IV.
IRONMAKING
THE
SIXTEENTH CENTURY
It may be true to say
that the iron industry which was established in Glamorgan and Monmouthshire
during the second half of the sixteenth mtury, was the first in Wales to be
financed from capital, as we know today, with the profit motive in mind.
Ironmasters, who had already een concerned with ironmaking for this reason in
Sussex, moved to the alleys of the Taff and the Cynon in Glamorgan after
certain official ‑strictions were placed on their operations, and those
of others, in the Veald of south eastern England; these restrictions were
really directed t preventing the consumption of timber for making charcoal, the
fuel ien used in the smelting of iron. It has long been said that the timber
,as needed for shipbuilding in naval yards, in view of the sea battles gainst
Spain, but it has also been argued that the cordwood used in charcoal‑making
was not suitable for shipbuilding.
The
valleys, which the Sussex ironmasters chose to exploit in Glamorgan, were well‑wooded
and promised ample supplies of charcoal iel; they were also well‑endowed
with rivers and streams, which produced the water for driving the waterwheels,
which operated the crude ellows providing the blast for heating the fuel used
in smelting. In addition, iron ore was easily worked from outcrops and shallow
pits.
Between
1564 and 1600113 blast furnaces and forges appeared in the Taff
Valley near Tongwynlais (sward near the white brook) at Pentyrch (boar head),
Pontygwaith (work bridge), Pont‑y‑Rhun (Rhun's bridge), Dyffryn
(vale), and Blaencanaid (head water of river Canaid, white); remains of the
furnace at Pont‑y‑Rhun were to be seen on the western bank of the
Taff in 1874.96 In the
Cynon Valley a furnace was established at Cwmaman (Aman valley), at another
site called Dyffryn, with a forge
a little way downstream and another forge at Llanwonno church of Gwynno) to the
south west. A second Pontygwaith in the Rhondda Fach (little Rhondda, noisy
one) has also been mentioned as a last furnace location. The furnace ‑
the Taff furnace ‑ near Tongwyn,is supplied iron to a forge at Rhyd‑y‑Gwern
(alder ford). Sir Robert Sidney, afterwards the Earl of Leicester, 'an
experienced industrialist ad ironmasterlÕ 82 set up ironworks at
Llanhari (church of St. Hari), Llantrisant (church of the three saints) and at
Angelton and Coity to the north of Bridgend.
Similar conditions
favourable to ironmaking, obtained in Monmouthshire, in the valleys of the Afon
Lwyd (grey river), the Rivers Ebbw and Usk. Ironmaking, on an extensive scale,
in the county, started a few years later than in Glamorgan and became
concentrated in and around Pontypool. The importance of water power may be seen
in the names of some of the locations which developed furnaces; for example,
Cwmffrwdoer (valley of the cold stream) 1570, Trosnant (cross brook) 1576 and
Pontypool itself (bridge of the pool).
Foremost
among the works developed in Monmouthshire at this time, were the Tintern
Wireworks, and the leading personality was Richard Hanbury, a native of
Worcestershire. He was sufficiently astute to acquire much of the woodlands of
the river valleys, which gave him control over fuel resources, and led to his
becoming a partner in the Tintern works and the proprietor of other ironworks
in Monmouthshire, in addition to those at Abercarn (mouth of the river Carn)
and Monkswood.
The
picture, which has emerged, is of an industry composed of a number of small
units, scattered throughout the two counties. Its dependence upon charcoal, and
the difficulty in maintaining adequate supplies of this fuel, made it necessary
to locate the works at considerable distances apart and in well‑wooded
districts. The works were committed to their chosen locations by the 'tyranny
of wood and water."80
Despite
this, the iron industry in Glamorgan and Monmouthshire flourished sufficiently
to develop an export trade, the finished iron being sent from the ports of
Cardiff and Newport to the midland counties of England, to Bristol and its
hinterland, to the western counties of Wales, to Ireland and to the Low
Countries. Records in the Welsh Port Books 99 show that consignments
of 'Welsh iron' were exported from Cardiff on a number of occasions between
1586 and 1601, to Bridgwater, Bristol and Flushing and that Edmund Mathew, the
proprietor of the Pentyrch Ironworks was exporting from Cardiff to London,
'pieces of ordinances', called 'sakers' and 'mynions', a trade which was not
strictly legal at the time.
The ruins
of 16th century ironmaking blast furnaces may be seen at Cwmaman, Blaencanaid
and Angelton. A blast furnace is a tall structure fed at the top with raw
materials and continuously producing metal in a liquid form, which, at the
bottom, is tapped from time to time. It has been used, according to this
principle, but in developing forms, from the 16th century until the present
day.
The
furnace at Cwmaman (ST 004992) was described by William Llewellin as a
sixteenth century blast furnace built of sandstone and lined with the same
material.101 He wrote of evidence of the existence of a waterwheel,
the furnace having been built near the confluence of two streams, and gave
details of the dimensions of the furnace in plan and section.
An
interesting detail on the Cwmaman furnace is contained in a history published
in 187597; it was, supposedly, built by three brothers who followed
respectively, the trades of stonemason, blacksmith and wood turner. The blast
for the furnace was provided by two men, each operating 'a blacksmith's
bellows', but, 'the works did not respond to the cost' and the venture was
abandoned.
The
stonemason and blacksmith left Cwmaman, but the wood turner remained to carry
on with his original trade and to make chairs of distinctive designs, which
achieved local fame. A number of the chairs survived into the nineteenth
century, the owner of one of them, in 1830, composing an 'englyn', an
alliterative stanza, to it, which contained a line claiming that the chair was
more than 300 years old. The deduction then reached was that the Cwmaman
furnace was built about 1520.
The
present-day remains are deteriorating rapidly, but illustrate the principle
adopted in the early days of blast furnace building, that of building the
structure into the slope of the ground, so that the mouth of the furnace and
the charging platform were at a higher ground level, thus making it easier to
put in the raw materials. The sandstone lining is still to be seen in a right
angled fragment of the interior of the furnace about 3 feet high.
The
blast furnace which operated at Blaencanaid (so 035042) has been
described as one which was 'simple to a degree'.118 It was situated
in a natural hollow at 900o feet on the western side of the Taff Valley. It
provides an admirable example of using sloping ground, on the west side of the
hollow, to make for easy charging of raw materials. A stream flows into the
hollow, and at a point behind the furnace and to the north of it, forms a
waterfall 8 feet high. It passes the side of the furnace at a distance of 20
feet and long, flat, inclined stones lying on the bed of the stream suggest
that they were placed there to increase the flow of water, possibly to drive a
waterwheel, which operated the bellows providing the furnace with its
air-blast.
It
was a very small furnace, sandstone-built, probably from the stone of a nearby
outcrop; the stones, in the lower levels, or near the base of the furnace, are
nearly 3 feet long and generally 3 inches thick. Most of the stonework has
collapsed; only a height of about 3 feet 6 inches remains at the front of the
furnace, which measures 9 feet across (Plate 32). The present height of the
remains of the back wall of the furnace is 8 feet and it is probable that the
original overall height of the structure was no more than 12 feet. The length
of each side wall is calculated at about 12 feet, but excavation is necessary
to determine the exact penetration into the slope of the bank. The front
aperture of the furnace is 3 feet high and 1 foot 6 inches wide and 3 feet
long, the side walls of the aperture tapering inwards towards the tap-hole and
the hearth stone. The roof of this aperture, which sloped downwards towards the
tap hole, has collapsed and the opening into the furnace at this point, is now
very irregular in shape. The bottom of the furnace hearth has a diameter of 1
foot 9 inches the lining tapering outwards to a diameter of 4 feet at a height
of 6 feet from the bottom; this was the widest point of the furnace.
Plate 32
Blaencanaid Blast Furnace Remains
A
limited excavation of the site in July 1965, by D. M. Evans of the Department
of Archaeology, University College, Cardiff, revealed the existence of a
charging platform (Plate 33) and a short length of side wall built outwards
from the northern side of the furnace. The existence of this wall, and the
discovery of a number of flagstones in the ground fronting on to the furnace,
suggest that a roofed building of some kind had been built in front of the
furnace. The area immediately in front of a furnace of this period, was the
casting floor, which was often housed in a simple building.
Plate 33 Blaencanaid
blast furnace charging platform.
A
little way downstream from the furnace, there are the remains of two stone
buildings, one on each bank of the stream, and on the southern edge of the
hollow there is an entrance to a small coal level. Unfortunately, the thickness
of the natural growth makes it impossible to form any conclusion on the significance
of the ruins of these buildings.
Nothing
is known of the ownership of this furnace. It may have been worked in
association with the furnace established at Pont-y-Rhun, a mile farther down
the Taff Valley.
Another
sixteenth century site which merits attention is that of the Angelton or Coity
blast furnace (SS 905821), near Bridgend in Glamorgan.
ÔNear
the left bank (of the river Ogmore) on the windward, westerly, side of the
hill, denoting its early date, prior to utilisation of the artificial air blast,
stand the serried ruins of a blast furnace. Entwined in the interstices of its
sandstone blocks grow the fibrous roots of a sycamore tree, rearing its head
skywards in all the beauty of its brilliant foliage, but year by year bringing
by disintegration of its masonry, destruction to this interesting memento of an
ancient industry.Õ111
In
the article which contained these words, the height of the furnace remains at
the time, was given as 12 feet with a hearth 61 feet square, the furnace stack
tapering to a measurement of 3 feet by 3 feet at the top. An accompanying
drawing suggests an original height of 18 feet the outside measurements being
18 feet square at the base, and 16 feet square at the top, inward ledges at
heights of 9 feet and 13 feet effecting the reduction.
A
contemporary contributor to a newspaper, is also quoted as saying that when he
visited the site many years previously, the hearth of the Angelton furnace was
intact - 'it was a square hearth, not round as they are now made ... in the slag
heap I found pieces of charcoal but no coke or coal from which fact I concluded
they used as fuel charcoal only'.
The
present remains (Plate 34) show very clearly the shape of the inside of the
furnace, but it has disintegrated considerably since 1896.
Plate 34 Angelton blast
furnace remains.
An
interesting feature is the furnace interior, or lining, which was built of
tiled stone blocks if inches thick. For some reason this kind of structure led
to the conclusion that the Angelton furnace was Roman in origin, but this
cannot be sustained.
It
has been claimed82 that the furnace was built by Sir Robert Sidney,
a son of Sir William Sidney of Sussex and brother to Sir Phillip Sidney, after
he had leased land in the area for, '. . . the power to build a work for
melting, making and casting iron sows, to make iron by forge and furnace or
other means'. His interests in ironmaking in Glamorgan were extended to other
districts and a site near Coity village (ss 928827) may well have been
established by him. The excavation of this site could reveal the remains of the
hearth of an early blast furnace.
An
ironworks, which was probably established late in the sixteenth century, and
with others survived until its partial demolition by Oliver Cromwell's troops
about the middle of the seventeenth century,101 was located at
Pontygwaith (ST 079979) in the valley of the river Taff. There are no obvious
surface remains on the site but a water-colour, said to be a copy of the
original, reputedly of the Pontygwaith furnace is preserved in
the borough library at Merthyr Tydfil.
A
photograph (Plate 35) of this painting provides a very good example of the
integration of buildings achieved in an early ironworks. Towards the top
(right) is seen a tram, loaded with raw materials, about to enter the charge
house, at which level the materials would have been charged into the furnace.
To the right of the small, square furnace stands a building which probably
housed the bellows, which provided the the blast for the furnace; the bellows
were usually operated by a waterwheel. The cast house, into which the molten
iron flowed, abuts on to the front wall of the furnace; it has roof and wall
ventilation. The piled material at the front may have been pig iron.
Plate 35 Pontygwaith Iron
Works.
(ii) THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
During
the years after 1600 the export of iron was considerably curtailed, following
competitive production in other regions, notably the Forest of Dean, and a
number of the sixteenth century ironworks succumbed. Some of them, because of
ownership, became involved in the politics of the seventeenth century and were
partially destroyed by Cromwell's troops. It was also to be expected that some
would cease to function following the scarcity of charcoal fuel, due to the
rapid deforestation which had taken place, and to the fact that no attempts
were made to replenish the natural supply by planting coppices. As the
seventeenth century advanced, therefore, the ironworks of South Wales became
fewer in number and were, accordingly, more scattered.
In
Glamorgan a furnace was established at Caerphilly in 1680 and the works at
Pentyrch continued to operate; in Carmarthenshire the Cydweli (territory of
Cadwal) furnace came into being and in Breconshire ironmaking was carried on
during the seventeenth century at Ynyscedwyn (Cedwyn's watermeadow) and
Llanelly (church of St. Elli). In Monmouthshire the works at Tintern were
operating and two furnaces, at least, one near Llandogo (church of St.
Euddogwy) the other near Trellech (great stone), were built to provide the
works with iron.
The
sites at Llandogo, Trellech, Llanelly and Caerphilly still provide physical
evidence of iron making during the seventeenth century when charcoal was still
used as the fuel.
The
Coed Ithel (IthelÕs wood) blast furnace, near Llandogo (ST 527027) in the Wye
Valley, is sited on a hillside about 30 feet above the bed of a stream and on a
level area, contained by stout retaining walls, one of which runs parallel with
the roadway. The stream flows regularly throughout the year.
Excavation
has disclosed a furnace structure about 24 feet square.116 The
present maximum height from the foundation level is about 20 feet; the furnace
never exceeded this height by more than a foot or two.
The
square shaft was made up of 3 inches thick grey sandstone and the circular
hearth was built up from the bottom with 6 inches of white sandstone. It joined
the shaft at a point more than half way up the interior of the furnace. The hole
which took the nozzle of the bellows, that provided the blast, was about 18
inches from the bottom of the hearth of the furnace.
Among
the finds were three cast-iron runners which were probably used in the sandbeds
or pig beds, that is, the casting area, to connect the main channels, along
which the molten iron ran, into parallel furrows wherein the pigs were formed.
It
may be helpful at this stage to explain the origin of the terms 'sows' and
'pigs' in relation to iron-making.
A
sand-bed would be made to slope gently away from the furnace; it was made up of
a long main channel, running from the furnace tap hole, a number of transverse
channels in the sand, and a series of parallel furrows with their long axis
directed towards the furnace, sufficient walls of sand being left between the
furrows to form barriers strong enough to resist the pressure of the molten
metal.108 At first the lowermost of the furrows would be connected with the
main channel, communication between it and the other rows being then made in
succession, by the removal of sand barriers previously erected. The transverse
feeding channels formed the 'sows' and the parallel furrows the 'pigs'. These
names were fancifully suggested by a sow feeding her litter of pigs.
Dr.
Tylecote has concluded, that on the evidence which he obtained, the lines of
the Coed Ithel furnace are unique, although its operation appears to have been
typical of that of a mid-seventeenth century furnace in other areas. It used
iron ore from the Forest of Dean, and charcoal and bloomery cinder (slag
containing iron left on sites of early forges where iron was shaped into a
bloom or ingot), but limestone was not included in the charge.
The
furnace was in being in 1651 and between 1672 and 1676 it had an average weekly
output of 18 tons. It lasted until the beginning of the eighteenth century but
does not appear in the list of furnaces for 1717.95
The
Trellech
furnace, at Woolpitch Wood (ST 487048), is in an overgrown area with
trees growing out of the furnace ruins, but enough of the exterior remains for
it to be seen as square in shape. The furnace structure is 26 feet square at
the base and diminishes to about 20 feet square at a height of to feet from the
ground (Plate 36). It stands alongside a stream which could have provided the
power for driving a waterwheel.
Plate 36 Trellech Blast Furnace.
The
ground rises steeply from the working level of the furnace on the west side,
and there is evidence of the foundations of a bridge arch which connected the
charging platform with a roadway on level ground above. Beyond the roadway are
the remains of the walls of a building, measuring about 6o feet by 20 feet,
which was connected with operations at the furnace. It is likely that this furnace
also depended upon the Forest of Dean for iron ore, but found an abundance of
local timber, for converting into charcoal fuel for smelting.
The
third of the seventeenth century sites, where furnace remains may still be
seen, is in the southeast corner of Breconshire on the northern side of the
river Clydach in the parish of Llanelly (So 235142); there are also the remains
of an interesting building near the furnace.
The
blast furnace at Llanelly was in production during the 1600s, when it was
associated with the Hanbury family. This site must not be confused with a site
at Clydach, on the slope of a hill, to the south of the river (SO 232 128)
where, it is claimed, that a small furnace about 12 feet high was erected in
1590 and that a forge operated nearby in I600, both establishments ceasing to
exist in 16O7.113a
It
has been said that the Llanelly furnace came into being in 16o6 and a forge to
serve the furnace, within easy distance, in 1615.113a There is,
however, more direct evidence in support of its existence at the end of the
seventeenth century rather than at the beginning.
The
Llanelly furnace continued to produce until the 1860s and in its present
condition can be readily identified as a stone-built blast furnace, by the
arched passage 5 feet high and 3 feet 6 inches wide, running between the main
furnace building and the retaining wall built into the rising ground behind.
This passage can be entered from the west opening only; the opposite end of the
passage has collapsed thus limiting its length.
This
is yet another existing illustration of the practice of building a blast
furnace at the bottom of a slope, to bring the mouth of the furnace level with
the higher ground for easy charging. At Llanelly the arched roof of the passage
was in effect the under-part of a bridge arch, which connected the furnace
charging floor with the upper ground level. In this passage, in the back wall
of the furnace 2 feet from the floor there is a hole, possibly the tuyre, which
took the nozzle of the bellows which provided the furnace with its blast.
The
Llanelly furnace was built of sandstone and was 26 feet square, the retaining
wall, which contained the hillside at the back, continuing for a further 12
feet on each side of the furnace. The length of the retaining wall, which runs
from the open end of the passage, stands, but the other side has collapsed
along with the front and second side of the furnace. Extensive excavation would
be necessary to uncover details of the hearth.
On
the higher ground behind the furnace remains, there is a two storey stone
building, part ruinous and part occupied (Plate 37). This could have been the
charcoal store at one time, the 'colehous' referred to by Major John Hanbury
(who inherited the works at Llanelly and Pontypool from his father Capel
Hanbury) in his 'Observations on the Making of Iron at Pontypool and Llanelly'
dated 1704.113b The ruinous part of the building presents some
puzzling features. At the end, there is a passage with an arched roof, 8 feet
high extending from the front to the back, where it is met by another passage
which runs along the back of the building at a height of 3 feet from the
ground. This transverse passage has a similar roof to the first and is 3 feet
from its floor to its ceiling: the remains of a similar passage are also to be
seen at first floor level.
Plate 37. Ruined
buildings behind Llanelly (Brecks.) furnace.
Within
easy reach of the site there is a large dwelling-house, which may have been
built or re-built by Francis Lewis, who was the Clerk of the Llanelly Furnace
at the end of the seventeenth century and during the early years of the
eighteenth. The initials FL and the date 1693 are clearly to be seen along the
bottom of the coat-of-arms above the entrance to the house. A boundary wall,
made entirely of fairly large lumps of iron slag, runs along an adjacent
roadway for some distance.
Hanbury's
dependence upon, and respect for Lewis, are made quite clear in his
'Observations' some of which were based on Lewis's experience in making cast
iron. It is interesting to note that the production programme of the furnace
depended upon the collection and cutting of wood and its 'coling' into
charcoal.
'For
the future I think of making about 300 tun of pigs yearly at Llanelthy & I
am of opinion the best way would be to blow every year.
I
think the proper time would be to begin constantly in the beginning of
September and 300 tun would be cast in January at Farthest, so there would be
all the spring to fill the house (the charcoal store) to keep till winter &
from Sept. to the later end of Novbr. to bring the present stock.'
The
layout of the furnace area, with its coal-houses and tenements and its
proximity to Llanelly Forge, is to be seen in a survey of 1779 by John Aran.79
The furnace with its attendant charging house, cast house, and waterwheel, is
admirably illustrated in Wood's, 'Rivers of Wales'. Nothing remains in the
forge area, apart from some retaining walls and ramps but there is obvious
evidence of the existence of the forge pond.
A tinplate mill was
established on this site about 1800, the plates being made from charcoal iron
from the forge. A present-day dwelling house at the end of Forge Row, which
leads to this old industrial site, was the original tin‑house. The sheets
were liberally coated with tin, for they The works,carried a coating of 6
pounds and upwards of tin per box. 83 The works was closed in 1884
The site of
the Caerphilly furnace is to the north west of the town at T 142878, but there
are no physical remains to point to a stone blast furnace; there are, however,
slag heaps and slag is to be found in the nearby stream.
The furnace
was built in 1680,113c and was under the ownership of the Tredegar
family. 96a In 1694 the furnace was owned by John Morgan (of
Tredegar), Roger Williams and Roger Powell, the last of the three living at
Energlyn (originally 'Geneu'r Glyn') House within easy reach of the furnace. In
1787 a bigger furnace was built to replace the original and 'a powerful blowing
engine'96a was provided in place of the old bellows which were
actuated by a waterwheel.
Before the
re‑building, about 200 tons of iron were produced each year, but
afterwards 503 tons were produced in 1796. This was an appreciable production
figure at the time.
The
Caerphilly furnace was under several different ownerships – the names of
Pratt and Harford being associated with it and a well‑known lcal figure
Edward Lewis, had a share in it in 1747. The furnace remained in production
until 1819. 96a It is included in John Fuller's list of 1747 ‑
producing 200 tons; some of this iron was, during the eighteenth century,
supplied to the two forges at Machen.113c
iii)
THE EIGHTEENTH AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES
In the
preface to his book on the South Wales ironworks of the 1760 - 1840 period,
John Lloyd wrote of'. . . the introduction of a great chain of Iron Works into
South Wales in barely more than a generation, and their rapid development to a
great height of prosperity . . .'102 This was the period which gave
to South Wales its first concentration of industry within a defined area - the
northern rim of the South Wales coalfield; it was a compulsive concentration
which sprang from the easy availability of all the raw materials necessary for
the making of iron.
At the
heads of the valleys, the 'blaenau', and on the uplands beyond, iron ore was
easy to come by, '. . . worked at slight expense in patches by turning over,
like a garden, the open mountain slopesÕ.101a
The work of
Abraham Darby, at Coalbrookdale, had culminated in 1709 in the use of coke as a
fuel, in place of charcoal; the coal for coking was available in abundance in
the South Wales coalfield and there were adequate supplies of limestone, used
as a flux in the smelting process, and of stone for furnace building.
The blast furnace of
this period was, in essence, a vertical, circular chamber, often called, the
shaft, which 'widened from the bottom upwards and from the top downwards'.108a
The inner lining was made of re‑brick, common brick and a rubble of stone
as a filling. Externally the furnace was a solid, square structure massive in
appearance. The internal chambers varied in shapes as the period advanced, each
depending upon the theories of the furnace designers and builders.
The
furnace top was a cylindrical chimney surrounded by a platform; around the
lower part of this chimney there were, usually, four openings of regular shape
through which the furnace was charged from the platform.
The stone-built
furnaces were gradually replaced by rounded structures clad in wrought iron
plate, and with the introduction of hoists for bringing up the raw materials to
the charging platforms, the need for building furnaces into sloping ground
ceased.
At the beginning of the period, waterwheels were used to drive the bellows which provided the blast, but steam‑driven blast engines were in use at the beginning of the nineteenth century. This resulted in a great increase in efficiency and brought increased production. The blast traveled through the blast main, a cast‑iron pipe which passed round the furnace, injecting the blast into the furnace through pipes connected with the openings in the furnace walls, the tuyeres.
In
attendance upon the blast furnace were kilns in which the limestone and iron
ore were calcined, or roasted to eliminate moisture and impurities, before the
smelting process in the blast furnace. At the front of the furnaces there were
cast houses, and always nearby, the engine houses which contained the blast‑producing
engines.
The
process of conversion of the cast iron into malleable or wrought iron, was
carried on in buildings which housed the puddling furnaces in which the
conversion was carried out. As the period advanced, rolling mills for the
production of bar iron were developed and each ironworks' site was clustered
with many buildings.
Many of
the works, which were established on the strip of land extending from Blaenavon
(headwater of the river Afan) to Hirwaun (long moor), began to run down about
one hundred years ago. It is surprising that so much structural evidence of the
works remains at the end of that period. Amongst it there are a number of
interesting features ‑ one would expect it to be a rich field of study ‑
some of which lead to related features and sub ects, of which mention must also
be made.
The
approach to the industrial archaeology of the period of the ironworks must be
selective as far as possible, to avoid needless repetition, and a geographical
approach, starting on the eastern side, may be better than one based upon the
chronology of the ironworks, which could lead to bewildering movements to and
from different parts of the area.
MONMOUTHSHIRE
The
ironworks at Blaenavon dated from 1789 in which year a lease was granted by the
Earl of Abergavenny to Thomas Hill of Stafford and his associates Thomas
Hopkins and Benjamin Pratt. There is, today, clear evidence in the towering,
disintegrating masonry, of the original blast furnaces clinging to the
hillside. Of all the blast furnace remains still to be seen on the sites of old
works, these at Blacnavon present the classic example of using the upper levels
of the ground for charging the furnaces (Plate 38)
Plate 38 Remains of
furnaces Blaenavon.
The
furnaces were described by Archdeacon Coxe in 180184 as. . the
buildings which are constructed in the excavations of the rocks . . .' In this
book there is an engraving of the Blaenavon Ironworks in 1799 which indicated
that three furnaces were in operation and that each one was connected with a
charging house, above and behind, and a cast house in front and on ground
level. It shows also, some tramroads and the horses and trams which operated on
them.
A
plan of the Blacnavon works dated 1814 and preserved at the National Coal Board
survey office on the site, gives a number of interesting details. It shows the
five furnaces as two pairs and a single furnace this is seen in the present
ruins. There were coke yards and 'the Mine Kilns' behind the furnaces on the
charging level. The tram roads to 'mine works' and 'limestone rock' are shown
and other features included, are 'mouths of levels for getting coals', 'mouths
of levels for getting Mine or Iron Ore', a new and an old blowing engine, two melting
fineries and cinder heaps.
A
map of 1819, preserved at the Monmouthshire County Record Office, shows that
there were five furnaces in blast; they were still in production in 1839.105
Among the remains, the round shape of a furnace stack is prominent, revealing a
number of brick courses, and the stone masonry of the outside walls of another
furnace is also to be seen. The disintegration has also revealed the use made
of wrought iron bands and keys, as reinforcement during the building of the
furnaces.
The
outside walls and gable ends of a number of cast houses have survived, as have
the remains of an engine house stack. Another interesting feature on the site,
is what remains of a water balance tower erected near a coal level which was
driven to the south cast of the line of furnaces.
In
1817 the Blaenavon works became associated with a
works built at Garnddyrys (bramble cairn) on the western slopes of the Blorenge
mountain. Cast iron was sent to this works from Blaenavon for finishing; the
sites were connected by a tramroad. The Blaenavon works was connected by
tramroad to the terminal of the Monmouthshire Canal at Crumlin (originally
'Crymlyn', curved lake) and the Garneldyrys works was similarly joined to the
Brecon and Abergavenny Canal at Llanfoist (church of St. Ffwyst); from the two
works, between 1802 and 1840, 447,392 tons of iron were transported to Newport.114
This was in the form of pig iron and cast iron and finished iron such as
puddled bars, rods and rails.
The
Garnddyrys works was closed in i86o and by 187o Blaenavon had ceased to produce
iron rails -this applied to all ironworks which could not compete with the
Bessemer steel rails which were then being produced at Ebbw Vale and Rhymney.
At
the head of the Sirhowy (Howell's land) river, stand the remains of the Sirhowy
Ironworks, which, after an indifferent start, following the granting of the
first lease of the land in 1778, was from 1794 operated jointIy102b
by William Barrow, an 'ironmaster' and the Revd. Matthew Monkhouse, Clerk, of
Sirhowy and Richard Fothergill - a name which became well known in the South
Wales iron trade - of Surrey, who had a small ironworks in the Forest of Dean.118a
In 1800 the partners were joined by Samuel Homfray of the Penydarren (top of the
hill) Ironworks and a new works, the Tredegar (Tegyr's farm) Ironworks, came
into being less than a mile downstream from the Sirhyow works, the two works
coming under the joint ownership of the new partnership. The Tredegar works, in
time, became the bigger of the two having five blast furnaces to Sirhowy's
four.
In
1818 the Sirhowy lease was up and Richard Fothergill's belief that he would
secure its renewal, led him to confide in James Harford, who had become a
partner of the Honifrays in their enterprise at Ebbw Vale in 1816. It seems
that Harford acted unethically by acquiring the lease for himself, and as his
acquisition of the Sirhowy works happened soon after the Homfray family had
given up their interest in Ebbw Vale, he became one of the most powerful
ironmasters in Monmouthshire. This led to the discontinuation of the joint
management of Sirhowy and Tredegar and Fothergill ordered the removal of all
moveable plant and rolling stock, such as engines, trams, tram-plates and
barrows to within the Tredegar area, so 'that there should be no connection,
however trifling, between the two works in future."118b
The
remains at Sirhowy are fairly typical of those of the ironworks of the period -
lofty arches, collapsed furnaces and walls gradually disappearing beneath coal
rubble. It is known that a steam engine was introduced in 1797 'to assist the
water power'118a but it seems that a waterwheel survived until the
late 1870s at Sirhowy (Plate 39).
Plate 39 Sirhowy
ironworks late I870's
The
evidence, which is available in old photographs, is of considerable assistance
in giving an idea of layout, the juxtapositions of furnaces, engine houses and
other buildings and of the techniques employed in ironmaking. They also
illustrate the changes in the design and appearance of blast furnaces and
adjacent housings as the ironworks developed.
The
history of three sites at Rhymney, which were developed as ironworks, reveals
the usual agreements on leases, partnerships and the subsequent developments in
production when commercial bargaining had subsided. There is a great deal that
is interesting on the three sites today, that of the first development at Upper
Furnace, of the Union Works and of the Bute Iron Works, all three eventually
being merged into the Rhymney Iron Company. ,
The
site at Upper Furnace was first developed in 1800 as the Union Iron Company by
some Bristol merchants who were attracted to the area. A stone furnace was
built on the left bank of the River Rhymney, inside the county boundary of
Brecon. By 1802 'a considerable iron furnace had been erected and Iron Works of
considerable extent established upon the premises, and a Dwelling-House built
on the leasehold land adjoining to the furnace as a residence for the Manager,
Mr. Richard Cunningham.102c
The
ruins of the base of the furnace only remain but the topography of the site is
such that it can be recognised, by comparison with others, as one which
accommodated a small nineteenth century ironworks. The dwelling house of the
manager still stands and alongside it a warehouse-like building which bears the
date 1802 above one of its doorways.
The
Union Iron Company became a target for Richard Crawshay, Cyfarthfa Ironworks,
Merthyr Tydfil, who wished to establish a son and son-in-law in an ironworks.
He succeeded, and in 1803 the Union Iron Works Company came into being, two of
the previous proprietors being entrusted with its management. One of these,
Thomas Williams, may have been the first Welshman to have participated, as a
proprietor, in an ironmaking enterprise. This works was developed on the same
side of the river, at a point downstream where the bottom of the valley was
wider.
In
1804 it was taken over by Richard Crawshay and Company and was carried on under
the ownership of Benjamin Hall, Crawshay's son-in-law until 1820.
On
the opposite side of the river, in 1825, the Bute Iron Works was established;
three blast furnaces were erected and they 'were of a somewhat pretentious
style of architecture, having a front of Egyptian design.'102d
Within
a few years the two works were amalgamated into the Rhymney Iron Company, a
concern which for many years afterwards was a prominent industrial name, first
in ironmaking and subsequently in coal-mining and marketing.
The
site of the Rhymney Iron Company has yielded some interesting industrial
remains. Until a few years ago there was some evidence of the fanciful style of
the blast furnaces on the tight bank of the river. It is of interest to refer
to the furnace built by John Bedford at Cefn Cribwr (comb ridge) about forty
years earlier, described on Page 78, and his inclusion of a 'Ballustrated.
Battlement Level with the Bridgehouse floor'.
The
interior of one of the Rhymney furnaces may still be viewed from above, and part
of one of the bridge arches - these spanned the distance between the charging
platforms and the level ground beyond remains. The bridges themselves, however,
are all in a collapsed state.
At
the northern end of the works site, there are the remains of batteries of coke
ovens, each oven being of the long rectangular type, which had no provision for
the utilisation of the gas given off, for heating purposes in smelting and
other processes in the works. An ironstone level, on this site was penetrated
for a distance of about seventy-five yards in February 1966 by members of the
mining and metallurgy section of the South East Wales Industrial Archaeology
Society and a small, wooden tram
was found about thirty yards from the level mouth, completely submerged
in water but standing on rails. The level is about six feet high and six feet
wide with a semicircular arched roof and masonry lining. The rail track was on
a raised portion with drainage channels on either side, the rails themselves of
cast iron right-angle plates, the tram wheels being without flanges. A small
amount of ironstone pins and nodules, were removed from the tram before its
recovery.
The
body of the tram measures 4 feet 3 inches long by 1 foot 6 inches high by 1
foot 3 inches wide and it carries strengthening straps of wrought iron around
the sides and bottom. One end was open for loading and unloading, the inside of
the panel at the other end bearing an indentation, consistent with contact from
a shovel during the removal of ironstone. The wood of the tram seems to be
birch.
NORTH
GLAMORGAN
It
could be claimed that the story of the iron industry in Merthyr Tydfil (church
of St. Tudful) during the years under review, epitomises the story of the iron
industry throughout the region. Four ironworks of great magnitude - Dowlais,
Penydarren, Plymouth and Cyfarthfa grew out of small enterprises, dependent
upon waterwheels and bellows for air blast. Physical evidence of these
ironworks in remains of furnaces and buildings, is not extensive, but a brief
look at the historical development of the works, and the height of production
achieved, is permissible if only to emphasize how quickly the evidence of a
vast industry disappears, and how limited is the time still available to the
industrial archaeologist.
The
story of Dowlais (black brook) Ironworks begins with the acquisition by Thomas
Lewis, Llanishen (church of St. Isien), of a lease of land in 1757 in Dowlass
and Tory Van and the formation in 1759 of a
partnership of nine persons with a capital of £4,000, which agreed to build a
furnace or furnaces 'for Smelting of Iron Ore or Iron Mine or Stone, into Pig
Iron'. 90
Dowlais
furnace was the second coke furnace in South Wales, the first being at Hirwaun.
It has been generally accepted that charcoal was the original fuel used in
firing this furnace, but this theory has been confidently refuted.104
Merthyr Tydfil's elevation above sea-level was not conducive to tree growth and
the original lease (which reserved all timber trees for the lessor) included an
agreement to share 'all Metals, Castings, Iron, Timber, Wood, Coal, Coak, Charcoal, Braises, Tools, Utensils.'
The fact that the
enterprise 'was a direct result of the Horseha furnaces, Shropshire which used
coke, and in 1757 were each making 15 tons of iron per week, a total of nearly
1600 tons per annumÕ104 lends considerable weight to this argument.
'Any statement that, after 1757, any South Wales furnace started on charcoal is
mythological', ‑ Dr. R. A. Mott, one time president, the Sheffield Trades
Historical Society and of the Coke Ovens' Managers' Association, in a letter to
the author.
John
Guest, of Broseley, near Coalbrookdale, where coke was first used successfully
in the smelting of iron by Abraham Darby in 1709, was appointed manager of the
Dowlais furnace in 1767 after a number of years at the Plymouth furnace, named
after the land owner, the Earl of Plymouth. In his early days at Dowlais the
furnace made 18 tons of iron per week using 8 tons I cwt. of coal per ton of
iron produced. 78
The
general use of coke was soon followed by other improvements in the technique of
ironmaking; blowing cylinders replaced the wood and leather bellows for
providing the blast, and the steam engine took the place of the waterwheel. Due
emphasis should be given to these technical developments, which enabled the
emergent ironmasters to take full advantage of the easy availability of the raw
materials they required; the rapid progress made would not have been possible
without the use of coke and the power of the steam engine.
In 1786
the management of the Dowlais Ironworks was taken over by Thomas Guest, son of
John Guest and by this time an annual output of 1,500 tons in 1763 had been
increased to 5,500 tons. The export of Dowlais iron to America started in 1780
In 1800
three blast furnaces were in operation and the works was developing, but it
must not be assumed that the development of the Dowlais Iron Company and other
ironmaking concerns went unimpeded.
Among the
original lessees was Isaac Wilkinson of Wrexham, who held a 1/16th share in the
venture, and who had in 1757 taken out a patent for a cylinder blower, in which
a piston was operated by a waterwheel.104 A cylinder blower of this
kind was installed on the Dowlais Brook and was referred to as an 'Engine' on a
map of July 8th, 1769, which is with the Dowlais Papers at the Glamorgan County
Record Office; the length of the pipe carrying the air from the cylinder to the
furnace appears to have been considerable. Unfortunately the Dowlais brook
could not provide a constant, adequate supply of water and a high rate of
production was not reached until a Boulton and Watt double‑acting engine
and the John Wilkinson, son of Isaac Wilkinson, cylinder blower were introduced
in 1803 ‑
In addition to technical
deficiencies, the wars of the period 1795 to 1815 brought depressions, as the
problems of over production had to be solved, and the re‑adapting of
ironmaking plants for products of peace became necessary, only to be followed
swiftly by a re‑conversion, to meet the needs of war as another outbreak
occurred. In such circumstances, a stable development was difficult and the
final magnitude reached by this and other ironworks is all the more creditable.
John
Josiah Guest assumed control of the works in 1807. By 1815 five blast furnaces
produced 15,600 tons per year and in 1823 ten furnaces produced just over
22,000 tons. In 1845 eighteen blast furnaces provided a weekly production of
101 tons of iron per furnace; six of these furnaces were included in the new
Ivor Works built to the north of the original works.
The
Dowlais Company mined coal and iron ore and produced pig iron, much of which
was sold to companies which used the iron for manufacturing purposes; for
example, Brown Lenox & Co, the chain-makers of Pontypridd and the Neath
Abbey Iron Works, where various kinds of engines were made. The Company also
refined its own iron, and iron bars were forged and rolled into rails after the
coming of the railways ‑wrought iron rails for tramroads were made in
earlier times. The rails for the Stockton and Darlington Railway, the first
passenger railway, came from Dowlais in 1821.
Wrought
iron was produced in puddling furnaces of which there were many in an ironworks
such as Dowlais. The process was invented by Henry Cort and was patented by him
in 1784
A puddling
furnace (Plate 40) had a shallow hearth, with a fire grate separated from it by
a firebrick bridge; it was formed externally of cast iron plates and provided
with suitable openings in front for the fire hole and the working door, and
lined internally with firebrick. The crown of the furnace was also lined with
firebrick, and at the end opposite to the fire grate, there was a flue
connected to a simple, rectangular stack provided with an iron damper.
Plate 40. Iron Puddling Furnace
Before the
puddling process was started, the furnace bottom was specially prepared and it
was important that it should be constantly kept in good working order.
When the
furnace was red-hot, pig iron, usually in half pigs, was fed into it with a
quantity of hammer slag. The heating of the iron went on for some twenty
minutes and the pigs were then turned to heat them more uniformly. The mass was
then stirred up with an iron bar to bring up any pieces of iron not completely
melted.
The next
stage was the puddling or rabbling of the charge with long iron bars (rabbles),
bent at the end at right angles, through a hole in the side‑wall,
exposing it evenly to the action of the flames. The iron was thus 'cleared' or
purified and then brought to the boil and became pasty, or in the language of
the puddler 'came to nature'. The pasty iron was then worked by the puddler
with his rabble, into a number of balls which were lifted from the hearth with
tongs and transferred to a hammer to be rid of the slag. This was then rolled
into 'puddled bars', the name given to crude wrought iron.
The whole operation
lasted about two hours, the work being extremely arduous and the physical
effort required to manipulate the metal in the heat, was 'the severest kind of
labour ever undertaken by man'. 87
In the mid‑forties
Dowlais Ironworks was the largest works in the world, employing 10,000 and
having in addition to the furnaces, rolling mills, forges and foundries.
The great
expanse of land once occupied by the Dowlais Ironworks is now fairly clear of
buildings. There is much rubble but the remains of the brick works are still to
be seen and those of the side walls of blast furnaces which jut out from higher
ground. All this is in marked contrast to the spectacular evidence of the works
in full production, contained in three watercolours painted by G. Childs in
1840; these are at Guest Keen Iron and Steel Works, Cardiff. One shows at least
14 of the huge blast furnaces in operation at the time; another (Plate 41)
shows in close‑up the charging platform of a furnace and the preparation
of the charge for a furnace indicating quite clearly the participation of women
in this work.
Plate 41.
Preparation of Raw Materials Dowlais Ironworks, 1840.
Among the
remains on the site are the ruins of early coke producing ovens (Plate 42).
They suggest that originally each oven was rectangular in shape and in its
horizontal section had the form of a rectangular chamber, covered with a
flattened arch. Ovens of this type were separated from each other by a
comparatively narrow brick wall.115 The width of the oven varied
from 7 feet to 8 feet and the dividing wall was between 18 inches and 3 feet in
thickness. A feature of these walls was that they were sufficiently thin to
transnmit heat from one oven to the next, so that when an oven had been
discharged and was being re‑started, the ovens on each side helped it
along by the transmission of heat.
Plate 42.
Dowlais Ironworks – Ruins of Early Coke Oven
The ovens
were charged by hand from the front and from floor level, and the gases formed,
escaped into the outside air through a hole in the roof of each oven. At the
charging end there was a lifting door made of cast iron.
The
remains of the Dowlais ovens, reveal that the thickness of the coal charged was
about 12 inches, there being a lack of carbon deposit on the lower three
courses of the brickwork interior. The present inside measurements suggest that
each coke oven was about 6 feet 6 inches wide, by 6 feet high and 12 feet 6
inches deep. They were stop‑ended or single door ovens.
The
Penydarren Ironworks was established on the left‑hand side of the Dowlais
Brook, adjoining the Dowlais Ironworks to the south. Its present day remains
are negligible, comprising only the broken remains of furnaces, clinging to the
rising ground of the small hill which gave the works its name. In Tram Road
Side, a short distance from the main site, there are also the ruins of small,
stone re‑heating furnaces, which appear to have been built in pairs, with
a chimney common to each pair.
This ironworks cannot be
dismissed summarily in view of its association with the Penydarren Tramroad and
the Cornish engineer, Richard Trevithick.
The works
came into being in 1784 under the ownership of three sons of Francis Homfray ‑
Jeremiah, Thomas and Samuel and George Forman of London. Francis Hornfray had
been invited by Anthony Bacon, some two years previously, to establish a
refinery and a forge at Cyfarthfa, the iron to be supplied by Bacon from his
own furnace there. This arrangement was discontinued when Bacon, then Member of
Parliament for Aylesbury, withheld the iron supplies, after he had negotiated
with the Government to supply cannon for the army and the navy, which were then
engaged in the American War of Independence.96b
It is
assumed that the Penydarren site was chosen by Francis Hornfray and that the
lay-out of the works was based on his experience as an ironmaster in the
Midlands; the management of the works, however, was undertaken by two of the
brothers, Jeremiah and Samuel Homfray. 'This was in 1786, or thereabouts, and
in the course of the next six or eight years a pretty little Iron‑Works,
complete in every respect, had been established close to the left bank of the
Dowlais Brook."Ole One readily accepts that a nineteenth century ironworks
merited such a description.
In common
with the other ironmasters in Merthyr, the Hornfrays were hampered by the lack
of efficient communication with the port of Cardiff. Their joint efforts
resulted in the passing of the Glamorganshire Canal Act in 1790, and by 1792
the canal was navigable from Merthyr - Cyfarthfa Ironworks - to Pontypridd, and
to the sea-lock at Cardiff on February 10, 1794. The canal has, by now, been
filled in for much of its length but at various points along its route the
ruins of locks still remain and some of the original bridges are still
standing.
The
Glamorganshire Canal did not prove to be the complete answer to the transport
problems of the ironmasters; there was constant congestion, due to the heavy
demands made upon the waterway, particularly between Merthyr and Abercynon,
where numerous locks had been built to compensate for the steep descent. This,
and a deeplying disagreement with Richard Crawshay of Cyfarthfa Ironworks, led
the partners of the Dowlais, Penydarren and Plymouth Ironworks to build a
tramroad from Merthyr to the canal basin at Abercynon. It became known as the
Penydarren Tramroad103 and it achieved fame as the tramroad on which
Richard Trevithick's locomotive drew a load on rails - the first steam
locomotive to have done so - on Tuesday, February 21st 1804, 'a date forever
memorable in the history of the locomotive.'88
In 1803
Trevithick became associated with Samuel Hornfray and the ironmaster interested
himself in Trevithick's work on high‑pressure steam engines, providing
him with the facilities to build his 'Tram Waggon' at Penydarren.
The
tramroad is not without its interest today; appreciable lengths of it reveal
parts of the stone sleepers, which carried the 3 foot lengths of cast‑iron
plate rails, which can still be recovered. The passing place at Pontygwaith (ST
081976) remains in being; a relic of the tramroad, a cast‑iron wheel, was
discovered in June 1966 by two telephone line workers, about half‑a‑mile
from this point, in the direction of Abercynon, partially buried in the side of
the embankment which drops steeply to the river Taff. This cast‑iron
wheel, 31 inches in diameter, contains eleven spokes and it is reasonable to
assume that it was part of a tram which traveled along the tramroad at one
time.
Trevithick's
locomotive was not a complete success because its great weight caused the iron
tram-plates to break; it was ultimately converted into a stationary engine and
used as a prime mover at the ironworks.
The
Plymouth Ironworks, the second to have been established in the Merthyr area,
followed upon the granting of a lease of land by the Earl of Plymouth to Isaac
Wilkinson of Wrexham, and John Guest of Broseley (associated with Dowlais from
1767) in December 1763, who, to quote from the lease, intended 'to erect ...
certain ffurnaces, fforges, Mills, pothouses, or other Works for the making and
Manufacturing of Iron'. From the outset the works bore the name of the
landowner, the first occupiers styling themselves as 'Messrs. Wilkinson and
Guest, Plimouth Company',102f but for some time the works bore the
name of 'Ffwrnes Isaf', the lower furnace, its original location being given as
Coedcae Glynmil (quickset hedge of mill). 96c
In common
with many of the ironworks of South Wales, the story of the beginnings of the
Plymouth Ironworks has a strange fascination, but it will be enough to mention
that Anthony Bacon already had an interest in 1766 ‑ he was thinking of
buying more shares in the venture in June of that year122 and his
Cyfarthfa Company became the owners by the end of 1766 ‑ and that his
brother‑in‑law Richard Hill took over the management in 1784 and
subsequently acquired the works which remained in the possession of the Hill
family until 1862.
This
works, although possibly overshadowed by the other works at Merthyr Tydfil, was
not unimportant. On the original site two more furnaces were producing by 1800
and a fourth in 1815 ‑ the remains of one of these may still be seen at
SO 059049, much of the surrounding area being recognisable as the site of the
ironworks.
In 1807
the Plymouth Forge Company established a forge at Pentrebach (little village)
(SO 06204I), which was followed by a rolling mill in 1841. A short distance to
the south, at Dyffryn, a blast furnace was erected in 1819 and followed by two
others and a blowing engine and a battery of coke ovens by 1824. A plan of the
Dyffryn Furnaces drawn in 1861 (a copy of which has been deposited in the
Department of Industry, National Museum of Wales) shows five blast furnaces,
numbered 5, 6, 7, 8 and 10, kilns and limestone sheds, a refinery, cast house,
engine houses, a double‑waterwheel and a 'fitting‑up' shop.
The
remains of the blast furnaces have been slowly covered by coal refuse tipping,
a rough half section of one only still standing, the wall of which is slowly
disintegrating.
Anthony
Hill, son of Richard Hill, emerged as an important member of this Company.
Regarded as one of the leading chemists and metallurgists of the day he was
responsible for a number of experiments aimed at improvements in ironmaking.
During his time the iron produced by the Plymouth Iron Company was ten
shillings higher in price than any other iron 'because it was of better
quality.Õ96d
The fourth
of Merthyr's ironworks was the Cyfarthfa (barking place, where animals stand at
bay) Ironworks inevitably linked with the Crawshay family. The main works
covered an extensive area on each side of the river Taff, on the north‑western
outskirts of Merthyr and a subsidiary, the Ynysfach (little island) Ironworks
was developed on the right hand bank of the river, west of the centre of the
town.
The
accounts of the origins of this vast enterprise - 'Cyfarthfa works were by 1807
the largest ironworks in the world, with six furnaces making over 10,000 tons
per annum' - are fairly consistent. In a flourish of hyperbole, Charles Wilkins118c
states that the first furnace at Cyfarthfa was built in 1765; John Lloyd102g
accepts this date and locates it as being 'some little distance higher up the
river than the present main works. This No. 5 has a plate on it dated 1765, W.C
(William Crawshay) 1827, and is one of the sights of Merthyr'; in 'Hanes
Morgannwg'96C the date is also given as 1765 and the location as near
the confluence of the two Taff rivers, Taf Fawr (great river Taff) and Taf
Fechan (little river Taff).
The
Charles Wood Diary122, however, reveals that the first furnace was
built in 1766/67 by Wood himself for Anthony Bacon and Company, in which Wood was
a partner. Charles Wood was the son of William Wood, an ironmaster of
Wolverhampton and entries in his diary in 1766 and 1767 give numerous details,
relating to the building of the Cyfarthfa furnace and forge building, and of
the association with the Plymouth Ironworks.
A forge,
taking pig iron from the Plymouth furnace, had already been built and Wood,
whilst the furnace was being built, was adding other buildings on the forging
site. By this time, the Plymouth furnace had been acquired by Bacon and many of
the castings for the Cyfarthfa furnace were being made there.
Unfortunately
the Diary does not give the exact location of the furnace; there are constant
references to the farms of Llwyncelyn (holly grove) and Rhyd‑y‑Car
(vehicle ford) at present districts of Merthyr Tydfil, but there is nothing
conclusive about either of these. It may be that the location given in 'Hanes
Morgannwg' is the right one, because Wood refers to the farm called 'Tai Mawr'
(big houses), known to be immediately to the west of Taf Fawr and a little
above its confluence with Taf Fechan. On the other hand, immediately below the
confluence of the two rivers, on the right bank of the Taff, are to be found
the remains of the circular hearth of an early furnace (Plate 43) and there is
a substantial depth of water in the river at this point, but it cannot be
argued with certainty that this was the original site.
Plate 43. Cyfarthfa
Ironworks Early Furnace Remains
It must be
accepted that the site was fairly close to the main river, in the light of the
entry in Wood's Diary for September 9th 1766. 'Leveled the Bank, against which,
the furnace is proposed to be built; it is 47 feet high to the flat part of the
field, & from thence to the surface of water (about 6 inches running over
the Wear) 19 feet more, in the whole 66 feet. The stack may be 50 feet high,
the foundation 6 feet and then there will remain 10 feet for the Cistern &
cut, or back race, for a flat bottom boat to convey the metal to the
flourishing furnace etc. It may be contrived, for the metal to be put into the
Boat, out of the Cistern, which will save room for binns & Labour, in
taking it out of the Binns. This may be considered of.'
The
reference to the 'Cistern' and the conveyance of the metal to the 'flourishing
furnace' is mystifying.
This entry
also contains a reference to an agreement for raising of imine' (ironstone)
from Penywain (end of the moorland) which was due west of Tai Mawr and not far
distant.
Wood also mentioned the building of a furnace stack, 36 feet square and 50 feet high and 'the Holme where the Blast‑furnace is proposed to be erected' is described as a 'very convenient place, a fine bank for an high one and if there should not be found room for a bridge-house (this could mean a charging house) at the back of the Stack, an Arch may be sprung to the Rock upon the Bank . . .' In this entry, which was for June 22nd 1766, there follows the significant phrase, 'The bank for coking the coal will be inconvenient . . Ô, which makes it fairly certain that the Cyfarthfa furnace used coke from its first operations. This view is strengthened by a further entry, dated June 25th, when Wood showed the site of the proposed blast furnace to Isaac Wilkinson (of Dowlais and Plymouth) 'which he much approves of but advises to take the field on the other side of the road, for a Bank to burn Stone and Coke Coal.'
The widespread remains
of kilns, blast furnaces and various kinds of buildings, long lengths of
retaining walls and enormous slag heaps, suggest that the Cyfarthfa Ironworks
at the height of its production, covered a large area of land to the west of
the Taff. There are photographs and paintings which show this to be so.102h
The most interesting of the remains are those of the Ynysfach Furnaces
a short distance to the south of the main works. There are four furnace
structures, but all the front arches have been bricked in and the stacks have
collapsed inwards at a height of about 20 feet. It is still possible, however,
to walk the length of the arched passage, which ran beneath the bridge house
and which stood on the same level as the charging platforms of the furnaces; it
is fairly certain that this passage carried a blast pipe from one of the two
engine houses (Plate 44) ‑ even in its ruined state an impressive building
‑ which stood at the end of the line of furnaces and is seen in the
background of a photograph of the site, taken in 1905.102g This
engine house, and the second, had stacks in attendance and there were cast
houses in front of the furnaces; beyond the cast houses stood the refinery.
Plate 44. Engine House Serving Ynysfach Furnaces
One of the
photographs of these furnaces shows a cast iron key plate bearing the initials
'C & G' and the date 1801.102g Two furnaces were built as a pair
in 1801 by Richard Crawshay, who bought the Works from Anthony Bacon's heir in
1794, and Watkin George, 'the mechanical genius of Cyfarthfa' 118d
who became a partner in the company in 1792. The cast iron bridge (Plate 45)
which spanned the Taff to the east of Ynysfach, was designed and built by
Watkin George in 1800 of an iron reputed to be rustless; this bridge was
unnecessarily removed in 1964.
Plate 45. Cast
Iron Bridge Merthyr Tydfil
Another
key plate still remains at Ynysfach, in the arch of the third furnace; it bears
the date 1836 and the initials of William Crawshay II, who became the sole
owner of the Cyfarthfa Ironworks in 1834, and probably indicates the date of
the building of the remaining two of the four furnaces.
Ironworks
were established at Abernant (mouth of the brook) immediately to the north‑west
of Aberdare, in 1802, by Jeremiah Homfray and his partners and came under the
direction of Rowland Fothergill in 1819, when they were grouped with the
Aberdare Ironworks under the title of the Aberdare Iron Company. Chancery
proceedings in 1846 brought forth a list of Particulars referring to a proposed
sale of both works; a copy of this list, dated 11th June 1846, is available at
the Cardiff Central Reference Library.
On the
site at Abernant there are at present only the remains of a blast furnace,
which has crumbled almost to the top of the arch above the fore‑hearth,
and a chimney stack which served an adjacent enginehouse. A photograph of the
site about 50 years ago, which has happily been preserved, shows a blast
furnace standing to three‑quarters of its original size, yet in a ruined
state, with a three‑storeyed engine house, and its attendant chimney
stack, a very short distance away from it. Between the furnace and the engine
house, there is an air reservoir or regulator, which regulated the blast
provided for the furnace by the engine. The air reservoirs in use at ironworks
in South Wales were reputed to be spheres made of iron plates ‑ the one
in use at Penydarren Ironworks, Merthyr between 1825 and 1850 is known to be
spherical ‑ but the reservoir at Abernant is seen (Plate 46) to be
ellipsoidal and located in an upright position. The blast main leading from the
base of the reservoir into the side of the furnace is plainly to be seen. This
photograph provides rare evidence of the use of a regulator at a South Wales
ironworks during the first half of the nineteenth century.
Plate 46. Abernant Ironworks
The sale particulars of
1846 indicate that there were at Aberriant three blast furnaces, fineries,
three blowing‑engines, water‑wheels, forges and rolling mills 'with
engine power complete' and 'blast and other pipes in use and regulators in
use'. The particulars also include the important information that one of the
blast furnaces 'has hot air apparatus in full work', and another the same
apparatus, 'but not in a state quite fit for present use'. This indicates that
hot blast was used in smelting iron at Abernant at least before 1846. The
introduction of hot blast is credited to James Beaumont Neilson in 1828, when
it was used at the Clyde Ironworks; James Budd first used it in South Wales ‑at
the Ystalyfera Ironworks in 1844
The first
blast furnace in South Wales to use coke as fuel,104 was the Hirwaun
furnace established in 1757 by John Maybery who had operated a forge at Powicke
in Worcestershire. The coal used was anthracite.
The
ironworks which was developed on this site suffered many reverses; it was
leased for a time (1780‑86) to Anthony Bacon and was, afterwards, under
different ownerships until 1819, when it was acquired by William Crawshay I and
developed into an ironworks with four blast furnaces and a rolling mill, on the
left bank of the river Cynon, which took the works into the parish of Penderyn
and the county of Brecon. The ruins of four blast furnaces, a collapsed bridge
arch and other building remains, provide evidence of the disintegration which
happens over a long period of time ‑ the works was disposed of by the
Crawshays in 1864.
During one
of its thin periods, the sale of the works was considered and a list of
particulars was included in a printed document, drawn up for a proposed auction
sale in 1813, a copy of which, dated 26th January 1813, is in the Department of
Industry at the National Museum of Wales.
The
preservation of documents and papers relating to works, which have long ceased
to function, and to their technical contents, and to works which are
disappearing even currently after only a limited existence, is important in the
field of industrial archaeology. These documents often point to different
manufacturing techniques, and the rapidity of changes in these directions
emphasises the importance of such documents in recording industrial development
and progress.
The
Hirwaun document lists in detail the capital equipment and resources of a
medium‑sized ironworks in South Wales at the beginning o,f the nineteenth
century. Under Lot I it lists:
TWO
WELL CONSTRUCTED FURNACES
each
about 4o Feet high and of proportionable Diameter;
Two
Cast Houses, one about 45 Feet by 4o, and the other
36
by 33.
AN
AIR FURNACE, TWO FINERIESA CAPITAL BLAST ENGINE
On
BOLTON and WATT'S improved Principle,
now
Blowing the Two Furnaces and Two Fineries
with
78 Inch Blowing Tube and 38 Inch Steam Cylinder, working
a
6 Feet 8 Inch Stroke and Water Regulator.
A
FORGE
One
Hundred and Fifty‑Seven Feet in Length, 44 Feet in Width
at
one End, and 34 Feet at the other, with io Pudling
and
5 Ball Furnaces.
TREVITHICK'S
STEAM ENGINE
Working
by a 6 Feet Stroke, Two Pair of Pudling and One
Pair
of finish Rollers, capable of Rolling from
80
to 100 Tons Weekly.
Forge
Counting House, Pattern Room, Drying Sheds,
Carpenters'
and Smiths' Work Shops
Water
Wheel, Turning a Lathes for the Rollers, Grinding
Clay
&c.
Brick
Furnace Kiln, of sufficient Size to burn 13,000 common
Bricks.
FOUR
KILNS for CALCINING the IRON STONE,
Mineral Yard, Coke Banks, Two Counting Houses,
Three Lime Kilns, which supply Lime to the surrounding Neighbourhood to a
considerable annual Profit: and every Requisite for conducting the Business.
Under "The Mines of Iron Stone", it
says that:
"Several Veins of Ore of an excellent
quality, in various thicknesses, from 8j inches down to 3 inches, are worked by
Levels, the distance from the mouth or opening of the farthest does not exceed
23 miles from the Furnaces, and the nearest within 1200 yards.
"The Collieries comprise Four Levels,
called the Old Lime Kiln, Old and New Glovers and the Gothlyn. Having several
veins of Coal, some of good Coking Quality, other for the Furnace, in almost
inexhaustible supply, from 4 feet to 9 feet in thickness, these Levels are all
within Two Miles of the Works."
The need for meeting the housing needs of the
workers is reflected in frequent references to tenements; sixty‑four near
the works site, five at Penhow, thirty‑eight at Coedcafellin (quickset
hedge of mill), two (one unfinished) at Rhydia (fords) Mill, others at outlying
farms and in a reference to 'Two Pieces of Land part of Hirwain Common ... for
Building Houses for the Workmen near the Collieries.'
WEST GLAMORGAN,
CARMARTHENSHIRE AND PEMBROKESHIRE
At Neath
Abbey stand the ivy‑clad remains of two stone blast furnaces, which tower
above the ground. The original drawing of the furnaces has survived and has
been deposited at the Glamorgan County Record Office; it shows Number I furnace
to have been some 51-1/2 feet high from the furnace bottom and Number 2, 63-1/2
feet. In 1798 they were referred to as, ÔÉTwo immense blast furnaces belonging
to Messrs. Fox & Co. . . constantly at work, each of them producing upwards
of thirty tons of pig‑iron every week. They are blown by iron bellows,
worked by a double engine, constructed on the plan of Messrs. Boulton and
Watts, with a steam cylinder of forty inches in diameter.Õ117
The site
was leased in 1792 to the Cornish Quaker family, Fox, the names of Peter Price,
Samuel Tregelles and John Gould being also associated with the operation of the
ironworks in subsequent years.110 The firm's letters were variously
signed by the different partners102, their recipients often being
addressed 'Esteemed Friend', the letters ending, 'Your friends' or 'Thine
Truly'. The works remained under the management of the Quakers until 1875
In their 'engine Manufactory', this firm established for itself a very high reputation for the building of locomotives, stationary engines, marine engines and many kinds of machinery. It is very gratifying to be able to say that plans and drawings of these machines, numbering many hundreds, have been preserved and are available for study; they were deposited at the Glamorgan County Record Office in 1964 by Mr. A. W. Taylor of Taylor & Sons Ltd, Briton Ferry, Glamorgan.
There are,
still in existence, a number of examples of the finished work of the Neath
Abbey Works. In 1964 the Vivian Tinplate Works of the Briton Ferry Steel Co.
Ltd, were demolished; this works was established in 1926 on the site of the
Margam Copper Works. Parts of the roof structure of the building was supported
on two cast iron pillars, 16l inches in diameter, each bearing the date 1800
and the name 'N. Abbey'; a short length of one of these pillars including the
inscriptions is preserved in the Department of Industry, National Museum of
Wales.
Two further examples of Neath Abbey engines, which have survived, are to be seen at Glyn Pits, near Pontypool (ST 265999). One is a beam engine, together with pump, installed in 1845 in a building bearing the date and the initials C.H.L., Capel Hanbury Leigh, who inherited the industrial enterprises of Major John Hanbury of Pontypool. The other is a winding engine which drove two reel drums, each 15 feet in diameter, carrying flat winding ropes.
The
remains of the ironworks at Ystradgynlais (strand of Cynlais) and Ystalyfera
(water meadow at end of short share) are important because both works were
closely connected with developments in the technique