Welsh Journals

River Usk at Glangrwyne. The Clydach rises above a pond called Blue Lake at 1640' above sea-level on Beaufort Mountain and falls 1400' in six miles and thus produces the energy to cut such a spectacular gorge. The valley was industrialised from 1590 to 1884. Edwin Jones (Chairman of the Brynmawr Society) took us through the history of the ups and downs of the works which seemed to suffer constantly from under investment and labour problems. The very remoteness of the area was in part due to the lack of success of the industry and its subsequent decline and from the 1890s the population began to move away from the valley. The next great upheaval in the valley was the construction of the Heads of the Valley Road 1960-62 at a cost of £ 2 million. Lunch was had at the Drum and Monkey pub which had formerly been called the Prince Albert. It was explained that its present name probably derived from the trams which carried the coal and iron ore which in this area were known as 'drams' which became 'drum'; the 'monkey' refers to the collar worn by the horses which pulled the drams. The afternoon was taken up by exploring the industrial remains in the valley which are currently being renovated by Blaenau Gwent Council in conjunction with the Manpower Services. For those who would like to explore the valley by themselves there is an excellent booklet by John Van Laun and Michael Blackmoor The Clydach Gorge which describes various trails leading one around sites of interest. The cover photograph of the last edition of the Journal did not originate from the collection of the Pontypool Free Press as was stated but was acquired by Mr. C. R. Williams, Chairman of Oxford House Industrial Archaeology Society (see Letters to the Editor).