The Glamorganshire & Aberdare Canals Vol. 2 Pontypridd to Cardiff
Author: Stephen Rowson & Ian L. Wright
Price: £30.00
|
| QTY
|
 
|
| |
This second volume brings us on a journey south from Pontypridd to the
Sea Lock at Cardiff and once again, the authors have assembled a wealth
of historical data and superb illustrative material. The Glamorganshire
Canal, in particular, proved a source of great wealth to its promoters
and some of those who used it. Restricted by Parliamentary Act as to how
much of a dividend it could pay its shareholders, for a number of years
the canal proprietors found themselves in the position of having to pay
back some of the carrying charges to the freighters. On other occasions,
they restricted profits by having periods of free usage of the waterway.
Rarely can a transport enterprise have found itself in such a position,
a result of its own success.
Whilst this second volume, by definition, deals mostly with the
Glamorganshire Canal, there are chapters which are common to both canals
– on aspects of maintenance, the boatmen, the locks and especially the
boats. The Doctor’s Canal and Tramroad at Pontypridd is also covered in
detail and there are chapters too on the Patent Fuel industry and the
Glamorganshire Canal Railway. It is much enriched by the photographs of
Samuel Fox, whose legacy of over 250 images of the Glamorganshire,
mostly taken between North Road Lock and Nantgarw over a period of
nearly 50 years from the late 1890s, ensure that the life of the working
canal was recorded for posterity. Conversations recorded with the last
few working canalmen also help to add authoritative background colour to
the book.
Both the Aberdare and the Glamorganshire canals have been largely
obliterated but this two volume history now records their existence in
great detail and brings them back to life in a way many thought would
not be possible. Together they constitute what is, without doubt, the
finest canal history ever compiled.
The book is profusely illustrated with approximately 400 photographs,
maps, drawings and items of ephemera, and includes 8 pages in full
colour. There is a comprehensive index and detailed reference notes to
each chapter.
|
352 pp, 215mm x 275mm.
Printed on silk art paper, casebound with colour dust jacket. |
|
ISBN 1 903599 12 1
BLACK DWARF LIGHTMOOR
How to Order
- Home Page - Industry & Transport
Archive - Railway
Archive - Forest
of Dean
|
|