaven in Cumberland. His exact date of birth is not known, but records show that he was baptized at St Bees on 24 January 1717.

His father, William, and grandfather, Thomas, were ships’ captains in the coal trade between Whitehaven and Ireland, though his father also made several trading voyages to the Chesapeake. His mother died in 1725, when he was eight, and his father a few years later, and the boy was taken to Talbot county on the eastern shore of Maryland, where he was raised by his maternal uncles, Thomas and Anthony Richardson, who were merchants there. Young Anthony was trained by them as a merchant and as a mariner. He apparently made a good impression for, on coming of age, he was in 1738 made master of the York, a vessel in the Maryland tobacco trade owned by John Hanbury, the leading London tobacco importer.

After the death of his two uncles, Bacon moved to London, from where he operated as an itinerant merchant mariner during the period c.1742–1747 and as a resident merchant thereafter. In the 1740s he traded primarily with Maryland, but in the 1750s added Virginia and the Spanish wine trade. During the Seven Years’ War he entered government contracting in collaboration with John Biggin, a native of Whitehaven and a large London coal merchant (who had been a major navy victualling contractor in the 1740s). Bacon was recognized as a specialist in shipping, and he provided vessels and carrying services to the Royal Navy. He was a major transporter of victuals in the Quebec campaign of 1759. In the later stages of the war he also branched out into army contracts, undertaking to victual and pay the troops stationed on the African coast at Fort Louis, Senegal, and at Goree.

Between 1760 and 1766, Anthony Bacon was full or partial owner of five ships that completed a total of six Atlantic slave trade voyages. In 1764, Bacon withdrew from the tobacco trade, and concentrated on trade to, and contracting in, new British colonies in the West Indies and west Africa. At the same time to aid his business in government contracts, he was elected as Member of Parliament for the borough of Aylesbury, which he represented until 1784, by which time the participation of MPs in government contracting had been prohibited.

It was in 1765 that Bacon branched out and went into partnership with William Brownrigg of Whitehaven, taking out a lease on 4,000 acres of land in the Merthyr Valley. After obtaining the mineral-rich land very cheaply, they employed Charles Wood to build Cyfarthfa Forge using his patented potting and stamping process to make pig iron into bar iron. This was followed by a blast furnace at Cyfarthfa, 50 feet high and opened in 1767. In 1766, Bacon took over the Plymouth Ironworks to supply pig iron to his forge. Brownrigg partnership was dissolved in 1777.

Cyfarthfa Works and Cyfarthfa House (Anthony Bacon’s residence) in the 1790’s from a drawing by William Pamplin. Photo courtesy of Cyfarthfa Castle Museum & Art Gallery

Bacon’s government contracts included supplying ordnance. In 1773, after the Carron Company’s guns had been withdrawn from service as dangerous, Bacon offered to provide three cannon for a trial, made respectively with charcoal, coke, and mixed fuel. He also delivered a fourth with then ‘cast solid and bored’. This gun was reported to be ‘infinitely better than those cast in the ordinary way, because it makes the ordnance more compact and consequently more durable’, despite the greater expense. This led to a contract in 1774. These guns were apparently cast by John Wilkinson until Bacon’s contract with him ended in 1776. The next year, Bacon asked for Richard Crawshay’s name to be included in his warrants, and from this time the cannon were cast at Cyfarthfa. This continued until Bacon as a member of parliament was disabled from undertaking government contracts in 1782, when the forge and some of the gun foundry business were leased to Francis Homfray.

Anthony Bacon had married Elizabeth Richardson who had borne him a son, Anthony who sadly died at the age of 12. While Elizabeth remained at Cyfarthfa House – the residence he had built in about 1770, Bacon, as a member of parliament, spent much time in the capital, where he kept a mistress, Mary Bushby, during the years c.1770 to 1786. At his death, in Cyfarthfa on 21 January 1786, Mary was left with their daughter, Elizabeth, and four sons, Anthony, Thomas, Robert, and William, of whom only the first two reached adulthood. Bacon was buried in London, at St Bartholomew by the Exchange. He made generous provision in his will for Mary Bushby and for the education of her children. He left his ironworks to his sons, but the two survivors, Anthony and Thomas, when they came of age, first leased and then sold their inherited undertakings to Richard Crawshay.

Merthyr: Then and Now

CYFARTHFA

by Jason Meaker

Cyfarthfa Works in the 1870’s. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

The first photograph, above, shows a view over the Cyfarthfa Ironworks towards Cyfarthfa Castle.

Opened in 1765 by Anthony Bacon, Cyfarthfa Ironworks was leased by Richard Crawshay in 1786, and by the beginning of the 19th Century was the biggest ironworks in the world.

The Cyfarthfa Works closed in 1910, but re-opened briefly during the First World War to produce steel for armaments. The works finally closed completely in 1919, and were dismantled beginning in 1928.

The second photograph, below, shows roughly the same view. All trace of the once mighty Cyfarthfa Works has gone, but Pandy Farm and Cyfarthfa Castle still remain.

Death of a Boy Collier

The following article is transcribed from the issue of South Wales Daily News published 120 years ago today (22 October 1898).

PIT ACCIDENT AT MERTHYR

ONE BROTHER KILLED; THE OTHER ESCAPED

Yesterday at the Merthyr Police Court Mr Coroner R. J. Rhys held an inquest upon the body of Sidney Oates (14), who was killed by a fall of coal or rubbish on Tuesday afternoon at the Castle Pit, belonging to Messrs Crawshay Bros., Limited, Cyfarthfa. Mr F. Adams, assistant inspector of coal mines, was present also Mr David Abraham, general manager of the Cyfarthfa Collieries, and Mr Rees Howells, manager of the Castle Pit.

From the evidence of William Arthur Oates (19), of 22, Lower Colliers’-row, brother of the deceased, it appeared that deceased worked with him as a collier’s boy, and was standing near when witness was putting up a piece of timber. A fall occurred, which knocked a post out and killed his brother. Witness escaped, and after- wards got round to the place through another man’s working place. The piece of coal which fell down was about two yards long. There had been two sprags against it. The post knocked out was the one between the two road posts. The top was of stone, and it was weak at that place. He saw the fireman twice during the turn. Witness had had a place of his own for 12 months. He had worked underground ever since he started work. There were two slants in the seam at this place. They were to be seen before the fall took place. He had put up two posts as a precaution. He thought that was enough, and did nothing more. He thought if it had not been for the piece of coal knocking the post out it would have been all right.

John Protheroe, Cefn, collier, who was working on the lower side of the place where the brothers Oates were engaged, said he heard the fall take place, and he was about the first man afterwards to get there. The deceased lad was quite covered up by the fall. Witness helped to get deceased out. He was dead. When the fall was sufficiently cleared be saw posts had been knocked out. He could not say how, many. There was timber mixed up with the rubbish. Oates always kept his place tidy.

William Jones, the fireman, in reply to the Coroner, said he had visited the place three times on Tuesday – once before the men went in, and twice afterwards, the last time being about 2 o’clock in the afternoon. He told Oates to stand the post on the lower side at that time. He (Oates) had two sprags before the slip. The two slants spoken to by Oates could be plainly seen. He went to the spot on hearing of the accident. A fall of rubbish was on the deceased boy. The fall had occurred between the two slants. He could see some timber had been discharged by the fall. The post he told Oates to put up was on the lower side. This had nothing whatever to do with the fall on the boy. He thought it was quite likely as Oates said, that a piece of coal fell out and knocked out a post. There were three posts between the two slants. He gave Oates no orders to sprag this upper side; two sprags were already there, and these in his opinion were sufficient.

Rees Howells, the pit manager, produced plans of the workings, and described the visible conditions of the accident. The fall was 11 feet long by 4 feet wide and 4 feet high. The fall had not yet been cleared away.

Oates was also recalled, and questioned as to the position of the particular post which he was putting up when the accident arose, and the examination of Mr Howells was continued by the Coroner and the Mines Inspector.

The jurymen asked no questions.

The Coroner, in the course of a succinct reference to the salient points of evidence said it seemed to him that if the coal had not burst out as it did nothing would have happened – that was if the boy (witness Oates) was telling the truth. There was every likelihood that, as Oates had described it, this coal broke out, knocked out the timber near it, and fell down. The jury at once announced they were all of opinion that this was a case of “Accidental death.”

Merthyr’s Ironmasters: Samuel Homfray

Following on from the previous article, here is a bit more about Samuel Homfray in the first instalment of another new (hopefully) regular feature.

Samuel Homfray with Penydarren Ironworks in the background

Samuel Homfray was born in 1762, the fifth son of Francis Homfray and his second wife Jane. Francis Homfray (1725-1798) had been born into a successful industrial family, his father (also called Francis) had made his fortune in the iron industry at Coalbrookdale in Staffordshire. In 1749 Francis Homfray and Richard Jordan, also of Staffordshire, leased a water corn grist mill called Velin Griffith and a forge in the parish of Whitchurch, and in September 1782, he approached Anthony Bacon, owner of Cyfarthfa Ironworks, and leased the cannon foundry at the works to manufacture weapons and ammunitions.

In 1784 Homfray complained that he was not receiving sufficient metal and tapped Bacon’s furnace at Cyfarthfa. Francis Homfray worked the forge and mill until March 1786. However, after a disagreement with Bacon over the supply of iron, he gave up the lease of the Cyfarthfa property.

Francis encouraged two of his sons – Samuel and his older brother Jeremiah to lease land at Penydarren, next to the Morlais Brook and build an ironworks. After years of fierce competition with the Dowlais and Cyfarthfa Ironworks, they began to prosper. Samuel took over as proprietor of the Penydarren works, while Jeremiah moved to Ebbw Vale.

Samuel was one of the chief promoters of the Glamorganshire Canal, which opened in 1795 and cost £103,000, of which he subscribed £40,000 and which enabled the transporting of heavy manufactured iron to Cardiff docks. In 1804 Samuel won a 1000 guineas wager with Richard Crawshay as to which of them could first build a steam locomotive for use in their works. Homfray employed Richard Trevithick for this purpose and his locomotive won the bet, hauling five wagons, carrying ten tons of iron and seventy men, at a speed of five miles an hour.

In 1800, Samuel married Jane Morgan, daughter of Sir Charles Gould Morgan, 1st Baronet of Tredegar House, and thus obtained a favorable lease of mineral land at Tredegar, where he established the Tredegar Ironworks.

In 1813 he left the Penydarren Iron Company to concentrate his resources on developing the Tredegar Ironworks. Handicapped at Penydarren by a shortage of coal on the property, he faced no such problems when he built his new works. By 1823 Tredegar had five furnaces in blast, producing over 16,000 tons of iron each year.

Homfray’s connection with Penydarren was re-established in 1817 when his daughter Amelia married one of the works’ new owners, William Thompson.

In 1813 he was appointed High Sheriff of Monmouthshire and, having unsuccessfully standing as a candidate for a seat in Parliament for Brecknock in 1806, he was elected as Member of Parliament for the Borough of Stafford in 1818.

He relinquished his seat two years later, and he died on 22 May 1822 in London and was buried at Bassaleg.

Merthyr’s Bridges: Rhydycar Canal Bridge

One of Merthyr’s most distinctive, yet overlooked bridges is the Rhydycar Canal Bridge.

Rhydycar Canal Bridge in the early 1900’s. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

The Rhydycar Canal Bridge, or more precisely, the Vale of Neath Railway Bridge, was built in approximately 1850 to carry the Vale of Neath Railway over the Glamorganshire Canal. The Canal was the prime artery of trade linking the ironworks of Merthyr Tydfil with their markets via the port of Cardiff throughout the heyday of the iron industry, from the late 18th Century to the mid 19th Century. Construction of the Canal began at Merthyr in 1790, and it was opened in 1794. It was financed primarily by iron industry interests, among whom the Crawshay family of Cyfarthfa Ironworks were the leading shareholders.

With the growth of the railway industry, the importance of the canal began to wane as several companies brought lines into Merthyr. The Vale of Neath Railway Company built a line from Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare to Neath, chiefly to transport the products of the Merthyr iron industries to the port at Swansea. The line opened in 1851, and at Rhydycar, the two transport hubs intersected with the railway bridge over the canal.

The bridge, which was built on the site of an earlier bridge, is built of coursed rubble sandstone and brick. It is built on the skew, and comprises three arches. The central arch, which spanned the canal, is elliptical with a 5.5 metre span, and a height of 6.7 metres at its apex. This arch is flanked by two smaller arches which accommodated the towpath of the canal. There are also three access arches in each pier of the main arch, leading to the towpaths.

Following the closure of the railway, the bridge gradually fell in to disrepair. In 2009, it was announced that by Merthyr Council that the bridge would be repaired and renovated. The work was intended stabilise a large vertical crack and stonework. They also intended to return it to its historic setting in the canal basin by excavating an area to reveal the buried canal profile and repairing and reinstating the canal walls. However, these plans never came to fruition.

The bridge is now scheduled as a GradeII listed building as a now rare example of one of the early bridges on the important Glamorganshire Canal.

A Hidden Grave

Most people will have visited Zoar Chapel – either when it was still being used as a chapel, or more recently since its renovation and transformation into Canolfan Soar. How many of you knew, however, that there is a secret grave inside the building?

In 1841 the membership of Zoar Chapel had grown to such an extent that it was decided that a new, larger building was needed to accommodate the growing congregation. They decided that the new chapel should be 66 feet by 63 feet – making it one of the largest chapels in the town.

To accommodate the new building, as well as building over the graveyard, which was subsequently vaulted under the new chapel, the committee had to purchase several pieces of ground from Mr Abraham Bowen, a local businessman for £300. As the orientation of the new building was to be turned 180°, three small houses would need to be purchased from Mr John Morgan, a puddler in the Cyfarthfa Ironworks, for the entrance to the new chapel.

The grave in the cupboard at Zoar Chapel – the top can be seen just against the back wall.

John Morgan agreed to sell the houses for £200, but he stipulated that he and his family should have a vault set aside for them and they eventually be buried within the chapel. As it is set out in the agreement of 31 May 1841:-

“The said John Morgan in consideration of the sum of £200.00 to be secured in the after agreement to sell unto Benjamin Owen, a piece or parcel of ground situated at the back of Zoar Chapel for its rebuild.

John Morgan his executor’s administrators and assigns sufficient space beneath the surface of the said ground at the spot marked “A” in the said plan for a vault to be made by him or Zoar executors at his own expense in length eight feet in width, and three feet in depth, eight feet with of liberty entrance and accepts thereof and which said space at the southern side, which said space is to be arched over securely by the said Rev Benjamin Owen for the residue of 195 years by indenture of lease dated 22nd June 1802 made by Walter Walters and Henry Thomas known as Harri Blawdd (Henry the flour) for a yearly pepper corn rent.”

Indeed John Morgan and his family were eventually interred within Zoar Chapel and their grave can still be seen in small room to the left of the former pulpit.

Photos courtesy of Canolfan Soar.