: ''For the ironworks in the US state of Virginia, see
Tredegar Iron Works
The Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, Virginia, was the biggest ironworks in the Confederacy during the American Civil War, and a significant factor in the decision to make Richmond its capital.
Tredegar supplied about half the artillery used b ...
.''
Tredegar Iron and Coal Company was an important 19th century
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 ...
in
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 ...
,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
, which due to its need for
coke became a major developer of
coal mine
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 ...
s and particularly the
Sirhowy Valley
The Sirhowy Valley ( ) is an industrialised valley in the eastern part of the Valleys region of Wales. It is named from the Sirhowy River () which runs through it. Its upper reaches are occupied by the town of Tredegar within the unitary area of ...
of
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 ...
. It is most closely associated with the
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
and coal mining in the
South Wales Valleys.
Background
In 1778 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 ...
furnace
A furnace is a structure in which heat is produced with the help of combustion.
Furnace may also refer to:
Appliances Buildings
* Furnace (central heating): a furnace , or a heater or boiler , used to generate heat for buildings
* Boiler, used t ...
was built in the upper Sirhowy Valley by Thomas Atkinson and William Barrow, who came to the area from
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
.
["A look at Old Tredegar in photographs" Volume 1 Philip Prosser Old Bakehouse Publications 1990] Fuel was needed for the furnace so men were employed to dig
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dea ...
at Bryn Bach and Nantybwch, the first small scale
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 in the area. The furnace failed in 1794, and hence also the business.
Sirhowy Ironworks
In 1797,
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 ...
, with partners
Richard Fothergill and the
Matthew Monkhouse built a new furnace which they called the Sirhowy Ironworks, leasing the land in Bedwellty,
Newport from the
Tredegar Estate
Baron Tredegar, of Tredegar in the County of Monmouth, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 16 April 1859 for the Welsh politician Sir Charles Morgan, 3rd Baronet, who had earlier represented Brecon in Parliament ...
.
[B. Gardner's History of Tredegar and other information](_blank)
In 1800, the company was renamed the Tredegar Iron Company, named in honour of the Tredegar Estate at
Tredegar House
Tredegar House (Welsh: ''Tŷ Tredegar'') is a 17th-century Charles II-era mansion on the southwestern edge of Newport, Wales. For over five hundred years it was home to the Morgan family, later Lords Tredegar; one of the most powerful and influe ...
and
Tredegar Park
Tredegar Park ( cy, Parc Tredegar) is a public park situated in the western Coedkernew area of the city of Newport, South Wales. It lies close to junction 28 of the M4 motorway connecting London and West Wales.
History
It formerly forme ...
in
Newport. The company was taken over by the Harfords of
Ebbw Vale
Ebbw Vale (; cy, Glynebwy) is a town at the head of the valley formed by the Ebbw Fawr tributary of the Ebbw River in Wales. It is the largest town and the administrative centre of Blaenau Gwent county borough. The Ebbw Vale and Brynmawr con ...
in 1818.
It was expanded in the late 1830s and early 1840s, producing significant volumes of rails, largely for export. The works was purchased by the Tredegar Iron Company Limited in 1873 and nine years later began to produce steel.
Operations
The company ironworks were developed on a single site, which later became known as Whiteheads, after that company took over the southern section of the site in 1907. By 1850, TICC employed between 2000 and 3000 people at its 9 furnaces, mills shops and ancillary plants.
[
However, all of this production on such a vast scale had a price. Adrian Vaughn, in his 1985 book "Grub, Water & Relief," mentions that in 1832 John Gooch took a managerial post in the Tredegar iron works:
With many people in such a small area, and with poor sanitation provision, there were several ]cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...
epidemics in the town in the 19th century. A dedicated cholera burial ground was later established at Cefn Golau
Cefn Golau is a disused cholera cemetery situated on a narrow mountain ridge in the county borough of Blaenau Gwent, and located between Rhymney and Tredegar in south-east Wales. A suburb of Tredegar and a nearby feeder reservoir (or pond) have ...
.
1875-1946
In 1875, the company renamed itself the Tredegar Iron and Coal Company, to allow development of additional coal mining capacity.[
In 1891, the company ceased production of iron, but continued to develop coal mines and produce coal. The former Tredegar Ironworks were effectively abandoned, with Whiteheads taking over the southern section of the site from 1907. In 1931, they also closed down their operations, moving everything to their Newport works.][
TICC continued to develop coal mines and work pitts, until it was nationalised in 1946, becoming part 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 ...
.[ Its last chairman was ]Henry McLaren, 2nd Baron Aberconway
Henry Duncan McLaren, 2nd Baron Aberconway, (16 April 1879 – 23 May 1953) was a British politician, horticulturalist and industrialist. He was the son of Charles McLaren, 1st Baron Aberconway and Laura Pochin.
Education
Born in Richmond u ...
.
Though now almost entirely redeveloped, traces of the terracing of the valley sides at the site can still be noted at OS grid reference SO 155093.
Mines developed by the company
*1806: The Dukes Pit, Tredegar. Named after the Duke of Beaufort on whose land it was sunk
*1806: Pwll Mawr, Neath
*1834: Trist No.1 and No.2 pits
*1841: Upper Ty Trist Pit
*1850: Bedwellty Pits
*1868: Trist No.3 Pit
*1876: Witworth Colliery
*1876: Pochin Colliery
*1898: McLaren Colliery
*1907: Oakdale Colliery
Oakdale Colliery was a coal mine located in the Sirhowy Valley, one of the valleys of South Wales.
In the early years of the twentieth century the need for coal was growing both in America and Europe, and local business men in Wales were looking f ...
*1908: Waterloo Colliery
*1910: Markham Colliery
*1926: Wyllie Colliery Wyllie Colliery was located in the Sirhowy Valley, South Wales.
The coal mine was sunk by the Tredegar Iron and Coal Company and opened in 1926. The colliery was named after a director of the company, Alexander Wyllie. Wyllie
Wyllie is a surname. ...
References
External links
History of the Sirhowy Valley
{{Coord missing, Glamorgan
Ironworks and steelworks in Wales
Coal mining in Wales
Coal companies of the United Kingdom
Defunct companies of Wales
Industrial Revolution
History of Glamorgan
Energy companies established in 1797
Manufacturing companies established in 1797
Non-renewable resource companies established in 1875
Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1946
Non-renewable resource companies disestablished in 1946
1797 establishments in Wales
1946 disestablishments in Wales
Tredegar
British companies established in 1797
British companies disestablished in 1946