Tag: Plymouth Ironworks

Memories of Old Merthyr

We continue our serialisation of the memories of Merthyr in the 1830’s by an un-named correspondent to the Merthyr Express, courtesy of Michael Donovan.

Here is fairly good evidence as to the time the Ivor Works were built. Why they were so may be difficult to determine, but the lease of the old works was drawing to an end, and the new, being on freehold land, was proof that the works might be carried on if terms for renewal could not be come to.

The Ivor Works from an 1875 map

There 14 blast furnaces at the old works with six blast engines for supplying them. The las of these, the No. 6, was on the yard at the top of the furnaces, as there was no room with the others on the lower yard. There was also the son, Ivor, to whom the translation of the Mabinogion had been dedicated, whose name could be used and possibly perpetuated thereby. Canford Manor was purchased about this time, but did anyone then think Ivor Bertie Guest would become Lord Wimborne?

The Ivor furnaces were amongst the first in South Wales that were erected so as to require the materials to be lifted to their top. This now used, but the recent ones are all built cupola fashion, that is (with the upper part at least) circular, but Ivor furnaces were truncated pyramid fashion.

Mr Thomas Wales, who afterwards became the Government Inspector of Mines, was the coal agent. He was succeeded by George Heppel, who afterwards went to Plymouth. Mr George Martin was also taken as the mine agent. His term of service was a long one. Some few years ago I was in Llangammarch Wells for a few hours, and having finished the purpose of my visit, turned into the churchyard, when to my surprise the resting-place of one who was known to me in 1838 was seen. Mr Samuel Truran was in charge of the blast engines and Mr Dan Williams the engineer of the forge etc.

 

An aerial view of Dowlais from 1929. Dowlais Works are bottom right and Ivor Works are top middle. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

There was an exodus of Dowlais men to Cwmavon. Frederick Evans; David Harris, forge carpenter; Lamphier, who has been mentioned, and others; but Dowlais has supplied other works also, Rhymney to wit, for Mr Josiah Richards was one, and by an accident, in fact a fall in the engine house, was killed. John P Roe went with him as draughtsman, and succeeded to his position after Mr Richards’ death.

It may not be generally known that William Thompson of Penydarren, was then a part proprietor of Rhymney Works, and being a Governor of the Blue Coat School in London, was the cause of Mr E Windsor Richards being educated there.

Maynard Colchester Harrison was the forge clerk, and Sydney Howard went first to Cardiff and then to London in the same service. Mr Lewis Lewis, who in later years retired to Treodyrhiw, was looking after the stables etc., and there was lodging with him John C Wolrige, who afterwards went to Plymouth, and Edward Jones (called Liverpool Jones), who became manager at Hemmetts at Bridgwater, and afterwards manager of the Patent Shaft and Axle Works, Wednesbury.

There were many others. One was Mr Wm. Jenkins, manager of Consett subsequently (his father was the storekeeper in the works and clerk in the church), and one Goodall, brother to the artist of that name. For a time after he came he used to dream so  much – cross-adding the colliers’ pay was no joke – that he was doing it in his sleep.

There had been one at Dowlais I never remember, It was he who put up what was then the foremost mill of the time. His name was William Gardner, and the big mill was put up by him, but from all I ever learnt, he it was who brought the false rider into good use. Simple as this is, it was exceedingly advantageous. To explain it, allow my saying it is placing of very cheap and simple casting to break and so save expensive damage to other parts.

To be continued at a later date…..

Land Ownership in Merthyr Tydfil – part 2

by Brian Jones

Throughout the Medieval period the number of local farms increased and these Manorial farms improved their productivity whilst the population waxed and waned. The antiquarian, David Merch, studied the 1558 “Morganiae Archaiographia” and identified 14 freehold farms. Manorial Rent Lists became important historical sources and John Griffiths used these records in his detailed work “Historical Farms of Merthyr Tudful” (2012) he identified 120 farms (see map below) twenty five of which were “Charter Land Farms” which were freehold in 1630 suggesting that the aristocracy divested a proportion of their freehold land in order to accrue capital or to curry favour with landed gentry. The freeholders of noble birth had been established for hundreds of year however these were not continuous blood lines. For example, the Earldom of Plymouth title has been established three times, firstly in 1675 by Charles II and by 1765 there had been another different family line as the original title holders did not have children or near relatives required in order to inherit.                                     

Five centuries after Gilbert de Clare claimed freehold ownership of all of the Merthyr land by force, a number of entrepreneurs came into the valley to begin the manufacture of iron. Business people such as Anthony Bacon, William Brownrigg, Isaac Wilkinson, John Guest, Richard Crawshay and the three Homfray brothers jostled to gain leases to build the ironworks: Dowlais (1759), Plymouth (1763), Cyfarthfa (1765) and Penydarren (1784). These works were financed by wealthy individuals and distant investors aware that resources were available to include coal, ironstone, limestone, clay, timber and particularly important, supplies of water.

The rich absentee freeholders owned tracts of local farmland and were anxious to lease their holdings in the knowledge they could increase their income by leasing land for the extraction of minerals to the newcomers rather than from their existing tenant farmer. Two of the largest freeholders were the Earl of Plymouth and Earl Talbot whose forebears had concentrated on rural economies but now they changed their attitude to manufacturing and this opened a new chapter on the ownership of land in their possession. There was a rapid decline in the number of farms and an attendant change from a rural to an urban economy; houses were required for the influx of people to man the ironworks, quarry the limestone and mine the iron ore and coal. People left the land for the minor village which now began to increase in size.

450 years after Gilbert de Clare,7th Earl of Gloucester took possession of the land, later known as Merthyr parish, it is remarkable that three dynasties owned the majority of the freehold of the parish. At the beginning there were no maps to record existing land holdings and therefore landscape features assumed particular importance and the River Taff served as a boundary. Much of the land to the west of the river was owned by Lord Talbot whilst that to the east of the river was owned by the Earl of Plymouth with a portion around the parish church owned by the successors of the Lewis family. The leases for all four ironworks are set out in an authoritative work completed by John Lloyd in his 1906 book “The Early History of the Old South Wales Ironworks 1760 -1840”. This work draws on the extensive collection of leases drawn up by a Brecon firm of solicitors, Messrs Walter and John Powell. The first Cyfarthfa lease of 7th October 1765 with Anthony Bacon and William Brownrigg was for 4000 acres of land below the junction of the Taff Fawr and Taff Fechan, southwards down the valley, to the centre line of Aberdare mountain. The ancestry of William Talbot can be traced back to a Norman family in France, then to Sir Gilbert Talbot (1276-1346) Lord Chamberlain to King Edward III who married into the Welsh line of Prince Rhys Mechyll. William Talbot was created Earl Talbot of Hensol in 1761 and his legacy had spanned centuries intertwining noble ancestry, legal expertise and political service. His estates were extensive and he had links to Llancaiach Fawr in Nelson and Dynevor (Dinefwr) in Carmarthenshire. The family name is still linked to the premier noble seat of the Earl of Shrewsbury where the present Earl is also titled as Baron Talbot of Hensol.

The Cyfarthfa lease of 29 August 1765 with William Talbot was also joined with Michael Richards of Cardiff. There is some uncertainty as to this latter freeholder although there appears to be a connection with the Llancaiach estate and Rhyd-y-Car farm. It is likely that some time between 1685 and 1729, Jane, one of the two daughters of Colonel Edward Pritchard, sold her half share of the Merthyr estate to a Michael Richards who in a later lease is identified as the freeholder of Rhyd-y-Car farm. The other daughter, Mary, married David Jenkins of Hensol and their daughter married Charles Talbot in 1713. It is likely that the Talbots and Richards were closely connected by the date of the Cyfarthfa lease of 1765 and by then Michael Richards was of some social standing and wealth, living in Cardiff.

The lease for the land to the east of the river was held by the other major freehold interest with the 4th Earl of Plymouth of the 2nd Creation, Other Lewis Windsor Hickman, styled as Lord Windsor, made the Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan in 1754. This family had combined a few years earlier with a wealthy landed Glamorgan family with firm links to the history of Merthyr Tydfil (Tudful). In 1589 the Lewis family had occupied the Courthouse (Cwrt) at the site of the present Labour Club in the centre of the town, then the location of the small parish village with the church of “The Martyr”. “The Cwrt” was possibly the court of the Welsh prince, Ifor Bach and then passed through his descendants to the Lewis family who left Merthyr and moved to Caerphilly at the time of Elizabeth I where they built a manor house with extensive parkland at the Van. Lewis of the Van became the Sheriff of Glamorgan in 1548 and in time the Glamorgan estates were gifted to the last survivor of the family line, Elizabeth, who married into the Earl of Plymouth line with the 3rd Earl of Plymouth in 1730 and hence the combined wealth of both families came into play.

In summary the ownership of land in Merthyr Tydfil (Tudful) changed from a sole landowner in 1267 with a small number of tenanted farms to increase to  about 120 in 1630. Three quarters of the farms were rented and perhaps 14 to 25 freehold. Most of the freeholds were of relatively small acreage with substantial acreages in the hands of the few families who were descended from  Norman lines. The Llancaiach estates and those of the Earles Plymouth and Talbot, and Richards, figure large in the leases for mineral rights agreed with the 4 local ironwork companies. Then the number of farms reduced and 100 years later the coal era building boom ensued to meet the needs of the new colliery villages. By that time the village became the growing town of Merthyr Tydfil, churches and chapels increased in number and the older churches reinforced their medieval rights as Glebe lands. As the 19th turned into the 20th century the vast majority of properties were leasehold however the Leasehold Reform Act of 1967 enabled leaseholders to acquire freehold interests and that ownership is now the norm.

200 years of history at Gwaunfarren – part 1

by Brian Jones

At the junction of Alexandra Road and Galon Uchaf Road is a triangular piece of land on which are sited ten houses named as Gwaunfarren Grove at postal code CF47 9BJ. Of extra significance is an additional older property named “Gwaunfarren Lodge” positioned at the entrance to the much newer residential development. The location comprises a modern housing development on land which has undergone considerable change in the last 200 years. A review of the history of this small portion of the Gwaunfarren locality reveals a sequence of events which mirror cultural and social changes in pre- and post-industrial Merthyr Tydfil. This article plots the timeline of the land use played out between the latter years of the eighteenth century and the present day.

The Medieval Hamlet of Garth comprised of land stretching from Morlais Castle to Caeracca, then south to Gellifaelog, Goytre, Gurnos, Galon Uchaf, Gwaunfarren, Gwaelodygarth and Abermorlais. Some of this land was occupied by both yeoman and tenant farmers with pasture for sheep and cattle. The freehold ownership of the land, with its few farms, passed from family to family and at the geographical centre of the Hamlet was a parcel of land then called Gwaun Faren. In 1789 Gwaun Faren was mapped by William Morrice who noted that both farms, Gwaun Faren and the adjacent Gwaelod Y Garth, had been purchased by Mr William Morgan of Grawen in 1785. That map was redrawn in 1998, and annotated, by Griffiths Bros and show in detail the fields comprising Gwaun Faren farm. This revised map conforms to the 1850 Tithe Map and particular attention is drawn to the field marked C annotated as Cae Bach (little field). This field now relates to post code CF47 9BJ which is the locus for Gwaunfarren Grove.

The 1850 Tithe Map shows field number 1901 as the homestead identified as “The Dairy” at the centre of a number of fields which made up the farm named as Gwaun Faren. The name has varied over time to include Gwaun Varen, Gwain Varen, Gwaun Faren, Gwaun Farren to the present-day spelling of Gwaunfarren. There is some debate as to the meaning of part of the name: “Gwaun=meadow” however there is some uncertainty as to the origin of “faren/Farren”. The Welsh-English Dictionary “Y Geiriadur Mawr” does not have a translation for this word and there is some speculation that it may have originated in the Irish word “Fearann” pronounced “Farran” meaning “pasture”. The book “Merthyr Tydfil – A Valley Community” (1981) published by The Merthyr Teachers Centre Group records the name as “Gwaun=meadow” and “Farren= warren” thus “Warren Meadow”.

In 1850 the freeholder of the farm was Mary Morgan the widow of William Morgan and the farmland was leased to the Penydarren Iron Company. That ironworks was less than half a mile away and the roads accessing the general locality conform in major part to the present-day road system. These were trackways and subsequently they became the present-day Alexandra Avenue and Galon Uchaf Road. There is no evidence of coal mining on the Gwaunfarren farmland however it is likely that iron stone and coal transited the adjacent trackways into the nearby iron works. The 1850 map identifies the farm homestead as “The Dairy” and it is probable that the farm produced milk, butter and cheese for the growing industrial population. The nearby Penydarren Ironworks opened in 1784 in the ownership of the Homfray family and George Forman. This was the smallest of the four local ironworks and in due course it made the cables of flat bar link for the Menai Straits Suspension Bridge. The works closed in 1857 followed shortly thereafter by the Plymouth Ironworks in 1859 whilst the two larger works at Cyfarthfa and Dowlais remained open.

Field number 1901 on the 1850 Tithe Map configures with the 2-acre piece of land that is now identified as post code CF47 9BJ. This land was leased in 1862 to William Simons for 25 years and he funded its redevelopment He was the first of two successful wealthy individuals and their families who lived there in succession until the 1920s. William was a barrister practising in Castle Street and he lived in the house with his wife and children from 1862 until 1888. He purchased the farmhouse and set about making substantial changes to that building, laid out a new garden, driveway and built a Lodge at the main entrance to the drive. His great grandson, Graham Simons later recounted a story detailed by one of Williams daughters, Phoebe, that some of the walls of the house were 4 feet thick and this perhaps indicates that some of the original farm building had been incorporated in the new house identified in the 1850 Tithe Map as “The Dairy”. A plan of the new house and garden is shown below. Note that the architect identified the house as “Gwain-faren” later named as “Gwaunfarren House”.

Parts of the old farmhouse were retained, the building substantially increased in size and an impressive new facade was built based on a Victorian style of architecture much in vogue at the time as demonstrated in an early photograph of the new house.

Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive                                      

Margaret Stewart Taylor did not include the house in her essay titled “The Big Houses of Merthyr Tydfil” published in the inaugural edition of the “Merthyr Historian Volume I” in 1976. However this was indeed a large house necessary to accommodate the first large family to reside there. The 1871 census shows that in addition to William Simons and his wife, Clara, there were 8 children and 7 staff: a governess, nurse, nursemaid, cook, laundress and 2 housemaids. Ten years later the family had increased to 11 children making a compliment of 20 family plus staff. It is suggested that there were legal disputes between William Simons, the leaseholder, and the freeholder of the land which played a part in the move of the Simons family to Cardiff in 1888.

To be continued……. 

Merthyr Tydfil to Aber Cynon Tramroad – part 2

by Gwilym and John Griffiths

In October 1858, Rees Jones was interviewed by the Mining Journal. He assisted Richard Trevithick in the making of his locomotive. It worked very well but frequently its weight broke the tram-plates. On the third (see below) journey it broke a great many of the tram-plates. It was brought back to Pen y Darren by horses. The steam-engine was never used as a locomotive after this.

‘The Pen y Darren Locomotive’ added, without stating the source, that: Over the next few weeks the locomotive made numerous journeys over the tramroad and was later used as a stationary engine for pumping water, winding coal and driving a forging hammer.

The newspaper, Cambrian, reported the trial briefly: ‘Yesterday’, the long-awaited trial of Mr Trevithick’s newly-invented steam engine, for which he obtained His Majesty’s letters patent, to draw and work carriages of all descriptions on various kinds of roads, as well as for a number of other purposes to which its power may be usefully employed, took place near this town, and was found to perform to admiration all that was expected from its warmest advocates.

In the present instance, the novel application of steam by means of this truly valuable machine was made use of to convey along the tramroad ten tons, long weight, of bar iron from Pen y Darren Works to the place where it joins the Glamorgan Canal, upwards of nine miles distant; and it is necessary to observe that the weight of the load was soon increased from ten to fifteen tons by about seventy persons riding on the trams, who, drawn thither, as well as many others, by invincible curiosity, were eager to ride at the expense of the first display of the patentee’s abilities in this country.

To those who are not acquainted with the exact principle of this new engine, it may not be improper to observe that it differs from all others yet brought before the public, by disclaiming the use of condensed water, and discharges it into the open air, or applies it to the heating of fluids, as convenience may require. The expense of making engines on this principle does not exceed one half of many on the most approved plan made use of before this appeared. It takes much less coal to work it, and it is only necessary to supply a small quantity of water for the purpose of creating steam, which is the most essential matter. It performed the journey without feeding or using any water, and will travel with ease at the rate of five miles an hour. It is not doubted but that the number of horses in the kingdom will be very considerably reduced, and the machine, in the hands of the present proprietors, will be made use of in a hundred instances never yet though of for an instant’.

The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales, circa 1840, added extra bits of information: The first locomotive, though with toothed wheels, is said to have been started on the old Merthyr-Tydvil railroad in 1804, having been patented by Messrs Vivian and Co, in 1802; it was then stated to have drawn ten tons of bar iron at the rate of five miles an hour; but it did not come into anything like general use for the carriage of goods till ten years afterwards. The present (1840) noble species of locomotives, however, and railways, are of still more recent origin. There was clearly some conflict over the patent?

It seems likely that the authors must have made a mistake over ‘toothed wheels’: perhaps they were thinking of the cog-wheels on the engine itself?

We find it hard to believe that there was any need or purpose to construct the smaller tunnel near Plymouth Works in 1802, though this is the date so stated by Leo Davies in ‘Bridges of Merthyr Tydfil’, page 155, and the tunnel certainly existed by the time of John Woods’ 1836 Street Map of Merthyr Tudful. Richard Trevithick did not mention it in his letter describing the journey (but see below) yet, at only 8ft 4in high, it must have proved a problem for his steam locomotive with a stack of almost similar height? The second tunnel was apparently built around 1860 or 1862, per Leo Davies. Why was it needed? Why was it so much higher at 13ft 0in? The lower tunnel would have limited the height of any transport through it, a quarter of a century after the arrival of the Taff Vale Railway.

A Trystan Edwards, in ‘Merthyr, Rhondda and The Valleys’, page 163, apparently knew (from frustratingly unnamed sources but see above quote) that Richard Trevithick was assisted in the construction of the engine by Rees Jones of Dowlais and that the engine-driver’s name was Watkin Richards. He wrote that a collision with a bridge brought down both bridge and stack (though Trevithick himself made no reference to this accident in his account). Trystan Edwards recorded that the engine failed to return, a fact totally incorrect according to Trevithick’s own account written at the time.

According to Joseph Gross, ‘The Merthyr Tramroad’, in Merthyr Historian, volume 1, Anthony Bacon refused to make the award of the bet because Richard Trevithick had moved some sleepers in the tunnel near Plymouth Works to the middle to allow the funnel to pass. This was supposed to have changed the existing track, violating one of the conditions of the wager. The return journey of the locomotive was not completed because it was said the gradient was too steep. This, too, contradicts other sources.

Merthyr Tydfil to Aber Cynon Tramroad – part 1

by Gwilym and John Griffiths

Some sources have recorded that this tramroad (then called a dram road) was started around 1800 by agreement between William Taitt of Dowlais, Samuel Homfray of Pen y Darren and Richard Hill of Plymouth. They added that the construction, under the supervision of George Overton, was allegedly started in 1799 and finished in 1802. Yet see under Leases 1800 for a few of the early leases in summary. It seems that Richard Fothergill was much involved in setting up these leases. In addition, the route was always described as being from Morlais Castle to Navigation House.  The route was from Pen y Darren to Aber Cynon, 9½ miles, a fall of 341 feet. Brief details were recorded in The Pen y Darren Locomotive by Stuart Owen-Jones.

The tramroad was used briefly (three times or numerous times, see below) with a trial of Trevithick’s steam engine on Tuesday 21 Feb 1804, returning to Pen y Darren the following day, but shortly thereafter the tramroad reverted to horse power for many further years. The weight of the steam-engine apparently damaged the rails. However, Charles Wilkins, ‘The History of Merthyr Tydfil’, page 252, thought that the engine, ‘after serving a long time on the tramway, was removed to a pit called Winch Fawr (in the hamlet of Heol Wermwd not the one in the hamlet of Gelli Deg), and finally taken to the top of the incline owned by the Pen y Darren Company at Cwm Bargod.’ We are not so sure. Richard Trevithick himself recorded the event from which the following summary is appropriate:

  1. On Saturday 11 Feb 1804, the fire was lit in the ‘Tram Waggon’ and Richard Trevithick worked it without the wheels to try the engine.
  2. On Monday 13 Feb 1804, they put the waggon on the ‘Tram Road’. It worked very well and ran up hill and down with great ease and was very manageable. There was plenty of power.
  3. Between 13 Feb and 20 Feb 1804 the ‘Tram Waggon’ had been worked several times. They had tried loads of up to ten tons, and it worked easily. He was sure it could cope with forty tons. Richard Trevithick intended making a smaller engine for the tram road as the first one had too much power, and would be used instead to work a hammer.
  4. On Tuesday 21 Feb 1804 they made the journey with the engine. They carried ten tons, presumably of iron, in five waggons, with seventy men riding on them for the whole of the journey. He recorded, very clearly, that it took four hours and five minutes to cover the nine miles because they had to cut down some trees and remove some large rocks out of the tram road. No mention of the stack being knocked down by a bridge or any problem with the ‘tunnel’ by Plymouth Works. They returned, but a broken bolt released the water, and the engine did not arrive back at Pen y Darren Works until the evening of Wednesday 22 Feb 1804. No mention of broken tramway plates or of having to be hauled back to Pen y Darren by horse.
  5. Later they tried the carriage with twenty-five tons of iron, and found the engine was more than a match for that weight. The steam was delivered into the chimney above the damper. It made the draught much stronger by going up the chimney. Trevithick’s locomotive was the first to employ this very important principle of turning the exhaust steam up the chimney, so producing a draft which drew the hot gases from the fire more powerfully through the boiler.

In May 1854, some forty years later, Thomas Ellis, an engineer from Tredegar, wrote a letter describing the first journey the Pen y Darren locomotive took in February, 1804. His father was at Pen y Darren when the engine was made and tried. Samuel Homfray, proprietor of the Pen y Darren Works, Merthyr Tydfil, made a bet of 1,000 guineas with Richard Crawshay, of the Cyfarthfa Works, that Trevithick’s steam-engine could convey a load of iron from his works to the Navigation House, nine miles distant.

To be continued……

The Pioneers of the Welsh Iron Industry

Following on from the recent article about Charles Wilkins, here is a transcription of an article written by him for an issue of his publication ‘The Red Dragon’, which appeared 140 years ago this month.

It is a little over one hundred years ago, in May, 1782, when a messenger came from Wales into the neighbourhood of Stourbridge with great news. One Mr. Bacon had started an ironworks near a village called Merthyr, and he wanted a lot of men. There was a good deal of gossip caused by this. A recruiting sergeant coming into an English village to enlist lads for glory could not have made a greater ferment. Merthyr was “far down in Wales,” and Wales to many seemed as distant as America. “You have to go,” said the messenger, “to Gloucester in a boat, and then trust to the channel and work round as far as Cardiff, and then it is a couple of days’ journey up the mountains.”

There was, I repeat, a good deal of ferment, and no little hesitation, but at last the requisite number of hands was got, and away they went, bidding sorrowful farewells—many of them knowing  it may be for years or it may be forever.” It would not do, they thought, to take their household gods with them, but the pets—Bill’s dog, and Tom’s cat—could not be left behind. The Lees carried between them a wicker cage in which was a shining blackbird. Let us look at them a moment, for they were the pioneers of our old English residents, the Homfrays, Hemuses, Lees, Browns, Turleys, Wilds, Millwards, and they are worthy of more than a passing notice. Powerful men, all of them, trained to labour from youth, and full of hope and of determination. They are going as settlers amongst strange people, who speak a different language, and who may resent the incoming of strangers. Well, let them. The strangers are not only strong, but God-fearing men, and they take sturdily to the boat which tediously carries them down to Worcester.

So tedious was the journey that when Worcester was reached one or two of the men wanted to go back home again, but Homfray, the leader, would not hear of it, and his hand being hard, and his voice strong, they gave in. Gloucester was at length reached, and at that place a barge was hired and down the Severn they went, hugging the coast wherever they could. But somehow or other when night came on the barge drifted out into mid channel, and to their horror on came a storm.

Now everyone wished himself back at the village of Stewpovey, where most of them came from! How fiercely they looked at Homfray, who had led them into this trouble. Presently, however, the storm abated, and they found themselves under Penarth Head, and there was not much difficulty after that in landing at Cardiff. Very small, very insignificant was Cardiff then; a few streets clustering about the Castle, and only a little life there when the boat came once a week from Bristol. At Cardiff, waggons were hired and up the wayfarers toiled through the valley, reaching Merthyr at last.

One of the old pioneers, pipe in mouth and grandson on knee, used in his declining days to tell the wondering listeners his experience of the voyage, and the journey through Merthyr to Cyfarthfa. It was a small place, he said, was Merthyr; just a village like; small houses, fields, and gardens on one side or the other. The houses were thatched, and as the strangers rode by in their waggons their heads were on a level with the eaves. The old inhabitants used to think a two-storied house extravagance. What was the use of mounting upstairs to go to bed?

On reaching Merthyr the wanderers lodged where they could. The “Star” was the principal inn, the “Crown” was a thatched house. At the “Boot,” Ben Brown, being short of funds, sold his dog for ninepence. It was like parting with his own flesh and blood! Then with the morning they were up, and in consultation with Bacon, who had contracted with Homfray to’ build a forge. The work was done as quickly as possible, for the American war was raging, and guns were needed. In due time the forge was got ready. Every man, woman, and child from the village came up to the opening. Shonny Cwmglo was there with his wonderful harp. Shonny could play every tune, although he had never learned a note, and he played away till he was a hundred, or ever the silver strings were loosed, and, his feeble hands falling from the strings, he laid him down and died. The boys and girls danced, and the men and women raised their voices in gladness when the forge was started.

A species of delirium seized upon everybody, and the harper played like the fiddler of Prague, increasing the madness. Homfray seizing Hemus’s new hat, a wonderful thing, threw it under the hammer, and his own followed like magic. Ale houses did a great trade that day and night. Robert Peel’s policemen and “Bruce” were all in the far-off future at that time. Many of the pioneers died at a brave old age, long before- policemen came into existence.

For several years Bacon and the Homfrays worked well together, but one day there was a falling out, and a fight, and the friendship was never renewed on the old lines. Homfray did not care to go back again with the Browns and the Wilds, who were now getting settled. Some of them had fallen in love with the dark-eyed daughters of the village; and courting had been so pleasant to a few that others had followed. The broken English of the maidens was so pretty, and their eyes had such a fire in them. Many a girl, though, had to be won by fierce fighting, for the boys of the village had no love for the strangers. On Saturdays, when strangers and villagers met, drank, and fought, the village constable discreetly kept out of the way. Things have changed since then.

To understand the story of the starting of Penydarran we must turn back a page or two of the book of history. Homfray passing by the ravine on the right of the roadway as you ascend from Merthyr to Dowlais, was struck with its adaptability for the site of an ironworks, and rented it for £3 a year. He and two other Homfrays were joined by a Londoner, named Forman, who held some kind of office at the Tower, and had saved a lot of money. Then together they built a furnace, and went along swimmingly. In 1796 they built furnace No. 2, and brought another lot of men from Staffordshire. In that year they fairly eclipsed even Dowlais itself; for while Dowlais turned out 2,100 tons in the year, Penydarran could show a make of 4,100 tons, or nearly double. Penydarran was regarded as the more important centre in every way. We have only to turn to the rate books to see that while Penydarran was rated at £3,000, Dowlais was only rated at £2,000, and Plymouth at £750. By 1803 Penydarran made fifty tons of bar iron weekly. It is to John Davies, father of Mr D. Davies, J.P., of Galon Uchaf, and of the Morriston Tinplate Works, that is due the honour of rolling the first bar. The son afterwards arose to be the owner of the works. What Penydarran accomplished in after days and how under Trevethick its owners started the first locomotive that ever ran, must be left for another paper.

Merthyr Tydfil in 1803 – part 2

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 260 – 264

Merthyr Tydfil derives its name from Tydfil, the daughter of Brechan, Prince of Brecknockshire. She was the wife of Cyngen, son of Cadelh, Prince of the vale royal and part of Powys, about the close of the fifth century; and is reckoned among the ancient British saints. She, with some of her brothers, was on a visit to her father, then an old man, when they were set upon by a party of Pagan Saxons and Irish Picts, as they are termed in various old manuscripts. Tydfil, her father, Brechan, and her brother Rhun Dremrudd, were murdered. But Nefydd, the son of Rhun Dremrudd, a very young man, soon raised the country by his exertions, and put the infidels to flight. It should seem by this anecdote, as well as by others that may be found in the Cambrian biography, derived from ancient memorials of the British saints, that Brechan had his residence, or what the modern language of princes usually terms court, at this place. Tydfil having been murdered, or martyred in the manner described, a church was here dedicated to her in after times, and called the church of Merthyr Tydfil, which signifies the Martyr Tydfil, from the Greek word μάρτυρ, a witness, exclusively appropriated in ecclesiastical language to the designation of those who have borne testimony by their sufferings to the truth of their religion.

These are the few and scanty memorials which have hitherto been discovered respecting the history of this place in the earliest times. But it was in after ages, though inconsiderable in population and political importance, of no contemptible note as a sort of hot-bed, that contributed principally to engender and kept alive for more than a century, those religious dissensions, which still separate a larger proportion of the inhabitants in Wales, than in any part of England, from the established church. Indeed it cannot be, but the zealous and devout, whether capable or not of appreciating controverted creeds or metaphysical distinctions, will form themselves into distinct societies, where the scanty provision of the clergy and their neglected state of the churches, scarcely admit of that seemliness and grave impression, so necessary to the due effect of public worship. Almost all the exclusively Welsh sects among the lower orders of the people having truth degenerated into habits of the most picture lunacy in their devotion. The various sub divisions of Methodists, jumpers, and I know not what, who meet in fields and houses, prove how low fanaticism may degrade human reason: but for the intelligent and enlightened part of the dissenters among whom have appeared many luminaries of our learning are everywhere respectable and nowhere more respected, than the estimation of moderate and candid churchmen. At Blaencannaid, in this parish, the first dissenting congregation in Wales was formed about the year 1620 or very soon after; and it was while preaching to this society that Vavasor Powel, a man celebrated in the annals of nonconformity, was taken up and imprisoned in Cardiff gaol.

Vavasor Powel was born in Radnorshire and descended on his father’s side from the Powels of Knucklas in that County, an ancient and honourable stock; by his mother from the Vavasors, a family of high antiquity, which came out of Yorkshire into Wales and was related to the principal gentry. He was educated in Jesus College, Oxford. When he left University, he became an itinerant preacher in the principality; and the circumstance of his belonging to the unpopular sect of Baptists exposed him to much persecution. In 1640, he and his hearers were seized under the warrant of a magistrate, but very shortly were dismissed. In 1642, he was driven from Wales because he objected to Presbyterian ordination.

At that time there were but two dissenting congregations in Wales, of which this at Merthyr Tydfil was one.  In 1646 he returned to the exercise of his profession with ample testimonials; and such was his indefatigable activity, but before the restoration they were more than 20 Baptist societies chiefly formed under his superintending care. He was one of the commissioners for sequestrations. The usual fate of bold integrity awaited him; that of becoming obnoxious inturn to all parties. As an advocate of Republican principles, but not for their prostitution to the mockery of freedom, he preached against the protectorship, and wrote some spirited letters of remonstrance to Cromwell. For this he was imprisoned. He was known to be a fifth monarchy man: at the restoration therefore he underwent a series of persecutions at Shrewsbury, in Wales, and lastly in the Fleet prison which ended only with his death. He was permitted to return to Merthyr Tydfil after his imprisonment at Portsmouth, as well as at Shrewsbury: but as he persisted in exercising his functions, he was committed to Cardiff Castle and afterwards sent to London, where he expired in the Fleet, and was buried in Bunhill Fields.

Pages 264 – 267

But it was not to the bloody memory of its martyrs, whether ancient or modern that Merthyr Tydfil was to owe its rank in historic page; for it continued a very inconsiderable village until about the year 1755, when the late Mr. Bacon took more notice of the iron and coal mines, with which this tract of country abounds, than they had before excited. For the very low rent of two hundred pounds per annum, he obtained a lease of a district at least 8 miles long and 4 wide, for 99 years. It is to be understood, however, that his right extended only to the iron and coal mines found on the estate, and that he had a comparatively very small portion of the soil on the surface, on which he erected his works for smelting and forging the iron. He possessed in addition some fields for the keep of his horses, and other necessary conveniences. He at first constructed one furnace; and little besides this was done, probably for at least ten years. The next advance was the erection of a forge for working pig into bar iron.

About the beginning of the American war, Mr. Bacon contracted with government for casting cannon. Proper foundries were erected for this purpose; and a good Turnpike road was made down to the port of Cardiff, along an extent of 26 miles. At Cardiff likewise a proper wharf was formed, still called the cannon wharf, whence  the cannon were shipped off to Plymouth, Portsmouth, and wherever the service required. These were carried in waggons down to Cardiff, at a prodigious expense of carriages, horses, and roads. There are those who do not hesitate to assert, but I know not with what truth, that 16 horses were sometimes employed to draw the waggon that contained only one cannon. It is likewise said, that the roads were so torn by these heavy waggons and the weight of their loads, that it was a month’s work for one man to repair the Turnpike after every deportation of cannon. I had no opportunity of inquiring properly and minutely into the truth of these relations; but I cannot help suspecting them to be matter of fact in the main hyperbolically aggravated, though I derive the account from very respectable sources of information.

This contract is supposed to have been immensely lucrative to Mr. Bacon; but he was obliged to relinquish it about the close of the American war, or rather transfer it to the Caron company in Scotland, as I have been informed; where most, perhaps all, of the cannon are now cast. He made this disposal, that he might be enabled to hold a seat in parliament, to which he had been elected. Soon afterwards, about the year 1783, he granted leases of his remaining term, in the following parcels: Cyfarthfa Works, the largest portion, to Mr. Crawshay, and the reminder to Mr Hill. Mr. Bacon had never had any interest in Penydarren or Dowlais works; but his heirs have from the other two a clear annual income of ten thousand pounds.

Mr. Crawshay’s iron works of Cyfarthfa are now by far the largest in this Kingdom; probably indeed the largest in Europe; and in that case, as far as we know, the largest in the world. He employs constantly 1500 men, at an average of 30 shillings a week per man, which will make the weekly wages paid by him £2250, and the monthly expenditure, including other items, about £10000. From the canal accounts, it appears that Cyfarthfa works sent 9,906 tonnes of iron to Cardiff between the 1st of October 1805 and the 1st of October 1806 so that the average may be reckoned from 180 to 200 tonnes every week. Mr. Crawshay now works 6 furnaces, and 2 rolling mills.  For procuring blast for the furnaces and working the Mills, he has for steam engines, one of 50, one of 40, one of 12, and one of 7 horse power.

The quantity of iron sent from Penydarren works by the canal, from October 1805, to October 1806, was 6,963 tonnes; so that the men employed by Mr. Homfray must amount to about 1,000 and his monthly outgoings must be about £7000 and the weekly average of iron from 130 to 140 tonnes. Dowlais ironworks belonging to Messrs Lewis and Tate, are next in the scale to those of Penydarren. Their produce last year amounted to 5,432 tonnes. Plymouth works, belonging to Mr Hill, sent out within the same period, 3952 tonnes, or 26 tonnes per week. They employ about 500 men at a monthly expense of about £4000. The total of the iron sent to Cardiff down the canal from the 1st of October 1805 to the 1st of October 1806 was 26,253 tonnes, or about 500 tonnes weekly; whence it is shipped off to Bristol, London, Plymouth, Portsmouth, and other places, and a considerable quantity to America.

The number of smelting furnaces at Merthyr Tydfil is about 16.

To be continued…..

Memories of Old Merthyr

We continue our serialisation of the memories of Merthyr in the 1830’s by an un-named correspondent to the Merthyr Express, courtesy of Michael Donovan.

A family of the name of Steel were at Plymouth. Old Mr Steel was the chief and trusted agent. One of his sons died, the other was in America for many years. Alfred Meyler Hughes, who was at Dowlais, married a Miss Steel, but as far as known, the family have died out.

The Joseph family were there: the oldest that can be recalled was Mr Morgan Joseph. He had three sons and two daughters. The sons were Mr David Joseph, who became one of the trustees under Mr Hill’s will; Mr Thos. Joseph, one of the most enterprising of colliery proprietors (although he did not amass a fortune); Mr Morgan Joseph, who was an agent or resident part proprietor with the Ocean Colliery, and is yet alive, I believe, at Bath. One of the daughters married a Mr T Davies, who was furnace manager at Plymouth; the other married Mr Samuel Thomas, then of Pontstorehouse, but later of Ysguborwen, the father of Mr David Alfred Thomas, the senior member of the borough (right).

The Bevan family were the forge carpenters, or if the term is preferred, the engineers, as was also a Davis family, the daughter of whom, Angharad Gwent, is, I hear, yet with us. All there were prior to Mr W T Lewis’ time.

A Mr John Bevan, not the same family as previously mentioned, was in charge of the horses. This Mr Bevan’s brother was archdeacon of Carmarthen. Mr William Thomas – the grandfather of Mr W Thomas of Oakfield, and brother of the Mr E Thomas alluded to – was the chief book-keeper, left for a while but returned, and after some few years passed away.

Before leaving Plymouth, I should say Mr A Hill was extremely fond of Chemistry, Dr Wollaston was his beau ideal, but chemistry was not then advanced as now. What with some few experiments, and very careful observation in practice, Mr Hill did certainly produce first a bar iron, and afterwards a rail, which stood amongst the highest of their kind. He used certain materials not usually resorted to, but nothing would induce him to patent after the experience of the cinder one.

To be continued at a later date.

Memories of Old Merthyr

We continue our serialisation of the memories of Merthyr in the 1830’s by an un-named correspondent to the Merthyr Express, courtesy of Michael Donovan.

But I have wandered somewhat, so to return – having given Cyfarthfa its innings, and let us begin with the personnel of Plymouth, or rather, of Plymouth, Pentrebach and Dyffryn.

Part of the derelict Plymouth ironworks in the 1900s. Courtesy of the Alan George Archive

The upper part formed a portion of the taking of Mr Bacon, and the ‘Furnace Isaf’ was leased from him by the father of Messrs Hill. Upon his death the firm became Richard, John and Anthony Hill. Richard, the eldest son, was a fine specimen of the old English gentleman. John was not so robust, but keen, fond of horses, betting and of gaiety. Anthony, studious, precise and particular. He lived to become the sole proprietor after years of hard work and earnest attention.

As characteristic of Richard Hill, he, as well as his brothers, were Tories, and on the return of a member for Cardiff had a chairing. He was known as ‘Honest Dick from the Mountain’. Richard Hill  died at Court yr Alla, and rests in the churchyard near there (Michaelston-le-Pit, I believe). John in Bath, and Anthony lonesome at Pontyrhun. They had a sister who died a spinster at Clifton in 1847 or so. It is a matter of regret that the trustees of Mr A. Hill’s will did not see their way to let the works pass into the hands of one of the relatives, but that is forestalling events.

References to ‘Mushet on Iron’ will show that the blast furnaces at the Dyffryn and the blowing engine there were of note. The engine was a departure from the ordinary proportion which was between the steam and blast cylinders, and, as far as can be recalled, the blast cylinder was the largest (120 inches diameter) and the furnace boshes were also the largest, but the greatest achievement of Mr A. Hill was the utilisation of cinders. This he patented, and heavy litigation followed. He won the first action, and being defeated at a subsequent time, would not go on again, as he was strongly advised to do. This soured his feelings, and he always entertained a bitterness of feeling with respect to it, for he verily believed perjury had been used.

There was another matter in the making of iron he was virtually the pioneer of, viz, the use of oxides of iron in the blast furnace. The manager of the furnace was a Mr Edward Thomas, the great-uncle to Mr Wm. Thomas of Oakfield, Aberdare. When Mr Hill was quite clear that pig iron could be commercially made from hematite, he endeavoured to come to an arrangement with the Earl of Lonsdale for him to find the necessary coal and Mr Hill the ore, so as to make iron at Whitehaven. Should any of your readers be in that locality and find the original engine-house yet in existence, they will find a goat’s head with ample horns cut on the keystone of the arch in the walls. This was as a compliment to Mr Thomas.

Shortly after Mr Thomas went to America , and erected works there. He returned toward the end of the thirties, and after spending a few months at the Ivor Works, I think led a quiet life. Upon leaving Dowlais, Sir John Guest desired him to return after a while, although he promised to think over it ‘after the cuckoo had come’, he never returned there.

To be continued at a later date.