TREDEGAR

'Tredegar' is a town in the county borough of Blaenau Gwent, traditional county of Monmouthshire, lying on the Sirhowy River in south east Wales, United Kingdom.
The historic Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, Virginia, United States was named in honour of the town.

Contents

Early History

The Town Clock

Other Information

Local Schools

Twin Towns

Claims to Fame

Famous Residents

Links with the Labour Party

Origin of the name Tredegar

References

External links

Early History

In 1778 a furnace was built in Sirhowy by Thomas Atkinson and William Barrow who came to the area from London.^[1] Fuel was needed for the furnace so men were employed to dig coal at Bryn Bach and Nantybwch.
The furnace failed in 1794. In 1797, Samuel Homfray, with partners Richard Fothergill and the Revd. Matthew Monkhouse built a new furnace, leasing the land from the Tredegar Estate in Newport.^[2] This created the Sirhowy Ironworks that were to become the Tredegar Ironworks, named in honour of the Tredegar Estate.

The Town Clock

One of Tredegar's main attributes is the 'Town Clock' - dominating the southern part of the town centre. The clock was the idea of Mrs. R. P. Davies the wife of the Tredegar Company who had decided that she wanted to present a "lofty illuminated clock" and it was she who decided that it would be erected in the Circle.^[3]

"The clock tower is seventy-two feet high. The foundation is of masonry, on which is surmounted the cast-iron base which has four arms from each corner to a distance of sixty feet at a depth of five feet and six inches below ground level. The pillar is wholly composed of cast-iron, upon a square pediment which in turn, receives a rectangular plinth, and upon this stands a cylindrical column of smooth surface and symmetrical diameter, ornamented with suitable coping on which rests the clock surrounded with a weather vane. The plinth is inscribed on the four aspects, on the south side - Presented to the town of Tredegar from the proceeds of a bazaar promoted by the late Mrs R.P.Davis. Erected in the year 1858. On the West side is effigy of Wellington, with the legend - Wellington, England's Hero. On the North, the Royal Arms of England; and on the east, the name and description of the founder with his crest, - Charles Jordan, Iron Founder, Newport, Mon.


The clock is provided with four transparent faces or dials, each five feet three inches diameter, and these were illuminated originally by gas, but this was later changed to Electricity. The minute hands are each two feet two inches long, and the hour hand one foot seven inches long. The clocks mechanism is a fifteen inch mainwheel strike, with a single four-legged Gravity Escapement driving the four dials. It has a 1 1/4 second pendulum and the bob weighs two hundredweight".^[4]

Other Information

It is home to ''Bryn Bach Park'', a country park.
Tredegar Orpheus Male Voice Choir will celebrate its' 100th year in 2009. Originally in Tredegar there were two choirs, a glee party and a small chapel choir. In 1909, these united under the baton of Mr John Davy Evans, and thus became known as, The Tredegar Orpheus Male Voice Choir, the name Orpheus coming from the Greek god of music.

Local Schools

★ Two Dame Schools prior to 1828

★ The Town School opened in 1837

★ Georgetown schools in 1877. First headmistress in 1878

★ Georgetown Senior Boys School in 1904

★ Tredegar Grammar School

★ Tredegar Secondary Modern

★ Tredegar Comprehensive

★ Deighton primary school

★ Glanhowy primary school

★ Georgetown primary school (Rebuilt 2004)

★ St. Josephs R.C school

★ Brynbach primary

Twin Towns

Tredegar has been twined with Orvault in South-East Brittany since 1979.

Claims to Fame

Tredegar has been used for numerous TV and film locations, including ''The District Nurse'' starring Nerys Hughes. In 1982, a televised version of the A. J. Cronin novel, ''The Citadel'', was filmed in Tredegar, starring Ben Cross. The series was based partly on Cronin's experiences as a doctor in the town, where he had worked for the Tredegar Medical Aid Society in the early 1920s.
Just north of Tredegar lies the Trefil region. Trefil found new fame in 2005 when it was used as a location for the alien Vogon homeworld in the film of Douglas Adams's book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
A myth exists that King Arthur's Camelot was located in Trefil.

Famous Residents

Nye Bevan, Founder of the NHS, was born in Charles St., about half a mile from the town centre.
James J. Davis, Founder of Moose International, the Grand Lodge of Moose in Great Britain, was born in Tredegar.
Ray Reardon and Cliff Wilson, Snooker stars, and Bryan D. White, the former mayor, were born in Tredegar.
Christopher Meredith, Novelist, was educated at Tredegar Comprehensive School.
Ryan Carl Davies, Novelist and Gay Rights activist, now lives in Sirhowy, Tredegar.
Nicky Wire, the bassist of rock band, Manic Street Preachers, was born in Tredegar.
Prof. Phil Williams Scientist^[5]

Links with the Labour Party

Tredegar has strong links with prominent Labour MPs. It was the birthplace of Aneurin Bevan,^[6] who was responsible for the introduction of the British National Health Service (NHS), and who in the 1920s was involved in the management of Tredegar General Hospital. It was also the birthplace of former Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock who attended Georgetown Infants and Juniors.^[7] His predecessor as leader, Michael Foot, was MP for the local constituency - Blaenau Gwent - during his time as party leader. Ironically, Michael Foot's constituency home was Number 10.

Origin of the name Tredegar

The name Tredegar can be explained as ''tref deg erw''. ''Deg erw'' is Welsh for "ten acres" or "ten-acre"; ''tref'' means "town", although its original meaning was "farm" or "estate".
Alternatively, the second element could be the personal name Tegyr, lenited to Degyr, with a change to the final vowel in the Gwent dialect. Little is known about Tegyr (the Great). Sir Tegyr was thought important enough to be included – as Sir Degore – among the twenty-five Knights listed on King Arthur's Round Table. He appears as King Arthur's cup-bearer in the tale of Culhwch & Olwen.

References

1. "A look at Old Tredegar in photographs" Volume 1 Philip Prosser Old Bakehouse Publications 1990
2. B. Gardner's History of Tredegar and other information
3. Old Tredegar Volume One W.Scandlett ISBN 0 9517057 0 9
4. Tredegar Urban District Council's "Centenary Souvenir", 1958
The clock stopped working in January 2007 due to rain water affecting the rebuilt electrical mechanism. A campaign has been set up petitioning the council to repair the clock before it's 150th anniversary next year.

5. Rishbeth, Henry. "Obituary: P J S Williams 1939-2003", ''Astronomy & Geophysics'', 44(5), 2003.
6. http://www.tredegar.co.uk/ Tredegar town website]
7. The Georgetown Schools (1877-1989) Clarice Brown Starling Press, Newport, Gwent 1989

External links

★ Tredegar town website

★ Eiddil Gwent's history of Tredegar

★ B. Gardner's history of Tredegar and other information