Penydarren Ironworks – Page 5

Merthyr’s Lost Landmarks: Penydarren House

In the very first volume of the Merthyr Historian, published in 1976, the eminent local historian Margaret Stewart Taylor wrote an article entitled ‘The Big Houses of Merthyr Tydfil’. One of the houses she mentions is Penydarren House.

That excerpt is transcribed below, with the kind permission of Dr Fred Holley, President of the Merthyr Tydfil Historical Society.

Penydarren Place, or as it was also called, Penydarren House, was the first luxurious house in Merthyr and I imagine it must have been a status symbol, something that made younger men envious. The Penydarren House we knew, that was pulled down about ten years ago, had been divided into two, Penydarren House and Penydarren Place, but the rooms inside were off fine proportions and showed what a grand mansion it was originally. It was built about 1786 by Samuel Homfray, joint owner of the Penydarren Iron Works with his brother Jeremiah. The two were sons of a Staffordshire ironmaster, Francis Homfray. He started the Penydarren Ironworks and besides three sons, also had two daughters who married Crawshays.

Elizabeth Homfray was the wife of the William Crawshay who built the Castle in 1813, when her brother’s grand house was in its glory. There is a description of Penydarren Place by J. G. Wood in that year:-

“The splendid Mansion of Mr. S. Homfray at Penydarren- situated upon a gentle declivity – is sufficiently removed from the town by the extent of the pleasure grounds, and contains all the conveniences and luxuries requisite for a family of wealth and importance. The gardens, which at first wore the appearance of sterility and barreness are now abundantly productive. The hot-houses, grape-houses, etc., furnish their respective fruits in profusion; and walks laid out with taste and judgement present several points from whence the silver Taff may be seen to great advantage.”

Penydarren House

Samuel Homfray is said to have entertained lavishly until he left Merthyr after becoming High Sheriff of Monmouthshire in 1813. He also owned the Tredegar Ironworks. He went to reside at Bassaleg, and became a Member of Parliament, while Penydarren House was inhabited by William Forman, who had put a great deal of money into the Works and was one of the owners. Forman was an ordnance agent at the Tower of London, then headquarters of a government arsenal, and he was known in the City of London by the nickname of ‘Billy Ready Money’, owing to his wealth and readiness to finance speculative ventures. A smaller house, Gwaelodygarth Fach, later known as the Cottage, and only demolished after the war, was built at the top of what is now The Grove for one of his sons, Edward. This Edward Forman was an enthusiastic swimmer and intended to have a swimming pool in the grounds, but before it was dug, he went, as he often did, to swim in the Blue Pool, Pontsarn, had an accident there, and was drowned in 1822. The name Forman survives in Forman Place, near Garth Villas.

Penydarren House was demolished in 1957.

Detail from an 1875 map showing Penydarren House

Margaret Taylor Stewart’s full article can be read in Volume 1 of the Merthyr Historian.

Richard Trevithick – part 1

courtesy of John Simkin

Richard Trevithick, was born in Illogan, Cornwall, in 1771. Richard was educated at Camborne School but he was more interested in sport than academic learning. Trevithick was six feet two inches high and was known as the Cornish giant. He was very strong lad and by the age of eighteen he could throw sledge hammers over the tops of engine houses and write his name on a beam six feet from the floor with half a hundredweight hanging from his thumb. Trevithick also had the reputation of being one of the best wrestlers in Cornwall.

Trevithick went to work with his father at Wheal Treasury mine and soon revealed an aptitude for engineering. After making improvements to the Bull Steam Engine, Trevithick was promoted to engineer of the Ding Dong mine at Penzance. While at the Ding Dong mine he developed a successful high-pressure engine that was soon in great demand in Cornwall and South Wales for raising the ore and refuse from mines.

Trevithick also began experimenting with the idea of producing a steam locomotive. At first he concentrating on making a miniature locomotive and by 1796 had produced one that worked. The boiler and engine were in one piece; hot water was put into the boiler and a redhot iron was inserted into a tube underneath; thus causing steam to be raised and the engine set in motion.

Richard Trevithick now attempted to produce a much larger steam road locomotive and on Christmas Eve, 1801, it used it to take seven friends on a short journey. The locomotive’s principle features were a cylindrical horizontal boiler and a single horizontal cylinder let into it. The piston, propelled back and forth in the cylinder by pressure of steam, was linked by piston rod and connecting rod to a crankshaft bearing a large flywheel. Trevithick’s locomotive became known as the Puffing Devil but it could only go on short journeys as he was unable to find a way of keeping up the steam for any length of time.

Despite these early problems, Trevithick travelled to London where he showed several leading scientists, including Humphrey Davy, what he had invented. James Watt had been considering using this method to power a locomotive but had rejected the idea as too risky. Watt argued that the use of steam at high temperature, would result in dangerous explosions. Trevithick was later to accuse Watt and his partner, Matthew Boulton, of using their influence to persuade Parliament to pass a bill banning his experiments with steam locomotives.

In 1803 a company called Vivian & West, agreed to finance Trevithick’s experiments. Richard Trevithick exhibited his new locomotive in London. However, after a couple of days the locomotive encountered serious problems that prevented it pulling a carriage. Vivian & West were disappointed with Trevithick’s lack of practical success and they withdrew from the project.

Richard Trevithick soon found another sponsor in Samuel Homfray, the owner of the Penydarren Ironworks in Merthyr Tydfil.

Penydarren Ironworks. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

In February 1804, Trevithick produced the world’s first steam engine to run successfully on rails. The locomotive, with its single vertical cylinder, 8 foot flywheel and long piston-rod, managed to haul ten tons of iron, seventy passengers and five wagons from the ironworks at Penydarren to the Merthyr-Cardiff Canal. During the nine mile journey the Penydarren locomotive reached speeds of nearly five miles an hour. Trevithick’s locomotive employed the very important principle of turning the exhaust steam up the chimney, so producing a draft which drew the hot gases from the fire more powerfully through the boiler.

A model of Trevithick’s Penydarren Locomotive at Cyfarthfa Museum. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

Trevithick’s Penydarren locomotive only made three journeys. Each time the seven-ton steam engine broke the cast iron rails. Samuel Homfray came to the conclusion that Trevithick’s invention was unlikely to reduce his transport costs and so he decided to abandon the project.

To be continued…..

To read more of John Simkin’s excellent essays, please visit:
http://spartacus-educational.com

Merthyr Memories: The Closure of Abermorlais School

Following on from the last post about the opening of Abermorlais School, Clive Thomas, former teacher at the school, has kindly shared his memories of the closure of the school.

The Closure of Abermorlais Junior School
by Clive Thomas

In September 1968 a new headteacher took charge of Abermorlais Junior School. Mr. O.P. Bevan (Ossie), recently a teaching head at Heolgerrig Primary came to a school with a century of history and a reputation for high standards. After all hadn’t it assisted in the education of three peers of the realm? As well as providing for the general education for many thousands of children, probably the most celebrated of the school’s pupils were the Berry boys, namely Henry Seymour Berry, Lord Buckland, William Ewert Berry, Viscount Camrose and Gomer Berry, Viscount Kemsley.

Funded by the British and Foreign Schools Society, Lady Charlotte Schreiber (previously Guest) had laid its foundation stone in 1867. It was built on what was later to be known as the British Tip, an accumulation of iron and coal waste from over a century of operations at the Penydarren Ironworks. In its elevated position, the school overlooked the town to the south, Ynysfach to the west and to the north Georgetown and the Brecon Road. It was from the streets, terraces and courtyards of these areas that children had come to Abermorlais for over a century, but with the redevelopment of many of these districts and family movement to the new Gurnos Estate, pupil numbers had declined massively and left a very large school building only twenty-five per cent occupied.

By the mid ‘Sixties’, the building had suffered from many years of neglect and the school was in almost terminal decline. Initially built to accommodate over six hundred pupils, by this time fewer than two hundred were taught in only six of the downstairs classrooms. Foot worn sandstone stairs with iron railings led to the upstairs classrooms, all of which had been vacated a number of years previously. Here were rooms where chairs, desks and other unwanted furniture and equipment were stored. A variety of old textbooks and teaching materials, some of great age had also been discarded here and in the imagination of many of the remaining pupils, these classrooms had to be haunted. Shelves and ledges were coated by inches of black dust from the open fires which heated the still occupied classrooms and hall.

This particular school year was a significant one in that it would be the last in which children from Abermorlais would sit the Eleven Plus Examination. Comprehensive education had already arrived in the lower part of the County Borough with the opening of Afon Taf High School the previous year. Mrs Wendy Williams was the teacher who shouldered the onerous responsibility of ensuring that every child in what was still called Standard Four gave of their best.

Mr. John Lloyd was the school musician. A talented pianist, he played for the Pendyrus Male Voice Choir, then under the baton of the famous Mr. Glyn Jones from Dowlais. Mrs. Eleanor Davies, wife of the former head was fulfilling her final year as deputy-headteacher, while Mrs. Morgan and Sylvia Lloyd assisted with the teaching of the younger juniors. Like Mr. Bevan, Clive Thomas was new to the school and in the first year of his teaching career.

The staff at Abermorlais School in the summer of 1969. Back row – Mrs M Williams, Mr Clive Thomas, Mr John Lloyd, Mrs Morgan. Front Row – Mrs Eleanor Davies, Mrs Annie-Mary Protheroe, Mr Ossie Bevan (headmaster), Mrs Sylvia Lloyd, Mrs Wendy Williams.

At Heolgerrig, Mr. Bevan had been involved with the Welsh School Council work on Environmental Studies. He was anxious to continue this approach and actively involve children in work which would help them gain a better understanding of how the school and town had evolved. To say that Abermorlais was poorly resourced to achieve these aims would be an understatement but his ingenuity, perseverance and jovial nature enabled significant progress to be made.

A new school had been planned to replace Abermorlais, but was to be built in a corner of Cyfarthfa Park and on the edge of what was the old school’s catchment area. This, it was rumoured was to be a semi-open plan school (whatever that meant) and represent the aspirations of a new age in education. Many of the staff, needless to say approached the move with a degree of trepidation.

Towards the end of the Autumn term in 1970 the staff were ready for the move and packed all that we wished to take with us. The Abermorlais foundation stone, which Ossie had planned to take to the new school proved to be something of a sham unfortunately. The inscription had not been cut skilfully by a late nineteenth century mason into solid stone but into a mortar coating. When the machine went to pick up the stone it fell into pieces and was lost in the rest of the debris. The historic building was left to the salvage and demolition crews.

Many thanks to Clive Thomas for this fascinating article, and for providing all of the photographs.

Merthyr’s Chapels: Wesley Chapel

The next chapel in our series is Wesley Chapel in Pontmorlais.

In 1790 Samuel Homfray, owner of the Penydarren Ironworks introduced a new process for making iron and needed to send to Yorkshire and Staffordshire for men to help carry out this new process.

The new workers were followers of John Wesley’s doctrines, and so started their own cause, meeting at their cottages near St Tydfil’s Church.

As the cause increased a larger meeting place had to be found and the ever-growing congregation started meeting in the Long Room of the Star Inn.

Again the congregation increased and it was decided to build a chapel. A piece of land was acquired beside the Morlais Brook near the small wooden bridge that carried the then small road from Merthyr to Penydarren and Dowlais.

Money was collected and the foundation stone was laid in 1796. Thomas Guest, son of John Guest the founder of the Dowlais Iron Works, who was an ardent Wesleyan and also a preacher, contributed £50 towards the building fund, and indeed preached at the chapel when it was completed. The chapel was completed in 1797 at a cost of £602.13s.7d. This was the first English chapel in Merthyr.

The congregation continued to grow and in 1860 it was decided that a new chapel should be built. The builders were Messrs Morgan & Edwards of Aberdare. There was a disagreement between the minister, Rev Josiah Matthews and the congregation about the size of the chapel, so after the site for the new chapel had been marked out with stakes, Rev Matthews waited until that night, went out to the site and moved the stakes to make the chapel larger. This subterfuge was not discovered, and it was not until the chapel was finished did Rev Matthews reveal what he had done. The chapel was completed in 1863 at a cost of £880 and was officially opened on 15 January 1863. Incorporated into the building was a house on the north side of the chapel which was intended to be used as a manse for the minister, but it was never used as such and was instead let to private tenants.

In 1871 the trustees of the chapel decided to have a new pipe organ so set up a fund called the “Debt and Organ Fund” to raise enough money to purchase an organ and pay off the remaining debt on the chapel. By 1873 enough money had been raised for the new organ and it was installed at a cost of £192.10s.0d.

In 1913, it was decided to build a new and very grand Central Wesleyan Mission Hall on Pontmorlais Road West across the Morlais Brook from the chapel, on the site of the Old Drill Hall. It would have been connected to the chapel by an arcade. Plans were actually drawn up for the Mission, but before building began the First World War broke out. Due to the subsequent upheaval, the plans were shelved and the Hall was never built.

The chapel closed on 30 December 1979 due to prohibitive costs for necessary repairs to the chapel, and the congregation moved to Dowlais Wesleyan Chapel. The building has been since used as a furniture shop, and an arts and crafts centre.

Wesley Chapel decorated for a Harvest Festival

James Neilson’s Hot Blast: Pierre Armand Dufrénoy and Lady Charlotte Guest – part 1

by Victoria Owens

Many thanks to Victoria Owens who provided the following fascinating article.

When James Beaumont Neilson, engineer of the Glasgow gas works, patented his ‘hot-blast’ of 1828 – the system of pre-heating air by passing it through a hot ‘vessel or receptacle’ before it entered the blast furnace – he was confident that it would save fuel and reduce costs. Encouraged by three Scots iron manufacturers – Colin Dunlop of Tollcross, Charles McIntosh of Crossbasket, and John Wilson of Dundyvan, all of whom acquired shares in his patent rights – Neilson conducted experiments at the Clyde Ironworks which demonstrated that use of the hot blast could reduce fuel consumption by about a third. News of its merits spread fast. Not only did many English, Scots and Welsh ironmasters adopt Neilson’s system, but the French inspector of mines, Ours-Pierre-Armand Petit-Dufrénoy, (1792-1857), visited Britain to analyse the economic and metallurgical consequences of its application.

Dufrénoy’s Rapportsur l’emploi de l’air chaud dans les mines à fer de l’Ecosse et de l’Angleterre’ appeared in the 1833 issue of the French Annales des Mines. By chance, Edward Hutchins, nephew of Josiah John Guest of the Dowlais Iron Company, obtained a copy, in autumn 1834 and, recognising the British iron trade’s likely interest in its content, asked his uncle’s wife Charlotte to translate it into English.

The previous year, John Guest had married Lady Charlotte Bertie, daughter of the late ninth earl of Lindsey. An able linguist, she was fluent in Latin, Greek, Persian, Arabic and Hebrew. Soon after her marriage, she began to learn Welsh from the Revd. Evan Jenkins, Rector of Dowlais, and would in time publish a best-selling translation of the mediaeval Welsh story-cycle known as the Mabinogion. That she had a fair working knowledge of French goes without saying.

She started work on her translation of Dufrénoy’s article on 3 December 1834, while John Guest, MP for Merthyr Tydfil, was canvassing votes for the coming general election. She found the text ‘full of technicalities’ and foresaw that producing an English version would take a long time. Nevertheless, she continued throughout the following day, and calculated that by the evening, she had completed about a sixth of it. Here, to give some flavour of the task, is Dufrénoy’s description of Neilson’s methods:- ‘Dans la première experience,’ he writes

l’air fut chauffé dans une espèce de coffer rectangulaire en tôle de 10 pieds de long, sur 4 pieds he haut et 3 de large, semblable aux chaudières des machines à vapeur. L’air provenant de la machine soufflanteé tait introduit dans cette capacité, oùil s’échauffait avant de sa render dans le haut-fourneau. Malgré l’imperfection de ceprocédé, qui ne permit d’élever la temperature de l’air qu’a 200⁰ Fahrenheit (93.3 cent), on pouvait déjà pressentir que l’idée de M. Nielson était destinée à produire une revolution dans le travail du fer.

‘In the first experiment,’ offers Lady Charlotte, ‘the air was heated in a kind of rectangular box of sheet iron, ten feet long, four high and three wide, similar to the boilers of steam engines. The air proceeding from the blowing machine was introduced into this space, where it was heated, previous to being conveyed into the blast furnace. Notwithstanding the imperfection of this process, which did not admit of the air being heated above 200⁰ Fahr, it became immediately apparent that Mr Neilson’s idea was destined to produce a revolution in the manufacture of iron.’

If terms such as tôle [sheet metal] and chaudières [boilers] sent her to the dictionary, her rendition of the idiomatic phrase on pouvait déjà pressentir, [literally, ‘one could already foresee’] as ‘it became immediately apparent…’ shows her ready command of the syntax.

Lady Charlotte Guest. Photo courtesy of Cyfarthfa Castle Museum & Art Gallery

First caught up in the excitement surrounding the election and, later, dismayed by an outbreak of cholera, Charlotte does not mention the hot blast again in her journal until February 1835. By this time, she and John and their infant daughter Maria were visiting Charlotte’s mother and step-father at their Lincolnshire home – Uffington House near Stamford. ‘Wet Day,’ Charlotte wrote on Friday 13 February; ‘Merthyr (her private name for her husband) […] corrected iron hot air [sic] for me.’

For all its brevity, her statement raises intriguing questions. That John Guest should have been interested in the observations of a highly qualified mining engineer from a rival nation upon the production process of every ironworks from Calder to Merthyr Tydfil by way of Monkland, Codnor and Wednesbury was understandable. Whether he also wished to explore Dufrénoy’s account in the hope of discovering some means of using the hot blast technique without having to pay Neilson royalties is a matter for speculation. The fact that on 12 March 1836 an injunction was issued against Guest and partners restraining them from infringement of Neilson’s patent suggests that by the time Lady Charlotte was translating the French treatise, the Dowlais Ironworks had already introduced the hot blast. In the event, John Guest, was quick to settle with Neilson and his fellow patentees, and pay the shilling-per-ton royalty on iron produced by their method.

Furthermore, Lady Charlotte’s reference to her husband’s ‘correction’ of her work, suggests that, rather than treat her translation of the treatise as a work of private reference, the two of them thought it deserved publication. Certainly the English edition of On the use of hot air includes a number of observations – each designated ‘Note by the Translator’ –which, to judge from their detailed knowledge of the ironworks and coal deposits of South Wales, are the work of an industry insider. The remark, for instance, that before they introduced the hot blast, both Guest at Dowlais and Samuel Homfray of the Penydarren ironworks were using raw coal rather than coke to fuel their furnaces evinces considerable local knowledge. Incidentally the concluding ‘Note by the Translator’ not only gives a complete overview of the hot blast apparatus in use respectively at Dundivan in Scotland and Pentwyn, Clydach and Dowlais in Wales but also appraises the efficiency of the system and the quality of the iron produced in each place. Dufrénoy includes no corresponding commentary and this state-of-the-art survey of British iron manufacture offers an authoritative epilogue to the English version of his treatise.

To be continued in the next post……

Alderman Thomas Williams, J.P.

Today marks the anniversary of the death of one of Merthyr’s most important residents – Thomas Williams.

Thomas Williams was born in Merthyr Tydfil on 11 November 1823, but when he was five years old, his parents, David and Susannah Williams moved to Hirwaun to open a grocery business.

At sixteen, Thomas returned to Merthyr as an assistant to Mr David Rosser, grocer; and in 1842 he became a member of Zoar Chapel. Within two years however, he returned to Hirwaun to open his own grocery business, and he remained there until 1852 when he moved to Aberdare to larger premises. Throughout this time, Williams remained a faithful member of the Welsh Independent movement and joined Nebo Chapel in Hirwaun where he became a deacon.

During his time in Aberdare, Thomas Williams joined Ebenezer Chapel, Trecynon where he eventually became secretary, and he was elected to a number of eminent positions in the community – Poor-law Guardian; member of the Burial Board; member of the Board of Health and High Constable.

Following the closure of the Penydarren Ironworks in 1859, several schemes were initiated to re-start iron production. One such scheme occurred in 1864, and Thomas Williams decided to sell his business and invest in the scheme, and thus moved back to Merthyr. Within a year he and his business partner, Mr Davis sold the works, making a handsome profit and invested in the College Lock Iron Works in Llandaff. Over the next few years, Thomas Williams proved to be an astute business man and soon amassed a large fortune, buying large parcels of land in Merthyr. Upon returning to Merthyr, Williams renewed his membership at Zoar Chapel and was immediately made a deacon.

Within a short period of time, Thomas Williams was elected to several important positions in the town. As well as continuing to serve in the same positions of authority that he had occupied in Aberdare, he was elected Chairman of the Merthyr Building Society and Vice-Chairman of the School Board and was elected Justice of the Peace in 1874. Through all of this Thomas Williams remained a staunch member of Zoar and became secretary of the chapel and a Sunday School teacher there and was a life-long supporter of the temperance movement. In 1872 he was instrumental in the formation of the Welsh Congregational Union, and was appointed treasurer at its commencement.

Throughout his life, Thomas Williams was a great philanthropist and many organisations benefitted from his generosity, indeed his last public engagement was at meeting to discuss the building of a new English Congregational Chapel in Penydarren, where he arranged the lease of for a plot of land for the new chapel at a nominal rent, and he made a gift in trust towards the building of the chapel. Within two months of this meeting however, Thomas Williams died on 9 July 1903. His funeral on Monday 13 July was one of the largest Merthyr had seen, with ministers and representatives from every church and chapel in the town, and indeed from all over Wales, as well as dignitaries from Merthyr and the whole of Wales.

In his will, Thomas Williams made a number of bequests to the Trustees of Zoar Chapel:-

“a) £500 for investment, and annual income thereof to be applied in defraying the cost of such Lectures on theological, social, temperance, travel (including Mission work) abroad, and such like subjects as the minister and deacons of Zoar Chapel shall think of interest and benefit; b) £700 for investment in aid of the support of the ministry of such chapel; c) £150 for investment, the income to be applied towards the support of the Sunday School of such chapel; d) £150 for investment, the income to be applied towards the support and assistance of such poor and deserving persons, members of Zoar Chapel, as the minister and deacons of such chapel shall from time to time in their absolute discretion deem worthy of aid; e) £150 towards the fund for building a schoolroom in connection with such chapel.”

Thomas Williams’ legacy was felt throughout Merthyr for many years. The English Congregational Chapel in Penydarren was finally completed in 1906 and was named Williams Memorial Chapel in honour of him.

The Thomas Williams Memorial Lectures became an institution in the town until the 1980’s; Twynyrodyn Sunday School was built due to the bequest and Zoar Chapel itself managed to keep functioning as a place of worship for many years despite the dwindling congregation due to Thomas Williams, legacy.

Romans in Merthyr

I’m sure most people have heard of the Roman Fort at Penydarren, but how many of us know that much about it?

The first evidence of Roman occupation at Penydarren, was discovered in 1786 by workmen building Penydarren House for Samuel Homfray, owner of the Penydarren Ironworks. The site for the house (near the present day Penydarren Park) had lain undisturbed for centuries, and as the workmen began digging the foundations for the house, they firstly discovered a number of Roman bricks, and when these were cleared, they revealed a beautiful tessellated pavement made from hundreds of differently shaped and coloured clay cubes. However, no records were kept of what was discovered, but the story was passed down the generations orally, and the story was recorded by Charles Wilkins in his ‘History of Merthyr’ in 1867 – the first book written about Merthyr’s history.

In 1902, plans were made to build a new football ground at Penydarren Park, but before work could begin, a committee was formed to investigate the site. It wasn’t until this excavation that it was discovered that the remains were actually part of a Roman Fort.

Excavations started in September 1902, 200 yards west of Penydarren House. After removing the soil to a depth of about five feet, a hypocaust – a form of Roman under-floor heating was discovered. The hypocaust was connected to the remains of a furnace. Just about 12 yards from the furnace, the excavators found the remains of a brick building and a boundary wall. The remains of a Roman well were also discovered.

penydarrenpark_romanwell — Roman well discovered at Penydarren Park.

Two further excavations were carried out at Penydarren Park in 1957, and the eastern and northern defences of the fort were discovered. The eastern defences consisted of ‘two outer ditches and a rampart of clay with a rubble core, based upon a cobble foundation’. The northern rampart was of a similar design. At the north-eastern corner of the fort, the rampart was preserved to a height of five feet, its rubble core composed of large boulders, probably used as reinforcement for the corner. Within the rubble core a ten-inch stone-lined post-hole was found which indicated the existence of a timber angle tower.

The actual plan and dimensions of the fort are not known, but if we go by other typical Roman fort designs of the period; and assume the well found in 1902 was centrally placed within the fort, and a square outline is also assumed, then the dimensions would have been in the region of about 500 feet square across the rampart crests, and would have covered an area of almost 5¾ acres.

penydarren_park_planoftheromanfort — Plan of the Penydarren Roman Fort

But when was it built? The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales states:

“The dateable material is almost all early and clearly indicates that the fort was founded by Frontinus in the period 74-78 AD. It does not appear to have been held for very long. Recent re-examination of the pottery evidence indicates that occupation continued during the first third of the second century but no later.”

Pottery recovered from the site points to an early foundation for the original timber fort, very likely during the governorship of Julius Frontinus, which was replaced by stone fort around the turn of the second century. The bath-house which was discovered outside the fort’s southern defences is probably contemporary with the rebuilding of the fort itself, but the latest pottery recovered from the site is Trajanic, which suggests that the site may have been abandoned in the Hadrianic period and its garrison removed to man the northern defences of the province.

As we speak archaeological excavations organised by the Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust are in progress around Merthyr, so who knows what further secrets may be revealed?

Photo and plan courtesy of Old Merthyr Tydfil (http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm)

For more information about the Romans in Merthyr, check out the link below:
https://ggat.wordpress.com/2015/12/16/romans-in-merthyr-tydfil/