Welsh Journals

Agricultural Development in South Wales 1830-1875: the case of some Glamorgan parishes M. Alan Griffiths IN most developing economies the speed of agricultural adaptation and structural change is dependent on physical factors, technical efficiency, market demand and ethnic considerations. The pattern of agricultural development in south Wales between 1830 and 1875 proved no exception to these general propositions as various regions responded in diverse ways to the strength of the agricultural stimu- lus. However, between the end of the Napoleonic Wars and 1850 the general state of south Wales agriculture was adversely affected by wildly fluctuating wheat prices, wet harvests and particularly bad potato harvests culminating in the disastrous crop of 1846. Two other factors which contributed to agricultural distress were bad management of credit by country banks and the excessive tolls charged by turnpike trusts in areas where fertilizer had to be carried by road to farms. The former point was particularly significant as curtailment of bank advances had serious repercussions on small farmers as, in many cases, they were dependent on the sale of cattle to drovers for capital to purchase seeds and general farm requisites.1 Credit stringency also affected small rural industries which provided alternative employment to agriculture in rural areas. For example, the local flannel trade in south Wales, already under severe com- petition from its Yorkshire counterparts, was often driven to bank- ruptcy through lack of bank credit.2 On the other hand, country banks sometimes lent too readily to farmers at rates of interest varying from 10 to 15 per cent and this frequently caused great distress when the loan was due for repayment if in the meantime farm incomes had diminished.3 However, after 1846 seasons improved and prices of grain and livestock began to rise. This brought greater prosperity to the south