: ''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 ...

.'' 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 bloomer ...

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 country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, 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 ...

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 ...

furnace 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 List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

."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 ...

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.B. Gardner's History of Tredegar and other information
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 influ ...

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 c ...

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 an ...

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) hav ...

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 "ve ...

. 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 *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 : ''For the ironworks in the US state of Virginia, see Tredegar Iron Works.'' Tredegar Iron and Coal Company was an imp ...

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