Authors: D.D. & J.M. Gladwin
Publisher: Oakwood Press
ISBN: 0853614121
Price: S/H copies available from about £5-£10 depending on condition and edition
Publication: October 1975
Series: Canal Histories
Number of pages: 112
Format: Softcover
How Obtained: Purchased
It is impossible to understand the development of early railways in South Wales without considering the role of the canal system. Many tramroads such as the famous Penydarren were built specifically to bring the products of ironworks to wharves for shipment by canal.
The Canals of the Welsh Valleys and their Tramroads (Camlasau’r Cymoedd a’u Dramfyrdd) provides an overview of the canals built in South Wales during the final four decades of the eighteenth century and the first two decades of the nineteenth. Written by D.D. and J.M. Gladwin it was first published in 1975 by Oakwood Press as Volume 3 of their Canal Histories. However, this review, is of the extended and revised 1991 edition.
A concise history of the canals in South Wales
The opening, and largest, chapter covers the major canals in the South Wales valleys in alphabetical order. A short section outlines the minor canals, which were often early examples or very short in length. The next two chapters deal with the canal tramroads and the relics which still remained at the time of publication. A final chapter, intriguingly titled ‘Future Infinitive’ deals with the relics of the canals themselves and the efforts to restore them to working order.
It must be remembered that the book is now over thirty years old. A miscellany of four appendices deals with aspects not found in the main text and there is a useful list of References.
Tramroads were essential to feed traffic on the canals
Most of the Acts of Parliament authorizing the building of canals allowed the company to compulsory purchase land to build associated tramroads. The importance of this to the Welsh valleys was clear. While the canals occupied areas close to the valley bottom, pits and ironworks were frequently sited much further up the steep sides of narrow valleys.
Such was the nature of the Penydarren tramroad which transported iron from the major companies around Merthyr and Dowlais to wharves at Navigation House (now Abercynon). This was the route of Trevithick’s world changing locomotive journey in 1804. Relatively quickly the evolving rail system overtook the canals as the primary form of bulk transport, with at least one, the Monmouthshire Canal Company, transforming itself into a railway and changing its name in the process.
In a small volume of 112 pages there is only room for Gladwin and Gladwin to deal with the basic historical outline of the canals. Unfortunately, where they depart from these facts the information can become unfocussed. For example, on page 7 they write of the ‘unyielding, recalcitrant granite of Wales’. True of North Wales but granite is almost unknown in the valleys of Sout Wales! Similarly a characterization of the valleys as being a grim and inhospitable land, while true in parts seems to play into lazy stereotypes rather than reflecting reality.
In Summary
A handy compact introduction to the canals and their associated tramroads. But beware that the book is now over thirty years old and, sadly, development has erased even more of the ‘relics’ detailed.
The Good
- Concise presentation of the main historical facts about South Wales valley canals and their associated tramroads
- Well illustrated with photographs, engravings and bespoke maps showing the location and features of each canal and major tramroad route
- Provides the reader with an insight into the relationship between the canals and early rail transport
The Not So Good
- Some of the background information is of uncertain quality and subjective in content
- Size constraints means that the reader will have to look elsewhere for greater detail of the life of individual canals
- Even the later edition of the book is now over thirty years old which means the relics described may have disappeared
Outline Contents
- Introduction
- Major Canals
- Minor Canals
- Canal Tramroads
- Tramoad Relics
- Future Infinitive
- The Neath Canal
- The Fourteen Locks Scheme
- Newport Gas Works
- Statistics
About the Authors
David Gladwin is the authour of numerous books on the canal and tram systems of Britain both individually and in collaboration with Joyce Gladwin.
Related Reviews
The History of the Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company by Aubrey Byles
A Description of the Faults or Dykes of the Mineral Basin of South Wales by George Overton