Nantyglo
Nantyglo (English: Brook of coal) is a village, situated deep within the South Wales Valleys between Blaina and Brynmawr.
During the middle of the 19th Century, Nantyglo was one of the most important iron producing centres in the world.
In 1816 Crawshay Bailey and Joseph Bailey the Ironmasters who owned Nantyglo Ironworks, were so fearful for their lives when riots broke out amongst their workers, that they had built two fortified towers, the Nantyglo Roundhouses. They were the last castle-type fortifications to be built in Britain.
At their height c1844 the Baileys employed 3000 men and 500 women and children in their ironworks and coal mines.
Zephaniah Williams a Master Collier and innkeeper, keeping the Royal Oak Inn at Nantyglo, from where he used to pay his colliers, was a free thinking man in religious matters and the local Working Men's Association met at his home. It was at this time only natural that such a man would emerge as a natural leader during the Chartist movement in south east Wales. Along with John Frost and William Jones, he led a large column of men from the Nantyglo area to march south on the Westgate Hotel, Newport, site of what is sometimes regarded as the greatest armed rebellion in 19th century Britain. He was subsequently convicted for his part in the Chartist Newport Rising at Newport, Monmouthshire in 1839 and transported.
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External links
- Map sources for Nantyglo
Wanted: Dead
christopher teauge
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