Tondu ( en, Black Meadow) is a village in
Bridgend County Borough
Bridgend County Borough ( cy, Bwrdeistref Sirol Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr) is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. The county borough has a total population of 139,200 people, and contains the town of Bridgend, after which it is named. It ...
, Wales, located about north of the town of
Bridgend
Bridgend (; cy, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the Old Bridge, Bridgend, medieval bridge ...
, in the
community
A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...
of
Ynysawdre
Ynysawdre is a small community in Bridgend County Borough, south Wales. It is located to the east of Aberkenfig in Wales, and comprises the two villages of Tondu and Brynmenyn. The name Ynysawdre is also usually used for a small section of Tondu. ...
.
Tondu lies on the
A4063 from Bridgend to
Maesteg
Maesteg is a town and community in Bridgend County Borough, Wales. Maesteg lies at the northernmost end of the Llynfi Valley, close to the border with Neath Port Talbot. In 2011, Maesteg had a population of 20,612. The English translation of Mae ...
, and was established in the late 18th century as a
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 ...
village servicing the
Parc Slip Colliery
Parc Slip Colliery was a coal mine near situated at Aberkenfig, near Tondu in Bridgend County Borough, Wales.
History Parc Slip Colliery: 1860-1904
This pit was opened in the 1860s by John Brogden and Sons. In 1872 Brogdens merged with the L ...
. In later years, an
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 ...
works was also established, and in the 19th century, a
brick
A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...
works was constructed using the
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
from the
carboniferous
The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carbonifero ...
coal measure
In lithostratigraphy, the coal measures are the coal-bearing part of the Upper Carboniferous System. In the United Kingdom, the Coal Measures Group consists of the Upper Coal Measures Formation, the Middle Coal Measures Formation and the Lower Coal ...
s to make a variety of bricks, mostly for engineering. The brick works was demolished in 1977. The association with the coal industry was also reflected in the large area office of the
National Coal Board
The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "v ...
in the village and a centre for the
Mines Rescue Service.
Railway connections
The village has several
railway
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
lines and provided access to collieries in Wern-Tarw and the Ogmore and Garw valleys, along with maintenance facilities. All were closed to passenger traffic in the 1960s. They were used extensively by coal trains until the mine closures in the 1980s. The Wern-Tarw line was disused and lifted first, followed by the Ogmore line sometime afterwards. The Garw line is disused, but still extant. During the early 1990s the
Bridgend
Bridgend (; cy, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the Old Bridge, Bridgend, medieval bridge ...
to Maesteg line was re-opened to passenger traffic and provides a service to
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
. Occasional steel trains run via the
Margam
Margam is a suburb and community of Port Talbot in the Welsh county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, close to junction 39 of the M4 motorway. The community had a population of 3,017 in 2011; the built up area being larger and extending into T ...
to Tondu and Tondu to Bridgend branch lines. The Margam line is now used by the new Parc Slip opencast mine for coal. The village is served by
Tondu railway station
Tondu railway station is a railway station serving the village of Tondu, Bridgend county borough, South Wales. It is located on the Maesteg Line from Cardiff via Bridgend.
Passenger services are operated by Transport for Wales Rail as part of ...
.
River Llynfi
The
River Llynfi
The River Llynfi, cy, Afon Llynfi, is one of three main tributaries of the River Ogmore ( cy, Afon Ogwr).
It runs for around 10 miles from its source north of Maesteg and flows generally southwards through the Llynfi Valley to the confluence w ...
flows alongside Tondu on its way to its
confluence
In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...
with the
River Ogmore
The River Ogmore ( cy, Afon Ogwr) is a river in South Wales that is popular with anglers. It runs generally from north to south from the Ogmore Vale and Gilfach Goch, past Bridgend and Ogmore. The River Ogmore rises at Craig Ogwr (527 m) in the ...
. The Llynfi at this point has had a history of severe
pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...
. Historically, the pollution started with the coal industry. The coal seams in this part of the
South Wales Valleys are quite wet and the coal itself is rich in
pyrites
The mineral pyrite (), or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula Fe S2 (iron (II) disulfide). Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral.
Pyrite's metallic luster and pale brass-yellow hue ...
and thus also rich in
sulphur
Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...
. Such mine waters have a very high burden of coal and rock solids and also contain heavy metals such as
nickel
Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow to ...
,
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 ...
and
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
in
acid
In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a sequ ...
ic solution. For many years the river also suffered from pollution from a paper mill at Maesteg
History
Sir Robert Price
Sir Robert Price took over leases around Tondu Farm previously granted to William Bryant, the liquidator of John Bedford's business. Sir Robert had ambitions as an ironmaster and began to develop an ironworks alongside the Dyffryn Llynvi and Porthcawl Railway at Tondu in the late 1830s. He traded as the Glamorgan Coal and Iron Company. Progress was initially slow due to a trade recession in the early 1840s, but there was a revival in 1843 and the first furnace at Tondu was blown-in in 1844. The year 1843 was significant for the Tondu district as extensive reserves of black-band
ironstone
Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be con ...
were discovered six miles (10 km) to the north in the Maesteg area during that year. The discovery, and an unprecedented period of growth in the iron trade during the mid-1840s, prompted Sir Robert to develop his works at Tondu and open-up the Tywith coal and ironstone mine near present-day Nantyffyllon, Maesteg. Typically for the iron trade, prices fell sharply after the short-lived boom period and, as a result, the Tondu Works struggled to survive through the early 1850s and Sir Robert Price faced bankruptcy. However, because of the progress made during the years 1843–1847, the Tondu Ironworks and associated mines formed a significant pocket of production in mid-Glamorgan with some potential. That potential was recognised by the Lancashire firm of
John Brogden and Sons
John Brogden and Sons was a firm of Railway Contractors, Iron and Coal Miners and Iron Smelters operating, initially as a general contractor, from roughly 1828 until its bankruptcy in 1880.
Formation
The business started in the 1820s when John ...
who bought the Tondu property in 1854.
.
[Higgins, LS, The Brogden Pioneers of the early industrial development in Mid-Glamorgan, National Library of Wales Journal, Vol XX, No. 3, Summer 1978, pp 240-252.][Rees, Gwilym J, Tondu House – A History of Ownership and Tenants (1650-1963), published by the author (1997) ]
Brogdens
In February 1854 John Brogden sent his fourth son James, aged 22, to revive and run the business. In July 1854, John Brogden signed a new 99-year lease with Jane Nicholl. James rapidly reorganised and expanded the works.
[ James rebuilt Tondu House between 1854 and 1857. In the 1861 ]census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
he said he was employing 900 men and farming with 20 men.[
In 1856 the Brogdens re-opened Price's coal and ore mine at Tywith, and, during the mid-1860s, developed collieries at Park Slip, Aberkenfig, Garth, Maesteg and Wyndham and Tynewydd in the Ogmore Valley - all managed from Tondu. In July 1863 Brogdens obtained an ]Act of Parliament
Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...
to build a new standard gauge
A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...
railway in the Ogmore Valley and to lay a third rail on the existing broad gauge
A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways.
Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...
Lynfi Railway to Porthcawl. In 1866 they obtained an Act to merge the two railway companies. In 1867 they opened a new dock in Porthcawl. All of these measures helped to promote the growth of industry in the area.[
]
Brogdens give way to North's Navigation
In 1869, John Brogden died and his eldest son Alexander Brogden
Alexander Brogden (3 November 1825-26 November 1892) was a politician who became Member of Parliament for Wednesbury, England.
Career
Brogden was born in Manchester on 3 November 1825, the second son of John Brogden (1798 – 1869) and e ...
came to Tondu to take charge of the business. In 1872 Alexander formed a new joint-stock company
A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's capital stock, stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their share (finance), shares (certificates ...
, the Llynvi, Tondu and Ogmore Coal and Iron Company Limited which merged Brogdens’ Glamorgan business interests with those of the Llynvi Coal and Iron Co. This moved was probably forced - Brogdens' Tywith mine had encroached on the other company's territory and the merger was in lieu of compensation. However the new company was short-lived. The Llynfi company was financed by debenture
In corporate finance, a debenture is a medium- to long-term debt instrument used by large companies to borrow money, at a fixed rate of interest. The legal term "debenture" originally referred to a document that either creates a debt or acknowl ...
s which could be withdrawn at short notice. A major debenture holder did withdraw making the merged company insolvent. It was wound up by creditors in 1878. The liquidator made a number of attempts to make the business viable until it was taken over by North's Navigation Collieries (1889) Ltd.[
]
Disastrous explosion
On the day of the annual St. Mary Hill Fair, 26 August 1892, a huge explosion
An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume associated with an extreme outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases. Supersonic explosions created by high explosives are known ...
shook the Parc Slip Colliery
Parc Slip Colliery was a coal mine near situated at Aberkenfig, near Tondu in Bridgend County Borough, Wales.
History Parc Slip Colliery: 1860-1904
This pit was opened in the 1860s by John Brogden and Sons. In 1872 Brogdens merged with the L ...
; 112 men and boys died with just 39 survivors: some remained trapped underground for a week before being rescued. Sixty women were widowed and 153 children left fatherless. The mine closed in 1904. A memorial
A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of a ...
to the disaster still stands consisting of 112 stones - one for every death. Much later, the coal seams were re-worked as part of the Parc Slip opencast
Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock (geology), rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a Borrow pit, b ...
coal mine.
New manager
Also in 1892, John Boyd-Harvey was appointed General Manager and Managing Director. Boyd-Harvey was a Cornishman who had studied gas production in Swansea
Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe).
The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...
– under the circumstances a very useful thing. He had followed his elder brother Robert to South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
. Robert had gone into partnership with Colonel North there and John also joined the business, managing the Iquique
Iquique () is a port city and commune in northern Chile, capital of both the Iquique Province and Tarapacá Region. It lies on the Pacific coast, west of the Pampa del Tamarugal, which is part of the Atacama Desert. It has a population of 191,468 ...
Gas Company on the border of Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
and Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal
, national_motto = "Fi ...
. He retired in 1913, at the early age of 52. After that North's Navigation continued until the Nationalisation
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
of Coal in 1947, although the iron works was closed.[
]
Tondu House
The General Managers lived in Tondu House until 1940 when the house was commandeered by the Ministry of Supply
The Ministry of Supply (MoS) was a department of the UK government formed in 1939 to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Minister of Supply. A separate ministry, however, was responsible for aircr ...
for the Pyrotechnic Research Department (PRD), evacuated from London. The site was chosen because it was in an elevated and relatively isolated position, some distance from a built-up area and only four miles from ROF Bridgend. This involved Tondu with some very important war work, including the development of incendiary flares that were dropped on targets by Pathfinder aircraft. These aircraft, including the famous Mosquito, would fly ahead of the main bomber force and locate and mark the targets with the flares. PRD was relocated to Langhurst Sussex
Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...
in 1957, where it merged with the former Flame Warfare Research Establishment.[ Today there is still evidence of the PRD's presence at Tondu Farm; a concrete viewing shelter in the woods close to the farm, from which the researchers could safely view and assess their experimental pyrotechnics. The Tondu House Mansion was demolished in 1963 by its owners Merthyr Mawr Estate, due to its poor and dangerous condition, leaving only one residential cottage standing amongst its outbuildings. It was then leased to a farmer until 2001.
]
The Old Pit Pony Hospital
On site is an old pit pony hospital where all the local pit ponies came for treatment and rest during their lives in the local pits. It was the only pit pony hospital in Mid Glamorgan.
Governance
At the local level Tondu is a community 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 ...
to Ynysawdre Community Council, represented by up to six of the ten community councillors.
The Ynysawdre county ward elects a councillor to Bridgend County Borough Council
Bridgend County Borough Council ( cy, Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr) is the governing body for Bridgend County Borough, one of the Principal Areas of Wales.
History
Bridgend County Borough and Bridgend County Borough Council came ...
.
References
External links
Welsh Coal Mines website - research the history of the local pits
Tondu House: A History of Ownership and Tenants (1650–1963) by Dr Gwilym J. Rees (on the Internet Archive)
{{authority control
Villages in Bridgend County Borough
Wards of Bridgend County Borough