The Glamorganshire Canal in South Wales, UK, was begun in 1790. It ran along the valley of the River Taff from Merthyr Tydfil to the sea at Cardiff. The final section of canal was closed in 1951.
Construction started in 1790; being watched over by the wealthy ironmasters of Merthyr Tydfil, including Richard Crawshay of the Cyfarthfa Ironworks, the canal was thought up as a solution to the issue of transporting the goods (iron ore, coal and limestone) from the valleys to Cardiff, where they would be shipped around the world. Thomas Dadford was hired to inspect and plan a route for the canal and, with support from Lord Cardiff, the canal was authorised by Parliament on 9 June 1790.
Almost £90,000 was raised in preparation of constructing the canal and would be linked to any works within four miles of the canal, through branch canals and linking railways.[1] However, during the few miles approaching Cardiff, the canal suffered from severe water shortages, resulting in goods not arriving in Cardiff on time. To solve this problem, the Melingriffith Water Pump was installed, with the main purpose being to provide water to the canal from the River Taff. Located not far from the Melingriffith Tinplate works located directly between the River Taff and the Glamorganshire Canal, it was built in 1807, but the origins of the water pump are disputed; historians believe it was designed by either Watkin George of Cyfarthfa Ironworks (1793), or John Rennie (1795).
Construction
The Company of Proprietors of the Glamorganshire Canal Navigation was authorised to raise £60,000 in capital to build the main canal, with a further £30,000 if necessary,[1] together with branch canals as required, and feeder railways linking the canal to any works within 4 miles (6km) of its course. These railways were deemed to be part of the canal itself, and so land for their routes could be obtained by compulsory purchase if required. Construction began in August 1790, when Thomas Dadford, a pupil of the canal engineer James Brindley, arrived on site, with Thomas Sheasby, his son Thomas Dadford, Jr., and a team of workmen. Construction started from the Merthyr Tydfil end. An extension from Merthyr to Crawshay's Cyfarthfa Ironworks was also built, although payment for it resulted in a dispute which was eventually resolved by arbitration. A plan to build a branch to the Dowlais and Penydarren Ironworks, which would have risen 411 feet (125m) in only 1.75 miles (2.82km) was dropped, and was replaced by two tramroads, one from each works.[2]
The Merthyr to Newbridge (later renamed Pontypridd) section was completed by June 1792, and the rest of the canal was progressively opened to Pwllywhyad (Treforest) in January 1793 and Taffs Well by June 1793. By this time the project was well over budget, and although the final section to Cardiff was opened on 10 February 1794, it was not well constructed, and there were several stoppages for repairs during 1794. The canal breached in December, but Dadford refused to start repairs without payment, despite the terms of his contract, and promptly dismissed his workforce and walked away from the job. The canal company attempted to recover £17,000 from the Dadfords, and had them arrested, but two independent surveyors employed by the engineer Robert Whitworth judged largely in the Dadfords' favour, and only £1,512 was refunded.[2]
The canal followed the Queen Street Tunnel in central Cardiff, which crossed Queen Street opposite The Friary, and under what is now the St David's shopping centre. The tunnel was 105 metres (115yd) long and 3.89 metres (12ft 9in) wide. It had a towpath for 21 metres (69ft) long and had chains for the boatmen to pull by hand for the remainder of the tunnel.[3]
The canal was around 25 miles (40km) long with a drop of around 542 feet (165m), requiring 50 locks. It clung to the western side of the valley down to Navigation (now called Abercynon) where it crossed the River Taff on an aqueduct, to cling to the eastern side for most of its route to Cardiff. A second act of Parliament was obtained on 26 April 1796,[1] which enabled the canal to be extended by half a mile (0.8km), ending in a sea lock in Cardiff docks. This was opened in June 1798[2] when the event was celebrated by a naval procession and the firing of ships' guns [4] The total cost of the canal was £103,600, which included the costs of buying the land, as well as the contract with the Dadfords.[2]
Although the Dadfords left the canal under a shadow, their work was vindicated by Whitworth, and they went on to build other canals in neighbouring valleys,[2] while their achievement was summed up by John Bird in 1796: "The canal is brought through mountainous scenery with wonderful ingenuity"[5]
Operation
Navigation House at Abercynon was built in 1792 and was the headquarters of the Canal Company. It is now a pub.
Richard Crawshay was the principal shareholder in the canal company, and seems to have used his influence to his own advantage, treating the canal as his own. His attempts to squeeze the profits of the other ironmasters led to them proposing a Tramroad from Merthyr to Cardiff, to compete with the canal. Crawshay resisted this, and the canal tolls were reduced somewhat, but the ironmasters on the east side of the Taff Valley soon built the Merthyr Tramroad, which opened in 1802 and linked their iron works to the canal at Abercynon, near the River Taff aqueduct.[6]
Water for the top of the canal was obtained from the tail races from Cyfarthfa ironworks, which had previously been fed back into the River Taff, so that it could be reused by the Plymouth ironworks. In order to safeguard this supply, all water discharged from the third lock was supposed to be fed into the Plymouth feeder, rather than the canal below it. This was a source of dispute for some years, with legal action instituted by both sides and the occasional bout of vandalism to ensure water actually flowed to the Plymouth works. The situation was eased with the opening of the Merthyr Tramroad, as there was less traffic on the upper section, and therefore less water used by the locks.[7]
The canal was profitable for many years. Dividends were limited to eight per cent by the authorising act of Parliament, and so between 1804 and 1828 the profits were used to give refunds to the traders, periods when no tolls were charged, and others when they were reduced to one quarter of the rate fixed by the act. From 1841 railways began to encroach onto the canal's territory, when the Taff Vale Railway opened to Merthyr. The canal held its own for another twenty years, but in the 1870s the ironworks started to close, while some moved to the manufacture of steel.
The canal passed over the Bute Docks Feeder with a small aqueduct built in the late 1830s, at the north-east corner of Cardiff Castle. The feeder fed the Bute Docks, having extracted water from Blackweir on the River Taff. There was an overflow from the canal into the feeder.[8]
1876 was the first year when the canal company was unable to pay the full eight per cent dividend, and profits fell rapidly after that. The canal was sold to the Marquess of Bute in 1885, who made some improvements at the Cardiff end, but six railway companies were serving Merthyr by 1886, all competing for traffic. The upper sections, particularly the 4-mile (6km) pound at Aberfan, was suffering from severe subsidence as a result of the coal mining. An inspection was carried out, and the canal was closed from Merthyr to Abercynon on 6 December 1898, to safeguard the village of Aberfan.[6]
Decline and closure
North Road Lock in Cardiff (c.1905)
The takeover of the canal by the Marquess of Bute was a little too late to have any great effect. Improvements at Cardiff involved the construction of a new lock, Number 51, which raised the water level between there and Crockherbtown lock, so that the junction canal and the East and West Bute docks were all on the same level. The new lock was not included in the 1888 returns to the Board of Trade, and so must have been built after that date.[9] Traffic on the rest of the canal continued to decline, and when a breach occurred at Cilfynydd in 1915, the company decided not to invest in its repair, but instead built a wooden flume around the breach, so that water from the Elen Deg feeder could still reach the rest of the canal.[10] A further breach occurred on 25 May 1942, near Nantgarw and, although engineers examined the problem, no work was carried out.[11]
Cardiff Corporation moved quickly, and agreed to buy the canal for £44,000. This proposal was enshrined in the Cardiff Corporation Act of August 1943, allowing them to take control of the canal on 1 January 1944, and immediately declare it closed, most business having effectively ceased in 1942. However, Section 27 of that act prevented them from closing the final mile above the sea lock, while it was used by sand traders. An attempt to evict the sand traders failed when the Ministry of War Transport invoked section 27 and ruled that the sea lock pound must be kept navigable until 6 months after the present emergency ended. The war emergency was not declared to have ended until 8 October 1950.[11]
Meanwhile, the two sand and gravel firms continued to use the sea lock and the pound to carry on their business. However, the end came on the night of 5 December 1951, when a steam suction dredger, called Catherine Ethel and weighing 154 tons, crashed into the inner lock gates. The gates collapsed, and all of the water in the mile-long section (1.6km) emptied into the estuary. The gates were never repaired and the difficult job of closing the canal was solved overnight for the Cardiff Corporation.[11]
Today
This section of disused canal near Forest Farm is now a nature reserve. It is in close proximity to the M4 motorway.
Today, limited traces of the canal remain, about one half being covered by the A470 Cardiff to Merthyr Tydfil trunk road, which was constructed in the 1970s.[12] Much of the Taff Trail between Abercynon and Merthyr Tydfil follows the line of the canal.[13] The section from Tongwynlais to the Melingriffith Tin Plate Works at Whitchurch has been retained in water and was used for fishing,[14] but is now the Glamorganshire Canal local nature reserve. In addition, there are a few bridges and locks which have not been destroyed.[15] There are also short stretches in water at Nightingales Bush and at Locks 31 and 32 in Pontypridd and there are plans for restoration here.[16]
The Taff Vale Railway (TVR) was a standard gauge railway in South Wales, built by the Taff Vale Railway Company to serve the iron and coal industries around Merthyr Tydfil and to connect them with docks in Cardiff. It was opened in stages in 1840 and 1841.
Merthyr Tydfil is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about 23 miles (37 km) north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydfil, daughter of King Brychan of Brycheiniog, who according to legend was slain at Merthyr by pagans about 480 CE. Merthyr generally means "martyr" in modern Welsh, but here closer to the Latin martyrium: a place of worship built over a martyr's relics. Similar place names in south Wales are Merthyr Cynog, Merthyr Dyfan and Merthyr Mawr.
The Taff Trail is a walking and cycle path that runs for 55 miles (89 km) between Cardiff Bay and Brecon in Wales. It is so named because it follows the course of the River Taff. Along much of its length, it follows the National Cycle Network Route 8 that continues to Holyhead, and is substantially off-road.
The River Taff is a river in Wales. It rises as two rivers in the Brecon Beacons; the Taf Fechan and the Taf Fawr before becoming one just north of Merthyr Tydfil. Its confluence with the River Severn estuary is in Cardiff.
The Rhymney Railway (RR) was a railway company in South Wales, founded to transport minerals and materials to and from collieries and ironworks in the Rhymney Valley of South Wales, and to docks in Cardiff. It opened a main line in 1858, and a limited passenger service was operated in addition.
Abercynon, is both a village and a community in the Cynon Valley within the unitary authority of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. The community comprises the village and the districts of Carnetown and Grovers Field to the south, Navigation Park to the east, and Glancynon to the north.
Whitchurch is a suburb and community in the north of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It is approximately 3 miles north of the centre of the city on the A470 road and A4054 road. It falls within the Whitchurch & Tongwynlais ward. The population of the community in 2011 was 14,267.
The Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal is a small network of canals in South Wales. For most of its currently (2018) navigable 35-mile (56 km) length it runs through the Brecon Beacons National Park, and its present rural character and tranquillity belies its original purpose as an industrial corridor for coal and iron, which were brought to the canal by a network of tramways and/or railroads, many of which were built and owned by the canal company.
Hirwaun is a village and community at the north end of the Cynon Valley in the County Borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, South Wales. It is 4 miles (6 km) NW of the town of Aberdare, and comes under the Aberdare post town. At the 2001 census, Hirwaun had a population of 4,851. increasing at the 2011 census to 4,990. The village is on the Heads of the Valleys Road and at the southern edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park.
Abercanaid is a small village in the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan, Wales, United Kingdom with a population of about 5,060. It is situated 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south of Merthyr town centre and is west of Pentrebach, across the River Taff and north of Troedyrhiw. The Taff Trail runs through the village, adjacent to the path of the disused Glamorganshire Canal, which was an important in transporting iron and coal during the industrial boom in which the South Wales Valleys prospered.
The Cyfarthfa Ironworks were major 18th- and 19th-century ironworks in Cyfarthfa, on the north-western edge of Merthyr Tydfil, in South West Wales.
Penydarren Ironworks was the fourth of the great ironworks established at Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales.
The Aberdare Canal was a canal in Glamorgan, Wales which ran from Aberdare to a junction with the Glamorganshire Canal at Abercynon. It opened in 1812 and served the iron and coal industries for almost 65 years. The arrival of railways in the area did not immediately affect its traffic, but the failure of the iron industry in 1875 and increasing subsidence due to coal mining led to it becoming uneconomic. The Marquess of Bute failed to halt its decline when he took it over in 1885, and in 1900 it was closed on safety grounds. The company continued to operate a tramway until 1944. Most of the route was buried by the construction of the A4059 road in 1923, although a short section at the head of the canal remains in water and is now a nature reserve. The company was wound up in 1955.
Richard Crawshay was a London iron merchant and then South Wales ironmaster; he was one of ten known British millionaires in 1799.
The Llancaiach Branch railway line was a mineral branch line in Glamorganshire, South Wales. It was authorised in 1836 as part of the Taff Vale Railway, and its purpose was to connect collieries at Llancaiach and bring their output to Cardiff for onward shipment. It was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and built on the standard gauge. It opened in 1841 from a junction with the Merthyr line immediately south of Abercynon. It was intended to be horse worked, and included a self-acting rope-worked inclined plane near the junction. The collieries were slow to use the line, preferring their customary use of a tramroad and the Glamorganshire Canal, and the value of the line was diminished when the Taff Vale Extension line, an east-west connecting line belonging to the Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway, intersected it and cut off the colliery connections, and the line became dormant.
The Pont-y-Cafnau, is a 14.2-metre (47 ft) long iron truss bridge over the River Taff in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. The bridge was designed by Watkin George and built in 1793 for his employer, the Cyfarthfa Ironworks, to support both a tramway and an aqueduct to carry limestone and water into the works. A Grade II* listed building and Scheduled Ancient Monument, the Pont-y-Cafnau is the world's earliest surviving iron railway bridge.
The Merthyr Tramroad was a 9.75-mile-long (15.69 km) line that opened in 1802, connecting the private lines belonging to the Dowlais and Penydarren Ironworks with the Glamorganshire Canal at Abercynon, also serving the Plymouth Ironworks along the way. Famous as the line on which Richard Trevithick's experimental locomotive hauled the first train to carry a load. It was largely superseded when the Taff Vale Railway opened in 1841 and sections gradually went out of use over the two decades from about 1851.
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough is located in the historic county of Glamorgan in Wales and takes its name from its largest town. The county borough covers an area of 111 km2 (43 sq mi) and had a population of approximately 58,900 in 2021. There are ten structures on the list of twelve Grade II* listed buildings in Merthyr Tydfil. Two viaducts constructed as part of the Brecon and Merthyr Railway both straddle the borders of neighbouring communities so have separate designations for each of these locations.
The Old Iron Bridge of 1800, originally known simply as Merthyr Bridge before 1809, in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, was a cast-iron bridge across the River Taff.
The Treforest tinplate works in Treforest, Wales, operated between the late 18th century and 1939. The six remaining buildings on the site were constructed in the mid 19th century during which time the iron and tinplate industries were dominated by South Wales. These buildings form the best surviving group of tinplate manufacturing buildings in the region and are Grade II* listed.
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