Editing Glamorgan (section)

===County of Glamorgan===

====History 1536–1750====

[[File:Glamorgana Atlas.jpg|thumb|168x168px|Hand-drawn map of Glamorgan by Christopher Saxton from 1578]]

The [[Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542|Laws in Wales Acts of 1535]] established the County of Glamorgan through the amalgamation of the Lordship of Glamorgan with the lordships of [[Gower (Lordship)|Gower]] and [[Kilvey]]; the area that had previously been the cantref of Gwynllwg was lost to [[Monmouthshire (historic)|Monmouthshire]]. With Wales finally incorporated with the English dominions, the administration of justice passed into the hands of the crown.<ref name="Wade160">Wade (1914), p.160</ref> The Lordship became a [[shire]] and was awarded its first parliamentary representative with the creation of the [[Glamorganshire (UK Parliament constituency)|Glamorganshire constituency]] in 1536.<ref name="Wade160"/> The [[English Reformation|Reformation]], which was closely followed by the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]], led to vast social changes across Britain.<ref name="Newman51">Newman (1995), p.51</ref> These events, along with the Act of Union, allowed the leading Welsh families to gain in wealth and prosperity, allowing equal footing to those families of English extraction.<ref name="Newman51"/> Old monasteries, with their lands, were acquired by the wealthy and turned into country houses; their notable residents preferring to live in gentry houses rather than the fortified castles of the past. Major families in Glamorgan included the [[Sir Edward Carne|Carnes]] at [[Ewenny]], the [[Mansel family|Mansels]] at [[Margam]], Williams of [[Neath]], the Herberts at Cardiff and Swansea, Sir David Ap Mathew of Llandaff, and the [[Stradling Baronets|Stradlings]] of [[St Donats]].

The main industry of Glamorgan during this period was agriculture. In the upland, or ''Blaenau'' area, the hilly terrain along with many areas being densely wooded, made arable farming unprofitable, so the local farming concentrated on the rearing of horses, cattle and sheep.<ref name="Evans135">Evans, p.135</ref> The lowland, or ''Bro'' was devoted to more general branches of farming, cereal, grass for pasture, hay and stock raising. Non-agricultural industries were generally small scale, with some shallow coal pits, [[fulling|fulling mills]], weaving and pottery-making.<ref name="Evans135"/> The main heavy industry of note during this period was copper smelting, and this was centred on the towns of Swansea and Neath.<ref name="Davies168">Davies (2008), p.168</ref> Although copper had been mined in Wales since the Bronze Age, it was not until non-[[ferrous]] metalworking became a major industry in the late 17th century that Glamorgan saw a concentration of works appearing in a belt between [[Kidwelly]] and Port Talbot.<ref name="Davies168"/> Smelting of copper started around Neath under the [[Society of Mines Royal|Mines Royal Society]] {{Circa|1584}} but the scale of the works increased dramatically from the early 18th century when Swansea displaced Bristol as Britain's copper smelting capital.<ref name="Davies168"/> Easy access to Cornish ores and a local outcropping of coal near the surface, gave Swansea economic advantages in the smelting industry.

[[File:Old Beaupre Castle b&w, 2012.jpg|thumb|right|Beaupre Castle]]

Early iron smelting within Glamorgan was a localised and minor industry, with historical evidence pointing to scattered ironworks throughout the county. [[John Leland (antiquary)|John Leland]] mentions a works at [[Llantrisant]] in 1539, an operation in Aberdare existed during the reign of [[Edward VI of England|Edward VI]] and two iron furnaces were recorded as being set up by Sir W. Mathew in [[Radyr]] during the [[Elizabethan era]].<ref name="Wade80">Wade (1914), p.80</ref> By 1666 a furnace was in operation in [[Hirwaun]] and in 1680 a smelting hearth was established in [[Caerphilly]].<ref name="Wade80"/> Despite the existence of these industries, the scale of production was small, and in 1740 the total output of iron from Glamorgan was reported at 400 tons per year.<ref name="Wade81">Wade (1914), p.81</ref>

Glamorgan, now falling under the protection of the crown, was also involved in the conflicts of the crown. With the start of the [[First English Civil War]], there was little support from the Welsh for the Parliamentarians.<ref name="Davies146">Davies (2008), p.146</ref> Glamorgan sent troops to join [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] at the [[Battle of Edgehill]], and their Member of Parliament [[Sir Edward Stradling, 2nd Baronet|Sir Edward Stradling]] was captured in the conflict.<ref>{{cite book |last=Williams |first=David |title=A Short History of Modern Wales |year=1961 |publisher=John Murray (Publishers) Ltd. |location=London |page=36|edition=third }}</ref> In the [[Second English Civil War]], the war came to Glamorgan at the [[Battle of St Fagans]] (1648), where the [[New Model Army]] overcame a larger [[Cavalier|Royalist]] to prevent a siege of Cardiff.<ref name="Davies146"/>

====Buildings, 1536–1750====
The period between the Laws in Wales Acts and the industrialisation of Glamorgan saw two distinct periods architecturally. From the 1530s throughout to 1650, the newly empowered gentry attempted to show their status by building stately homes to show their wealth; but the period from 1650 through to the mid-1750s was a fallow time for architectural grandeur, with few new wealthy families moving to the area. Of the eight major gentry houses of the time only [[St Fagans Castle]] survives with its interior intact; five, Neath Abbey, [[Old Beaupre Castle]], [[Oxwich Castle]], Llantrithyd and [[Ruperra Castle]] are ruinous.<ref name="Newman52">Newman (1995), p. 52.</ref> Of the remaining two manors, The Van at Caerphilly was reconstructed in 1990 while Cefnmabli was gutted by a fire in 1994.<ref name="Newman52"/> The old castles became abandoned throughout this period due to the new security brought by Glamorgan coming under the protection of the crown, with only the Stradlings of [[St Donat's Castle]] electing to remain in their old ancestral home.<ref name="Newman51"/>

By the 17th century, the availability of fine building stone permitted the construction of high-quality lime-washed rural cottages and farmhouses in the Vale of Glamorgan, which drew favourable remarks from travellers. A Glamorgan [[yeoman]] of the time generally lived in greater comfort than his contemporaries of the more westerly or upland parts of Wales such as [[Ceredigion|Cardiganshire]] or north [[Carmarthenshire]].<ref>Jenkins (1992), p.26</ref>

====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>

====Buildings of note 1750–1920====
The industrial period of Glamorgan saw a massive building program throughout the uplands and in the coastal regions, reflecting the increasing population and the need for new cheap housing to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of workers coming into the area. As the towns urbanised and the hamlets became villages, the trappings of modern life were reflected in the buildings required to sustain new and growing communities. The period saw the appearance, not only of the works and pits themselves, but of the [[terrace house]] or miners cottage, railway stations, hospitals, churches, chapels, bridges, viaducts, stadiums, schools, universities, museums and workingmen's halls.

As well as the architecture of Glamorgan entering [[modern architecture|modernity]], there was also a reflection to the past, with some individuals who made the most from the booming industrial economy restoring symbols of the past, building [[folly|follies]] and commissioning [[Gothic architecture|Gothic-style]] additions to ancient churches. [[Robert Lugar]]'s [[Cyfarthfa Castle]] in Merthyr (1825) and the late 19th century additions to [[Cardiff Castle]], designed by [[William Burges]], exemplify how Gothic was the favoured style for rich industrialists and entrepreneurs.<ref name="Davies, p.33">Davies (2008), p.33</ref> [[Greek Revival architecture]], popularised in France and Germany in the late 18th century, was used for a number of public and educational buildings in Wales including the [[Swansea Museum|Royal Institution of South Wales]] in Swansea (1841) and [[Bridgend]] Town Hall (1843).<ref name="Davies, p.33"/>

In 1897, Cardiff Corporation acquired land from the [[John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute|Marquess of Bute]] with the intention of erecting buildings to meet the administrative, legal and educational needs of Glamorgan's county town. From 1901 onwards, [[Cathays Park]] was developed into "possibly the finest... [[civic centre]] in Britain" with a range of public buildings including the [[Baroque architecture|Baroque]] [[Cardiff City Hall|City Hall]] and the [[rococo]]-style [[Cardiff University|University College]].<ref>Davies (2008), p.126</ref>

The majority of [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|Nonconformist]] chapels were built in the 19th century. They progressed from simple, single-storey designs to larger and more elaborate structures, most built in the [[classical architecture|classical]] style.<ref name="Davies, p.34">Davies (2008), p.34</ref> Perhaps the most ambitious chapel was John Humphrey's [[Morriston Tabernacle]] (1872), incorporating Classical, [[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque]] and Gothic elements,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://treboethhistorygroup.110mb.com/districtsandplaces/morristonpages/17tabernaclechapel.html|last=Williams|first=Ivor|title=Morriston|publisher=Treboeth History Group|access-date=12 January 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120220060718/http://treboethhistorygroup.110mb.com/districtsandplaces/morristonpages/17tabernaclechapel.html|archive-date=20 February 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> which has been called the 'Noncomformist Cathedral of Wales'.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.llgc.org.uk/ardd/pensaeri/arch010.htm|title=The Architecture of Wales – Religious Architecture|publisher=The National Library of Wales|access-date=10 January 2010|location=Aberystwyth|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100310065040/http://www.llgc.org.uk/ardd/pensaeri/arch010.htm|archive-date=10 March 2010}}</ref>

Industrial architecture tended to be functional, although some structures, such as the four-storey engine house at [[Cyfarthfa Ironworks]] (1836), were built to impress. Coal mining eventually became the dominant industry in Glamorgan and tall [[Headframe|winding towers]] – originally made of timber or cast iron, later steel – became symbolic icons.<ref name="Davies, p.34"/>

====Late-period Glamorgan, 1920–1974====
After the First World War, there was an initial drop in coal and iron production, there was still enough demand to push the coalfields to their limits, helped by events such as the American coal miners' strike. Cardiff Docks reached an exporting peak in 1923, but soon production fell and unemployment in the upland valleys began to increase at a dramatic rate.<ref name="Davies p.156">Davies (2008), p. 156</ref> Between April 1924 and August 1925 the unemployment rate amongst South Wales miners jumped from 1.8% to 28.5%.<ref name="Davies p.156"/> Several factors came together to cause this collapse, including the over-valuation of sterling, the end of the coal subsidy, the growth of electric power,<ref name="Jenkins, p.366">Jenkins (1992), p.366</ref> the adoption of oil as the fuel of choice for many industries, and over-expansion of the mines in the late nineteenth century.<ref name="Davies p.156"/> The Welsh coal owners had failed to invest mechanisation during the good years, and by the 1930s the South Wales Coalfield had the lowest productivity, highest production costs and smallest profits of all Britain's coal-producing regions.<ref name="Jenkins, p.366"/>

These structural problems were followed by the [[1926 United Kingdom general strike|General Strike of 1926]] and then most disastrously the [[Great Depression in the United Kingdom|interwar depression]] of 1929–1931, which changed the face of industrial Glamorgan forever. In 1932, Glamorgan had an unemployment rate of more than 40 per cent, and one of the highest proportions of people receiving poor relief in the United Kingdom.<ref>Jenkins (1992), p.368</ref> This was a contrast with relatively recent prosperity: for example, in 1913 unemployment in Merthyr was below 2 per cent and the borough had 24,000 miners. By 1921, the number of employed miners had fallen to 16,000, and in 1934, it was down to 8,000.<ref>Jenkins (1992), p.367</ref>

Steel production was no less depressed than the coal industry. The inter-war years saw the closure of the old Cyfarthfa and Dowlais works, as steel-making became increasingly concentrated in the coastal belt. Both the coal and steel industries were increasingly dominated by large amalgamations, such as [[Powell Duffryn]] and [[Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds]]. The smaller companies progressively disappeared.<ref>Morgan (1982), p.217</ref>

Glamorgan suffered disproportionately during the Great Depression because of the high proportion of its workforce employed in [[Primary sector of the economy|primary production]] rather than the manufacture of finished products. Other parts of Britain began to recover as domestic demand for consumer products picked up, but unemployment in the South Wales Valleys continued to rise: the jobless rate in Merthyr reached 47.5 per cent in June 1935. However, the coastal ports, Cardiff and Swansea, managed to sustain a "reasonable" level of economic activity,<ref>Morgan (1982), p.212</ref> and the [[anthracite]] coalfield in western Glamorgan (and eastern Carmarthenshire) also managed to maintain production and exports above pre-war levels.<ref>Morgan (1982), p.215</ref>

With the outbreak of World War II the coalfields of Glamorgan saw a sharp rise in trade and employment. Despite the demand the want for the youth to conscript in the war effort in the valley areas meant that there was a shortage of workers to run the mines; this in turn saw the introduction of the [[Bevin Boys]], workers conscripted to work in the mines. During the war both [[Cardiff Blitz|Cardiff]] and [[Swansea Blitz|Swansea]] were targets for German air attacks due to their important docks.

====Buildings and structures, 1920–1974====
[[File:Hayes Point.jpg|thumb|Sully Hospital, now apartments]]

After the First World War, Glamorgan, as was typical for Britain as a whole, entered a period of modernity, which saw buildings built and designed for [[Functionalism (architecture)|functionality]] rather than splendour with period features watered down.<ref name="Davies35">Davies (2008), p.35</ref> As the century progressed, symbols of the past industrial period were torn down and replaced with industrial estates populated by unadorned geometric factories. With concrete becoming the favourite post-war building material, larger office blocks began appearing within the cities, though few were of any architectural significance.

Despite entering a fallow period of architectural design, several structures of note did emerge. Although work began in 1911, [[National Museum Cardiff|The National Museum of Wales]] (Smith and Brewer) was not completed until 1927 due to the First World War. Designed to reflect sympathetically in dimensions with its neighbouring city hall, the dome-topped museum combines many architectural motifs with Doric columns at its facade, while internally a large entrance hall with stairs, landings and balconies. [[Percy Thomas]]' [[Swansea Guildhall|Guildhall]] in Swansea, an example of the [[modernist architecture|'stripped modernist']] style completed in 1936, was described as "Wales' finest interwar building".<ref>Davies (2008), p.843</ref>

Although functionality often deprived a building of interest, [[Sully, Vale of Glamorgan#Sully Hospital|Sully Hospital]] (Pite, Son & Fairweather) is an example of a building which gained from its functional requirements. Initially built for tubercular patients, whose cure required the maximum amount of light and air,<ref>Newman (1995), p.575</ref> the functional architecture left a striking glass-fronted building, completed in 1936.<ref name="Davies35"/>

Another hospital to which functionalism was applied was the [[University Hospital of Wales]] (S.W. Milburn & Partners). Begun in the 1960s, and completed in 1971, the building is the third largest hospital in the United Kingdom and the largest in Wales.<ref>{{cite news|title=More hospital emergencies delays |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/6406895.stm|date=1 March 2007 |access-date=27 July 2010|work=BBC News}}</ref> It was designed to bring the care of patients, research and medical teaching together under one roof.<ref>Newman (1995), p.286</ref>

The demands of modern living saw the growth of housing estates throughout Glamorgan, moving away from the Victorian terrace of Cardiff or the ribbon cottages of the valleys. Several of these projects were failures architecturally and socially. Of note were the Billybanks estate in Penarth and [[Penrhys#Modern Penrhys|Penrhys Estate]] (Alex Robertson, Peter Francis & Partners) in the Rhondda, both described by [[Malcolm Parry]], the former Head of the School of Architecture at Cardiff University, as "...the worst examples of architecture and planning in Wales."<ref>{{cite web|title=Graffiti-covered and soulless – derelict Welsh flats are named one of UK's worst eyesores |url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2010/03/24/graffiti-covered-and-soulless-derelict-welsh-flats-are-named-one-of-uk-s-worst-eyesores-91466-26096371/|date=24 March 2007 |access-date=27 July 2010|publisher=WalesOnline}}</ref>