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Formation of Wealth

The Mansel-Talbots had, from an early date, involved themselves in industrial enterprises, granting numerous leases on their lands for iron and copper works and the extraction of coal, iron and limestone.

Glimpses of Margam Life 1830 - 1918

Where did the wealth come from?

The Mansel-Talbots had, from an early date, involved themselves in industrial enterprises, granting numerous leases on their lands for iron and copper works and the extraction of coal, iron and limestone. Hence non-agricultural profits rose dramatically during the nineteenth century as industrial activity increased, and payments came from sleeping and surface rents, wayleaves and the royalties paid on minerals extracted by estate tenants and lessees. The land agents were expected to direct and supervise this expansion, which involved them in the negotiation of leases, the collection of rents and royalties, legal wrangles and the mountains of correspondence that ensued from such dealings. However, officials such as Edward Daniel, inspector of mines on the Margam estate, could be relied upon for expert guidance in their particular fields.

Early in 1833 John Vigurs was constructing a copper works at Cwmavon, much to the annoyance of Talbot, who informed his agent that he, along with other landowners in the vicinity of this copper works, would object to the nuisance, and particularly to the building of a high chimney that would throw the noxious fumes further away. Vigurs insisted that the smoke would only be one-tenth of that issued from the works of the English Copper Company at Taibach, but Talbot was obviously not satisfied, and intimated that the works would be stopped if any damage was done. His agent observed “if you can buy him off for £15,000 you’ll be lucky.” Vigurs fell foul of the estate again when he was fined for taking stones from the river Afan, and had to pay a considerably increased rental for extracting water from the river.

Talbot purchased the Taibach works of the English Copper Company in June 1838, only to sell it by auction later in the year. Advertisements were placed in the press, catalogues printed, and the sale was conducted by Mr Mat. Whittington. The works became the property of Messrs. Vivian and Sons, whose purchases prior to the sale included the Goytre tramroad, valued by Edward Daniel at almost four hundred pounds. A further payment is recorded in the estate accounts for 1841: ‘Mr. Vivian, priced agreed to be paid for the steam engine at the rolling mill at the Margam Copper Works and machinery attached thereto, £1,500.’ When the English Copper Company left the district they surrendered their leases for mining coal in the Afan valley at Mynydd Bychan and Cwm Evan Bach to the Margam estate, and these were transferred to the newly formed Oakwood Coal and Iron Company. In consequence Messrs. Vivian were forced to rely on the colliery at Brombil for coal, and this eventually supplied three fifths of the requirements of the Taibach works.

On the advice of Edward Daniel, Messrs. Vivian later developed the Morfa Colliery, the first coal from which was raised in 1849, despite initial geological problems. By the mid 1860’s production averaged 150,000 tons and annual shipments from the Vivian wharf at Port Talbot docks reached a peak of over 65,000 tons.

In 1829 a coal seam 3 – 4ft. thick was discovered in close proximity to the proposed new mansion, and a year later fifty pounds was allocated for driving and timbering a level in Cwm Philip. Coal was also worked on a small scale at the park level in 1841 – 2, and William Jenkins was paid for raising 771 bags at 4d. per bag. Between 1866 and 1873 substantial income was derived from mining royalties, the Bryndu Coal Company extracting 751,793 tons of coal from the Cefn and Bryndu collieries and paying 9d. a ton to the Margam estate, while in 1872 Messrs. Vivian paid 6d. a ton for coal from the Goytre and Morfa collieries, a similar amount for blackband iron ore, and 4d. a ton for clay. A surface rent for land damaged or occupied by mineral working was levied at 30/- per acre, and under the terms of lease coal was supplied to Talbot at a subsidised rate of 5/- per ton. Wayleaves provided a further source of estate income, and R.B. Byass and Co., quarrymen, paid 2d. and 3d. a ton respectively for working limestone at Stormy and Pantmawr.

By the year ending in March 1903 rent, royalties and wayleaves were producing an income of £39,453 for Miss Talbot, showing an increase of almost £5,000 in two years. This growth was attributed to increased working of minerals by Christmas Evans at Penllwyngwent, Gibbs and North’s collieries, Spencer and Williams’ mines at Cefn Gelli, the rents of the Celluloid Works and Port Talbot Steelworks, and increasing ground rents, a result of urban spread.

Docks: 

In 1834 a company was formed by C.R.M. Talbot and a group of local entrepreneurs to construct a new dock near Taibach to meet the needs of the rapidly expanding local industries and to improve shipping facilities. The previous summer Talbot had examined plans for the proposed harbour, submitted by a Mr. Price which, if executed, would give a greater depth of water than at Neath or Swansea and which anticipated a large coal trade in a few years’ time. There was initial opposition from the proprietors of the English Copper Company, but by May 1834 they had taken shares to the value of £6,500, while John Vigurs had taken £1,000 and Thomas Reynolds £200. An Act of Parliament which was given the Royal assent in June 1834 authorised the constitution of the Aberavon Harbour Company, the widening and deepening of the river Afan, and the cutting of a new channel to give an improved passage to shipping. Further acts of 1834 and 1836 granted extended powers, and under the terms of the latter act the new harbour was to be called Port Talbot in honour of the Talbots of Margam. The new dock, or ‘Float’, so called because vessels were afloat at all states of the tide, was excavated on the marshy ground through which the river had formerly flowed, and cost in excess of £100,000. Griffith Llewellyn, writing to Talbot, expected the lock, claimed to be the largest in the Bristol Channel, to be completed by May 1837. Two months prior to this date, a small vessel, the Union, master John Arnold, sailed about half a mile up the channel and discharged safely.

Work continued for a number of years, but not without incident, for in September 1838 a break of approximately 40ft. occurred in the embankment alongside the lock, and flooded it and the channel. The gates on the south side of the lock were forced under water and their upper portions were completely destroyed, this leading to a request from Griffith Llewellyn to cut down three large oaks from the Great Wood for their renewal. Later in the year the masonry of the lock cracked, a result of pressure from the puddling clay, with the possibility that this movement would affect the walls on which the gates hung. One hundred and ninety navigators were still employed in the summer of 1839; a year later there was 18ft. of water over the bar and 13ft. at Messrs. Vigurs’ wharf on the Aberavon new river. Work continued excavating at the harbour entrance and breakwater, eventually completed in 1841.

By an act obtained in 1865 the lock was lengthened and the breakwater extended, by following the liquidation of the English Copper Company a few years later, only minor improvements were undertaken for the next thirty years, and the dock facilities became totally inadequate. The port was unable to handle large ocean-going vessels, and those carrying copper were forced to berth at Swansea, after which the ore was transported on smaller vessels to the Vivian wharf.

Hence in 1890 steps were taken to promote a public company to improve the docks so that they could accommodate the needs of modern vessels, while a group of colliery proprietors formulated elaborate plans to provide a railway to tap the vast resources of the neighbouring coalfield. Practically all the loan and share capital of the Port Talbot Dock Company had been inherited by Emily Charlotte Talbot, and she agreed to the formation of the Port Talbot Railway and Dock Company, permission fio which was granted under an Act of Parliament of 1894. The new company, with an authorised capital of £600,000, embarked on an ambitious programme, constructing new locks, a breakwater and an enclosed dock of 24 acres, capable of accommodating large vessels. Mr. McConochie, consultant engineer to Miss Talbot, supervised construction in the early years, and following his death, Mr. Walter Meek took over, the civil engineering being undertaken by Sir S. Pearson and Sons. The new dock was completed in 1898.

In May 1899 the Rio Tinto copper trade was estimated at 40,000 tons per annum, and this, which had been dealt with via Swansea, was now secured by Port Talbot. The steamship Rosslyn discharged 912 tons of precipitate and 234 tons of matte in record time, and the ore was delivered direct to the works by the company’s trains. A further boost to the import trade was 60,000 tons of iron ore each year for the Cefn Iron Works. Port Talbot, by virtue of its situation, also had the advantage of railway rates over the ports of Cardiff, Barry and Swansea, of not less than 4d. per ton from the Garw valley, 7d. per ton from North’s Navigation Collieries, 3 ½d. per ton from the Ogmore Collieries, and 3 - 5d. per ton from the Upper Rhondda valley. The exports of coal, coke and associated products rose dramatically, from 16,000 tons in 1890 to almost two and a quarter million tons by 1913. The port, formerly regarded as a creek of Swansea, came of age with the granting of independent status in 1904.

Railways: 

Talbot was a pioneer in the introduction of railways to South Wales, and he was chairman and major shareholder in the South Wales Railway. When, in 1849, the proposed line was halted for lack of funds, he provided the whole of the capital needed to complete the project (estimated at £500,000), and actively encouraged friends and associates to invest in the venture.

In June 1850 the line was complete from the outskirts of Swansea to Hagloe, twelve miles from Gloucester, from which point communication with Gloucester was by the Forest of Dean Railway, and on the morning of June 16th Talbot, his fellow directors, distinguished guests and chief engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel set forth from Chepstow on the seventy-five mile journey to the western terminus at Swansea. At the eight stations en route there were cheering crowds, a profusion of banners, triumphal arches and the customary addresses by civic dignitaries, to which Talbot responded. Further to mark this auspicious occasion, ships in the ports of Chepstow, Newport, Cardiff, Port Talbot, Neath and Swansea were gaily decked with bunting, while a great influx of visitors, estimated at 20,000, thronged the streets of Swansea, and spectators covered the local hills and every vantage point to witness the historic event. In addition, over five hundred people had sailed from Port Talbot on board the steamer Talbot to join the festivities. The train arrived shortly after one o’clock, having completed the journey in four hours, and the directors, their guests and their families, and local dignitaries, numbering over seven hundred, were entertained to a lavish breakfast provided by the Mayor and Borough of Swansea in a marquee on the Burrows.   

Numerous toasts and speeches were made, and Talbot replied to a toast on behalf of the directors by saying that they had that day completed the first stage of their magnificent enterprise – an enterprise which had called into play all their patience and perseverance and all they money that could be commanded. He considered the event a great day for Wales, urged his fellow countrymen to ‘travel, travel, travel’, and expressed his and his fellow directors’ desire and commitment to extend the line into Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire.

The return journey by special train to Chepstow was completed in three hours, and the joyful manifestations of the earlier part of the day were repeated at each station. (As a special concession, Talbot had a halt sited between Margam and Pyle for his own convenience). The following September the line to Gloucester was opened, although passengers were conveyed to the other side of the bridge at Chepstow by omnibus; the journey to London was reduced to a little over six hours. Chepstow bridge was opened in July 1852, and three months later the 30 mile section from Landore to Carmarthen was opened, while the line was completed through to Haverfordwest in January 1854.

When the South Wales Railway merged with the Great Western Railway in 1863. Talbot became a director and induced the board to purchase the Vale of Neath Railway. He was unsuccessful in a similar plan for the absorption of the Chester-Birkenhead line, but he purchased the whole of the share capital, thereby acquiring a highly profitable investment. He was principal proprietor of the Great Western Hotel, Paddington, and invested approximately £40,000 a year in railway shares, while at the time of his death the value of his holdings of Great Western Railway stock was estimated at £1,000,000.

 

The Copper Problem:

Industrialisation brought problems too, not least the poisonous, choking copper fumes and their effect upon man and his environment; one writer, when describing the Taibach works, observed that the smoke ascended not only in ‘volumes’, but in ‘encyclopaedias’. In 1865 Gerstenhofer furnaces were introduced at the works and two-thirds of the toxic fumes were converted to sulphuric acid. Approximately 30 tons per week were produced, in lead-lined chambers, and utilised with other compounds. About 60 tons of superphosphates and bone manures were produced weekly, and found a ready market in the district as high quality agricultural fertiliser.

However, the fumes from the Cwmavon works remained a constant problem, especially in the early 1890’s, when the Margam tenants were complaining of their adverse effects on soils, crops and livestock. Experts employed by Miss Talbot examined soil samples, hay and the viscera of sheep from various parts of the estate, and found that the area was contaminated, and the high mortality of sheep and other animals was a consequence of the toxic fumes. In 1893 an injunction was obtained prohibiting the smelting of impure ores, and this partly alleviated the smoke nuisance. However, public meetings were held in Cwmavon to protect the livelihood of the workers, who formed processions, while over 3,000 inhabitants signed a petition supporting the Rio Tinto Company, who successfully defended themselves in court in 1895.

Towards the end of the century the smelting furnaces were removed to Spain, and the Cwmavon works were abandoned in 1906, though refining continued at a modern plant using copper precipitate at Port Talbot docks.

Lessees were often forced, through financial difficulties, to surrender their leases to the estate, and in 1895 James and William Wood had to return the Bryndu Coal and Coke Co. to Emily Charlotte Talbot, the lease having been granted three years at £4,000 per annum. Despite difficult geological conditions and increasing losses, the Bryndu Colliery was kept in production, ensuring the jobs of over 500 workmen. In his foreword to the estate accounts for 1911 – 1912, Godfrey Lipscomb wrote, “It is with deep regret that I have to report a further serious loss on the working of this colliery for the year ending 31st March 1911, which is £2,536 greater than that of last year, when 98,411 tons of coal was produced. This year 132,159 tons was produced, giving an increase of 34,000 tons, but the cost has been so high that the undertaking so far has not benefited from increased output.” Work ceased the following year, and the agent was unable to sell it as a going concern, although pumping to prevent the flooding of adjacent pits was to continue for a number of years. The loss for 1909 – 1912 was almost £50,000, the total loss to Miss Talbot being double that figure.

 

 

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