Nantyglo () is a village in the ancient parish of
Aberystruth
Aberystruth was an ancient ecclesiastical parish in Wales, located beside the north-west corner of the county of Monmouthshire against the border with Breconshire and between the parishes of Bedwellty and Trevethin. It extended from Beaufort i ...
and county of Monmouth situated deep within the
South Wales Valleys between
Blaina
Blaina ( cy, Blaenau ) is a small town, situated deep within the South Wales Valleys between Brynmawr and Abertillery in the unitary authority of Blaenau Gwent, ancient parish of Aberystruth, preserved county of Gwent and historic county o ...
and
Brynmawr
Brynmawr (; , ,) is a market town, community and electoral ward in Blaenau Gwent, Wales. The town, sometimes cited as the highest town in Wales, is situated at above sea level at the head of the South Wales Valleys. It grew with the devel ...
in the
county borough
County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent ter ...
of
Blaenau Gwent
Blaenau Gwent (; ) is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It borders the unitary authority areas of Monmouthshire and Torfaen to the east, Caerphilly to the west and Powys to the north. Its main towns are Abertillery, Brynmawr, Ebbw ...
.
Governance
An
electoral ward
A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...
in the same name exists. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 4,635.
Places of interest
Parc Nant y Waun is a
nature reserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...
incorporating 22 hectares of grassland,
mire
A mire, peatland, or quagmire is a wetland area dominated by living peat-forming plants. Mires arise because of incomplete decomposition of organic matter, usually litter from vegetation, due to water-logging and subsequent anoxia. All types ...
s and reservoirs which was officially opened in 2007.
[ Opening of Parc Nant y Waun](_blank)
Home to many wildlife species, it includes a picnic area, outdoor classroom and an angling club.
Wesley Methodist Church was built in 1825.
Notable people
*
David Keith Brookman, Baron Brookman
*
Flash Morgan Webster
Gavin Watkins (born 13 April 1990) is a Welsh professional wrestler. He is most well known for his time in WWE where he performed under the ring name "Flash" Morgan Webster. Webster was one of the first Welsh Champions in WWE history alongside t ...
(WWE Wrestler)
*
Tom Clapp
Tom Clapp (25 October 1858 – 15 October 1933) was an English-born international rugby union forward who played club rugby for Newport and Nantyglo RFC. He won 14 caps for Wales and captained the team on three occasions. Clapp was the first ...
*
William Evans
*
William Gore
*
Keith Jones
*
Trish Law
Patricia Law, née Bolter (born 17 March 1954) is a Welsh politician who was the Blaenau Gwent People's Voice AM for Blaenau Gwent in Wales between 2006 and 2011.
Background
Patricia Bolter was born in Nantyglo, Blaenau Gwent, in 1954. She ...
(born 1954), Member of the Welsh Assembly
*
David Nash
*
Nick Smith, MP for
Blaenau Gwent
Blaenau Gwent (; ) is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It borders the unitary authority areas of Monmouthshire and Torfaen to the east, Caerphilly to the west and Powys to the north. Its main towns are Abertillery, Brynmawr, Ebbw ...
now lives in the area but was raised in nearby
Tredegar
Tredegar (pronounced , ) is a town and community situated on the banks of the Sirhowy River in the county borough of Blaenau Gwent, in the southeast of Wales. Within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire, it became an early centre of the In ...
and then moved to London until his election as the MP for the area.
*
Jack Williams VC, John Henry Williams, the most decorated Welsh non-commissioned officer of all time
Nantyglo and Blaina Town Council
Nantyglo and Blaina Town Council is made up of 16 unpaid, elected members representing the communities of Nantyglo and Blaina (with eight from each). Full elections of town councillors normally take place every five years, on the first Thursday in May.
The last set of elections took place on 4 May 2017.
The current political makeup of the council for 2017–2022 is as follows:
The Town Council owns and operates Salem Chapel on High Street, Blaina. The council is currently undertaking the renovation of the chapel to convert it into a museum and tourist attraction to display the religious, industrial and political history of the communities. Even though the main focus is on
Chartism
Chartism was a working-class movement for political reform in the United Kingdom that erupted from 1838 to 1857 and was strongest in 1839, 1842 and 1848. It took its name from the People's Charter of 1838 and was a national protest movement, w ...
, this being where many of the movement's leaders came from and the point from which the 1839
March on Newport began, the chapel will continue to be used as a place of worship for the community.
The Town Council sponsors and organizes numerous annual events, including the ARC Awards – made to those members of the community who have achieved so much for the benefit of the area and its people – and the annual School Sports Event.
The Council's civic head is the Town Mayor who chairs the meetings of Council and is supported by a Deputy Town Mayor, both of them being appointed annually from amongst the Councillors (usually from the majority group). At its annual general meeting the Council appoints a Leader of the Council who is normally the leader of the ruling majority group. This post is currently (November 2018) held by Councillor Glyn Movan (Independent).
The Council also has numerous committees operating under various remits such as, amongst others, Finance, Highways, and Planning. Each committee is headed by a councillor appointed to chair its meetings.
The Council's day-to-day running is undertaken by the Town Clerk, a Chief Finance Officer / Responsible Finance Officer, and the Assistant Town Clerk who provide clerical, financial, and legal advice.
History
Nantyglo Ironworks
During the middle of the 19th century, Nantyglo was one of the most important
iron
Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...
producing centres in the world.
In March 1811 Matthew Wayne (1780–1853) furnace manager at
Cyfarthfa
Cyfarthfa is a community and electoral ward in the west of the town of Merthyr Tydfil in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales.
Community
Cyfarthfa mainly consists of the settlements of Gellideg and Heolgerrig and Rhyd-y-car area just west of Mer ...
and
Joseph Bailey, nephew of
Richard Crawshay
Richard Crawshay (1739 – 27 June 1810) was a London iron merchant and then South Wales ironmaster; he was one of ten known British millionaires in 1799.
Early life and marriage
Richard Crawshay was born in Normanton in the West Riding of ...
of Cyfarthfa, together purchased the lease of the existing but long stopped ironworks at Nantyglo.
They were so successful in reviving the works that by 1820 Matthew Wayne was able to sell-out and set up his own business at the Gadlys, Aberdare and Joseph's brother,
Crawshay Bailey
Crawshay Bailey (1789 – 9 January 1872) was an English industrialist who became one of the great iron-masters of Wales.
Early life
Bailey was born in 1789 in Great Wenham, Suffolk, the son of John Bailey, of Wakefield and his wife Susannah ...
, took Wayne's place in the Nantyglo ironworks partnership.
Turning Nantyglo into one of the great ironworks of the kingdom the two brothers, by 1827, had seven
blast furnaces
A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheric p ...
operating at Nantyglo and added the nearby
Beaufort Ironworks
Beaufort ( cy, Cendl or ''Y Cendl'') is a community and village located in the historic county of Brecknockshire (Breconshire) and the preserved county of Gwent. It currently lies on the northern edge of the county borough of Blaenau Gwent in ...
to their business in 1833 putting their sister's son, William Partridge (1800–1862) in charge.
Joseph Bailey, whose wife had died in 1827, remarried in 1830 and retired from personal direction of Nantyglo to live at
Glanusk Park Crickhowell and manage his very extensive landed estates.
Crawshay Bailey continued to live at Ty Mawr, Nantyglo, and ran the iron-works. In the 1840s he retired to
Llanfoist
Llanfoist ( cy, Llan-ffwyst) is both a village near Abergavenny, in Monmouthshire, Wales, and the community of Llanfoist Fawr. Llanfoist derives from ''Ffwyst'', an early Christian Welsh saint, although the anglicised version of the church ...
House, Abergavenny, leaving direction to his nephew, Joseph's son, Richard Bailey (1816–1853) who died in Dijon France and was succeeded by his younger brother Henry, described in 1868 as managing partner.
At their height c.1844 the Baileys employed 3,000 men and 500 women and children in their ironworks and
coal mining
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
operation.
The Bailey interests disposed of the Nantyglo works by 1869-70.
Round towers
After the
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...
and the final defeat of Napoleon there was a general slump in iron manufacture, although Nantyglo was the only ironworks which actually increased its exports, and the high cost of wheat caused
acute unrest throughout the country. Fearful of unrest (which did not eventuate) Matthew Wayne and Joseph Bailey had built two fortified towers, the
Nantyglo Round Towers in 1816.
Link with Chartism 1839
Zephaniah Williams
Zephaniah Williams (1795 – 8 May 1874) was a Welsh coal miner and Chartist campaigner, who was one of the leaders of the Newport Rising of 1839. Found guilty of high treason, he was condemned to death, but his sentence was commuted to l ...
(1795–1874) a Master Collier and innkeeper, keeping the Royal Oak Inn at Nantyglo, from where he used to pay his colliers, was a free thinking man in religious matters and the local Working Men's Association met at his home. Williams emerged as a natural leader during the
Chartist movement
Chartism was a working-class movement for political reform in the United Kingdom that erupted from 1838 to 1857 and was strongest in 1839, 1842 and 1848. It took its name from the People's Charter of 1838 and was a national protest movement, w ...
in south east Wales. Along with
John Frost and
William Jones, he led a large column of men from the Nantyglo area to march south on the Westgate Hotel,
Newport, site of what is sometimes regarded as the greatest armed rebellion in 19th century Britain.
For his part in the 1839 Chartist
Newport Rising
The Newport Rising was the last large-scale armed rising in Wales, by Chartists whose demands included democracy and the right to vote with a secret ballot. On Monday 4 November 1839, approximately 4,000 Chartist sympathisers, under the lead ...
at
Newport, Monmouthshire
Newport ( cy, Casnewydd; ) is a city and county borough in Wales, situated on the River Usk close to its confluence with the Severn Estuary, northeast of Cardiff. With a population of 145,700 at the 2011 census, Newport is the third-largest au ...
he was convicted and deported to Australia. He died there a prosperous man in 1874.
International links
Nantyglo has close links with its twinned sister city of
Nanty Glo, Pennsylvania
Nanty Glo is a borough in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,734 at the 2010 census. The name comes from the Welsh ''Nant Y Glo'', ...
.
References
External links
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Nantyglo & Blaina Town Council website
{{authority control
Villages in Blaenau Gwent
Geography of Blaenau Gwent