Dowlais () is a village and

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 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 ...

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 ...

, 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 ...

. At the 2011 census the

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 ...

had a population of 6,926, The population of the Community being 4,270 at the 2011 census having excluded Pant. Dowlais is notable within Wales and Britain for its historic association with

ironworking Ferrous metallurgy is the metallurgy of iron and its alloys. The earliest surviving prehistoric iron artifacts, from the 4th millennium BC in Egypt, were made from meteoritic iron-nickel. It is not known when or where the smelting of iron from ...

; once employing, through 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 ...

, roughly 5,000 people, the works being the largest in the world at one stage.

Name

The name is derived from the Welsh ''du'' meaning 'black' and ''glais'' meaning 'stream'.

History

Dowlais came to prominence in the 18th and 19th centuries because of its iron and steelworks. By the mid-1840s there were between 5000 and 7000 men, women and children employed in the Dowlais works. During the early to mid 1800s the ironworks were operated by Sir John Josiah Guest and (from 1833) his wife Lady Charlotte Guest. Charlotte Guest introduced welfare schemes for the ironworkers. She provided for a church and a library. The school (dating from 1819) was improved and extended, becoming "probably the most important and most progressive not only in the industrial history of South Wales, but of the whole of Britain".Birch ''Economic History of the British Iron and Steel Industry'' pp. 291-5 In the 1850s, after Sir John's death, the works became under the control of a board of trustees. In 1865 the Bessemer steel making process was introduced to Dowlais, with £33,000 being spent on a new steelworks. Steel production at Dowlais eventually ceased in 1936 due to the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, although the iron foundry continued until 1987. Dowlais was originally part of the parish of

. In 1872 the population was 15,590. Its total population at the 2011 census was 6,926.

Governance

Dowlais was an

Mid Glamorgan County Council Mid Glamorgan County Council () was the upper-tier authority for the Welsh county of Mid Glamorgan between its creation in 1974 and its abolition in 1996. History Local government in England and Wales was reorganised in 1974 under the Local Gover ...

from 1973 to 1996. Since 1996 Dowlais has been a ward to

Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council ( cy, Cyngor bwrdeistref Sirol Merthyr Tudful) is the governing body for Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, one of the Principal Areas of Wales. History The parish of Merthyr Tydfil was governed by a local boar ...

. In 2003 Dowlais was represented by an independent councillor, John Pritchard, who was also Mayor of

Notable buildings

Little remains of the works that once sustained the community throughout the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

until the 1930s, the two notable buildings that remain are the Engine House, now used a community centre and the stable block which is now social housing. Dowlais House, which has now been demolished, was once home to Sir John Josiah Guest and

Lady Charlotte Guest Lady Charlotte Elizabeth Guest (née Bertie; 19 May 1812 – 15 January 1895), later Lady Charlotte Schreiber, was an English aristocrat who is best known as the first publisher in modern print format of the '' Mabinogion'', the earliest prose l ...

, and it was at Dowlais House that Lady Guest translated the Mabinogion. The Guest Memorial Library (1863); commissioned by Lady Guest and designed by

Charles Barry Sir Charles Barry (23 May 1795 – 12 May 1860) was a British architect, best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster (also known as the Houses of Parliament) in London during the mid-19th century, but also respons ...

, still stands. St John's Church, a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, contains the tombs and burial places of several notable people, including Sir John Guest who had the church built in 1827. St John's closed in 1997 but has received several hundred thousand pounds of

Welsh Government The Welsh Government ( cy, Llywodraeth Cymru) is the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of ministers and Minister (government), deputy ministers, and also of a Counsel General for Wales, counsel general. Minist ...

money to preserve it. In its heyday, Dowlais had numerous nonconformist chapels. Almost all have disappeared although the buildings of Bethania (Independent) and Hebron (Calvinistic Methodist) are now used by evangelical congregations. Others have been demolished including Bryn Seion and Gwernllwyn.

Sport and leisure

Dowlais is home to

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

club,

Dowlais RFC Dowlais Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union club based in Dowlais near Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. The club is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union and is a feeder club for the Cardiff Blues. Although a Dowlais rugby club existed in the late 19th ...

Notable residents

Laura Ashley Laura Ashley (née Mountney; 7 September 1925 – 17 September 1985) was a Welsh fashion designer and businesswoman. She originally made furnishing materials in the 1950s, expanding the business into clothing design and manufacture in the 1960s ...

, fashion designer *

Dai Astley David John Astley (11 October 1909 – 7 November 1989) was a Welsh international footballer who played as an inside forward in The Football League in the 1920s and 1930s. Club career Dowlais-born Astley played for Merthyr Town, Charlton, Ast ...

, association footballer * Richard Davies, actor *

Thomas Nathaniel Davies Thomas Nathaniel Davies (1922–1996) was a Welsh artist and teacher, born in Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. Shunning a promising early career with Cardiff City Football Club, he enrolled at Cardiff College of Art in 1939, where he was taught ...

, artist *

David William Evans Sir David William Evans (4 November 1866 – 17 March 1926) was a Welsh people, Welsh lawyer and public servant, who played a leading role in the fight against tuberculosis in Wales. In his early adult life, Evans was a very keen sportsman and ...

, lawyer and international rugby union player * Horace Evans, 1st Baron Evans, royal physician *

, first translator of the Mabinogion into English *

Ivor Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne Ivor Bertie Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne, 2nd Baronet, DL (29 August 1835 – 22 February 1914) was a British industrialist and a member of the prominent Guest family. Early life Ivor Bertie Guest was born at Dowlais, near Merthyr Tydfil, the s ...

, industrialist * John Josiah Guest, engineer * Richard Harrington, actor *

Robert Alwyn Hughes Robert Alwyn Hughes (born 1935 in Dowlais, Wales) is a Welsh artist. Artwork and childhood Hughes's childhood memories continue to have an impact upon his artwork, with numerous references to Welsh landscape and culture, especially that of the ...

, artist *

Heinz Koppel Heinz Koppel (29 January 1919, Berlin - 1 December 1980, Cwmerfyn, Wales) was a British artist of German origin, who spent much of his life working in Wales. Life Koppel was born to Jewish parents in Berlin, where he grew up, but after the N ...

, artist * Gustavius Payne, artist * Robert Rees, tenor * Glanmor Williams, historian * Gwyn Alf Williams, historian

Sources

References

External links

Old Merthyr Tydfil: Dowlais
- Historical Photographs of Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil.
Photos of Dowlais and surrounding area on geograph.org.uk
{{authority control Villages in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Communities in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Wards of Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Mid Glamorgan electoral wards