Tredegar

infobox UK place
country = Wales
static_

static_image_caption=The Town Clock [ [http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/166273 image from Geograph] , accessed 21 July 2008]
welsh_name=
constituency_welsh_assembly=
map_type=
official_name= Tredegar
unitary_wales= Blaenau Gwent
lieutenancy_wales= Gwent
constituency_westminster= Blaenau Gwent
post_town= TREDEGAR
postcode_district = NP22
postcode_area= NP
dial_code= 01495
os_grid_reference= SO145095
population= 14,802

Tredegar is a town in the county borough of Blaenau Gwent, lying on the River Sirhowy in the Sirhowy Valley in south east Wales.

The historic Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, Virginia, United States was named in honour of the town.

History

Industrialisation

From the mid-16th century to 1974, Tredegar lay in the historic county of Monmouthshire. It became an early centre of the Industrial Revolution in South Wales. In 1778 an iron furnace was built in Sirhowy by Thomas Atkinson and William Barrow who came to the area from London."A look at Old Tredegar in photographs" Volume 1 Philip Prosser Old Bakehouse Publications 1990] Fuel was needed for the furnace so men were employed to dig coal at Bryn Bach and Nantybwch, the first small scale coal mining operation in the area.

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. [http://web.ukonline.co.uk/b.gardner/tredegar/tredpage.html B. Gardner's History of Tredegar and other information] ] This created the Sirhowy Ironworks that were to become the Tredegar Ironworks, named in honour of the Tredegar Estate at Tredegar House and Tredegar Park in Newport in the south of the county.

Governence

Links with the Labour Party

Tredegar has strong links with prominent Labour MPs and the history of the Labour Party and the Labour Movement in the UK. It was the birthplace of Aneurin Bevan,http://www.tredegar.co.uk/ Tredegar town website] ] 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.The Georgetown Schools (1877-1989) Clarice Brown Starling Press, Newport 1989] His predecessor as leader, Michael Foot, was MP for the local constituency - Ebbw Vale - during his time as party leader. Ironically, Michael Foot's constituency home was Number 10.

Architecture

Bedwellty House is a Grade2 listed house and gardens. Originally a ”low thatched-roof cottage,” the old house was renovated in 1809. The present Bedwellty House was built in 1818 as a home for Samuel Homfray, whose Iron and Coal Works were the main local employers for much of the 19th century. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/6503823.stm BBC NEWS | Wales | South East Wales | £3.6m earmarked for listed house ] ] The surrounding 26 acre Victorian garden and park, designed originally as a Dutch garden around which one could walk or ride without being confronted by gate, fence or outside features; contains the Long Shelter, a Grade2 listed structure built for the Charterist movement. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/3812011.stm BBC NEWS | Wales | South East Wales | Arson destroys historic pavilion ] ]

The Town Clock

One of Tredegar's main attributes is the Town Clock - dominating the southern part of the town centre. [ [http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/166291 Tredegar Town Clock:: OS grid SO1408 :: Geograph British Isles - photograph every grid square! ] ] 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.Old Tredegar Volume One W.Scandlett ISBN 0 9517057 0 9]

"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 (152 mm) 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 (381 mm) 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".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.

]

Culture and leisure

Tredegar is home to "Bryn Bach Park", a country park.

Tredegar Orpheus Male Voice Choir will celebrate its 100th anniversary 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.

Tredegar Town Band won the Champion Band of Wales for the ninth time in 2008. [ [http://www.4barsrest.com/articles/2008/art820d.asp 4Bars Rest] ] Their financial support comes from local councils and other local organisations and from the support of 'friends' who raise the money needed to maintain the band. [ [http://www.tredegartownband.org/index_files/about_us.htm Tredegar Town Band] ] Many other bands attract private sponsorship.

Tredegar is home to rugby union teams Tredegar Rugby Football Club [ [http://www.tredegar-rfc.co.uk Tredegar Rugby Football Club] ] who play in the Swalec League Division Two East and Tredegar Ironsides Rugby Football Club. The club was formed in 1946.

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 school
* Deighton primary school
* Glanhowy primary school
* Georgetown primary school (rebuilt 2004)
* St. Joseph's R.C school
* Brynbach primary school

Twin towns

flagicon|Brittany 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

* Aneurin Bevan, founder of the National Health Service, was born in Charles St., about half a mile from the town centre.
* Neil Kinnock, former leader of the Labour Party and European Commissioner, was born in Tredegar in 1942.
* 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.
* A.J.Cronin, novelist, author of The Citadel etc.
* Prof. Phil Williams Scientist [Rishbeth, Henry. [http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/products/journals/aag/AAG_October03/aag_44538.htm "Obituary: P J S Williams 1939-2003"] , "Astronomy & Geophysics", 44(5), 2003.]

References

External links

* [http://www.tredegar.co.uk/ Tredegar town website]
* [http://www.blaenau-gwent.gov.uk/The%20Council/Departments/Community_Services/Leisure%20&%20Amenities/heritage/Local%20History/HistTred.htm Eiddil Gwent's history of Tredegar]
* [http://web.ukonline.co.uk/b.gardner/tredegar/tredpage.html B. Gardner's history of Tredegar and other information]
* [http://www.cefnpennar.com/tredegar/ Monumental Inscriptions for Tredegar]
* [http://www.gtj.org.uk/en/blowup1/340 Aerial photograph of Tredegar in 1999]
* [http://www.tredegar-rfc.co.uk Tredegar Rugby Football Club]