Industry in Wales – 1800
I
reached a small village half-way between Swansea and Neath, and without
stopping continued my course, walking very fast. I had surmounted a hill and
had nearly descended that side of it which looked towards the east, having on
my left, that is to the north, a wooded height, when an extraordinary scene
presented itself to my eyes. Somewhat to the south rose immense stacks of
chimneys surrounded by grimy diabolical looking buildings, in the neighbourhood
of which were huge heaps of cinders and black rubbish. From the chimneys, not withstanding it was Sunday,
smoke was proceeding in volumes, choking the atmosphere all around. From this
pandemonium, at a distance of about a quarter of a mile to the south west, upon
a green meadow, stood looking darkly grey, a ruin of vast size with window
holes, towers, spires and arches, between it and the accursed pandemonium, lay
a horrible filthy place, part of which was swamp and part pool; the pool black
as soot, and the swamp of disgusting leaden colour. Across this place of filth
stretched a tramway leading seemingly from the abominable mansions to the ruin.
So strange a scene I have never beheld in nature. Had it been on canvas with
the addition of a number of diabolical figures, proceeding along the tramway,
it might have stood for Sabbath in Hell—devils proceeding to afternoon
worship.
Thus wrote
George Borrow in his romantic tale of the Welsh country side in 1834. The scene
in the years at the turn of the century would not have been markedly different.
The existence of mineral resources in Wales, coal and iron ore in particular,
had for some time, caused this
area to lead the way in industrialization. In this chapter we examine three facets of this development during
the period of Hopkin ThomasÕ training : steam power, iron-making and mining.
Steam power
evolved along two lines. First came the stationary engines used primarily to
pump water from the coal and ore mines
.
Stationary pumping
engines used to de-water mines were several stories high with the working beam
jutting out the side of a brick or masonry building. This is a Boulton &
Watt design of 1798 – see Wallace, M., The Non Rotative Beam Engine.
See The
Development of the Steam Engine
Next came the
steam locomotive, used to haul the coal and ore from the pits to the furnaces.
The early steam engines were crude affairs – the challenge was to make them light enough so as not to damage the rails, which had been designed for horse-drawn wagons.
See The
Development of the Steam Locomotive
Iron
Iron-making
flourished as coal, rather than charcoal was developed
as a blast furnace fuel. The famed iron works at
Neath and Merthy Tydfil flourished in the early
and mid-1850s. A concise history of the development
of the iron industry is given by G. E. Jones in
his work entitled Modern
Wales. An extensive
review by D. Morgan
Rees which begins with 16th century
efforts and covers activities including the works
at Merthyr Tydfil and the efforts of George Crane
and David Thomas at the Ynyscedwyn Ironworks is
found in Rees's, Mines,
Mills and Furnaces: Industrial Archaeology in Wales.
Coal
The earliest
references of the mining of coal in the Neath area date back to the 1200Õs when
a land owner by the name of Owen ab Alaythur granted
rights to mine Ôstone coalÕ on his property. Stone coal was anthracite coal
– commercial quantities of this hard-to-burn fuel are found only in Wales
and Pennsylvania. As transportation systems – canals and railroads
- were developed in the 1800s,
mining and exporting of coal became a major industry. Anthracite coal was
developed for industrial usage. A history
of the coal mining industry has been published by the Glamorgan Historian.
You will find a citation to the effect that one of the early (17th
century) miners was a man named Hopkin Thomas. Not our Hopkin, but possibly an
ancestor. Again, Modern Wales by G. E. Jones provides a brief history
of the development of this wide-spread and important industry.
Transportation
As was the case
later in America, canals became a principle means of transportation for the
iron and coal prior to the development of the railroads. The Glamorganshire
Canal was a major artery constructed in the period from 1790 – 1794. It
remained in operation throughout most of the 19th century, although
it declined in importance in the second half of that period. Shortly after the
completion of the canal, in 1799,
efforts were begun to connect neighboring areas to the canal by tram
way. Eventually, these roads were
connected together in what became known as the Merthyr
Tramroad. It was a railway on which horse-drawn wagons, with wheels riding
on either rails or plates, tied together by stone sleepers, operated. It was on
a portion of this tramroad that Richard
Trevithick demonstrated the capability of steam locomotion in 1804. Steam
power did not come into general use, however, until the 1830s.
.
The Neath Canal, once a
major artery for the transport of coal, passes the ruins of the Neath Abbey.
Return to the Table
of Contents
About the Hopkin Thomas Project
Rev.
November 2014