The Blaenavon Railroad was a horse drawn tramroad built to link Blaenavon Ironworks with the Monmouthshire Canal in south east Wales.[1]
Background
editIn 1789 most of the building of Blaenavon Ironworks had been completed and the lease for the land was signed in November.[2] At this time transport of goods between Blaenavon and Newport was by teams of packhorses and mules using hillside tracks and parish roads.[3]
A more efficient method of transport was needed and Thomas Hill I, the leading partner behind the ironworks, became one of the promoters of the Monmouthshire Canal.[4] In 1791 a parliamentary bill proposed the canal and was given assent in 1792. The Canal Act also allowed for the building of tramroads to nearby collieries, quarries, and mines.[3]
Construction
editThe newly formed Monmouthshire Canal Company appointed Thomas Dadford, Jr. as engineer for both the canal and tramroad.[5] Construction started in 1793 and the tramroad/canal link to the port of Newport opened in February 1796.[6][7]
The tramroad was originally built with a 3 ft 4 in (1,016 mm) gauge. The route to the canal at Pontnewynydd was 5 miles (8.0 km) and descended 600 feet (180 m).[6]
Closure
editIn 1845 the Monmouthshire Canal Company obtained an Act of Parliament to improve the Blaenavon Railroad and connect it to a new railway to Newport under the control of a new company, the Newport and Pontypool Railway.[8] The completed 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) gauge line opened in 1854, replacing the tramroad.[9]
Remains
editVery little evidence of the tramroad is visible but an iron milepost exists on the road that was once the route of the tramroad.[10]
References
edit- ^ Rattenbury, Gordon (1977). "The Cwm Ffrwd Rail Road". Gwent Local History (42): 12. Retrieved 15 April 2016 – via Welsh Journals Online at the National Library of Wales.
- ^ a b Barber, Chris (1999). Eastern Valley - The Story of Torfaen (1st ed.). Abergavenny: Blorenge Books. p. 193. ISBN 1 872730 23 X. OCLC 43459623.
- ^ Wakelin 2011, pp. 5, 8.
- ^ Barber 1999, pp. 194–5.
- ^ a b Barber 1999, p. 195.
- ^ Wakelin 2011, p. 8.
- ^ Barber 1999, p. 201.
- ^ Cwmavon Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan (PDF) (Report). Torfaen County Borough Council. April 2011. p. 35. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
- ^ "Milepost, Abersychan". Historic Environment Record (HER). Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust (GGAT). PRN 03192g. Retrieved 15 April 2016 – via archwilio.org.uk (online database of the four Welsh Archaeological Trusts).