: ''For the ironworks in the US state of Virginia, see

Tredegar Iron Works The Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, Virginia, was the biggest ironworks in the Confederacy during the American Civil War, and a significant factor in the decision to make Richmond the Confederate capital. Tredegar supplied about half the art ...

.'' Tredegar Iron and Coal Company was an important 19th century

ironworks An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''. Ironworks succeeded bloome ...

Tredegar Tredegar (; ) is a town and community situated on the banks of the Sirhowy River in the county borough of Blaenau Gwent, in the southeast of Wales. Within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire, it became an early centre of the Industrial R ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, which due to its need for coke became a major developer of

coal mine Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

s and particularly the Sirhowy Valley of

South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...

. It is most closely associated with the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

and coal mining in the

South Wales Valleys The South Wales Valleys () are a group of industrialised peri-urban valleys in South Wales. Most of the valleys run northsouth, roughly parallel to each other. Commonly referred to as "The Valleys" (), they stretch from Carmarthenshire in the ...

Background

In 1778 an

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

furnace was built in the upper Sirhowy Valley by Thomas Atkinson and William Barrow, who came to the area from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

."A look at Old Tredegar in photographs" Volume 1 Philip Prosser Old Bakehouse Publications 1990 Fuel was needed for the furnace so men were employed to dig

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

at Bryn Bach and Nantybwch, the first small scale

coal mining Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

operation in the area. The furnace failed in 1794, and hence also the business.

Sirhowy Ironworks

In 1797,

Samuel Homfray Samuel Homfray (1762 – 22 May 1822) was an English industrialist during the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain, associated with the early iron industry in South Wales. Samuel was the son of a successful ironmaster, Francis Homfray, and ...

, with partners Richard Fothergill and the Matthew Monkhouse built a new furnace which they called the Sirhowy Ironworks, leasing the land in Bedwellty, Newport from the

Tredegar Estate Baron Tredegar, of Tredegar House, Tredegar in the Monmouthshire (historic), County of Monmouth, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 16 April 1859 for the Wales, Welsh politician Charles Morgan, 1st Baron Tredegar ...

.B. Gardner's History of Tredegar and other information
In 1800, the company was renamed the Tredegar Iron Company, named in honour of the Tredegar Estate at

Tredegar House Tredegar House (Welsh language, Welsh: ''Tŷ Tredegar'') is a 17th-century Charles II of England, Charles II-era mansion in Coedkernew, on the southwestern edge of Newport, Wales. For over five hundred years it was home to the Morgan family, late ...

and

Tredegar Park Tredegar Park () is a country park situated in the Coedkernew area of Newport, Wales. It lies close to junction 28 of the M4 motorway The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is the third longest motorway in the United Kingd ...

in Newport. The company was taken over by the Harfords of

Ebbw Vale Ebbw Vale (; ) is a town at the head of the valley formed by the Ebbw Fawr tributary of the Ebbw River in Wales. It is the largest town and the administrative centre of Blaenau Gwent county borough. The Ebbw Vale and Brynmawr conurbation has a ...

in 1818. It was expanded in the late 1830s and early 1840s, producing significant volumes of rails, largely for export. The works was purchased by the Tredegar Iron Company Limited in 1873 and nine years later began to produce steel.

Operations

The company ironworks were developed on a single site, which later became known as Whiteheads, after that company took over the southern section of the site in 1907. By 1850, TICC employed between 2,000 and 3,000 people at its nine furnaces, mills shops and ancillary plants. However, all of this production on such a vast scale had a price. When John Gooc
John Gooch
a manager of an iron foundry in Bedlington, Northumberland, took a managerial post in the Tredegar ironworks in 1831: With many people in such a small area, and with poor sanitation provision, there were several

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

epidemics in the town in the 19th century. A dedicated cholera burial ground was later established at Cefn Golau.

1875-1946

In 1875, the company renamed itself the Tredegar Iron and Coal Company, to allow development of additional coal mining capacity. In 1891, the company ceased production of iron, but continued to develop coal mines and produce coal. The former Tredegar Ironworks were effectively abandoned, with Whiteheads taking over the southern section of the site from 1907. In 1931, they also closed down their operations, moving everything to their Newport works. TICC continued to develop coal mines and work pitts, until it was nationalised in 1946, becoming part of the

National Coal Board The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "ve ...

. Its last chairman was

Henry McLaren, 2nd Baron Aberconway Henry Duncan McLaren, 2nd Baron Aberconway, (16 April 1879 – 23 May 1953) was a British politician, horticulturalist and industrialist. He was the son of Charles McLaren, 1st Baron Aberconway and Laura McLaren, Baroness Aberconway, Laura Poch ...

. During the 1910's and 1920's

Aneurin Bevan Aneurin "Nye" Bevan Privy Council (United Kingdom), PC (; 15 November 1897 – 6 July 1960) was a Welsh Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician, noted for spearheading the creation of the British National Health Service during his t ...

worked for the Company at the Ty-Trist Colliery, Bedwellty pit and from where he was fired for being a union leader. The poor conditions in the pits and collieries of the Tredegar Iron and Coal Company motivated Bevan to create the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

. Though now almost entirely redeveloped, traces of the terracing of the valley sides at the site can still be noted at OS grid reference SO 155093.

Mines developed by the company

*1806: The Dukes Pit, Tredegar. Named after the Duke of Beaufort on whose land it was sunk *1806: Pwll Mawr, Neath *1834: Trist No.1 and No.2 pits *1841: Upper Ty Trist Pit *1850: Bedwellty Pits *1868: Trist No.3 Pit *1876: Witworth Colliery *1876: Pochin Colliery *1898: McLaren Colliery *1907:

Oakdale Colliery Oakdale Colliery was a coal mine located in the Sirhowy Valley, one of the valleys of South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally con ...

*1908: Waterloo Colliery *1910: Markham Colliery *1926: Wyllie Colliery

References

External links

History of the Sirhowy Valley
{{Coord missing, Glamorgan Ironworks and steelworks in Wales Coal mining in Wales Coal companies of the United Kingdom Defunct companies of Wales Industrial Revolution History of Glamorgan Energy companies established in 1797 Manufacturing companies established in 1797 Non-renewable resource companies established in 1875 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1946 Non-renewable resource companies disestablished in 1946 1797 establishments in Wales 1946 disestablishments in Wales Tredegar British companies established in 1797 British companies disestablished in 1946