Trevithick Monument Continued
The completion of the Glamorgan Canal in 1794 was to have a
great impact on the way finished iron was being moved to
Cardiff, and enabled the four works to increase output year
by year. However, the three ironworks on the east side of
the Taff at Dowlais, Penydarren and Plymouth had already
recognized the disadvantages of their location when compared
to that of the Cyfarthfa works which was situated at the
canal terminus. These works had to construct tramway
connections to wharfs where the iron could be loaded into
narrow boats, and it was also felt that the Cyfarthfa iron
was being loaded in preference to that of the other
enterprises.
In 1799 therefore, these three companies combined to begin
construction of a tram road to a wharf on the Glamorgan
Canal some nine and half miles away at Navigation (now
called Abercynon). Under the direction of the engineer
George Overton this stone block and iron plateway
construction was complete by 1802, effectively by-passing
the length of canal between Merthyr Tydfil and Navigation,
which later was to become slow and congested as the output
of the ironworks continued to grow.
The Penydarren Tramroad, known originally as the Merthyr
Tramroad and having a gauge of 4ft. 2in. inside the plate
flanges, left the southern extremity of the Penydarren
ironworks, skirted to the east of the growing town and
continued on the eastern bank of the river for most of its
course. It was a single track tramroad with numerous passing
places; horses in the early days having to pull five drams,
each containing two tons of iron down to Navigation and then
the empty drams back up. These trains took one day to make
the return journey but before long trains of twenty-five
drams pulled by three horses were to be seen making their
way along the tramroad.
With the completion of the Penydarren Tramroad in 1802 a
junction was constructed with the Dowlais Tramroad, enabling
the Dowlais Works to have a direct link at this point. For
almost fifty years all of the iron produced by Dowlais, and
bound for the coast at Cardiff would have passed this point,
either in the direction of the canal or along the Penydarren
tramroad.
As the middle of the nineteenth century approached the
Dowlais Works far outshone the other three Merthyr Ironworks
in terms of growth and output. Because of its location
however, it continued to be disadvantaged as it relied on
the steep and tortuous tramroad link via Penydarren to get
iron to the canal and Merthyr Tramroad.
The high stonewall opposite the monument to the historic
journey of Trevithick’s locomotive was originally part of
the boundary of Penydarren House, the home of the Homphray
family. Built on the site of a Roman fort, it was in this
house that some of the soldiers called into Merthyr Tydfil
to quell the riots of 1831 were quartered.
Alongside, is Merthyr Tydfil’s once very popular Theatre
Royal, a thriving theatre during the late nineteenth and
early twentieth century.
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