Glamorgan
Glamorgan Morgannwg (Welsh) | |
---|---|
Flag adopted in 2013 | |
Area | |
• 1861 | 547,494 acres (2,215.63 km2)[1] |
• 1911 | 518,865 acres (2,099.77 km2)[2] |
• 1961 | 523,253 acres (2,117.53 km2)[2] |
Population | |
• 1861 | 326,254[1] |
• 1911 | 1,120,910[2] |
• 1961 | 1,229,728[2] |
Density | |
• 1861 | 0.7/acre |
• 1911 | 2.2/acre |
• 1961 | 2.4/acre |
History | |
• Succeeded by | |
Chapman code | GLA |
Government | Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) |
• HQ | Cardiff |
• Motto | A ddioddefws a orfu (lit. 'He who suffered, conquered')[3][4] |
Until 1974, Glamorgan (/ɡləˈmɔːrɡən/), or sometimes Glamorganshire (Welsh: Morgannwg [mɔrˈɡanʊɡ] or Sir Forgannwg [ˈsiːr vɔrˈɡanʊɡ]), was an administrative county in the south of Wales, and later classed as one of the thirteen historic counties of Wales. Originally an early medieval petty kingdom of varying boundaries known in Welsh as Morgannwg (or Glywysing), which was then invaded and taken over by the Normans as the Lordship of Glamorgan. The area that became known as Glamorgan was both a rural, pastoral area, and a conflict point between the Norman lords and the Welsh princes. It was defined by a large concentration of castles.
After falling under English rule in the 16th century, Glamorgan became a more stable county, and exploited its natural resources to become an important part of the Industrial Revolution. Glamorgan was the most populous and industrialised county in Wales, and was once called the "crucible of the Industrial Revolution", as it contained the world centres of three metallurgical industries (iron, steel and copper) and its rich resources of coal.
Under the Local Government Act 1972, the county boroughs and administrative county of Glamorgan were abolished on 1 April 1974, with three new counties being established, each containing a former county borough: West Glamorgan, Mid Glamorgan, South Glamorgan. The name also survives in that of Vale of Glamorgan, a county borough.
Glamorgan comprised distinct regions: the industrial valleys, the agricultural vale and the scenic Gower Peninsula. The county had boundaries with Brecknockshire (north), Monmouthshire (east), Carmarthenshire (west), and to the south it was bordered by the Bristol Channel. The total area was 2,100 km2 (811 sq mi). Glamorgan contained two cities, Cardiff, the county town and from 1955 the capital city of Wales, and Swansea. The highest point in the county was Craig y Llyn (600 metres (2,000 ft)) which was situated near the village of Rhigos in the Cynon Valley.
History
Origins
Glamorgan's terrain has been inhabited by
From the end of the
Human lifestyles in
The
By 4000 BP people had begun to bury, or
Archaeological evidence from two sites in Glamorgan shows Bronze Age practices and settlements continued into the Iron Age. Finds from
Many other settlements of the Silures were neither hill forts nor castles. For example, the 3.2-hectare (8-acre) fort established by the Romans near the estuary of the River Taff in 75 AD, in what would become Cardiff, was built over an extensive settlement established by the Silures in the 50s AD.[34]
Morgannwg
Kingdom of Morgannwg Teyrnas Morgannwg | |||||||||||||||
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942–974 1063–1091 | |||||||||||||||
Capital | Various Iestyn ap Gwrgan | ||||||||||||||
Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||||||||
• First union of Gwent and Glywysing | 942 | ||||||||||||||
• Union disestablished | 974 | ||||||||||||||
• Kingdoms reunited | 1063 | ||||||||||||||
• Conquered (by the Norman lord, Robert Fitzhamon) | 1091 | ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Early history
The region originated as an independent petty kingdom named
Early Buildings
The earliest buildings of note included earthwork dykes and rudimentary
Lordship of Glamorgan
History, 1080–1536
The
Buildings, 1080–1536
The legacy of the Marcher Lords left the area scattered with historic buildings including Norman castles, Cistercian Abbeys, churches and medieval monuments.
The kingdom of Glamorgan was also notable for the number of castles built during the time of the
When the
County of Glamorgan
History 1536–1750
The
The main industry of Glamorgan during this period was agriculture. In the upland, or Blaenau area, the hilly terrain along with many areas being densely wooded, made arable farming unprofitable, so the local farming concentrated on the rearing of horses, cattle and sheep.[49] The lowland, or Bro was devoted to more general branches of farming, cereal, grass for pasture, hay and stock raising. Non-agricultural industries were generally small scale, with some shallow coal pits, fulling mills, weaving and pottery-making.[49] The main heavy industry of note during this period was copper smelting, and this was centred on the towns of Swansea and Neath.[50] Although copper had been mined in Wales since the Bronze Age, it was not until non-ferrous metalworking became a major industry in the late 17th century that Glamorgan saw a concentration of works appearing in a belt between Kidwelly and Port Talbot.[50] Smelting of copper started around Neath under the Mines Royal Society c. 1584 but the scale of the works increased dramatically from the early 18th century when Swansea displaced Bristol as Britain's copper smelting capital.[50] Easy access to Cornish ores and a local outcropping of coal near the surface, gave Swansea economic advantages in the smelting industry.
Early iron smelting within Glamorgan was a localised and minor industry, with historical evidence pointing to scattered ironworks throughout the county.
Glamorgan, now falling under the protection of the crown, was also involved in the conflicts of the crown. With the start of the First English Civil War, there was little support from the Welsh for the Parliamentarians.[53] Glamorgan sent troops to join Charles I at the Battle of Edgehill, and their Member of Parliament Sir Edward Stradling was captured in the conflict.[54] In the Second English Civil War, the war came to Glamorgan at the Battle of St Fagans (1648), where the New Model Army overcame a larger Royalist to prevent a siege of Cardiff.[53]
Buildings, 1536–1750
The period between the Laws in Wales Acts and the industrialisation of Glamorgan saw two distinct periods architecturally. From the 1530s throughout to 1650, the newly empowered gentry attempted to show their status by building stately homes to show their wealth; but the period from 1650 through to the mid-1750s was a fallow time for architectural grandeur, with few new wealthy families moving to the area. Of the eight major gentry houses of the time only St Fagans Castle survives with its interior intact; five, Neath Abbey, Old Beaupre Castle, Oxwich Castle, Llantrithyd and Ruperra Castle are ruinous.[55] Of the remaining two manors, The Van at Caerphilly was reconstructed in 1990 while Cefnmabli was gutted by a fire in 1994.[55] The old castles became abandoned throughout this period due to the new security brought by Glamorgan coming under the protection of the crown, with only the Stradlings of St Donat's Castle electing to remain in their old ancestral home.[48]
By the 17th century, the availability of fine building stone permitted the construction of high-quality lime-washed rural cottages and farmhouses in the Vale of Glamorgan, which drew favourable remarks from travellers. A Glamorgan yeoman of the time generally lived in greater comfort than his contemporaries of the more westerly or upland parts of Wales such as Cardiganshire or north Carmarthenshire.[56]
Industrial Glamorgan, 1750–1920
Metals industry
From the mid-18th century onwards, Glamorgan's uplands underwent large-scale industrialisation and several coastal towns, in particular Swansea and later Cardiff, became significant ports.[42] From the late 18th century until the early 20th century Glamorgan produced 70 per cent of the British output of copper.[57] The industry was developed by English entrepreneurs and investors such as John Henry Vivian[58] and largely based in the west of the county, where coal could be purchased cheaply and ores imported from Cornwall, Devon and later much further afield. The industry was of immense importance to Swansea in particular; in 1823 the smelting works on the River Tawe, and the collieries and shipping dependent on them, supported between 8,000 and 10,000 people.[59] Imports of copper ores reached a peak in the 1880s, after which there was a steep fall until the virtual end of the trade in the 1920s. The cost of shipping ores from distant countries, and the growth of foreign competitors, ended Glamorgan's dominance of the industry.[58] Some of the works converted to the production of zinc and the Tawe valley also became a location for the manufacture of nickel after Ludwig Mond established a works at Clydach in 1902.[60]
Even at its peak, copper
As well as copper and iron, Glamorgan became an important centre for the tinplate industry. Although not as famous as the Llanelli or Pontypool works, a concentrated number of works emerged around Swansea, Aberavon and Neath towards the late 19th century.[64] Glamorgan became the most populous and industrialised county in Wales and was known as the 'crucible of the Industrial Revolution'.[43][65]
Other areas to house heavy industries include ironworks in Maesteg (1826), tinplate works in Llwydarth and Pontyclun and an iron ore mine in Llanharry.
Alongside the metalworks, industries appeared throughout Glamorgan that made use of the works' output. Pontypridd was well known for the Brown Lenox Chainworks, which during the 19th century was the town's main industrial employer.[66]
Coal industry
The largest change to industrial Glamorgan was the opening up of the
The 1840s saw the start of a dramatic increase in the amount of coal excavated within Glamorgan. Several events took place to precipitate the growth in coal mining, including the discovery of steam coal in the
The richest source for steam coal was the Rhondda Valleys, and by 1856 the Taff Vale Railway had reached the heads of both valleys. Over the next fifty years the Rhondda would grow to become the largest producer of coal of the age. In 1874, the Rhondda produced 2.13 million tons of coal, which rose to 5.8 million tons by 1884.[68] The coal now produced in Glamorgan far exceeded the interior demand, and in the later half of the 19th century the area became a mass exporter for its product. In the 1890s the docks of South Wales accounted for 38 percent of British coal exports and a quarter of global trade.[68]
Along with the increase in coal production came a very large increase in the population, as people emigrated to the area to seek employment. In Aberdare the population grew from 6,471 in 1841 to 32,299 in 1851 while the Rhondda grew from 3,035 in 1861 to 55,632 in 1881, peaking in 1921 at 162,729.[69] Much of this population growth was driven by immigration. In the ten years from 1881 to 1891, net migration to Glamorgan was over 76,000, 63 percent of which was from the non-border counties of England – a proportion that increased in the following decade.[70]
Agriculture
Until the beginning of the 18th century, Glamorgan was almost entirely agriculture based. With the industrialisation of the county, farming became of far less importance, with industrial areas encroaching into farming lands.
Buildings of note 1750–1920
The industrial period of Glamorgan saw a massive building program throughout the uplands and in the coastal regions, reflecting the increasing population and the need for new cheap housing to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of workers coming into the area. As the towns urbanised and the hamlets became villages, the trappings of modern life were reflected in the buildings required to sustain new and growing communities. The period saw the appearance, not only of the works and pits themselves, but of the
As well as the architecture of Glamorgan entering modernity, there was also a reflection to the past, with some individuals who made the most from the booming industrial economy restoring symbols of the past, building follies and commissioning Gothic-style additions to ancient churches. Robert Lugar's Cyfarthfa Castle in Merthyr (1825) and the late 19th century additions to Cardiff Castle, designed by William Burges, exemplify how Gothic was the favoured style for rich industrialists and entrepreneurs.[72] Greek Revival architecture, popularised in France and Germany in the late 18th century, was used for a number of public and educational buildings in Wales including the Royal Institution of South Wales in Swansea (1841) and Bridgend Town Hall (1843).[72]
In 1897, Cardiff Corporation acquired land from the
The majority of
Industrial architecture tended to be functional, although some structures, such as the four-storey engine house at Cyfarthfa Ironworks (1836), were built to impress. Coal mining eventually became the dominant industry in Glamorgan and tall winding towers – originally made of timber or cast iron, later steel – became symbolic icons.[74]
Late-period Glamorgan, 1920–1974
After the First World War, there was an initial drop in coal and iron production, there was still enough demand to push the coalfields to their limits, helped by events such as the American coal miners' strike. Cardiff Docks reached an exporting peak in 1923, but soon production fell and unemployment in the upland valleys began to increase at a dramatic rate.[77] Between April 1924 and August 1925 the unemployment rate amongst South Wales miners jumped from 1.8% to 28.5%.[77] Several factors came together to cause this collapse, including the over-valuation of sterling, the end of the coal subsidy, the growth of electric power,[78] the adoption of oil as the fuel of choice for many industries, and over-expansion of the mines in the late nineteenth century.[77] The Welsh coal owners had failed to invest mechanisation during the good years, and by the 1930s the South Wales Coalfield had the lowest productivity, highest production costs and smallest profits of all Britain's coal-producing regions.[78]
These structural problems were followed by the General Strike of 1926 and then most disastrously the interwar depression of 1929–1931, which changed the face of industrial Glamorgan forever. In 1932, Glamorgan had an unemployment rate of more than 40 per cent, and one of the highest proportions of people receiving poor relief in the United Kingdom.[79] This was a contrast with relatively recent prosperity: for example, in 1913 unemployment in Merthyr was below 2 per cent and the borough had 24,000 miners. By 1921, the number of employed miners had fallen to 16,000, and in 1934, it was down to 8,000.[80] Steel production was no less depressed than the coal industry. The inter-war years saw the closure of the old Cyfarthfa and Dowlais works, as steel-making became increasingly concentrated in the coastal belt. Both the coal and steel industries were increasingly dominated by large amalgamations, such as
Glamorgan suffered disproportionately during the Great Depression because of the high proportion of its workforce employed in primary production rather than the manufacture of finished products. Other parts of Britain began to recover as domestic demand for consumer products picked up, but unemployment in the South Wales Valleys continued to rise: the jobless rate in Merthyr reached 47.5 per cent in June 1935. However, the coastal ports, Cardiff and Swansea, managed to sustain a "reasonable" level of economic activity,[82] and the anthracite coalfield in western Glamorgan (and eastern Carmarthenshire) also managed to maintain production and exports above pre-war levels.[83]
With the outbreak of World War II the coalfields of Glamorgan saw a sharp rise in trade and employment. Despite the demand the want for the youth to conscript in the war effort in the valley areas meant that there was a shortage of workers to run the mines; this in turn saw the introduction of the Bevin Boys, workers conscripted to work in the mines. During the war both Cardiff and Swansea were targets for German air attacks due to their important docks.
Buildings and structures, 1920–1974
After the First World War, Glamorgan, as was typical for Britain as a whole, entered a period of modernity, which saw buildings built and designed for functionality rather than splendour with period features watered down.[84] As the century progressed, symbols of the past industrial period were torn down and replaced with industrial estates populated by unadorned geometric factories. With concrete becoming the favourite post-war building material, larger office blocks began appearing within the cities, though few were of any architectural significance.
Despite entering a fallow period of architectural design, several structures of note did emerge. Although work began in 1911,
Although functionality often deprived a building of interest, Sully Hospital (Pite, Son & Fairweather) is an example of a building which gained from its functional requirements. Initially built for tubercular patients, whose cure required the maximum amount of light and air,[86] the functional architecture left a striking glass-fronted building, completed in 1936.[84]
Another hospital to which functionalism was applied was the University Hospital of Wales (S.W. Milburn & Partners). Begun in the 1960s, and completed in 1971, the building is the third largest hospital in the United Kingdom and the largest in Wales.[87] It was designed to bring the care of patients, research and medical teaching together under one roof.[88]
The demands of modern living saw the growth of housing estates throughout Glamorgan, moving away from the Victorian terrace of Cardiff or the ribbon cottages of the valleys. Several of these projects were failures architecturally and socially. Of note were the Billybanks estate in Penarth and Penrhys Estate (Alex Robertson, Peter Francis & Partners) in the Rhondda, both described by Malcolm Parry, the former Head of the School of Architecture at Cardiff University, as "...the worst examples of architecture and planning in Wales."[89]
Geography
The area that was Glamorgan can be divided into three distinct and contrasting geographical areas. To the south east is a gently undulating limestone plateau,[90] virtually coterminous with the modern county borough of Vale of Glamorgan, mainly comprising farmland and small villages stretching from Porthcawl to Cardiff. The lowlands are geographically the best environment for agriculture of the three areas.[91] Settlements in the area included Cardiff, Barry, Bridgend, Cowbridge, Penarth and Porthcawl.
The northern part of the county was a
Further west was Swansea Bay and the Gower Peninsula, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.[93] Of all the areas, Gower was the least affected by heavy industry and the ancient landscape was the least impaired.[91] The high ground that runs centrally through the Gower was largely uncultivated common land and its beaches and rocky coastal headlands showed little signs of the tourist trade[91] that played an increasing role on the local economy. The major settlements of the region included Swansea, Neath and Port Talbot.
Coastline
The coastline of Glamorgan stretched for 88 miles[citation needed] from Trowbridge in the east to Gower in the west. It was divided naturally into three distinct sections.[94] The coast of the Vale of Glamorgan was mainly characterised by cliffs, while from Porthcawl to Swansea Bay wide sandy shores prevail. The final section, the Gower coast, was made up of a rugged and serrated peninsula.[95]
From the east the first major coastline feature was the Rhymney River, once seen as the natural border between Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, until the absorption of Trowbridge into the Cardiff district[96] in 1936. Heading west, the coast was an expanse of alluvial deposits stretching to the mouth of Glamorgan's most well known river, the River Taff.[95] Once marshland, the area was consumed by the rapid growth of the Cardiff Docks during the industrial revolution, but with the downturn in Glamorgan's iron and coal industries, the docks declined. Also flowing into Cardiff Docks is the River Ely, which separates Cardiff from the headland and seaside resort of Penarth in the Vale of Glamorgan.[95] Here the coast stretches southwards for two and a half miles from Penarth Head to Lavernock Point, hidden from vessels travelling up the Bristol Channel.[97] South easterly from Lavernock Point, roughly three miles out in the Channel Estuary is Flat Holm, an island which although geographically is within the Vale, is administered as part of the city of Cardiff.[98] Flat Holm was the most southerly point of Glamorgan and Wales.
From Lavernock Point the coast heads sharply west to the town of Barry, a well-known seaside resort, Barry is most notable for its rapid expansion during the late 19th century to become an important dock, at one stage surpassing Cardiff Dock for the tonnage of coal exported. Passing the cliffs of Barry Island the coastline becomes a low-lying promontory called the Lays,[99] which continues west taking in the villages of Rhoose and Aberthaw before reaching Breaksea Point, the most southerly point of mainland Wales. Beyond the point is Limpert Bay, which was overlooked by the village of Gileston and the ancient encampment of Summerhouse Point. Here the cliffs rise and run for eleven miles as far as the estuary of the Ogmore.[99] Along this run of cliffs the coast passes Llantwit Major and St Donats, before heading in a rough north-west direction at Nash Point.[99]
The coastline remains as steep cliffs until after Dunraven Head, where the cliff face drops away to expose Southerndown Beach. Two miles beyond, the Ogmore River runs out into a sand-locked bay which can be seen as commencing the second section of the Glamorgan coast,[100] as here the scenery undergoes an abrupt change; from a series of unbroken cliffs to vast regions of sandy beaches.[101] The Ogmore Bay at Ogmore-by-Sea was not only floored with sand but was also backed by high and extensive sand dune system, these impressive natural sand features are commonly known as the Merthyr Mawr sand dunes. Beyond the bay the underlying rocks emerge from the sand to form the promontory of Porthcawl Point.[101] Porthcawl town, once possessing a small dock, abandoned the trade in favour of tourism.[101] The coast continues to the north west as a low rocky formation for three miles to Sker Point, after which the sand line begins again, forming an arid wilderness all the way to Port Talbot.[101] Port Talbot was one of the later industrial towns of Glamorgan, and grew out of the medieval village of Aberavon, a settlement built on the banks of the River Afan. To the west of the mouth of the Afan is the new district of Sandfields, built over the holiday dunes of Aberavon beach in the 1950s to house the workforce of Port Talbot Steelworks.[102]
The River Afan commences the wide sweep of Swansea Bay, which from Port Talbot arcs around taking in Baglan Bay, Briton Ferry, Swansea and ending in Mumbles. The whole bay is shut in by high hills and is thickly encircled with sands.[101] Within the bay are two of the major estuaries of Glamorgan; from Port Talbot the first is the River Neath, which is protected by long breakwaters.[101] The second is the Tawe, the central river of Swansea. Beyond the Tawe the bay sweeps for six miles before reaching Mumbles Head, its most westerly point.[103] Mumbles Head is served by Mumbles Lighthouse, which sits on the further of two small islands off the head.
At The Mumbles, the coastline begins its third phase, commencing the wild and rugged cliffs of the Gower. From Mumbles Head to
Worm's Head is one of the stand out features of the Glamorgan coastline, a long narrow ledge of limestone, projecting into the sea, ending in a 200-foot high wedge shaped crag;[104] the Head takes its name from its resemblance to a dragon.[104] On the northern side of the Worm's Head is the village and Bay of Rhossili, a westerly facing bay that leads backwards to a series of downs, some of the highest land in the Gower.[105] Rhossili Bay ends in the northern formation of Llangenydd Burrows and the islet of Burry Holms.[105] The final stretch of Glamorgan coastline turns north-east to form the Burry Inlet, a shallow and sand-choked estuary which leads to a tract of salt marshes which stretch to the mouth of the River Loughor.[105] The Loughor forming the border between Glamorgan and Carmarthenshire.
Rivers
The major rivers of Glamorgan include the Taff, the Ely, the Ogmore, the Neath, Dulais, the Tawe, the Rhymney (which forms the historic boundary with Monmouthshire), and the Loughor (which forms the historic boundary with Carmarthenshire).
Administration
After the fall of the Welsh kingdom of Morgannwg to
In 1536, the
From the 1790s a call was made for parliamentary reform to address the imbalance between the number of Members of Parliament for each Welsh county and the population each seat represented.
In 1884, the county members were the octogenarian C.R.M. Talbot, who had served since 1830 and the Swansea industrialist, Hussey Vivian, first elected in 1857. In 1885, all ten of the Glamorgan seats were captured by the Liberal Party and this election represented the triumph of the nonconformist middle classes.
An administrative county of
The first chairman of the County Council was
Under the Local Government Act 1972, the county boroughs and administrative county of Glamorgan were abolished on 1 April 1974, with three new counties being established, each containing a former county borough: West Glamorgan, Mid Glamorgan, South Glamorgan. It 1996 these areas were reorganised into several unitary authorities by the Local Government Act of 1994. The South Wales Police force covers an area that is similar to Glamorgan.[116] Since 2013, Glamorgan has had its own official flag, red with three white chevrons.[117]