1

Work & Industry in Tredegar

during the 19th century

A Key Stage 2

Educational Resource Pack

Part 1—Introduction

2

Contents

Part 1—Introduction

What did Tredegar look like before the 19th century (before 1800)?

What happened in Tredegar during the early 19th century (after 1800)? …………………………

Why did Tredegar become a centre of iron-making in the 19th century?

Part 2—Getting the Raw Materials

Where did iron ore come from? …………………………………………………………………………….

Who dug the iron ore?

What was ‘scouring’ for iron ore?

Where did coal come from? ………………………………………………………………………………...

Why was coal so important during the 19th century and what was it used for?

Who dug the coal?

Can we find out more about work at mines and collieries during the 19th century? ……………

How long was a working day at mines and collieries during the 19th century?

At what age did children start work at mines and collieries in the 19th century?

Part 3—Health & Dangers at Work ………………………………………………………………………..

How did working underground affect the health of colliers in the 19th century?

Bedwellty Pits Disaster of 1865

List of known accidents in the mines and ironworks of Glamorgan 1839-4 ……………………...

List of unexpected deaths in Merthyr Tydfil area 1837-1841

Part 4—Making Iron

How was iron made in the 19th century? ………………………………………………………………..

4

5

12

16

19

20

22

34

38

40

52

71

88

93

96

97

104

109

112

120

121

3

What happened to the rocks after they had been dug up?

Layout of buildings at an ironworks

The Blast Furnace

What was Pig Iron? …………….……………………………………………………………………………..

What was Cast Iron used for?

What if you needed iron which didn’t snap if it was bent out of shape?

Did making iron produce waste? …………………………………………………………………………..

Brick Making

Making iron in the 1700s

Part 5—Using the census ……………………………………………………………………………………

How can we find out more about the jobs that people did during the 19th century?

1891 census for Plumber’s Row (Nos. 1 to 8)

1851 census for Plumber’s Row (Nos. 1 to 8) …………...……………………………………………...

1861 census for Plumber’s Row (Nos. 1 to 5)

Part 6—Truck shops; Trade Directories; Ironworks & Collieries; Worker’s Portraits; A Day in

the Life of a Door-boy ………………………………………………………………………………………..

What was the ‘truck system’ and why was it so unpopular amongst workers?

Trade Directories

Ironworks & Collieries of Tredegar ……………………………………………………………………….

William Clayton’s worker portraits of 1860s

A day in the life of a door-boy from the Children’s Employment Inquiry of 1841

Part 7—Teachers’ Notes, Further Activities & Sources ………………………………………………

Part 8—Museum Activity Pack

123

134

135

136

139

140

155

158

163

165

166

168

175

188

194

195

200

215

228

237

241

252

4

Introduction

Key question: What changes took place in the work that people did at

Tredegar during the 19th century? Write down your ideas.

Think about:

What was Tredegar like before the start of the 19th century (before the

year 1800)?

What kind of work did most people do before 1800?

How did Tredegar’s environment change during the 19th

century (between the years 1800 and 1900)?

What types of job did people have in the 19th century?

5

What did Tredegar look like before the 19th

century (before 1800)?

‘Previous to the present century the district was inhabited by farmers

and their shepherds, the hills clothed with trees on each side, ferns and

flowers, in rich profusion, were growing everywhere. Farmhouses and

pretty little orchards dotted the surface … “Nature, in all her primitive

grandeur,” reigned supreme.’

Evan Powell, History of Tredegar, 1884

According to Evan Powell, a local historian, what type of jobs did most

people have in the Tredegar area before the 19th century?

6

There are no pictures of the

Tredegar area before 1800 so

we have to rely on written

evidence and old maps.

On the right is part of an old

map of Monmouthshire made

in 1637.

Can you find:

The Sirhowy river?

[Which is spelt Srowaye]

Bedwellty Church

[Which is spelt Bidwelthye]

Compare this map of 1637

with a modern map. Can you

work out where the town of

Tredegar should be?

7

On the right is part of a map of

Monmouthshire made in 1766.

Can you find:

The Sirhowy river?

[Which is spelt Stoway]

Bedwellty Church

[Which is spelt Bedweltey]

Compare this map of 1766 with

a modern map.

Can you work out where the

town of Tredegar should be?

What type of area do you think

this was according to the map

of 1766?

8

On the right is part of an

old map of Monmouthshire

made in 1789.

Can you find:

Sirhowy Furnace?

[Which is spelt Sorrwy]

Bedwellty Church

[Which is spelt Bedwelty]

Brynore Iron & Coal Mines

Compare this map of 1789

with the older maps of

1637 and 1766.

What changes are starting

to appear on the newest

map of the area?

9

The Sirhowy Ironworks, which began in 1778, can still be seen today.

10

Ebbw Valley at Abercarn in 1815 before the arrival of industry.

11

On the left is a map of the Tredegar

area at the start of the 19th century

(in the year 1800).

The lines on the map show fields,

roads and streams.

The small black rectangles on the

map are buildings. The area at the

top of the map is the only place

where there are lots of houses, which

had only just been built.

Look carefully at the map and find the

Sirhowy Ironworks.

Where might the people living in the

new houses be working?

12

What happened in Tredegar during the

early 19th century (after 1800)?

13

Here is a map of the Tredegar area in

1840, 40 years later than the map on

page 11. Compare both maps.

Make a list of the changes that had

occurred by 1840.

Make a note of anything to do with

iron or coal.

What might explain the huge increase

in the number of streets and houses

that had been built by 1840?

What jobs might people

living in the new houses

be doing?

14

Here is a map of Monmouthshire

showing the Tredegar area in

1831. However, it does not show

anything that used to be within the

county of Brecknockshire.

The thick black lines that look like

centipedes are actually horse-

drawn railways called dramroads.

These routes supplied ironworks

with raw materials needed to

make iron.

The dramroad from Tredegar to

the south following the Sirhowy

river was used to send finished

iron to buyers through the port of

Newport.

15

Left: Tredegar’s iron was sent

to the docks at Newport from

where it could go anywhere

in the world by sea.

Right: A dramroad in use.

Teams of horses were used

to haul drams filled with raw

materials for making iron.

16

Why did Tredegar become a centre of iron-

making in the 19th century?

The minerals cropped out at the surface and could in places be dug out

as potatoes from a garden.

Theophilus Jones, 1809

The answer lies beneath our feet ...

17

Over 200 years ago, a new way of making iron in large quantities was

discovered that used coal for fuel instead of wood. Along the heads of

the valleys of South Wales, all of the raw materials for making iron were

found close to the surface and could be mined using simple equipment.

The 3 ingredients for making iron are: iron ore, coal and limestone.

18

Did you know?

During the 19th century, iron ore or ironstone was called ‘mine’.

Someone who dug ironstone was always called a ‘miner’.

Someone who dug coal for a living was always called a ‘collier’.

Today, anyone who digs out any type of rock including coal from under-

ground, is called a miner.