The Glamorganshire and Aberdare Canals
by Stephen Rowson & Ian L. Wright
Price: £30.00
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| Volume 1 of a two volume history of these most interesting of waterways.
Whilst the Aberdare Canal mostly struggled throughout its 88 year existence,
the Glamorganshire Canal which it fed into was, for a time, financially the
most successful waterway in Britain. Although built on the cheap by the
Merthyr ironmasters, it was a triumph of design, a tribute to the ability of
its engineer Thomas Dadford. It qualifies as a contour canal, despite the
fact it rose some 568 feet in its 25.5 mile length but Dadford's genius was
not appreciated by his masters and he left the canal under a cloud. Sadly,
today almost all of the routes of both canals have been obliterated due to
pressure of space in the narrow valleys they occupied. Heavily illustrated,
with a wealth of maps, plans, paintings, prints and photographs, most of
which have not previously been published, this promises to be one of the
best canal histories ever compiled. Covered are the inception and building
of the canals; their architecture, bridges and water supply; the connecting
tramroads; the traffic carried; and the ironworks, mines, quarries and other
industries they served. Volume 1 covers the Glamorganshire from Merthyr down
to Pontypridd and the whole of the Aberdare Canal. The book concludes with
'A View from the Boat', which describes a journey down the Glamorganshire
from Merthyr to Abercynon in 1898 and from there to Pontypridd in 1914. A
down journey on the Aberdare Canal to Abercynon in 1898 is also described.
These are illustrated with a series of maps hand-drawn by Ian Wright, who
walked the whole of the canal in the 1940s in the company of a GCC boatman.
His interviews with ex- GCC men make him one of the last links with the
working canal! |
272 pages, 210mm x 275mm.
Printed on glossy art paper, over 300 maps & illustrations, some in colour. Casebound with colour dustjacket. |
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ISBN 1 9533028 9 X
BLACK DWARF LIGHTMOOR
How to Order
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Archive - Railway
Archive - Forest of Dean
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