25 



PONTYPOOL AND ITS MANUFACTURES AND 



COAL FIELDS. 



By WILLIAM ADAMS, Esq. 



We are now assembled for the second time in the good old town of Pouty- 

 pool, which is about the most easterly point of the South Wales Coalfield, 

 and very near the base of the carboniferous formation ; a little still east of us 

 is the Old Ked or Devonian, followed by the Upper SUurian. 



Several members present will remember a most agreeable first meeting of 

 the Club held here Jvme 19th, 1868, when several valuable papers were read- 

 one being by G. Phillips Bevan, Esq., F.G.S., on the South Wales Coalfield. 



At the request of our President, I desire to-day to present to you some 

 notes upon Pontypool, or Pont-ap-Howell, which long ago was a town of note, 

 famous for its " Japan ware" manufacture ; its tin-plate, wire, and iron- 

 works, and also for " fairy lore," the latter from the pen of the Rev. Edmund 

 Jones, of The Tranch, a spot within sight of the place in which we are now 

 assembled, and which was published in 1779. 



In 1798, the Rev. William Coxe, A.M., F.R.S.'^ F.A.S., in his " History 

 of Monmouthshire," voL 2, p. 233, says :— " , 



" Pontypool is a large, straggling place, containing 250 houses and 1,500 

 souls. The place is the principal mart for the natives of the mountainous 

 district, and the weekly market is not the least considerable, and the cheapest 

 in Monmouthshire. 



" The town principally owes its foundation and increase to the ironworks 

 established by the family of Hanbury ; it is likewise remarkable for the Japan 

 manufacture, known by the name of Pontypool ware. In the reign of 

 Charles II. Thomas Allgood, a native of Northamptonshire, came in 1670 to 

 Pont-y-pool, and, being a man of projecting genius, made various experiments 

 to extract copperas and oil from coal, and finally invented the method of 

 lackering iron plates with a brilliant varnish, in the same manner as the 

 Japanese lackered wood, which was afterwards distinguished by the name of 

 Pontypool ware. 



" He was succeeded by his son Edward, who was principal agent of Major 

 Hanbury, and assisted him in directing and improving the ironworks, par- 

 ticularly the wire manufactory, which was deficient in the method of polish- 

 ing to that established at Woburn in Bedfordshire. For the purpose of 

 discovering the secret, Edward Allgood repaired to Woburn in the character 

 of a beggar, and, acting the part of a buffoon, gradually obtained access to 

 the workshops, and was permitted to inspect the various processes, by which 



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