Editing Glamorgan (section)

====Industrial Glamorgan, 1750–1920====

=====Metals industry=====
[[File:George Childs Dowlais Ironworks 1840.jpg|right|thumbnail|250px|''Dowlais Ironworks'' by [[George Childs]] (1840)]]

From the mid-18th century onwards, Glamorgan's uplands underwent large-scale industrialisation and several coastal towns, in particular [[Swansea]] and later [[Cardiff]], became significant ports.<ref name="Davies319"/> From the late 18th century until the early 20th century Glamorgan produced 70 per cent of the British output of [[copper]].<ref>D. Gareth Evans (1989), p.17</ref> The industry was developed by English entrepreneurs and investors such as [[John Henry Vivian]]<ref name="Davies18-19">D. Gareth Evans (1989), pp.18–19</ref> and largely based in the west of the county, where coal could be purchased cheaply and ores imported from [[Cornwall]], [[Devon]] and later much further afield. The industry was of immense importance to Swansea in particular; in 1823 the smelting works on the [[River Tawe]], and the collieries and shipping dependent on them, supported between 8,000 and 10,000 people.<ref>D. Gareth Evans (1989), p.18</ref> Imports of copper ores reached a peak in the 1880s, after which there was a steep fall until the virtual end of the trade in the 1920s. The cost of shipping ores from distant countries, and the growth of foreign competitors, ended Glamorgan's dominance of the industry.<ref name="Davies18-19"/> Some of the works converted to the production of [[zinc]] and the [[Swansea Valley|Tawe valley]] also became a location for the manufacture of [[nickel]] after [[Ludwig Mond]] established a works at [[Clydach, Swansea|Clydach]] in 1902.<ref>Davies (2008), p.169</ref>

[[File:IKBrunelChains.jpg|right|thumbnail|200px|[[Isambard Kingdom Brunel|Isambard Brunel]] standing in front of the [[SS Great Eastern|Great Eastern]] whose chains were made by [[Brown Lenox & Co Ltd|Brown Lenox]] of [[Pontypridd]]<ref>[http://webapps.rhondda-cynon-taff.gov.uk/heritagetrail/taff/pontypridd/pontypridd.htm History of Pontypridd] Rhondda Cynon Taf Library services {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928135944/http://webapps.rhondda-cynon-taff.gov.uk/heritagetrail/taff/pontypridd/pontypridd.htm |date=28 September 2011 }}</ref>]]

Even at its peak, copper [[smelting]] was never as significant as iron smelting, which was the major industrial employer of men and capital in south Wales before the rise of the sale-coal industry. Ironmaking developed in locations where [[ironstone]], coal and limestone were found in close proximity – primarily the northern and south-western parts of the [[South Wales coalfield]].<ref name="Davies, p.393">Davies (2008), p.393</ref><ref>D. Gareth Evans (1989), p.26</ref> In the second half of the 18th century four ironworks were built in [[Merthyr Tydfil County Borough|Merthyr Tydfil]]. In 1759 the [[Dowlais Ironworks]] were established by a partnership of nine men. This was followed by the [[Plymouth Ironworks]] in 1763, which was formed by [[Isaac Wilkinson]] and John Guest, then in 1765 [[Anthony Bacon (industrialist)|Anthony Bacon]] established the [[Cyfarthfa Ironworks]]. The fourth of the great ironworks, [[Penydarren Ironworks]] was built in 1784. These works made Merthyr Tydfil the main centre of the industry in Wales.<ref name="Davies, p.393"/>

As well as copper and iron, Glamorgan became an important centre for the tinplate industry. Although not as famous as the Llanelli or Pontypool works, a concentrated number of works emerged around Swansea, Aberavon and Neath towards the late 19th century.<ref name="Davies871">Davies (2008), p.871</ref> Glamorgan became the most populous and industrialised county in Wales and was known as the 'crucible of the Industrial Revolution'.<ref name="BBC" /><ref name="Newman68">Newman (1995), p.68</ref>

Other areas to house heavy industries include ironworks in [[Maesteg]] (1826), tinplate works in Llwydarth and [[Pontyclun]] and an iron ore mine in [[Llanharry]].

Alongside the metalworks, industries appeared throughout Glamorgan that made use of the works' output. Pontypridd was well known for the [[Brown Lenox & Co Ltd|Brown Lenox Chainworks]], which during the 19th century was the town's main industrial employer.<ref name="Davies693">Davies (2008), p.693</ref>

=====Coal industry=====
The largest change to industrial Glamorgan was the opening up of the [[South Wales coalfield]], the largest continuous coalfield in Britain, which occupied the greater part of Glamorgan, mostly north of the Vale.<ref name="Davies, p.153">Davies (2008), p.153</ref> The coalfield provided a vast range in quality and type, but prior to 1750 the only real access to the seams was through [[bell pit]]s or digging horizontally into a level where the seam was exposed at a river bank or mountainside.<ref name="Davies p.154">Davies (2008), p.154</ref> Although initially excavated for export, coal was soon also needed for the smelting process in Britain's expanding metallurgical industries. Developments in coal mining began in the north-eastern rim of Glamorgan around the ironworks of Merthyr and in the south-west around the copper plants of Swansea.<ref name="Davies p.154"/> In 1828 the South Wales coalfield was producing an estimated 3 million tons of coal, by 1840 that had risen to 4.5 million, with about 70 percent consumed by local commercial and domestic usage.
[[File:Lewis Merthyr Colliery.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Lewis Merthyr Colliery, Rhondda which, since 1986, has been redeveloped for opening to the public as the [[Rhondda Heritage Park]].]]
The 1840s saw the start of a dramatic increase in the amount of coal excavated within Glamorgan. Several events took place to precipitate the growth in coal mining, including the discovery of steam coal in the [[Cynon Valley]], the building of a large masonry dock at Cardiff and the construction of the [[Taff Vale Railway]].<ref name="Davies p.154"/> In 1845, after trials by the [[British Admiralty]], Welsh steam coal replaced coal from [[Newcastle-upon-Tyne]] as the preferred fuel for the ships of the [[Royal Navy]]. Glamorgan steam coal quickly became a sought-after commodity for navies all over the world<ref name="Davies p.154"/> and its production increased to meet the demand.

The richest source for steam coal was the Rhondda Valleys, and by 1856 the Taff Vale Railway had reached the heads of both valleys. Over the next fifty years the Rhondda would grow to become the largest producer of coal of the age. In 1874, the Rhondda produced 2.13 million tons of coal, which rose to 5.8 million tons by 1884.<ref name="Davies p.154"/> The coal now produced in Glamorgan far exceeded the interior demand, and in the later half of the 19th century the area became a mass exporter for its product. In the 1890s the docks of South Wales accounted for 38 percent of British coal exports and a quarter of global trade.<ref name="Davies p.154"/>

Along with the increase in coal production came a very large increase in the population, as people emigrated to the area to seek employment. In Aberdare the population grew from 6,471 in 1841 to 32,299 in 1851 while the Rhondda grew from 3,035 in 1861 to 55,632 in 1881, peaking in 1921 at 162,729.<ref name="Lewis229-230">Lewis (1959), pp.229–230</ref> Much of this population growth was driven by [[immigration]]. In the ten years from 1881 to 1891, net migration to Glamorgan was over 76,000, 63 percent of which was from the non-border counties of England – a proportion that increased in the following decade.<ref>D. Gareth Evans (1989), p.241</ref>

=====Agriculture=====
Until the beginning of the 18th century, Glamorgan was almost entirely agriculture based. With the industrialisation of the county, farming became of far less importance, with industrial areas encroaching into farming lands.<ref name="Evans135"/> In Glamorgan, from the late 19th century, there was a significant reduction away from arable land towards pasture land.<ref name="Evans135"/> There were two main factors behind this trend; firstly the increase in the population of the county required more milk and other dairy produce,<ref name="Evans135"/> in an age before refrigeration. Secondly there was an employment shortage in farming due to the call of better paid industrial work,<ref name="Evans135"/> and pastoral land was less work intensive. Stock rearing became prominent with breeds such as [[Hereford (cattle)|Hereford]], [[North Devon cattle|Devon]] and [[Shorthorn]] cattle being bred in the Vale of Glamorgan,<ref name="Evans135"/> while the unenclosed wilds of the Gower saw [[Welsh Pony|Welsh Ponies]] bred on the commons.<ref name="Evans136">Evans, p.136</ref>