Trevithick Monument
The memorial that commemorates the journey of Richard Trevithick’s steam
locomotive from Penydarren to Navigation (Abercynon) on February 21st. 1804
stands at the southern extremity of the site of what was the Penydarren
Ironworks.By the1840’s all of the Merthyr ironworks had outgrown their original
locations. The Cyfarthfa concern had built two furnaces at Ynysfach as early
as 1801 while the Plymouth Forge Company had by 1820 time expanded onto
sites at Pentrebach and Dyffryn. Dowlais of course was to locate a new
extension to their plant at the Ifor Works.
Penydarren however, as well as
lacking the extensive mineral resources of the other companies, also
suffered from the fact that the site was confined within a steep sided
valley and the company had no alternative site on which to develop. The
buildings associated with the works therefore, were all located along Nant Morlais, stretching almost as far as Pontmorlais, the bridge that carried
the road from Dowlais, down into the town.
The original Act of Parliament of 1790, which gave
permission for the building of the Glamorgan Canal, had
provided for the construction of a branch canal from
Cyfarthfa to Dowlais. It very soon became apparent that the
difference in elevation between the river level at Merthyr
and the Dowlais works made its building completely
impractical. Both Dowlais and Penydarren therefore, were
forced to construct their own separate tramways to the canal
wharf at Georgetown.
The Dowlais tram road, very steeply
graded in places, followed the promenade on the opposite
side of the road to the monument, whist that from Penydarren
took a parallel line before passing through a short tunnel
at the top of Bethesda Street. Wagons of red-hot furnace
waste would also have followed the route for part of the way
before being tipped onto the banks of Nant Morlais above the
present town centre. This very large tip, extended out
toward the infamous part of Merthyr Tydfil known as China,
eventually taking the name of the British Tip after 1863
when the British and Foreign Bible Society built the
Abermorlais Schools on top.
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