Before the railways, barges carried coal and iron down to Newport and Cardiff, but some ventures were more successful than others.
Helen Morgan from Abergavenny Local History Society reports
Talybont. Brinore tramroad wharf 2012
As the Industrial Revolution built up steam, so did the clamour grew for better transport from the mines and foundries in the Eastern Valleys. By the final decade of the 18th century, the demand for ships, coal and guns became ever more urgent as France declared war on its continental neighbours.
The main line of the Monmouthshire Canal, which opened in February 1796, was 12.5 miles long, and ran from Pontnewynydd to Newport via Pontymoile. The Crumlin arm, completed in 1799, was 11 miles long and descended 258ft through 32 locks on its journey through Abercarn, Cross Keys and Risca and joined the main line at Crindau before finishing at the Old Town Docks in Newport.
Calvary chapel , Brymawr 1910
Both waterways were fed by numerous tramways and, at the height of their activity in 1830, 40 miles of them were owned by the Monmouthshire Canal Company (MCC). One tramway even duplicated the route of the Crumlin canal as demand outstripped the waterway’s capacity.
Meanwhile, a different group of entrepreneurs came up with a plan to build a canal from Glangrwyne to the Usk at Newbridge. When MCC’s directors heard about it they lost no time in persuading their neighbours to alter the route to meet the MCC canal at Pontymoile and extend it to Brecon. An Act of Parliament was obtained in 1793 but work was slow and beset with technical and financial difficulties. But eventually on February 7th, 1812, the canal was declared open — the year in which Napoleon began his retreat from Moscow. Any sense of celebration was shortlived. Once peace was restored, the demand for iron and coal slumped. The Brecon and Abergavenny canal company (B&A) had missed the boat.
Ice skating at Gilwern? 1917
B&A directors tried to stimulate traffic by offering a free journey for raw materials one way on the understanding that finished goods would pay for the return trip — an early example of Buy One, Get One Free. In reality, however, there was no longer enough trade. Eventually the B&A merged with the MCC, shortly before the Great Western Railway took over, and the waterway became known as the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal.
Roger Foster, of the Monmouthshire ,Brecon and Abergavenny Canal Trust, will talk about the canals of South East Wales at the Borough Theatre on March 21, starting at 7.30pm. Non-members are welcome to join on the night .
Visit the Abergavenny History Society website.
