Neath and Tennant Canal
Encyclopedia
The Neath and Tennant Canals are two independent but linked canals in South Wales
that are usually regarded as a single canal. The Neath Canal was opened from Glynneath
to Melincryddan, to the south of Neath
, in 1795 and extended to Giants Grave in 1799, in order to provide better shipping facilities. Several small extensions resulted in in reaching its final destination at Briton Ferry
. No traffic figures are available, but it was successful, as dividends of 16 per cent were paid on the shares. The canal was 13.5 miles (21.7 km) long and included 19 locks.
The Tennant Canal was a development of the Glan-y-wern Canal, which was built across Crymlyn Bog
to transport coal from a colliery on its northern edge to a creek on the River Neath called Red Jacket Pill. It closed after 20 years, but was enlarged and extended by George Tennant in 1818, to provide a navigable link from the River Neath
to the River Tawe
at Swansea docks
. In order to increase trade, he built an extension to Aberdulais
basin, where it linked to the Neath Canal. The extension was built without an act of Parliament
and Tennant experienced a long delay while he attempted to resolve a dispute with a landowner over the routing of the canal. Once opened, much of the Neath traffic used the Tennant Canal, as Swansea provided better facilities for transferring cargo to ships.
Use of the canals for navigation ceased in the 1930s, but because they supplied water to local industries and to Swansea docks, they were retained as water channels. The first attempts at restoration began in 1974 with the formation of the Neath and Tennant Canals Society. The section north of Resolven
was restored in the late 1980s, and the canal from Neath to Abergarwed
has been restored more recently. This project involved the replacement of Ynysbwllog aqueduct, which carries the canal over the river Neath, with a new 35 yards (32 m) plate girder structure, believed to be the longest single-span aqueduct in Britain. Some obstacles remain to its complete restoration, but current thinking includes making it part of a small network by creating a link through Swansea docks to a restored Swansea Canal
.
to authorise the building of the Glamorganshire Canal
, a meeting took place at the Ship & Castle public house in Neath on 12 July 1790, which resolved to build a canal from Pontneddfechan to Neath, and another from Neath to Giant's Grave. Among those attending was Lord Vernon, who had already built a short canal near Giant's Grave to connect the River Neath to furnaces at Penrhiwtyn. Thomas Dadford
was asked to survey a course, and he was assisted in this task by his father and brother. He proposed a route which required 22 locks, part of which was a conventional canal, while other parts used the River Neath
. Dadford costed the project at £25,716, but in early 1791, Lord Vernon's agent, Lewis Thomas, proposed two new cuts, and the idea of using the river was dropped soon afterwards.
The canal was authorised by an Act of Parliament passed on 6 June 1791, which created The Company and Proprietors of the Neath Canal Navigation, who had powers to raise £25,000 by the issuing of shares, and an additional £10,000 if necessary. As well as building the canal, the Canal Company could build inclined planes
, railways or rollers if required, and could optionally use the bed of the River Neath. The canal was to run from Glynneath, (called Abernant at the time), which was not so far up the valley as Pontneddfechan, to Melincryddan Pill at Neath, where it would join the river. Thomas Dadford
was employed as Engineer, and construction started from Neath
, northwards towards Glynneath. The canal had reached the River Neath at Ynysbwllog by 1792, when Dadford resigned to take up work on the Monmouthshire Canal. He was replaced by Thomas Sheasby
, who failed to complete the canal by the November 1793 deadline given to him, and was arrested in 1794 for irregularities in the accounts of the Glamorganshire Canal
. The canal company completed the building work by 1795, using direct labour, although the lock into the river was never built. Rebuilding of locks and other improvements continued to be made for several years afterwards.
There was no immediate pressure to extend the canal to Giants Grave, as access to Neath for coastal vessels of up to 200 LT had been improved in 1791 by the construction of the Neath Navigable Cut. However, a second Neath Canal Act was passed on 26 May 1798, to authorise an extension of about 2.5 miles (4 km) to Giants Grave, where better facilities for transferring goods to sea-going vessels were available. Thomas Dadford again surveyed the route, but Edward Price from Gofilon acted as engineer. This part of the canal was financed by Lord Vernon, although he was also paid £600 for his Penrhiwtyn canal, which became part of the main line. The extension was completed on 29 July 1799, and terminated at a basin close to Giants Grave Pill. Flood gates on the canal enabled water to be released into the pill to scour it of silt. The total cost of the project was about £40,000, which included 19 locks and a number of access tramways. Between 1815 and 1842, additional docks and wharfs were built at Giants Grave, extending the length slightly, and the canal was extended to Briton Ferry
by the construction of the Jersey Canal in 1832, which was about 0.6 mile (0.965604 km) long, and was built without an Act of Parliament by the Earl of Jersey. Another short extension was made around 1842. The final length of the canal was 13.5 miles (21.7 km).
From the northern terminus, a tramway connected the canal to iron works at Aberdare
and Hirwaun
. This was built in 1803, and included an incline just north of Glynneath, which was powered by a high-pressure Trevithick steam engine. The Tappenden brothers had bought into the iron industry in 1802, and built the tramway because of high tolls on the Glamorganshire Canal, but by 1814 they were bankrupt, and had no further connections with the canal.
, which was normally extracted by scouring. This caused problems for the canal, as silt was deposited in the feeders and the top pounds
. The Fox family, who were based at Neath Abbey
, but who were scouring ironstone further up the valley, agreed to construct a new feeder in 1807 to mitigate the problem. Protests made to the Tappendens, who were scouring at Pen-rhiw and Cwm Gwrelych were less successful. As the pounds were silting up, the company took legal action in 1811, which found in their favour, recognising that the canal would soon be useless unless something was done.
Trade steadily grew. Three small private branches were built to serve the industries of the valley. Near the top of the canal, a branch was constructed in 1800, which ran towards Maesmarchog, and was connected to collieries by nearly 1 miles (1.6 km) of tramroad. At Aberclwyd, a branch built in 1817 served the Cnel Bach limekiln which was situated on the river bank. Below Neath, a 550 yards (502.9 m) branch left the main line at Court Sart to connect to a tramroad serving the collieries at Eskyn. Although there are no figures for the tonnage carried, apart from a mention of 90,000 tons of coal in 1810, receipts increased from £2,117 in 1800 to £6,677 in 1830. Subscribers had paid a total of £107.50 for their shares, and dividends were paid from 1806, rising from £2.00 in 1806 to £18.00 in 1840. Based on the receipts, it has been estimated that some 200,000 tons of coal were carried when trade was at its peak, supplemented by iron, ironstone and fire clay
.
Facilities at Giants Grave improved, and included jetties to enable ships' ballast to be landed and dumped, rather than being thrown overboard. This latter approach had caused problems at Newport
for the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal, where ballast had been thrown into the river, and at Cardiff
for the Glamorganshire Canal
, where it had been thrown into the canal basin. Efforts were also made to improve the facilities at Neath. From 1818, a Harbour Board was established, and banks of copper slag
, marked with buoys, were used to confine the channel. This enabled ships of over 300 tons to reach Neath quays on spring tides
, although Giants Grave still had to be used on neap tides. From 1824, when the connection to the Tennant Canal opened, much of the trade crossed the river and passed down the western bank to the port of Swansea
.
on the wharves at Red Jacket and on the barges, and it became disused.
George Tennant incorporated the southern section into his Tennant Canal. The northern branch over the Crymlyn Bog was derelict by 1918. It branches northwards in Crymlyn Burrows
and terminates at the Crymlyn Bog
nature reserve, now a Site of Special Scientific Interest
(SSSI).
, moved to the area in 1816, after he had bought the Rhydings estate. The Glan-y-wern Canal was unused at the time, following Lord Vernon's distraint
, but Tennant, who had no previous experience with canals, decided to lease it, enlarge it and extend it. He planned to make it suitable for barges of 30 long ton, which would gain access to the river Neath through a lock at Red Jacket. Where the canal turned northwards across Crymlyn Bog, he would extend it to the west, to terminate at a lock into the River Tawe
, near Swansea harbour. He believed that Swansea docks would provide a better shipping point than Neath or Giants Grave, and hoped that the canal would encourage the development of the corridor through which it ran. He attempted to gain support for the scheme from local landowners, but when none was forthcoming, he decided to fund the project himself. Lord Vernon's estate had been inherited by the Earl of Jersey in 1814, and so Tennant leased the Glan-y-wern Canal from him.
Work started in 1817, under the direction of the engineer William Kirkhouse, and the canal was completed by the autumn of 1818, running from near the east pier on the River Tawe at Swansea to the River Neath at Red Jacket. The canal was built to a grander scale than originally intended, and could be navigated by barges of 50 LT. The main line was 4 miles (6.4 km) long, and the 1.4 miles (2.3 km) branch to Glan-y-wern was also reopened, for it supplied regular cargos of coal. Other products carried included timber, bark, fire-bricks and sand, but the volume of goods carried was insufficient to make a profit. He negotiated with the Neath Canal, who gave him permission for build a lock into the river from their canal, either at Giants Grave or Court Sart pill, but the idea of working canal boats across a tidal river was not ideal, and he did not build the lock.
Instead, he decided to build an extension to link up with the Neath Canal basin at Aberdulais. Again he sought support from local landowners, including Lord Jersey, Lord Dynevor and the Duke of Beaufort
, but again none was forthcoming. He decided to build it as a private canal, without an Act of Parliament, and work started in 1821. Engineering problems were experienced near Neath Abbey, where a 500 yards (457.2 m) cutting was required through what appeared to be quicksand. Eventually, an inverted masonry arch had to be built to contain the canal and stop the sand collapsing. The lack of an act to authorise the canal proved to be a problem in April 1821, when L. W. Dillwyn refused permission to allow Tennant to cut through his land to pass under the Swansea road. In February 1822, Dillwyn obtained an injunction against Tennant, who then attempted to change Dillwyn's opinion by sending a stream of important people to argue his case. Finally, in the autumn, Tennant offered the Neath Canal terms for the use of the junction which were so favourable to them that they accepted. Dillwyn, who was a Neath Canal shareholder, was sent a conciliatory letter and eventually agreed to negotiate with Tennant, whom he described as "that terrible plague Mr. Tennant." The final section included the only lock on the main line, which was followed by a 340 feet (103.6 m) ten-arched aqueduct across the River Neath, and the junction with the Neath Canal. The total length of the canal, when it was opened on 13 May 1824, was 8.5 miles (13.7 km), and it had cost around £20,000, which did not include the price of the land or of the harbour at Port Tennant.
At the Swansea end, Tennant built a sea-lock, so that boats could enter Fabian Bay, and named the area Port Tennant. His terminus was destroyed when the Prince of Wales Dock
was constructed by the Swansea Harbour Trust in 1881. It occupied all of the area which had been Fabian Bay, and so a lock was constructed to enable boats to reach tidal water by passing through the dock, and a wharf for the canal was constructed at the eastern end of the dock. Tennant's wharf was again destroyed in 1898, when the dock was extended. Wharfage was provided for the canal along the entire southern side of the extension, but no lock was built to allow canal boats to enter the dock, even though the act of parliament made provision for one. A new branch of the canal was built in 1909, which included a lock into the newly constructed Kings Dock, where a lay-by berth was provided on its north side.
Goods carried were mainly coal and culm
, but also included timber, iron ore, sand, slag and copper ore, with smaller amounts of foodstuffs and general merchandise. Establishment of industries at Port Tennant, which included Charles Lambert's copperworks in the 1850s and a patent fuel works in the 1860s, resulted in increased carrying of coal, both from Glan-y-wern and Tir-isaf collieries. Tir-isaf was served by a 1 miles (1.6 km) branch built in 1863 by the Earl of Jersey, but leased to the Tennants. Traffic figures reached 225,304 tons in 1866, and then gradually declined after that, but this provided a steady revenue until 1895. The river lock at Red Jacket had a chequered history. Once the line to Aberdulais basin had been opened, it was barely used, and Tennant thought about removing it in 1832. However, it was back in use some time later, and was unused again in the 1880s, only to be rebuilt in 1898.
after 1851, but remained profitable until the early 1880s, in the case of the Neath Canal, and the 1890s for the Tennant. An unusual aspect of the Tennant's success was that tolls were maintained, although tonnage dropped. Most canals at this time made significant cuts to tolls in an attempt to remain competitive with the railways. After 1883, the Neath Canal carried small amounts of silica and gunpowder, but traffic had virtually ceased by 1921. Navigation on the Neath Canal came to an end in 1934, and on the Tennant Canal soon afterwards. However, most of the infrastructure was maintained as the canals supplied water to local industries.
When the Glynneath bypass was built in the 1970s, the canal was culverted above Ysgwrfa lock, to allow the road to be straightened, and reduced in width beyond that, to allow the road to be widended. Above Pentremalwed lock, the road was built over the canal bed, and all traces have gone. This road was superseded by the A465(T) dual carriageway when it opened in 1996, and has become the B4242. The part which covered the final section of the canal is no longer a road, although the dual carriageway runs over the site of the Glynneath basin.
At Port Tennant, the course of the canal has been covered over by railways, roads and other facilities of the port, but continues to supply water to the Prince of Wales dock through a large culvert, which helps to maintain water levels in the docks. The Tennant canal is still owned by the Coombe-Tennant family.
The canals are the subject of active restoration projects. Local interest resulted in the formation of the Neath and Tennant Canals Society in 1974, to promote a restoration scheme, and the following year the canal benefitted from the job creation scheme run by the Manpower Services Commission
. The upper section from Resolven to Ysgwrfa was restored in 1990, and received a Europa Nostra
award in 1988 for the quality of the work, and a Civic Trust
Award in 1992. The £4 million project was jointly funded by the Welsh Office and the Prince of Wales Trust. On a smaller scale, the Canals Society refurbished Rheola aqueduct in 1990, so that their trip boat, named Thomas Dadford and launched on 12 July, could make longer journeys. In 1993, the section from Ynysarwed to Tyn-yr-Heol lock at Tonna was polluted by iron-bearing water discharging from a mine adit. A treatment plant and wetlands were installed to clean the water, and this £1.6 million project was commissioned in 1999.
The next restoration project involved the section from Neath town centre to Abergarwed, near the Ynysarwed locks. An initial £2.7 million project enabled all of the polluted section to be cleaned, and much of the infrastructure to be restored. Nearly 65,000 tonnes of polluted material were dredged from the canal and removed. An additional £1.6 million project was funded by the European Union Objective 1 project, the Welsh Assembly
and Neath Port Talbot
Council. This included complete replacement of the Ynysbwllog aqueduct, part of which was washed away in a flood in 1979. The water flow was maintained by replacing the missing arch with pipes, but the towpath was not re-instated until over 20 years later, when a steel footbridge was built. Completed in March 2008, the new 35 yards (32 m) plate girder aqueduct is believed to be the longest single span aqueduct in the UK. It is 23 feet (7 m) wide, and includes a footpath on both sides of the navigation channel.
. The Tennant Canal presents few problems beyond that of the aqueduct below Aberdulais basin, which is a scheduled ancient monument, and rebuilding of the lock below that. Resolution of these issues would create around 20 miles (32.2 km) of navigable canal.
At Briton Ferry, the canal ends under the M4 motorway at a scrapyard, but there are plans to refurbish Brunel's
Briton Ferry dock, just to the south, and a short extension to it would provide a good terminus. At Ysgwrfa, the final five locks have been severed by a re-alignment of the road and the construction of a culvert, but the road has carried a lot less traffic since the A465 bypass was opened, and could possibly be re-routed along its original course, where the bridge over the canal still exists. The terminus would be near the Lamb and Flag public house, below the final two locks, which are unlikely to be restored. At Swansea, the Tennant canal could be re-linked to the Prince of Wales Dock, and hence to the River Tawe, which has become a large marina since the construction of a tidal barrage. This could then provide a link to a restored Swansea Canal
. Associated British Ports, who run Swansea Docks, rejected the idea of a canal link in 1997, but since then the Prince of Wales dock has become the subject of a regeneration scheme, and a route for the canal has been reserved in the planning document.
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
that are usually regarded as a single canal. The Neath Canal was opened from Glynneath
Glynneath
Glynneath , also spelt Glyn Neath, is a small town, community and electoral ward lying on the River Neath in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales. It was formerly in the historic county of Glamorgan...
to Melincryddan, to the south of Neath
Neath
Neath is a town and community situated in the principal area of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, UK with a population of approximately 45,898 in 2001...
, in 1795 and extended to Giants Grave in 1799, in order to provide better shipping facilities. Several small extensions resulted in in reaching its final destination at Briton Ferry
Briton Ferry
Briton Ferry is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales. The town encompasses the electoral wards of Briton Ferry East and Briton Ferry West....
. No traffic figures are available, but it was successful, as dividends of 16 per cent were paid on the shares. The canal was 13.5 miles (21.7 km) long and included 19 locks.
The Tennant Canal was a development of the Glan-y-wern Canal, which was built across Crymlyn Bog
Crymlyn Bog
Crymlyn Bog is a nature reserve and a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest of international significance, near Swansea, south Wales....
to transport coal from a colliery on its northern edge to a creek on the River Neath called Red Jacket Pill. It closed after 20 years, but was enlarged and extended by George Tennant in 1818, to provide a navigable link from the River Neath
River Neath
River Neath is a river in south Wales running south west from its source in the Brecon Beacons National Park to its mouth at Baglan Bay below Briton Ferry on the east side of Swansea Bay.Several minor rivers rise on the southern slopes of Fforest Fawr...
to the River Tawe
River Tawe
The River Tawe is a river in South Wales. It flows in a principally south-westerly direction for some from its source below Moel Feity in the Old Red Sandstone hills of the western Brecon Beacons to the Bristol Channel at Swansea. Its main tributaries are the right bank Upper and Lower Clydach...
at Swansea docks
Swansea docks
Swansea Docks is the collective name for several docks in Swansea, Wales. The Swansea docks are located immediately south east of Swansea city centre. In the mid-19th century the port was exporting 60% of the world's copper from factories situated in the Tawe valley...
. In order to increase trade, he built an extension to Aberdulais
Aberdulais
Aberdulais or mouth & Dulais) is a village in Neath Port Talbot, Wales, lying on the River Neath.- History, amenities & attractions:...
basin, where it linked to the Neath Canal. The extension was built without an act of Parliament
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
and Tennant experienced a long delay while he attempted to resolve a dispute with a landowner over the routing of the canal. Once opened, much of the Neath traffic used the Tennant Canal, as Swansea provided better facilities for transferring cargo to ships.
Use of the canals for navigation ceased in the 1930s, but because they supplied water to local industries and to Swansea docks, they were retained as water channels. The first attempts at restoration began in 1974 with the formation of the Neath and Tennant Canals Society. The section north of Resolven
Resolven
Resolven is a small village in Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. It is located in the heart of the Vale of Neath.- Location :The village is situated in the Vale of Neath, next to the A465 Heads of Valleys Road, and is the main settlement in the community of Resolven...
was restored in the late 1980s, and the canal from Neath to Abergarwed
Abergarwed
Abergarwed is a village in the Welsh county borough of Neath Port Talbot, south Wales.It is located in the Vale of Neath near the town of Neath.- External links :*...
has been restored more recently. This project involved the replacement of Ynysbwllog aqueduct, which carries the canal over the river Neath, with a new 35 yards (32 m) plate girder structure, believed to be the longest single-span aqueduct in Britain. Some obstacles remain to its complete restoration, but current thinking includes making it part of a small network by creating a link through Swansea docks to a restored Swansea Canal
Swansea Canal
The Swansea Canal was a canal constructed by the Swansea Canal Navigation Company between 1794 and 1798, running for some from Swansea to Hen Neuadd, Abercraf in South Wales. It was steeply graded, and 36 locks were needed to enable it to rise over its length...
.
Neath Canal
Encouraged by the recent granting of an Act of ParliamentAct of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
to authorise the building of the Glamorganshire Canal
Glamorganshire Canal
The Glamorganshire Canal was a canal in south Wales, UK, running from Merthyr Tydfil to Cardiff. Construction started in 1790, and the 25 miles of canal was fully opened by 1794. Its primary purpose was to enable the Merthyr iron industries to transport their goods, and it later served the coal...
, a meeting took place at the Ship & Castle public house in Neath on 12 July 1790, which resolved to build a canal from Pontneddfechan to Neath, and another from Neath to Giant's Grave. Among those attending was Lord Vernon, who had already built a short canal near Giant's Grave to connect the River Neath to furnaces at Penrhiwtyn. Thomas Dadford
Thomas Dadford, Jr.
Thomas Dadford was an English canal engineer, who came from a family of canal engineers. He worked with his father and later independently, contributing to a number of canal schemes before dying at the relatively young age of 40....
was asked to survey a course, and he was assisted in this task by his father and brother. He proposed a route which required 22 locks, part of which was a conventional canal, while other parts used the River Neath
River Neath
River Neath is a river in south Wales running south west from its source in the Brecon Beacons National Park to its mouth at Baglan Bay below Briton Ferry on the east side of Swansea Bay.Several minor rivers rise on the southern slopes of Fforest Fawr...
. Dadford costed the project at £25,716, but in early 1791, Lord Vernon's agent, Lewis Thomas, proposed two new cuts, and the idea of using the river was dropped soon afterwards.
The canal was authorised by an Act of Parliament passed on 6 June 1791, which created The Company and Proprietors of the Neath Canal Navigation, who had powers to raise £25,000 by the issuing of shares, and an additional £10,000 if necessary. As well as building the canal, the Canal Company could build inclined planes
Canal inclined plane
An inclined plane is a system used on some canals for raising boats between different water levels. Boats may be conveyed afloat, in caissons, or may be carried in cradles or slings. It can be considered as a specialised type of cable railway....
, railways or rollers if required, and could optionally use the bed of the River Neath. The canal was to run from Glynneath, (called Abernant at the time), which was not so far up the valley as Pontneddfechan, to Melincryddan Pill at Neath, where it would join the river. Thomas Dadford
Thomas Dadford
Thomas Dadford, Senior was an English canal engineer, as were his sons, Thomas Dadford Junior, John Dadford and James Dadford.He probably originated from Stewponey or Stourton near Stourbridge. He started as one of James Brindley's many pupil-assistants, in which capacity he worked on the...
was employed as Engineer, and construction started from Neath
Neath
Neath is a town and community situated in the principal area of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, UK with a population of approximately 45,898 in 2001...
, northwards towards Glynneath. The canal had reached the River Neath at Ynysbwllog by 1792, when Dadford resigned to take up work on the Monmouthshire Canal. He was replaced by Thomas Sheasby
Thomas Sheasby
Thomas Sheasby, Senior was a British civil engineer and contractor. His early work involved bridge construction, after which he went on to build canals, including several in South Wales...
, who failed to complete the canal by the November 1793 deadline given to him, and was arrested in 1794 for irregularities in the accounts of the Glamorganshire Canal
Glamorganshire Canal
The Glamorganshire Canal was a canal in south Wales, UK, running from Merthyr Tydfil to Cardiff. Construction started in 1790, and the 25 miles of canal was fully opened by 1794. Its primary purpose was to enable the Merthyr iron industries to transport their goods, and it later served the coal...
. The canal company completed the building work by 1795, using direct labour, although the lock into the river was never built. Rebuilding of locks and other improvements continued to be made for several years afterwards.
There was no immediate pressure to extend the canal to Giants Grave, as access to Neath for coastal vessels of up to 200 LT had been improved in 1791 by the construction of the Neath Navigable Cut. However, a second Neath Canal Act was passed on 26 May 1798, to authorise an extension of about 2.5 miles (4 km) to Giants Grave, where better facilities for transferring goods to sea-going vessels were available. Thomas Dadford again surveyed the route, but Edward Price from Gofilon acted as engineer. This part of the canal was financed by Lord Vernon, although he was also paid £600 for his Penrhiwtyn canal, which became part of the main line. The extension was completed on 29 July 1799, and terminated at a basin close to Giants Grave Pill. Flood gates on the canal enabled water to be released into the pill to scour it of silt. The total cost of the project was about £40,000, which included 19 locks and a number of access tramways. Between 1815 and 1842, additional docks and wharfs were built at Giants Grave, extending the length slightly, and the canal was extended to Briton Ferry
Briton Ferry
Briton Ferry is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales. The town encompasses the electoral wards of Briton Ferry East and Briton Ferry West....
by the construction of the Jersey Canal in 1832, which was about 0.6 mile (0.965604 km) long, and was built without an Act of Parliament by the Earl of Jersey. Another short extension was made around 1842. The final length of the canal was 13.5 miles (21.7 km).
From the northern terminus, a tramway connected the canal to iron works at Aberdare
Aberdare
Aberdare is an industrial town in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Dare and Cynon. The population at the census was 31,705...
and Hirwaun
Hirwaun
Hirwaun is the name of a village at the northwest end of the Cynon Valley in the County Borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, South Wales. The village of Hirwaun is from the town of Aberdare, and comes under Aberdare for postal reasons...
. This was built in 1803, and included an incline just north of Glynneath, which was powered by a high-pressure Trevithick steam engine. The Tappenden brothers had bought into the iron industry in 1802, and built the tramway because of high tolls on the Glamorganshire Canal, but by 1814 they were bankrupt, and had no further connections with the canal.
Operation
Mineral resources near the top end of the canal included ironstoneIronstone
Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical repacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron compound from which iron either can be or once was smelted commercially. This term is customarily restricted to hard coarsely...
, which was normally extracted by scouring. This caused problems for the canal, as silt was deposited in the feeders and the top pounds
Canal pound
A canal pound, aka reach, is the stretch of level water impounded between two canal locks. Canal pounds can vary in length from the non-existent, where two or more immediately adjacent locks form a lock staircase, to many miles....
. The Fox family, who were based at Neath Abbey
Neath Abbey
Neath Abbey was a Cistercian monastery, located near the present-day town of Neath in southern Wales, UK.It was once the largest abbey in Wales. Substantial ruins can still be seen, and are in the care of Cadw...
, but who were scouring ironstone further up the valley, agreed to construct a new feeder in 1807 to mitigate the problem. Protests made to the Tappendens, who were scouring at Pen-rhiw and Cwm Gwrelych were less successful. As the pounds were silting up, the company took legal action in 1811, which found in their favour, recognising that the canal would soon be useless unless something was done.
Trade steadily grew. Three small private branches were built to serve the industries of the valley. Near the top of the canal, a branch was constructed in 1800, which ran towards Maesmarchog, and was connected to collieries by nearly 1 miles (1.6 km) of tramroad. At Aberclwyd, a branch built in 1817 served the Cnel Bach limekiln which was situated on the river bank. Below Neath, a 550 yards (502.9 m) branch left the main line at Court Sart to connect to a tramroad serving the collieries at Eskyn. Although there are no figures for the tonnage carried, apart from a mention of 90,000 tons of coal in 1810, receipts increased from £2,117 in 1800 to £6,677 in 1830. Subscribers had paid a total of £107.50 for their shares, and dividends were paid from 1806, rising from £2.00 in 1806 to £18.00 in 1840. Based on the receipts, it has been estimated that some 200,000 tons of coal were carried when trade was at its peak, supplemented by iron, ironstone and fire clay
Fire clay
Fire clay is a term applied to a range of refractory clays used in the manufacture of ceramics, especially fire brick.High grade fire clays can withstand temperatures of 1775°C , but to be referred to as a "fire clay" the material must withstand a minimum temperature of 1515°C...
.
Facilities at Giants Grave improved, and included jetties to enable ships' ballast to be landed and dumped, rather than being thrown overboard. This latter approach had caused problems at Newport
Newport
Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...
for the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal, where ballast had been thrown into the river, and at Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
for the Glamorganshire Canal
Glamorganshire Canal
The Glamorganshire Canal was a canal in south Wales, UK, running from Merthyr Tydfil to Cardiff. Construction started in 1790, and the 25 miles of canal was fully opened by 1794. Its primary purpose was to enable the Merthyr iron industries to transport their goods, and it later served the coal...
, where it had been thrown into the canal basin. Efforts were also made to improve the facilities at Neath. From 1818, a Harbour Board was established, and banks of copper slag
Copper slag
Copper slag is an abrasive blasting grit made of granulated slag from metal smelting processes .Copper slag abrasive is suitable for blast cleaning of steel and stone/concrete surfaces, removal of mill scale, rust, old paint, dirt etc...
, marked with buoys, were used to confine the channel. This enabled ships of over 300 tons to reach Neath quays on spring tides
Tide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the moon and the sun and the rotation of the Earth....
, although Giants Grave still had to be used on neap tides. From 1824, when the connection to the Tennant Canal opened, much of the trade crossed the river and passed down the western bank to the port of Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
.
Glan-y-wern Canal
The Glan-y-wern Canal was built to connect Richard Jenkins' colliery at Glan-y-wern with the River Neath at Trowman's Hole, an inlet across the mud flats from the main channel of the river Neath, which was later known as Red Jacket Pill. Jenkins obtained a lease to build it from Lord Vernon on 14 August 1788, but died on the same day. Edward Elton took over management of the colliery, and the canal was constructed by 1790, although there was no actual connection to the river. At Red Jacket, cargos were transhipped from the small boats used on the canal to larger vessels in the pill, which was tidal. The canal remained in use for about 20 years. Elton went bankrupt and died in 1810, after which Lord Vernon, who had leased the land on which the canal was built to Elton, placed a distraintDistraint
Distraint or distress is "the seizure of someone’s property in order to obtain payment of rent or other money owed", especially in common law countries...
on the wharves at Red Jacket and on the barges, and it became disused.
George Tennant incorporated the southern section into his Tennant Canal. The northern branch over the Crymlyn Bog was derelict by 1918. It branches northwards in Crymlyn Burrows
Crymlyn Burrows
Crymlyn Burrows is an area of land in Wales, UK to the east of Swansea city centre, and south of Crymlyn Bog. It is bounded by Jersey Marine Beach to the south and the River Neath to the east...
and terminates at the Crymlyn Bog
Crymlyn Bog
Crymlyn Bog is a nature reserve and a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest of international significance, near Swansea, south Wales....
nature reserve, now a Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
(SSSI).
The Tennant Canal
George Tennant, who had been born in 1765 and was the son of a solicitor in LancashireLancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, moved to the area in 1816, after he had bought the Rhydings estate. The Glan-y-wern Canal was unused at the time, following Lord Vernon's distraint
Distraint
Distraint or distress is "the seizure of someone’s property in order to obtain payment of rent or other money owed", especially in common law countries...
, but Tennant, who had no previous experience with canals, decided to lease it, enlarge it and extend it. He planned to make it suitable for barges of 30 long ton, which would gain access to the river Neath through a lock at Red Jacket. Where the canal turned northwards across Crymlyn Bog, he would extend it to the west, to terminate at a lock into the River Tawe
River Tawe
The River Tawe is a river in South Wales. It flows in a principally south-westerly direction for some from its source below Moel Feity in the Old Red Sandstone hills of the western Brecon Beacons to the Bristol Channel at Swansea. Its main tributaries are the right bank Upper and Lower Clydach...
, near Swansea harbour. He believed that Swansea docks would provide a better shipping point than Neath or Giants Grave, and hoped that the canal would encourage the development of the corridor through which it ran. He attempted to gain support for the scheme from local landowners, but when none was forthcoming, he decided to fund the project himself. Lord Vernon's estate had been inherited by the Earl of Jersey in 1814, and so Tennant leased the Glan-y-wern Canal from him.
Instead, he decided to build an extension to link up with the Neath Canal basin at Aberdulais. Again he sought support from local landowners, including Lord Jersey, Lord Dynevor and the Duke of Beaufort
Duke of Beaufort
Duke of Beaufort is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created by Charles II in 1682 for Henry Somerset, 3rd Marquess of Worcester, a descendant of Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester, illegitimate son of Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset, a Lancastrian leader in the Wars of the...
, but again none was forthcoming. He decided to build it as a private canal, without an Act of Parliament, and work started in 1821. Engineering problems were experienced near Neath Abbey, where a 500 yards (457.2 m) cutting was required through what appeared to be quicksand. Eventually, an inverted masonry arch had to be built to contain the canal and stop the sand collapsing. The lack of an act to authorise the canal proved to be a problem in April 1821, when L. W. Dillwyn refused permission to allow Tennant to cut through his land to pass under the Swansea road. In February 1822, Dillwyn obtained an injunction against Tennant, who then attempted to change Dillwyn's opinion by sending a stream of important people to argue his case. Finally, in the autumn, Tennant offered the Neath Canal terms for the use of the junction which were so favourable to them that they accepted. Dillwyn, who was a Neath Canal shareholder, was sent a conciliatory letter and eventually agreed to negotiate with Tennant, whom he described as "that terrible plague Mr. Tennant." The final section included the only lock on the main line, which was followed by a 340 feet (103.6 m) ten-arched aqueduct across the River Neath, and the junction with the Neath Canal. The total length of the canal, when it was opened on 13 May 1824, was 8.5 miles (13.7 km), and it had cost around £20,000, which did not include the price of the land or of the harbour at Port Tennant.
At the Swansea end, Tennant built a sea-lock, so that boats could enter Fabian Bay, and named the area Port Tennant. His terminus was destroyed when the Prince of Wales Dock
Swansea docks
Swansea Docks is the collective name for several docks in Swansea, Wales. The Swansea docks are located immediately south east of Swansea city centre. In the mid-19th century the port was exporting 60% of the world's copper from factories situated in the Tawe valley...
was constructed by the Swansea Harbour Trust in 1881. It occupied all of the area which had been Fabian Bay, and so a lock was constructed to enable boats to reach tidal water by passing through the dock, and a wharf for the canal was constructed at the eastern end of the dock. Tennant's wharf was again destroyed in 1898, when the dock was extended. Wharfage was provided for the canal along the entire southern side of the extension, but no lock was built to allow canal boats to enter the dock, even though the act of parliament made provision for one. A new branch of the canal was built in 1909, which included a lock into the newly constructed Kings Dock, where a lay-by berth was provided on its north side.
Operation
Prior to its opening, Tennant has estimated that the canal would carry 99,994 tons per year, and generate £7,915 in income. Traffic built up, and by the 1830s, annual tonnage was around 90,000 tons, but revenues were less than anticipated, and produced a profit of about £2,500 per year. Initially, it was known as the Neath and Swansea Junction Canal, but by 1845 it had become known as the Tennant Canal. The water was 5 feet (1.5 m) deep between Red Jacket and Aberdulais, and 7 feet (2.1 m) deep from Red Jacket to Swansea harbour. This provided a large reservoir of water, which was used to scour the tidal basin at Port Tennant. Boats typically carried 25 tons, which allowed them to work on the Neath Canal as well. Several short branches were built, including one to the Vale of Neath Brewery which opened in 1839 and was privately funded by the brewery. In the same year, the Glan-y-wern Canal was dredged and re-opened.Goods carried were mainly coal and culm
Culm Measures
The Culm Measures are a geological formation of the Carboniferous period that occur in south-west England, principally in Devon and Cornwall. They are so called because of the occasional presence of a soft, sooty coal, which is known in Devon as culm....
, but also included timber, iron ore, sand, slag and copper ore, with smaller amounts of foodstuffs and general merchandise. Establishment of industries at Port Tennant, which included Charles Lambert's copperworks in the 1850s and a patent fuel works in the 1860s, resulted in increased carrying of coal, both from Glan-y-wern and Tir-isaf collieries. Tir-isaf was served by a 1 miles (1.6 km) branch built in 1863 by the Earl of Jersey, but leased to the Tennants. Traffic figures reached 225,304 tons in 1866, and then gradually declined after that, but this provided a steady revenue until 1895. The river lock at Red Jacket had a chequered history. Once the line to Aberdulais basin had been opened, it was barely used, and Tennant thought about removing it in 1832. However, it was back in use some time later, and was unused again in the 1880s, only to be rebuilt in 1898.
Demise
The canals faced competition from the Vale of Neath RailwayVale of Neath Railway
The Vale of Neath Railway was a broad gauge railway line from Neath to Merthyr Tydfil, in Glamorgan, Wales, and also operated the Swansea and Neath Railway which gave it access to the docks at Swansea...
after 1851, but remained profitable until the early 1880s, in the case of the Neath Canal, and the 1890s for the Tennant. An unusual aspect of the Tennant's success was that tolls were maintained, although tonnage dropped. Most canals at this time made significant cuts to tolls in an attempt to remain competitive with the railways. After 1883, the Neath Canal carried small amounts of silica and gunpowder, but traffic had virtually ceased by 1921. Navigation on the Neath Canal came to an end in 1934, and on the Tennant Canal soon afterwards. However, most of the infrastructure was maintained as the canals supplied water to local industries.
When the Glynneath bypass was built in the 1970s, the canal was culverted above Ysgwrfa lock, to allow the road to be straightened, and reduced in width beyond that, to allow the road to be widended. Above Pentremalwed lock, the road was built over the canal bed, and all traces have gone. This road was superseded by the A465(T) dual carriageway when it opened in 1996, and has become the B4242. The part which covered the final section of the canal is no longer a road, although the dual carriageway runs over the site of the Glynneath basin.
At Port Tennant, the course of the canal has been covered over by railways, roads and other facilities of the port, but continues to supply water to the Prince of Wales dock through a large culvert, which helps to maintain water levels in the docks. The Tennant canal is still owned by the Coombe-Tennant family.
Restoration
Manpower Services Commission
The Manpower Services Commission was a non-departmental public body of the Department of Employment Group in the United Kingdom created by Edward Heath's Conservative Government in 1973. The MSC had a remit to co-ordinate employment and training services in the UK through a ten-member commission...
. The upper section from Resolven to Ysgwrfa was restored in 1990, and received a Europa Nostra
Europa Nostra
Europa Nostra, the pan-European Federation for Cultural Heritage, is the representative platform of 250 heritage NGOs active in 45 countries across Europe...
award in 1988 for the quality of the work, and a Civic Trust
Civic Trust
The Civic Trust of England was a charitable organisation founded in 1957. It ceased operations in 2009 and went into administration due to lack of funds/...
Award in 1992. The £4 million project was jointly funded by the Welsh Office and the Prince of Wales Trust. On a smaller scale, the Canals Society refurbished Rheola aqueduct in 1990, so that their trip boat, named Thomas Dadford and launched on 12 July, could make longer journeys. In 1993, the section from Ynysarwed to Tyn-yr-Heol lock at Tonna was polluted by iron-bearing water discharging from a mine adit. A treatment plant and wetlands were installed to clean the water, and this £1.6 million project was commissioned in 1999.
The next restoration project involved the section from Neath town centre to Abergarwed, near the Ynysarwed locks. An initial £2.7 million project enabled all of the polluted section to be cleaned, and much of the infrastructure to be restored. Nearly 65,000 tonnes of polluted material were dredged from the canal and removed. An additional £1.6 million project was funded by the European Union Objective 1 project, the Welsh Assembly
National Assembly for Wales
The National Assembly for Wales is a devolved assembly with power to make legislation in Wales. The Assembly comprises 60 members, who are known as Assembly Members, or AMs...
and Neath Port Talbot
Neath Port Talbot
Neath Port Talbot is a county borough and one of the unitary authority areas of Wales. Neath Port Talbot is the 8th most populous county in Wales and the third most populous county borough....
Council. This included complete replacement of the Ynysbwllog aqueduct, part of which was washed away in a flood in 1979. The water flow was maintained by replacing the missing arch with pipes, but the towpath was not re-instated until over 20 years later, when a steel footbridge was built. Completed in March 2008, the new 35 yards (32 m) plate girder aqueduct is believed to be the longest single span aqueduct in the UK. It is 23 feet (7 m) wide, and includes a footpath on both sides of the navigation channel.
Future Plans
Several obstacles remain to be overcome before the canal restoration can be completed. Below Resolven, a new bridge would be needed where the canal is culverted under Commercial Road, and the infilled section to Abergarwed would need to be excavated. Rebuilding of the two Ynysarwed locks and Resolven lock would then join the existing two restored sections together. Extension to the south is blocked by a bridge at water level in Neath, but Neath Port Talbot Council are investigating the possibility of replacing it with a lifting or bascule bridgeBascule bridge
A bascule bridge is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances the span, or "leaf," throughout the entire upward swing in providing clearance for boat traffic....
. The Tennant Canal presents few problems beyond that of the aqueduct below Aberdulais basin, which is a scheduled ancient monument, and rebuilding of the lock below that. Resolution of these issues would create around 20 miles (32.2 km) of navigable canal.
At Briton Ferry, the canal ends under the M4 motorway at a scrapyard, but there are plans to refurbish Brunel's
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, FRS , was a British civil engineer who built bridges and dockyards including the construction of the first major British railway, the Great Western Railway; a series of steamships, including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship; and numerous important bridges...
Briton Ferry dock, just to the south, and a short extension to it would provide a good terminus. At Ysgwrfa, the final five locks have been severed by a re-alignment of the road and the construction of a culvert, but the road has carried a lot less traffic since the A465 bypass was opened, and could possibly be re-routed along its original course, where the bridge over the canal still exists. The terminus would be near the Lamb and Flag public house, below the final two locks, which are unlikely to be restored. At Swansea, the Tennant canal could be re-linked to the Prince of Wales Dock, and hence to the River Tawe, which has become a large marina since the construction of a tidal barrage. This could then provide a link to a restored Swansea Canal
Swansea Canal
The Swansea Canal was a canal constructed by the Swansea Canal Navigation Company between 1794 and 1798, running for some from Swansea to Hen Neuadd, Abercraf in South Wales. It was steeply graded, and 36 locks were needed to enable it to rise over its length...
. Associated British Ports, who run Swansea Docks, rejected the idea of a canal link in 1997, but since then the Prince of Wales dock has become the subject of a regeneration scheme, and a route for the canal has been reserved in the planning document.
Canals in popular culture
The opening of the Tennant Canal in 1824 inspired Elizabeth Davies, who owned a lollipop-shop in Neath, to write a 19-verse poem, which was published by Filmer Fagg of Swansea. More recently, the canals have inspired local musicians to write songs about them. Huw Pudner and Bob Thomas have written a folk ballad called The Lockkeepers Daughter about the Neath canal, and Pudner worked with Chris Hastings to produce a folk ballad called The Red Jacket Stream about the Tennant Canal.Points of interest
See also
- Canals of the United KingdomCanals of the United KingdomThe canals of the United Kingdom are a major part of the network of inland waterways in the United Kingdom. They have a colourful history, from use for irrigation and transport, through becoming the focus of the Industrial Revolution, to today's role for recreational boating...
- History of the British canal systemHistory of the British canal systemThe British canal system of water transport played a vital role in the United Kingdom's Industrial Revolution at a time when roads were only just emerging from the medieval mud and long trains of pack horses were the only means of "mass" transit by road of raw materials and finished products The...