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Dowlais
Dowlais () is a village and community of the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil, in Wales. At the 2011 census the electoral ward had a population of 6,926, The population of the Community being 4,270 at the 2011 census having excluded Pant. Dowlais is notable within Wales and Britain for its historic association with ironworking; once employing, through the Dowlais Iron Company, roughly 5,000 people, the works being the largest in the world at one stage. Name The name is derived from the Welsh ''du'' meaning 'black' and ''glais'' meaning 'stream'. History Dowlais came to prominence in the 18th and 19th centuries because of its iron and steelworks. By the mid-1840s there were between 5000 and 7000 men, women and children employed in the Dowlais works. During the early to mid 1800s the ironworks were operated by Sir John Josiah Guest and (from 1833) his wife Lady Charlotte Guest. Charlotte Guest introduced welfare schemes for the ironworkers. She provided for a church and a libra ...
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Dowlais Ironworks
The Dowlais Ironworks was a major ironworks and steelworks located at Dowlais near Merthyr Tydfil, in Wales. Founded in the 18th century, it operated until the end of the 20th, at one time in the 19th century being the largest steel producer in the UK. Dowlais Ironworks were the first business to license the Bessemer process, using it to produce steel in 1865. Dowlais Ironworks was one of the four principal ironworks in Merthyr. The other three were Cyfarthfa, Plymouth, and Penydarren Ironworks. In 1936 Dowlais played a part in the events leading to the abdication crisis of Edward VIII, when the King visited the steelworks and was reported as saying that "these works brought these men here. Something must be done to get them back to work", a statement which was seen as political interference. The steelworks finally closed in 1987. Beginnings (1759–1807) The works was founded as a partnership on 19 September 1759. There were nine original partners including Thomas Lewis and ...
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Merthyr Tydfil County Borough
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough ( cy, Bwrdeistref Sirol Merthyr Tudful) is a county borough (since 1908) in the south-east of Wales. In mid 2018, it had an estimated population of 60,183. It is located in the historic county of Glamorgan and takes its name from the town with the same name. The county borough consists of the northern part of the Taff Valley and the smaller neighbouring Taff Bargoed Valley. It borders the counties of Rhondda Cynon Taf to the west, Caerphilly County Borough to the east, and Powys to the north. History Pre-industrial Merthyr What is now Merthyr Tydfil town centre was originally little more than a village. An ironworks existed in the parish in the Elizabethan period, but it did not survive beyond the early 1640s at the latest. In 1754, it was recorded that the valley was almost entirely populated by shepherds. Farm produce was traded at a number of markets and fairs, notably the Waun Fair above Dowlais.The Welsh Academy Encyclopedia of Wales. ...
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John Josiah Guest
Sir Josiah John Guest, 1st Baronet (2 February 1785 – 26 November 1852), known as John Josiah Guest, was a Welsh engineer, entrepreneur and politician. Early life Guest was born on 2 February 1785 in Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. He was the son of Thomas Guest (d. 1807), a partner in the Dowlais Iron Company, and Jemima Revel Phillips. Guest was educated at Bridgnorth Grammar School and Monmouth School. Career After attending school, he learned the trade of ironmaking in his father's foundry at the hands of the works manager, John Evans. Guest was renowned for his ability to roll a bar of steel or cut a tram of coal as well as any of his father's workmen.Vaughan (1975) ''p.''13 Upon his father's death in 1807, Guest inherited his father's share of the company and developed the business, becoming sole owner of the works in 1815. By the time of his death in 1852, the Dowlais Iron Company had become the largest producer of iron in the world. Guest was elected in 1825 as ...
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Bethania, Dowlais
Bethania, Dowlais was a Welsh Independent, or Congregationalist, chapel in South Street, Dowlais, near Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales. The cause was established in 1824 and the chapel rebuilt on several occasions in the nineteenth century. The present chapel dates from 1895 but was vastly enlarged and re-modelled in 1910. The building is Grade II listed. Bethania's origins were as an offshoot of the original Congregationalist chapel at Merthyr, Ynysgau. There was a Congrgationalist tradition at Dowlais before the growth of an industrial community there and the family of Gwernllwynisaf (one of the farms) were prominent in the cause at Ynysgau. One of the early leaders was Methusalem Jones (1769–1839), but following disagreements he withdrew and concentrated on leading the cause at Bethesda, which together with Ynysgau had been instrumental in establishing Bethania. A revival took place in South Wales in 1829. At the time, Bethania shared its minister with Zoar, Merthyr Tydfil. Sa ...
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Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydfil, daughter of Brychan Brycheiniog, King Brychan of Brycheiniog, who according to legend was slain at Merthyr by pagans about 480 CE. generally means "Martyr of the Faith, martyr" in modern Welsh, but here closer to the Latin : a place of worship built over a martyr's relics. Similar place names in south Wales are Merthyr Cynog, Merthyr Dyfan and Merthyr Mawr. History Pre-history Peoples migrating north from Europe had lived in the area for many thousands of years. The archaeological record starts from about 1000 BC with the Celts. From their language, the Welsh language developed. Hillforts were built during the British Iron Age, Iron Age and the tribe that inhabited them in the south of Wales was called the Silures, according to Tacitu ...
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Lady Charlotte Guest
Lady Charlotte Elizabeth Guest (née Bertie; 19 May 1812 – 15 January 1895), later Lady Charlotte Schreiber, was an English aristocrat who is best known as the first publisher in modern print format of the '' Mabinogion'', the earliest prose literature of Britain. Guest established the ''Mabinogion'' as a source literary text of Europe, claiming this recognition among literati in the context of contemporary passions for the chivalric romance of King Arthur and the Gothic movement. The name Guest used for the book was derived from a mediaeval copyist's error, already established in the 18th century by William Owen Pughe and the London Welsh societies. As an accomplished linguist, and the wife of a foremost Welsh ironmaster John Josiah Guest, she became a leading figure in the study of literature and the wider Welsh Renaissance of the 19th century. With her second husband, Charles Schreiber, she became a well known Victorian collector of porcelain; their collection is held in th ...
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St John's Church, Dowlais
St John's Church is a defunct Grade II Listed building, listed church in the village of Dowlais, near Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. The church was built in 1827 for local Dowlais Ironworks, ironworks manager Sir John Josiah Guest, at a cost of £3000. It was gradually completely rebuilt later in the century, in a Gothic revival architecture, Gothic style, finishing with the main nave and aisle in 1893/4. Sir John (d. 1852) was buried in an iron coffin in the chancel under a red granite slab. The church finally closed in 1997 and, in early 2015, was put up for sale with an asking price of £50,000. It was subsequently earmarked for £400,000 of Welsh Government grants to support its repair and redevelopment. References

Churches completed in 1894 Grade II listed churches in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Dowlais Rebuilt church buildings in Wales, Dowlais, St John Former churches in Wales, Dowlais, St John Religious organizations established in 1827 Religious organizations disest ...
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Dowlais RFC
Dowlais Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union club based in Dowlais near Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. The club is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union and is a feeder club for the Cardiff Blues. Although a Dowlais rugby club existed in the late 19th century, formed by workers of the local Victorian ironworks, the modern team is not affiliated to this older side. Dowlais RFC was formed in 1975 by Sid Hill, who had also formed youth teams in Cefn Coed and Merthyr. The team originally joined the Rhondda & East Glamorgan District Union, but in 2001 became members of the Welsh Rugby Union and were placed in Division Seven Central. The club currently fields a First XV, Second XV Youth XV and has a Mini & Junior Rugby Section. Club honours * WRU Division Four South East 2009/10 - Champions Captain Steven George * WRU Division Three South East 2012/13 - Champions * WRU Division Two East Central WRU may refer to: * Welsh Rugby Union, sports association in Wales * Waikato Rugby Union, sports a ...
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Laura Ashley
Laura Ashley (née Mountney; 7 September 1925 – 17 September 1985) was a Welsh fashion designer and businesswoman. She originally made furnishing materials in the 1950s, expanding the business into clothing design and manufacture in the 1960s. The Laura Ashley style is characterised by Romantic designs – often with a 19th-century rural feel – and the use of natural fabrics. Early life Ashley was born at her grandmother's home, 31 Station Terrace, Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. She was raised in a civil service family as a Strict Baptist. The chapel she attended in Dowlais (Hebron) was Welsh language and although she could not understand it, she loved it, especially the singing. Educated at Marshall's School in Merthyr Tydfil until 1932, she was then sent to the Elmwood School, Croydon. She was evacuated back to Wales aged 13, but with so many World War II evacuees there were no school places left and she attended Aberdare Secretarial School. In 1942, at age 16, she left ...
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Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, 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 2021 of 3,107,500 and has a total area of . Wales has over of coastline and is largely mountainous with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon (), its highest summit. The country lies within the Temperateness, north temperate zone and has a changeable, maritime climate. The capital and largest city is Cardiff. Welsh national identity emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, and Wales was formed as a Kingdom of Wales, kingdom under Gruffydd ap Llywelyn in 1055. Wales is regarded as one of the Celtic nations. The Conquest of Wales by Edward I, conquest of Wales by Edward I of England was completed by 1283, th ...
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Dai Astley
David John Astley (11 October 1909 – 7 November 1989) was a Welsh international footballer who played as an inside forward in The Football League in the 1920s and 1930s. Club career Dowlais-born Astley played for Merthyr Town, Charlton, Aston Villa, Derby County, Blackpool and Metz. He scored 92 goals for Aston Villa in 165 matches. Astley made his league debut on 19 November 1927 against Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic. When Albert Lindon was appointed player-manager at Charlton Athletic in January 1928, he signed Astley for £100. Astley made his debut for Blackpool, then under the managership of Joe Smith, two-thirds of the way through the 1938–39 campaign, in a 1–1 draw with Sunderland at Bloomfield Road on 25 January 1939. He went on to make a further sixteen League appearances before the season's end, scoring six goals. In 1939–40, he appeared in the three League games that occurred prior to the competition being abandoned as a result of the outbreak of World ...
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Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council ( cy, Cyngor bwrdeistref Sirol Merthyr Tudful) is the governing body for Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, one of the Principal Areas of Wales. History The parish of Merthyr Tydfil was governed by a local board from 1850 until 1894, when it was replaced by an urban district council. The urban district was incorporated as a borough in 1905, creating the first Merthyr Tydfil Borough Council. In 1908 it became a county borough, making it independent from Glamorgan County Council. It retained county borough status until 1974, when there were significant changes to local government under the Local Government Act 1972. From 1974 until 1996, Merthyr Tydfil Borough Council was a lower-tier district council, with Mid Glamorgan County Council providing county-level services in the area. Since the abolition of Mid Glamorgan County Council in 1996, Merthyr Tydfil has again been a county borough. Political control The first election to the council following ...
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