IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Dukestown Road, TREDEGAR, NP22 4RE

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.

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.

Situated on Scwfra Road. Scwfra is a nearby area and the name means scouring, referring to an early method of getting at mineral deposits by releasing a flood of water to wash away the soil.

Leading to the Belle Vue Inn http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3196336 .

This footbridge replaced an earlier bridge in 1989. The plaque states that it was the first of its type in the United Kingdom. I have been unable to find out to what this is referring. The bridge is a closed spandrel type with what appears to be a metal arch. For another view of the bridge see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3235340 .

Looking down river to a footbridge.

This was the area where the earliest Chartist lodge was formed in 1839. In May 1839 a rally of almost 5000 people gathered in a nearby field. One of the leaders of the Chartists lived nearby http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3191009. A memorial to some of those who died in the uprising is situated near to the bus stop on the right.

Bilingual memorial to three Chartists who were killed in Newport during the uprising of 1839 http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3191442 . For information on the local Chartists see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3191171 . For a contemporary report of the event see http://www.newportpast.com/nfs/strands/frost/report.htm .

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3191425