The Lowest Bridge Over Afon Ogwen - geograph

Penydarren Ironworks was the fourth of the great

ironworks An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''. Ironworks succeeded bloomeri ...

established at

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydf ...

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

. Built in 1784 by the brothers

Samuel Homfray Samuel Homfray (1762 – 22 May 1822) was an English industrialist during the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain, associated with the early iron industry in South Wales. Samuel was the son of a successful ironmaster, Francis Homfray, and the ...

Jeremiah Homfray Sir Jeremiah Homfray (16 February 1759 – 9 January 1833) was an English ironmaster, best known for mineral developments in South Wales for and starting the Ebbw Vale ironworks. Early life The third son of Francis Homfray of Stourton Castle, ...

, and Thomas Homfray, all sons of

Francis Homfray Francis Homfray (7 September 1725 – 1798) was an English industrialist and one of the founders of the iron industry in South Wales. He was the third son of Francis Homfray (1674–1736), of Wales, a village in Rotherham located in the coun ...

Stourbridge Stourbridge is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England, situated on the River Stour. Historically in Worcestershire, it was the centre of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution. The 20 ...

. Their father, Francis, for a time managed a nail warehouse there for

Ambrose Crowley Sir Ambrose Crowley III (1 April 1657/8''England & Wales, Quaker Birth, Marriage, and Death Registers, 1578-1837'' – 17 October 1713) was a 17th-century English ironmonger and politician who was returned to the House of Commons in 1713. Early yea ...

. Most of the family were involved in trade as

ironmaster An ironmaster is the manager, and usually owner, of a forge or blast furnace for the processing of iron. It is a term mainly associated with the period of the Industrial Revolution, especially in Great Britain. The ironmaster was usually a large ...

s or

ironmonger Ironmongery originally referred, first, to the manufacture of iron goods and, second, to the place of sale of such items for domestic rather than industrial use. In both contexts, the term has expanded to include items made of steel, aluminium ...

s (in this context meaning a manufacturer of iron goods). Samuel built

Penydarren House : ''For Trevithick's Pen-y-darren locomotive, see Richard Trevithick.'' Penydarren is a community and electoral ward in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough in Wales. Description The area is most notable for being the site of a 1st-century Roman fort, ...

on the opposite bank of the

River Taf The River Taf ( cy, Afon Taf) is a river in West Wales. It rises in the Preseli Hills, Pembrokeshire, and continues through Carmarthenshire to Laugharne. It is one of the three rivers to enter the sea on the east side of Carmarthen Bay. The oth ...

, as a home for the family locally. Because the owners of the

Cyfarthfa Ironworks The Cyfarthfa Ironworks were major 18th- and 19th-century ironworks in Cyfarthfa, on the north-western edge of Merthyr Tydfil, in South West Wales. The beginning The Cyfarthfa works were begun in 1765 by Anthony Bacon (by then a merchant in Lo ...

dominated the management of

Glamorganshire Canal The Glamorganshire Canal in South Wales, UK, was begun in 1790. It ran along the valley of the River Taff from Merthyr Tydfil to the sea at Cardiff. The final section of canal was closed in 1951. History Construction started in 1790; being wa ...

, the other

ironworks built a

tramroad A plateway is an early kind of railway, tramway or wagonway, where the rails are made from cast iron. They were mainly used for about 50 years up to 1830, though some continued later. Plateways consisted of "L"-shaped rails, where the flange ...

Abercynon Abercynon (), is both a village and a community (and electoral ward) in the Cynon Valley within the unitary authority of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. The community comprises the village and the districts of Carnetown and Grovers Field to the south, ...

, bypassing the upper sections of the canal. This "Penydarren Tramroad" (more correctly, the Merthyr Tramroad) was used for a trial of the first railway

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

, built by

Richard Trevithick Richard Trevithick (13 April 1771 – 22 April 1833) was a British inventor and mining engineer. The son of a mining captain, and born in the mining heartland of Cornwall, Trevithick was immersed in mining and engineering from an early age. He w ...

. This successfully hauled

wagons A wagon or waggon is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by draught animals or on occasion by humans, used for transporting goods, commodities, agricultural materials, supplies and sometimes people. Wagons are immediately distinguished from ...

but was so heavy that it broke many rails. The engine was then used for other purposes as a stationary engine. The business was financed by William Forman of the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...

,Ince, p.57 who provided all the capital, partly on mortgage but taking a share in it himself. Samuel Homfray left the business in 1813. In 1819, the partners were William Forman and William Thompson of London. William Forman offered the works for sale in 1859, and the

Dowlais Iron Company The Dowlais Ironworks was a major ironworks and steelworks located at Dowlais near Merthyr Tydfil, in Wales. Founded in the 18th century, it operated until the end of the 20th, at one time in the 19th century being the largest steel producer in ...

bought the mineral ground. The works were used intermittently by various others until 1883. Some remains of the works can still be seen.

Notes

References

* Ince, L.; ''The South Wales Iron Industry 1750–1885'' (1993)

External links

Old Merthyr Tydfil: Penydarren
– Historical Photographs of Penydarren.

– Historical Photographs of Penydarren Ironworks.

– Historical Photographs of the 'Penydarren Locomotive'. {{coord, 51.753018, -3.369520, display=title, format=dms, type:landmark Buildings and structures in Merthyr Tydfil Industrial history of Wales Ironworks and steelworks in Wales Richard Trevithick

Notes

References

Further reading

External links