Draft:Brecon Ironworks

Brecon Ironworks From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Brecon Ironworks, which was totally demolished[1], was situated one mile north of Brecon, in a ravine on the east bank of the River Honddu. It comprised a charcoal-fired furnace and forge and were erected in 1720[2] by Benjamin Tanner, a local ironmonger, and Richard Wellington, the owner of Hay Castle[3]. In 1753 the ironworks was sold to John Maybery[4], an ironmaster from Pipton, Brecknockshire, where his family owned an iron forge[5].

  • Comment: The advice given in the previous decline was not taken, and this still does not read at all like an encyclopedia article. Remsense ‥ 论 06:56, 28 November 2024 (UTC)
  • Comment: Reads like an essay. We can't say "something is likely" and then not have a source; this line should probably be removed. External links in the body of the article should also be removed, and replaced with wikilinks to other articles on Wikipedia where appropriate. Utopes (talk / cont) 12:24, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
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The supplies for the Ironworks

The ironworks was built on the site of a former fulling or tucking mill[6] that processed woven cloth which was produced by local farmers. Ironstone for the works was obtained from the top of the Sirhowy Valley[7], and iron ore and limestone were obtained from Hirwaun[8] The ironstone from the Sirhowy Valley was loaded onto mule teams[9] which were driven eastwards, down into the Usk Valley and, following the river, northwards into the town. From Hirwaun, the iron ore was transported on the backs of horses and mules[4], over the mountain track of the Bannau Brycheiniog and down into the town.

The ironworks was charcoal-fired. Initially the charcoal was produced from the adjacent woodlands. However, insatiable supplies of charcoal were needed.[4] Consequently, charcoal was later produced from wood which was obtained from the surrounding area[10], including Llangammarch and Llanwrtyd.[11]

The leases for the Ironworks

In 1723, Tanner and Wellington took out a lease for the land from Edward Jeffreys, a barrister of the Inner Temple, who lived locally in the Priory, Brecon[6], in the grounds of what became Brecon Cathedral. Two new leases were later granted. In 1750, William Tanner, the son of Benjamin Tanner, with the consent of both his father and Wellington, assigned their interests in the works to Thomas Daniel and Richard Reynolds, two iron merchants and dealers from Bristol. Then, in 1753, a lease for the land was granted to Thomas Maybery, the son of Thomas Maybery, who owned Powicks (present-day Powick) Forge, on the River Teme in Worcestershire.[4] Maybery did not take out the lease for himself but for his son, John, from Aberlonvey (present-day Three Cocks or Aberllynfi), who owned a forge there.

The demise of the Ironworks

The ironworks does not seem to have existed after 1780.[6] Competition occurred from the multiple furnaces which sprang up in the South Wales Valleys, which were located close to copious supplies of coal, from which they produced coke as a fuel[12], and which became 'the foremost producers of iron in the world'[13]. However, the ironworks was instrumental in the creation of a tangible legacy for Welsh industrial history in the form of the Maybery Papers.

The Maybury Papers

The Maybery family

John Maybery married Anne, the eldest daughter of John Wilkins, the-then Deputy Prothonotary of The Crown for the Brecknock Circuit, and Sibyl, his wife, with whom he lived in the Tower of the Priory, Brecon. In 1757, he took out a lease from Lord Windsor to build an ironworks at Hirwaun.[10] In 1760, upon the death of Lord Windsor, he took out, with John Wilkins, his brother-in-law, and Mary Maybery, his mother, a lease from Lady Windsor for the same land.

John Maybery died in 1784. He left two sons, Thomas and Arthur Henry Augustus[14], both of whom followed their uncle in entering the legal profession. Thomas, his eldest son, succeeded William Wilkins, as Prothonotary for the Brecknock Circuit and Arthur Henry Augustus, his second son, became the head of Maybery, Williams, and Cobb, the Brecon firm of solicitors[15].

The origin of the Maybery Papers

The 'Maybery Papers' originated in Brecon but are now held in the National Library of Wales. They came to the attention of John Edward Lloyd, the eminent historian of Wales, around the end of the nineteenth century or the beginning of the twentieth century.[16] He recounted that he had come into the possession of a collection of ‘tens of thousands’ of documents about the South Wales iron works that he described as having been undisturbed for forty years.[16] Lloyd identified the owner of the collection as 'Mr A. Maybery, of The Priory, Brecon'.[17]

Lloyd attributed the origin of the collection of papers to the Brecon firm of solicitors of 'Walter and John Powell'. He explained that the firm:

‘had the privilege of being largely employed and trusted by the chief Ironmasters, with the result that in the course of years a mass of documents relating to the South Wales Iron Works accumulated in their offices, and passed on to successive members of the firm … Eventually in 1860, every member of the firm having retired or died, the contents of the office became the property of Mr A. Maybery by descent …’.[16]

Lloyd reported that the condition of the papers ‘was such as to make it a risk to health to make among them even a search of a few hours’ duration.’ [16] Nevertheless he examined and reduced them ‘to some kind of order’.[16] Eventually he reproduced what he considered were the most important papers in his 1906 book ‘The early history of the old South Wales iron works (1760-1840)’.

Lloyd's book documents the histories of multiple industrial locations in South Wales. It comprises thirty-one chapters, which are divided into two divisions, a Western division and an Eastern division.

The locations in the Western division comprise Brecon Furnace and Forge and Aberlonvey Forge; Hirwain Iron Works; Dowlais Iron Works; Cyfarthfa Iron Works; Plymouth Iron Works; Pendyarran Iron Works; Neath Abbey Works; Afon, Ynis y Penalwch, Ynis y Gerwn and Dylais Forges; Ynis y Cedwyn Furnace; Melin Griffith Iron Works; Treforest Works; Aberaman Iron Works; Aberdare Iron Works; Abernant Iron Works and Gadlys Iron Works.[18]

The locations in the Eastern division comprise Bute Iron Works; Union Iron Works; Tredegar Iron Works; Sirhowy Ironworks[19]; Ebbw Vale Iron Works; Abercarne Iron Works; Blaen Afon Iron Works; Nant y Glo Iron Works; Beaufort Iron Works; Clydach Iron Works; Llanelly (or Clydach) Forge; Llangrwyney Forge; The Forge or Trostre Forge; Abbey Tintern Iron Works; Monmouth Forge and New Wear Forge[20].[21]

Originally coal was used to enable iron production. Then, with the discovery of the huge size of the South Wales Coalfield, iron production was superseded by coal mining. [22] Consequently the ironworks ceased production and, like the Brecon Ironworks, were demolished. The remains of Blaenavon Ironworks, Clydach Ironworks and Sirhowy Ironworks exist as physical reminders of the Industrial Revolution.

Notes

References

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