146 ON THE TRACK OF THE MAIL-COACH 



South Wales had been greatly improved, and had 

 become fit for vehicular traffic. Accordingly, in 1787, 

 quickly following the new mail-coaches, put on the 

 Bristol road in 1784, and on the Great North Eoad in 

 1786, the first mail passed by coach through the 

 counties of Brecon, Carmarthen, and Pembroke, to 

 Milford Haven. 



By 1802 the principal mail-route from London to 

 South Wales lay through Bristol, and across the 

 Severn by ferry to Chepstow ; whence it passed by 

 way of Newport, Cardiff, Swansea, and Carmarthen, 

 to Milford Haven, which port had therefore two 

 services. A mail-coach with a guard ran once a day 

 in each direction. In 1825 the pace was quickened, 

 and the eight o'clock night mail from Lombard Street 

 got to Swansea six or seven hours earlier. 



At Milford Haven, according to a public notice, 

 the Irish mails were ' immediately conveyed to large 

 and commodious steamers.' The mails for Pontypridd 

 and Merthyr Tydvil were sent up from Cardiff by 

 mail-cart once a day, until the year 1854, although 

 the Taff Vale Kailway had been opened for passenger 

 traffic in 1841. Colonel Maberly apparently could not 

 come to an agreement with the railway company. 



When at length terms were arranged, the Taff Vale 

 Pvailway carried the mails to Merthyr Tydvil and 

 Pontypridd, then called Newbridge. I recollect turn- 

 ing aside on one occasion from my official duties at 

 Pontypridd to visit the pit, which had just been 

 the scene of a great mining disaster, when miners 



