Cardiff – Coal and Shipping Metropolis of the World 18 April 2007 Cardiff: the pre-industrial port. Two sloops lying in the River Taff, as portrayed by Paul Sandby in 1776. Cardiff: the industrial port. An aerial view showing the completed dock system about 1948. A typical Cardiff tramp steamer - the SS Pontwen, built in 1914. The age of depression. Laid-up ships in Cardiff docks about 1930. Cardiff: the port transformed. Modern retail developments now stand where Cardiff once exported coal to the world. Second Marquess of Bute In 1862, 2 million tonnes of coal were exported from Cardiff Docks ; by 1913, this had risen to nearly 11 million. This was the heyday of the coal industry before the depression of the 1930s. Cardiff was the boom town of late Victorian Britain. For a few years before the First World War, the tonnage of cargo handled at the port outstripped that of either London or Liverpool. Yet in the late 18th century, Cardiff's trade was all transported by two small sloops sailing to Bristol on alternative days. So what had led to this transformation? It was the growth of the iron industry in the South Wales Valleys that caused Cardiff to develop a port. In 1794, the Glamorganshire Canal was completed, linking Cardiff with Merthyr, and in 1798 a basin was built, connecting this canal to the sea. Cardiff's foremost landowner, the 2nd Marquess of Bute, built West Bute Dock in 1839. Two years later, the Taff Vale Railway was opened. Coal overtakes Iron From the 1850s, coal began to replace iron as the industrial foundation of south Wales. South Wales steam coal was what oil is today, with yearly exports reaching 2 million tonnes as early as 1862. A further dock, the East Bute, was opened in 1859, but following the death of the 2nd Marquess in 1848, the Bute Estate trustees were over-cautious and reluctant to invest in new dock facilities. Coal exports reach 9 million tonnes Frustration at the lack of development at Cardiff led to rival docks being opened at Penarth in 1865 and Barry in 1889. These developments eventually spurred Cardiff into action, with the opening of the Roath Dock in 1887, and the Queen Alexandra Dock in 1907. By then, coal exports from Cardiff totalled nearly 9 million tonnes per annum, much of it exported by locally-owned tramp steamers. Tramp steamers and steamships Cardiff's first steamship was the little Llandaff of 1865, and she was the first of a fleet of steamships that grew rapidly in the late 19th century. By 1910, there were some 250 tramp steamers owned at Cardiff. Each day, the owners would meet to arrange cargoes of coal for their ships in the opulent Coal Exchange in Mount Stuart Square. The coal export industry reached its peak in 1913, when 10.7 million tonnes of coal were exported from the port. First World War After the First World War, there was a significant increase in shipping in Cardiff, with 122 shipping companies in business in 1920. The boom proved short-lived, however; oil was growing in importance as a maritime fuel, and the terms of the Treaty of Versailles soon flooded Europe with cheap German coal. By 1932, in the depths of the depression, coal exports had fallen to below 5 million tonnes and dozens of locally owned ships were laid-up. It was an era of depression from which Cardiff never really recovered, and despite intense activity at the port during the Second World War, coal exports continued to decline, finally ceasing altogether in 1964. Modern day Cardiff Today, the port of Cardiff presents a very different picture from that existing a century ago. The waterfront has been totally transformed. Exclusive flats now stand where coal hoists once stood, and the rough and ready sailortown pubs have been replaced by sedate bistros. Only two docks, the Roath and the Queen Alexandra, remain in use, and just two shipping companies remain. There is still some trade in timber, oil, and containers, but the days when the port was packed with tramp steamers, shrouded in coal dust as they loaded the 'black diamonds' of the valleys of south Wales, will never be seen again. Background Reading Cardiff and the Marquesses of Bute, by John Davies. Published by University of Wales Press (1981). Cardiff Shipowners, by J. Geraint Jenkins and David Jenkins. Published by the National Museums & Galleries of Wales (1986). Coal Metropolis: Cardiff, 1970-1914, by Martin Daunton. Published by Leicester University Press (1977).
Welsh slate discovered hundreds of miles from the quarries of North Wales 18 April 2007 The slate pillar fence at Bisham (Windsor and Maidenhead). Approximately 150m (164 yards) of this fence survives, although local residents remember it as once being significantly longer. The pillars of Bisham's fence typically extend about 180cm (5.9 feet) above ground level and must have a further 40cm (1.3 feet) or so below the ground. Each pillar is some 20cm (7.9 inches) in width and 3.5cm (1.4 inches) thick. How did a slate pillar fence come to be built in the Thames Valley, 300km away from the slate quarries of north-west Wales? Slate pillar fences became common in north-west Wales from the middle of the 19th century. In 1861, the Penryhn Quarry at Bethesda, Gwynedd - one of the largest slate quarries in the world at that time - produced around 9,000 individual pillars. These pillars consisted of poor quality blue slate, typically about 150cm (4.9 feet) tall. They were used to mark fields, gardens, railways lines and roads, with their simple construction being particularly well-suited to the harsh weather experienced by upland areas. Despite their use around Wales's slate quarries, slate pillar fences are rarely found further a field. The discovery of a slate pillar fence at Temple House (now demolished) at Bisham, Maidenhead, is therefore extremely unusual. The bluish-purple colouring of the slate makes it certain that it was quarried in north-west Wales, probably at Penrhyn Quarry. This raises the question of how a slate pillar fence came to be built almost 300km (186 miles) away from the source of the stone? Temple House was built around 1790 for Thomas Williams, who owned the nearby Temple Mill copper works. Thomas Williams (1737-1802) was from north Wales originally and became the leading figure of the British copper industry. Williams employed the architect, Samuel Wyatt, to develop the Temple Mill copper works, and it is likely that Samuel also built Temple House. Samuel Wyatt had very close links with the owners of the Penrhyn slate quarry. In 1782 he refurbished a building for Richard Pennant (later Lord Penrhyn), and in 1786 his brother became the general manager of the Penrhyn estate. This relationship ensured Samuel a regular supply of slates for his own business activities. In return, Samuel promoted the use of slate in the London area, using it for shelves, cisterns, lavatory-seats, window-sills and as a wall covering, as well as for roofing. If the Temple House slate pillars had been supplied by Samuel Wyatt, their transport to Bisham could have been relatively simple. Even before the construction of a tramway from Penrhyn Quarry to the coast in 1801, there existed an efficient network of roads linking the quarry to the sea at Port Penrhyn. From Port Penrhyn a fleet of vessels carried slate around the coast of the British Isles. The Wyatt family had an owning interest in many of these vessels. From London the cargo could be navigated up the Thames by barge. There is therefore a great deal of circumstantial evidence linking the Bisham slate pillar fence with Samuel Wyatt and Penrhyn Quarry, and dating its construction to around 1790. But one aspect of the pillars' manufacture raises doubts about this. Some of the larger support pillars were clearly cut with circular saws - a technique which was not certainly used before 1805 and only became common from 1840. One suggestion which unites these two strands of evidence is the possibility that the original fence was erected about 1790, but it had suffered from subsidence in the soft soil around Bisham. The result might have been a second order for Welsh slate around 1840 to rectify the problem. The fence at Temple House may show evidence of the links between two of Wales's great industrialists, the copper magnate Thomas Williams and Richard Pennant of Penrhyn slate quarry, through the architect Samuel Wyatt. Both shared a common heritage, so what would have been more natural than for Thomas Williams and his architect to display the potential of Welsh slate beside his copper works at Temple Mill? Background Reading The Wyatts: an architectural dynasty by John Martin Robinson. Published by Oxford University Press (1979). 'Copper and Slate: Thomas Williams' Slate Pillar Fence at Bisham', by Dafydd Roberts. In The Marlow Historian, vol. 3, p16-21 (2003).
Moving a coalface to the museum 11 April 2007 When a miners' hospital closed in 2001, a working coalface that was used to exercise the patients for work again was dismantled and moved to the collections of Amgueddfa Cymru. Talygarn House Talygarn House: a view along the full-size model coalface Talygarn House, Pontyclun, south Wales, was a large stone mansion that became a hospital in 1880. The interior is decorated with wood panelling and painted ceilings. The house is surrounded by extensive parklands on which were grown, according to legend, specimens of every tree that can be cultivated in Britain. Talygarn as a Convalescent Home In October 1923, Talygarn House was opened as a miners' convalescent home, and in 15 years of its opening it had more than 41,000 patients. In 1943, the Miners' Welfare Commission was asked to organise a rehabilitation service for injured mineworkers. Due to a serious shortage of manpower at that time, it was vitally important for injured colliers to return to work as quickly as possible. For this purpose Talygarn House was purchased as a centre for the coalfields of south Wales. By 1964, 95% of patients treated at Talygarn returned to the mining industry. It continued to serve as a rehabilitation and physiotherapy centre until it was put up for sale in August 2000. Miner rehabilitation and the 'Model Mine' Due to the need to harden the men up to return to the collieries, a carpentry shop was provided where patients cut wood and sawed logs. Miniature stairs and static bicycles were available to exercise unused muscles. Talygarn House was also equipped with a grand 'Model Mine' in which patients could get used to working back in a mining environment. The structure was a long concrete tunnel supported by arch girders. The roadway was equipped with rails and the metal framework known as 'horseheads', which prevented falls of stone on a real coalface. Relocating the mine In 2001, the contents of the 'Model Mine' were donated to Amgueddfa Cymru as a 'permanent reminder to visitors of the work of the Talygarn rehabilitation centre'. The coalfaces were dismantled as if they were the real thing. Despite working in only four feet of height, the thirty-foot-long chain conveyor was successfully disassembled and removed. All the items were safely transported to the Collections Centre at Nantgarw. The Talygarn donation is a unique survival of a complete thirty-foot section of a typical semi-mechanised coalface of the early 1960s.
200 Years of Industrial Innovation at Ebbw Vale 10 April 2007 Abersychan Ironworks, 1866, run by the Ebbw Vale Co., 1852-83 Ebbw Vale blast furnaces, about 1900 Blast furnace Taphole, 1907 Steel works roughing mill, 1907 The Ebbw Vale Steel, Iron & Coal Company In the mid-19th century the Ebbw Vale Steel, Iron & Coal Company was one of the largest iron producers in South Wales and was of international importance, not only in terms of size, but also for technical innovation. 100 years later, the works were the first in Britain to introduce American-style steel and tinplate production techniques and before the closure of the site at the turn of the millennium it was the largest producer of tinplate in Britain. 1790, the first Blast Furnace Industry at Ebbw Vale extends back to 1790 when the first blast furnace was established. From 1796 to 1844 it was owned by the Harford family who built it into a successful concern. It supplied rails for the Stockton & Darlington Railway in 1829. At the same time, the company began experimenting with the use of locomotives, one of the first of the South Wales ironworks to do so. In 1848 the Ebbw Vale Company was formed and the works went from strength to strength, absorbing four other ironworks at Abersychan, Sirhowy and Pontypool. The first steel works in Britain The company experimented in changing over from wrought iron to steel in 1854, installing one of the first steel plants in Britain in 1866. The works declined in the 1870s and 1880s due to poor management, but the rapid expansion of the export coal trade kept the company afloat and saved the works from closure. 20th Century revival The iron and steel works was revived in the early 20th century which, combined with a booming market for Welsh steam coal, helped make the company the largest integrated iron and coal company in Wales. Closure and hardship By the early 1920s it was employing no fewer than 34,000 men. The company was increasing its debts to finance its expansion at a time when the steel and coal industries declined sharply. This ultimately led to the works' closure in 1929 and its collieries being sold off. Revival and expansion with Tinplate The great hardship and unemployment in the town caused the Government to site Britain's first steel stripmill at Ebbw Vale and the works were rebuilt in 1936-38 under the ownership of Richard Thomas & Company, Britain's largest tinplate manufacturer. The new works received a further boost in 1947 when Europe's first electrolytic tinplating line was installed. Largest tinplate producer on Britain Re organization in the steel industry following nationalisation in 1967 led to a run-down of steel making at Ebbw Vale, and the steel plant closed in 1978. Subsequently the works concentrated on tinplating and galvanising, becoming the largest tinplate producer in Britain. These works closed in 2002, ending over 200 years of industrial innovation at Ebbw Vale.
