Tredegar

Tredegar town is situated in the county borough of Blaenau Gwent on the banks of the Sirhowy River. It is located in southeast Wales, 30 miles north of Cardiff and 156 miles west of London. The town has a total population of 9,473 according to the census of 2011 in the United Kingdom. The town of Tredegar is the birthplace Leader of Labour Party Neil Kinnock. Tredegar has been in presence for more than 200 years. The most well-known ironworks in Richmond, Virginia, United States was named after Tredegar town in England. The name of this iron work is The Tredegar Iron Works. For education of children, various schools in the town are Tredegar Grammar School, Glanhowy Primary School, St. Joseph’s R.C school, Deighton Primary School etc.

History

Samuel Homfray and his partners needed to develop an appropriate town to accommodate their workers. Lt. Col. Sir Charles Gould Morgan granted his land on the east side of the Sirhowy River on lease for building Tredegar Ironworks Company in 1799. Homfray married his daughter in 1800 and enhanced all the lease terms. Lord Tredegar owned the west bank of the river; hence it remained undeveloped for some time.

All those persons who wanted to operate in the Tredegar town, Samuel Homfray sold franchisees to them. Workers are paid in their currency so that they cannot use the currency outside the town. In a few years, the parish grew, and the horse carriages become the fastest mode of transport.

Tredegar town is also known for three major riots. The first riot occurred in 1868 as election riots; the second riot was anti- Irish riot in 1882 and the third riot were the anti-Jewish riots in the year 1911.

Governance

Tredegar town was the birthplace of the most famous person Aneurin Bevan. In 1920, Aneurin Bevan was associated with the management of Tredegar General Hospital. Aneurin Bevan also introduced British National Health Service (NHS). Neil Kinnock was also born in this town and from 1983 to 1992, he remains the leader of the labour party.

Michael Foot (Neil Kinnock predecessor as leader) was MP for local constituency. Once considered to be a Labour Party seat, Tredegar was ruled for a few years by Dai Davies, a left-wing independent until the general election of 2010.

Architecture

• Bedwellty House – It is a Grade II listed house in the town of Tredegar. It resides in the Sirhowy Valley in south-east Wales. It was built in the year 1818, but the owner donated the house to the public at the commencement of the 20th century. A Victorian garden surrounds the house without any gates. The Long Shelter is also a part of the Bedwellty House.
• Town Clock – The famous town clock of Tredegar town is located in the southern part of the town centre. The idea to build a clock tower was of Mrs R. P Davies, wife of the manager of Tredegar Ironworks. They donated £400 for the construction of this clock. JB Joyce & Co. made it. The clock tower is 72 feet high and is made of cast iron.

Industrialisations

The major development of Tredegar is due to getting natural resources from Sirhowy Valley. These resources are Iron ore, wood, power and coal. Pont Gwaith Yr Hearn was the first recorded ironworks in this valley. It was developed by two Bretons and men from Penydarren, and Merthyr Tydfil worked on it. Mr Kettle from Shropshire erected the Sirhowy Iron Works in 1750. Afterwards, it was sold to William Barrow and Thomas Atkinson in 1778 who developed it as the first coal-fired furnace.