IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Ystrad Deri, TREDEGAR, NP22 4DE

This was the Company Shop for the Sirhowy Ironworks http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2943096 where employees were paid with tokens or notes which could only be spent in the company shop. This system, which led to abuse by the employers, was made illegal by the 1831 Truck Act but it took until 1887 until it applied to all workers.

This view is looking towards the west. The chapels are Carmel Welsh Baptist on the right and Ebenezer Independent to the left. Scwfra means scouring, referring to an early method of getting at mineral deposits by releasing a flood of water to wash away the soil. Here, the mineral deposits were iron ore. The following is an extract from A History of Monmouthshire, Vol 5, by Sir J A Bradney, published by the South Wales Record Society. The full document can be accessed via http://welshjournals.llgc.org.uk/ . The oldest process was to scratch on the surface for the mineral but as the mineral got deeper in the earth it was necessary to drive several holes with a bar till a large piece of stratum would fall. A pond would be constructed so that the dam could be cut through and the water allowed to rush over the material separating the mine from the rubbish. This was called scouring, in Welsh ysgwrio, which word survives in the place name Scwrfa.