Merthyr-Tydvil (Merthyr-Tudfyl) - From 'A Topographical Dictionary of Wales' (1849)
MERTHYR-TYDVIL (MERTHYR-TUDFYL), a market-town, a parish, a newly-created borough, and the head of a union, in the Upper division of the hundred of Caerphilly, county of Glamorgan, South Wales, 24 miles (N. N. W.) from Cardiff, and 175 (W. by N.) from London; the parish containing 34,977 inhabitants. It derives its name from Tydvil, or Tudvyl, daughter of Brychan, Prince of Brycheiniog in the fifth century. The latter, having towards the close of his life retired with part of his family into this neighbourhood, was attacked by a party of Saxons and Irish Picts, who put him to death, together with his son Rhûn Dremrudd, and his daughter Tydvil; a church was soon afterwards erected near the scene of slaughter, in honour of the murdered Tydvil, and the rude building received the appellation of Merthyr Tydvil, or "Tydvil the martyr." Concerning the early history of this place, now so important for the richness of its mineral produce and the vast extent of its manufactures, very few events of general interest are recorded. It continued till the middle of the last century an obscure village, noticed only in the Welsh annals as containing within its limits a border fortress called Morlais Castle, erected by Gilbert, lord of Glamorgan, for the protection of his estates in this part, against the attacks of the tenantry in the adjacent territories of the lord of Brecknock, by whom they were frequently invaded. The uncertain and ill-defined limits of these contiguous lordships generated perpetual feuds between their respective owners; and the erection of the castle added materially to the acrimony with which the hostilities were conducted.
In the reign of Henry I., the fortress is said to have been occupied by Ivor Bâch, a native lord of Upper Senghenydd, who from this place is supposed to have made a descent upon Cardiff Castle, and to have taken Robert, Earl of Gloucester, and his lady, prisoners, and detained them in confinement till they consented to observe the ancient customs of the country, and restore the laws of Hywel Dda. In the time of Leland the place does not appear to have been regarded as possessing any importance: that writer, having noticed Morlais Castle, makes no further mention of Merthyr, than as the parish through which "Morlais riveret goith to the ripe of Tave." The fortress was demolished by the parliamentary forces in the middle of the seventeenth century. The first congregation of dissenters known to have assembled in Wales, was formed here, about the year 1620, when Vavasour Powel, celebrated in the annals of nonconformity, was apprehended while preaching to this congregation, and committed to Cardiff gaol. According to a curious journal kept by the incumbent of the parish at that time, the dissenters were not contented with the liberty of paying only what they pleased for tithes, but were in the habit of entering the church in a body, during the performance of divine service, and forcibly wresting the Book of Common Prayer from the hands of the officiating minister; and when he ascended the pulpit to preach, a teacher of their own would climb up into one of the yew-trees in the churchyard, and commence an address to his followers.
In June 1831, serious dissensions arose between the workmen and the proprietors of the iron-works in the parish, which were attended with consequences much to be regretted. The workmen having assembled in a tumultuous manner, the riot act was read by the police magistrate of the district, and the yeomanry and military, together with a company of the militia, which was then at Cardiff, advanced to the spot, and at length succeeded in restoring order, though unhappily not without the loss of several lives on the side of the workmen, and some of the military being wounded. Major Falls, who commanded the regular forces, was severely wounded at the beginning of the conflict, and the command of the military devolved upon Lieutenant-Colonel Morgan, of the Glamorganshire militia, whose coolness, intrepidity, and judgment were subsequently eulogised by the lord-lieutenant of the county, in his reply to an address of the gentry of Glamorganshire on the occasion.
The Town is situated in a mountainous district, near the extremity of the Vale of Tâf, and chiefly on the eastern side of the river of that name, by which it is partly separated from the county of Brecknock. It was formerly very irregularly built, merely consisting of assemblages of huts, cottages, and houses, confusedly mixed together, without any regard to uniformity of style or arrangement, and occupying both banks of the river, which is crossed by two bridges. Great improvements, however, have been made of late years, by the construction of a street forming the principal thoroughfare, in which are some shops and houses of a better character; and near the centre of this street is one of the largest and most commodious market-places in Wales, built some years since by William Meyrick, Esq., of Gwaelody-Garth, and William Thomas, Esq., of Court House. It was erected in a field which was the property of the latter gentleman, and the remainder of which was leased out for building, and now contains several lines of well-arranged and uniform houses. A large market-place has also been erected at Dowlais, by the Dowlais Iron Company, who employ from 5000 to 6000 men. A mechanics' institute was established at Dowlais in 1829, in which, since the philosophical society at Coedycummer has been discontinued, weekly lectures are delivered on various subjects, but chiefly on mineralogy and metallurgy: there is also a tradesmen's and workmen's library in the same part of the town, commenced in 1845.
Cyvarthva Castle and Park form a fine object above the town; and Pen-y-Darren House, with its gardens, is equally interesting at the other extremity. But the general aspect of the vicinity is unprepossessing, the face of nature being disfigured by towering heaps of scoria from the furnaces, which are undergoing continued increase, thus precluding the growth of vegetation upon them, and exhibiting from their nakedness, in combination with the columns of smoke emitted from the works, a repulsive appearance of rudeness and gloomy sterility. In the lower part of the parish, however, and in other detached portions, are several well-wooded tracts and extensive plantations. The Vale of Tâf, at the distance of some miles below the town, is narrow, and bounded by steep hills, but expands gradually towards the part on which the town is principally built. The parish extends about ten miles from north to south; at the northern extremity its breadth is about five miles, but towards the south it contracts to a breadth of less than one mile.
The mineral treasures of this district, though they were not fully explored, or rendered so extensively available as they have been since the middle of the last century, were not altogether unappreciated or neglected previously to that period, as is evident from the great heaps of scoria, and other remains which are frequently turned up by the plough in the adjacent lands. From the simple apparatus employed in the mining operations prior to that time, it is clear that the process must have been tedious, and the produce inconsiderable; and it appears from tradition, that the ore was smelted in small blomeries blown by bellows similar to those used in the common forges of smiths. About 180 years since, some small improvements were introduced into the operations; and works upon a more enlarged scale were constructed on the site upon which the Pen-y-Darren works have been subsequently established, wherein the bellows were worked by a water-wheel, said to have been one of the earliest instances of the application of water to this purpose known in the island. Charcoal was used in calcining the ore, instead of coke, the method of preparing the latter from mineral coal being at that time unknown; and the wood for the supply of these works is thought to have been obtained from a common contiguous to the town, called Coedycummer. To the general use of charcoal for this purpose may be attributed the great want of timber on the districts adjoining the town, which are known to have been richly wooded in former times.
The present extent and importance of the iron and coal works, and the consequent enlargement of the town, and amazing increase in the amount of its population, are to be primarily attributed to Mr. Anthony Bacon, subsequently member of parliament for the borough of Aylesbury, who, about the middle of the last century, in conjunction with some other gentlemen, obtained a lease for ninety-nine years, at £200 per annum, of a mineral tract in this district, abounding with coal and iron-ore, and extending about eight miles in length and four in width. Mr. Bacon shortly afterwards erected a furnace and works at Cyvarthva, for smelting the ore, and subsequently a forge for the manufacture of bar-iron. The Dowlais and the Plymouth works were successively established by different companies; but they were not carried on to any great extent, or with any considerable benefit to the proprietors. Soon after the commencement of the American war, Mr. Bacon entered into a contract with government for supplying the different arsenals with cannon, and built at Cyvarthva a foundry, and works for the boring of cannon, which in 1782 he let on lease to Mr. S. Homfray, who contracted with him for all the iron produced at Cyvarthva, at £4. 10. per ton, long weight, and for as much coal as he should require, at the rate of four shillings per ton. Mr. Homfray, having entered into this contract for a term of fifty years, completed his establishment, and introduced a number of the best workmen from England; he made great improvements in the machinery for boring cannon, and also erected some forges for manufacturing bar-iron. In consequence, however, of some misunderstanding with Mr. Bacon, he in a very short time disposed of his portion of the Cyvarthva works to Mr. Tanner, of Monmouth, who subsequently sold it to Mr. Richard Crawshay, an iron-master from London. Upon his retirement from the works of Cyvarthva, Mr. Homfray, in company with some other gentlemen, in 1784 established the Pen-y-Darren iron-works, which he conducted with very great success; and in 1793 he discovered a method of producing what is here called Finer's metal, a discovery of the highest value and importance in the manufacture of iron, as this valuable ingredient not only increases the quantity, but also improves the quality, of the iron. After superintending the Pen-y-Darren works for some time, Mr. Homfray projected the construction of a canal from the Cyvarthva works at MerthyrTydvil to Cardiff, over a tract of country peculiarly difficult, from the hilly nature of the ground; but from some disagreement that arose between the managers and the proprietors, he finally withdrew from the concern, the control of which devolved upon Mr. Richard Crawshay, and which has proved of incalculable benefit to the district intersected by the navigation.
On the death of Mr. Anthony Bacon, his various works were let on lease to different gentlemen: those at Cyvarthva were taken by Mr. Richard Crawshay, who had previously held the portion of them originally leased to Mr. Homfray; the works at Hîrwaun, by Mr. Glover, and the Plymouth works, by Mr. Hill. The Cyvarthva works, under the superintendence of Mr. Crawshay, who had a large amount of capital at his command, rapidly increased in extent and improvement; and in the year 1800, that gentleman constructed an overshot water-wheel of cast-iron, fifty feet in diameter, at an expense of £4000, by the power of which the operations were much accelerated. This wheel was set in motion by a stream of water brought from a considerable distance by an aqueduct eighty feet above the bed of the river; but, after being used for some time with great effect, it was at length superseded by steam-engines.
The principal establishments in the iron trade are, the Dowlais works, belonging to Sir Josiah John Guest, Bart., and Co.; the Cyvarthva works, belonging to Messrs. Crawshay and Sons; the Plymouth works, to Messrs. Hill; and the Pen-y-Darren, to Messrs. Thompson and Co. In the year 1830, the two first had each nine furnaces in blast, besides others out of work or under repair; the third had five furnaces in operation, and the fourth had four, making a total of twenty-seven furnaces in blast. In the same year the quantity of iron manufactured at the works collectively was 66,500 tons, in the making of which were consumed 500,000 tons of coal, 280,000 of ironstone, and more than 100,000 of limestone. The number of men employed, including those in the mines and quarries connected with the works, was, at Dowlais, 3500; at Cyvarthva, 3000; at the Plymouth works, 1500; and in the Pen-y-Darren works, 1000: making a total of 9000 persons. Since 1830, however, the works have been considerably extended. In the twelve months ending the 31st January, 1840, the following quantities of iron were conveyed down the Glamorganshire canal, from Merthyr, namely, from Dowlais 45,218 tons, Cyvarthva 35,507, Pen-yDarren 16,130, Plymouth 12,922; total, 109,777 tons: and in addition to the iron exported, there could not be less than 10,000 tons consumed at the different works in tram-plates, wheels, castings for machinery, and bar-iron for tools of various descriptions. In the years 1846 and 1847 the town was in a higher state of prosperity than it had ever before been. At the Dowlais works, according to Mr. Cliffe's Book of South Wales, there were nineteen blast furnaces, at Cyvarthva thirteen furnaces, at the Plymouth works eight furnaces, and at Pen-yDarren six furnaces. Messrs. Crawshay, besides the Cyvarthva works, which employ with colliers upwards of 4000 men, possess iron-works at Hîrwaun, in the parish of Penderin, six miles from MerthyrTydvil; and Messrs. Thompson and Co., of Pen-yDarren, have two other large iron-works in addition to their establishment to Merthyr. The town is one of the great seats of the bar-iron trade; and so extensive are the rolling-mills, of late years almost exclusively occupied in the production of railway-bars, that it has been found necessary to import a quantity of pig-iron, chiefly from Scotland, to supply the demand, as well as large quantities of iron-ore of various qualities. The stratum of coal found is excellent for smelting the ore, and is accompanied with parallel veins of argillaceous iron-ore, which penetrate the mountains to a great depth, and yield upon an average about thirty-five parts of metal out of a hundred; the mines are wrought by levels. The limestone is not so strong as that in some parts of England; but it varies in quality and in colour from a deep black to a richly variegated marble of all hues. Stone of a fine kind for millstones also exists in abundance in the mountains in the neighbourhood.
The home trade of the place, consisting chiefly of the importation of shop goods and manufactured articles for the supply of this populous district, is very considerable; these are brought to the town by the canal or the railway from Cardiff, chiefly from Bristol. The canal from Merthyr-Tydvil to Cardiff, known by the name of the Glamorganshire canal, was projected originally by Mr. Homfray, while connected with the Pen-y-Darren iron-works, as related above: the work was commenced under an act of the 30th of George III., and completed under another of the 36th of the same reign, in 1796. It begins at the Cyvarthva works; is carried over the river Tâf by an aqueduct, and along a line of country singularly difficult from the hilly nature of the ground; and terminates at Cardiff, a distance of twenty-five miles, having in its whole course a total fall of 611 feet. About two miles and a half from the town, opposite to Troed-y-Rhiw mill, is a powerful steamengine, constructed by Messrs. Boulton and Watt, for raising water from the Tâf, for the supply of the canal.
The Tâf-Vale railway, for passengers and goods, was begun under an act of parliament passed in 1836, and was completed, and opened to the public, in April 1841. It commences at Merthyr, and proceeding southward, down the valley of the Tâf river, runs through or near Gellygaer, Navigation-House, Llanwonno, Llanvabon, Newbridge, Eglwysilan, Lantwit-Vairdre, Pentyrch, Radyr, Llandaf, and Whitchurch, to its terminus at Cardiff. Most of these are populous districts abounding in mineral produce: about Newbridge, as many as 3000 dwelling-houses are said to be scattered. The traffic on the line is consequently enormous; and it is a remarkable fact that the Glamorganshire Canal Company, also, notwithstanding railway competition, at present carry more goods than they ever conveyed before. The Vale of Neath railway, for which acts were passed in the years 1846 and 1847, will pass from Merthyr, north of Aberdare, by the Hîrwaun works, to Pont-Neath-Vaughan; then, taking the course of the river-valley, will run by Aberpergwm, Lantwit, and Cadoxton, to the port of Neath, where it will join the great South Wales railway. This important line will have several branches, one of them connecting it with the Aberdare branch of the Tâf-Vale railway. The total length, including the branches, will exceed thirty miles.
The value of land has increased in a ratio corresponding to the improvement of the place in commercial and manufacturing importance. One farm in the neighbourhood, which, in the year 1775, the time when the first furnace was erected, was let for £2. 10. per annum, now produces a rental of £50; and another, which at the same period was let for £5, has since been advanced to £100 per annum. The increase in population has been equally progressive: the return, according to the census of 1801, was 7705; in 1811, 11,104; in 1821, 17,404; in 1831, 22,083; and in 1841, 34,977, of whom nearly 10,000 were in the Dowlais district. The market days are Wednesday and Saturday: in 1835 an act was obtained for providing a market-place, and regulating the markets. A fair for cattle is held on May 14th; and at Twyn-y-Waun, on a neighbouring hill within the limits of the parish, are fairs on the first Monday in July, and the first Monday in August, also for cattle. An act for a market-place and market at Dowlais was passed in 1837, the provisions of which, and of the act of 1835, as observed in a former part of the article, have been carried into effect.
Part of the parish of Merthyr-Tydvil, with the parish of Aberdare, and the village of Coedycummer in the adjoining parish of Vainor, county of Brecknock, was constituted a Borough by the act of 1832 for "Amending the Representation," with the privilege of returning a member to parliament. The right of voting is vested in every male person of full age occupying, either as owner, or as tenant under the same landlord, a house or other premises of the annual value of at least £10, provided he be capable of registering as the act demands; and the number of such tenements within the limits of the borough, which are correctly detailed in the Appendix to this work, is 657 in Merthyr-Tydvil, 206 in Aberdare, and 20 in Vainor. The returning officer is annually appointed by the high sheriff for the county. Merthyr is also a polling-place in the election of knights for the shire. The parish, together with those of Aberdare and Gellygaer, is under the superintendence of a stipendiary police magistrate, appointed by act of parliament of the 10th of George IV., with a salary of £600 per annum, one-half of which, under the provisions of that measure, is levied on the several furnaces in the three places, and the other half by a rate on the inhabitants of Merthyr-Tydvil alone. The powers of the county-debt court of Merthyr, established in 1847, extend over the registration-district of Merthyr. The petty-sessions for the Upper division of the hundred of Caerphilly are held in the town.
The living is a rectory, rated in the king's books at £20. 5. 7½.; present net income, £675, with a glebe-house; patrons, the Stuart family, Marquesses of Bute. The church, dedicated to St. Tydvil, and entirely rebuilt of late years, is a spacious structure, in the later style of English architecture, with a high tower; it has received 344 additional sittings, including 282 free, in consideration of which latter the Incorporated Society for the enlargement of churches and chapels granted £150 towards defraying the cost. At Dowlais is a church, erected by the proprietors of the iron-works there, at an expense of £3000; it is a neat and appropriate edifice, containing 450 sittings, one-half free: the living is a rectory not in charge, in the gift of the Stuart family; income, £150. In 1846 a new church, dedicated to St. David, was commenced at Merthyr, towards which the late Marquess of Bute gave a donation of £300, Sir Josiah John Guest, £250, the Hon. Robert H. Clive, £100, and the Bishop of Llandaf, the ironmasters, and land-owners, other sums proportionably large, aided by grants of £1000 from the Church Commissioners, and £500 from the Incorporated Society. The building is in the pointed style, with a bell-turret, and contains 1200 sittings, half free: the site formed part of the rectory glebe, and is a very eligible spot, near the centre of the street. At Cyvarthva is an incumbency formed under the act 6 and 7 Victoria, cap. 37: the patronage is vested in the Crown and the Bishop of Llandaf, alternately. There are places of worship for Baptists, Independents, Wesleyans, Calvinistic Methodists, Primitive Methodists, and Unitarians; also a Roman Catholic chapel, lately erected. John Williams, in the year 1735, bequeathed a rent-charge of £4, one-half of which he appropriated to teaching poor children of dissenters to read Welsh, and the other half to the poor of the Protestant dissenting congregation at Merthyr; and the residue of his interest in a moiety of the lands of Pen-y-Darren farm he devised to support the dissenting minister at Merthyr. Other chapels having subsequently sprung up in the parish, the congregation of the original one was dissolved; but one of the new buildings, erected at Ynysgow, has been considered by the court of chancery a continuation of the former, and its minister now receives the residue of the charity, which amounts to about £54 per annum, chiefly arising from the rents of houses in the town. The rural part of the farm, consisting of about eighty acres, was let in 1784 to a company of iron-masters; several furnaces have been erected on it, and it has become most valuable from the great quantity of co |
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