growth

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Please do not take any content from this website without permission or approval. All original site content is copyrighted (2011) to Pwll Action Committee (The Bônau Cabbage Patch) unless stated otherwise. All images, text or items are copyright to their rightful owner(s). If there are any issues or concern with material on this site, please email/contact us directly to be provided credit or have the item(s) removed. We do not claim ownership to anything found on this site unless stated otherwise. The Pwll Action Committee (The Bônau Cabbage Patch) does not knowingly intend or attempt to offend or violate any copyright or intellectual property rights of any entity. No copyright infringement is intended. THE COMMERCIAL GROWTH OF LLANELLY The following is an article taken from the Weekly Mail dated 7th May 1887 JUBILEE SKETCHES, ARTICLE XIL. THE COMMERCIAL GROWTH OF LLANELLY. By Our Special Commissioner. Less than a century ago Captain John Wedge - possibly to check the too exuberant fancy

of some local patriot—made a bet, and, what is more, won it, that 500 people did not live

within the parish boundaries of Llanelly. Since that interesting event the population has

increased fortyfold; the old town has passed away, save a few vestiges, which serve as

landmarks to remind us of the old-time Llanelly. The configuration of the coast line has

even changed, the receding farther from the shore, and the pursuits which erstwhile

maintained the community have, in the silent lapse of years, been pushed backward more

and more into insignificance. Concurrently with the abandonment of these expansion

came from another direction. Industries gradually acquiring magnitude transformed the

little wayside village that "stood upon a creek" into a busy centre of manufactures, where

ponderous engines never cease to throb and wide-mouthed furnaces eternally thrust fort

fiery tongues.

Thus there has been progression, not, perhaps, so gigantic in its strides as in one or two

other places of the Principality; but, nevertheless, sufficiently steady and continuous. The

hardy race who reaped their harvests in the waters fringing the coast, and who diversified

the monotony of their legitimate calling with occasional spells of wrecking and smuggling,

have had to go; the pioneers of the coalfields, who with ill-directed efforts scraped the face

of the earth for the mineral have been succeeded by a generation familiar with well-

arranged systems, who delve many scores of fathoms deep for the black diamonds,

assisted by powerful machinery.

Manifold other changes have there been. Architecturally, the old order of things has

passed away. The residences that were wont to stand out in bold relief, "all very large and

fine," amid straw-thatched cots, look humble now surrounded by jaunty modern rivals.

"The best houses of fifty years ago are the worse in town," was the recent observation of a

respected gentleman whose memory goes back to the second decade of the century.

“Llanelly” is a compound word, “Llan” being Celtic for Church or sacred enclosure, “elly”

the corruptive form of the name "Ellyw," said to have been that of the saintly daughter of

Brychain Brecheinog, a famous Welsh chieftain, who lived in the fifth century. While the

existence of the town as a place of commerce is of comparatively recent origin, there is

well authenticated evidence to support its pretensions otherwise to considerable antiquity.

For ages it appears to have held a position of some importance in the estimation of the

early Catholic Church. A splendid monastery was built by St. Piero, 513 A.D. at Machynis,

now forming part of the main land but which formerly was an island, as the name

suggests—" Monach Ynis," or Monk's Island. At one time the town, it is said, possessed a

charter and there is extant a plausible romance concerning its mysterious disappearance.

The Parliamentary Boundary Commissioner in 1832 described the town as a “borough by

prescription," and said that there was a document in the Tower of the reign of Edward II.,

in which Llanelly is often spoken as “the borough town." It is specifically alluded to as a

town in a grant of Charles I. to Earl Cawdor.

The Parish Church is old, and, anterior to alterations made early in this century, was

remarkable in that it had two steeples—one terminating in a spire, the other in an

embattled tower. An important British fortification in pre-historic times, Llanelly was the

scene of a conflict between the Royalists and the Roundheads during the great rebellion,

and until quite recently a lineal descendant of the Royalist leader, General Laugharne,

occupied Vuuxhall House, the name of which is richly reminiscent of that stormy period.

At the outset of its commercial career the fortunes of the community were inseparably

linked with those of two great families - the Stepney* and the Mansels—and not to this day

has the connection been severed so far as the former is concerned. En passant, we may

observe that the third Sir John Stepney married Justina, daughter of Vandyck, the famous

painter, whose portrait of himself-that of the "Inverted Hand" - remains an heirloom in the

family. The mother of Justina was Mary, daughter of Patrick Ruthven, son of the first Earl

of Gowrie, the originator or victim of the historical conspiracy.

Like unto that of most towns of Wales, the prosperity of Llanelly is, in the main, attributable

to its mineral wealth, and in a lesser degree to its position on the estuary of the Burry River

and consequent close proximity to the sea. Mr. Thos. Mainwaring - whose scholarly

researches have placed all local historians under deep obligation- has supplied facts

which place beyond cavil the fact that coal was worked in the district early in the fourteenth

century. Leland, in his "Itinerary," published 300 years ago, speaks of “Llanelthi, a village

of Kidwelli lordship," the inhabitants of which "dig coles els scant in Kidwelli land." Mining

seems to have been pursued in a primitive way until early in the eighteenth century, from

which period the operations grew more systematic and extensive. Kymer, in 1752, made a

canal—the first in Wales—to convey coal from Pwllyllygod to Kidwelly. Towards the close

of the century quite a legion of enterprising men devoted themselves and their capital to

the production of coal—among them Sir Thomas Stepney, who exported much to Spain,

taking wine, &c., in exchange, but it would seem were not rewarded with the measure of

success they deserved, for the Committee of the House of Commons, in 1809, were

assured there was not even a single shipping Colliery In South Wales or Monmouthshire

which had reaped the cost of its establishment, with the legal interest of five per cent.

Judged by the amount of duty paid to the Government on coal exported, Llanelly in the

first years of the present century took the lead of the Welsh ports. In 1818 it paid £406 3s.

11d., as against £236 Is. 10d. by the rival port of Swansea.

Two names stand out prominently among those connected with the progress of Llanelly -

those of Mr. Alexander Raby and Mr. Richard Janion Nevill. The former gave the first great

impetus to the development of the resources of the district; the latter continued and guided

its subsequent progression. When Mr. Raby, who is described by Smiles, in his "Iron and

Iron Workers," as the greatest authority on iron in the last century came to Llanelly in 1795

- the year of the celebrated bet - he immediately proceeded, with characteristic energy, to

make his presence felt. He had much wealth, much skill, and much enterprise. Taking over

Messrs. Givers and Ingman’s furnace at Cwmddeche, he commenced operation' on a

scale never hitherto attempted. Within a comparatively short period six steam engines had

been placed in position, three or four pits sunk, and to meet the requirements consequent

upon this industrial revolution, scores of cottages were erected to accommodate the

workmen. During the Napoleonic wars he cast many cannon and shot for the British

Government. But the pace killed. Trade depression and the keen competition of Merthyr

and Dowlais rivals caused the financial downfall of this remarkable man, who was

compelled to discontinue operations after spending more than £100,000.

Still the town grew. Early in 1805 the copper works were opened by Messrs. Daniell,

Guest, Saville, and Nevill, the last named the ancestor of the estimable Nevill family, who

from that day to this have been closely identified with the commercial interests of the town.

The output of copper for many years was comparatively small and eight years after the

start it did not exceed hundred tons a week. The management was entrusted to Mr. R.

Janion Nevill in 1810, and retained it until his death, fifty years later, guiding the expansion

of the undertaking to immense proportions, and witnessing the growth of the town from

infancy to a robust manhood. For many years the copper works and its various offshoots

formed the chief support of the town—a fact vaguely expressed in the homely phrase

which has long obtained currency, "The copper works' stack is the mother of all the little

ones.” This stack (320ft. high), we may add, is the finest in the kingdom, and, together with

another less imposing, cost nearly £ 5.000. The Wern Foundry commenced working in

1816, and continues to this day, having long since passed into the hands of another scion

of the Nevill family, Mr. Richard Nevill, of Felinfoel House. The effect produced by these

industries is reflected the rapid growth of the population. The fewer than 500 in 1795 had

by 1801 become 2,972 ; by 1811, 3,691. For the next twenty years the increase was less

rapid. When admitted to a share of the Parliamentary representation under the Reform Bill

the borough had a population of 4,173' and, under the £10 franchise 132 Voters, many of

them however, were faggot-voters.

(Weekly Mail 7^th May 1887)