The Glyncorrwg Mineral Railway, later known as Parsons' Folly, was a goods railway constructed between 1839 and 1842 to transport coal from mines in Port Talbot in the South Wales Coalfield to the Neath Canal at Aberdulais. The ownership of the line changed several times before it was finally abandoned in 1852. Much of the route can still be followed and significant civil engineering features remain.
Background The Glyncorrwg Mineral Railway was promoted by Charles Strange and Robert Parsons, both of whom were from in London and had no previous experience of mining or railways, and no known connection with South Wales.
Robert Parsons Robert Parsons (1811–1873) was born in Edenbridge, Kent. By 1832, he had moved to Barnet, Hertfordshire where he set up in business as a linen draper. In 1836 he was in Wood Green, north London, still as a draper, and by 1837 he had moved again to Fenchurch Street in the heart of the City of London. How he came to meet Strange and enter into partnership with him is not known, but it would appear that Parsons was the dominant partner and that their coal mining venture probably originated with him.
Charles Strange Charles Strange (1806–1874) was one of five sons born to William Strange (1765–1836), a successful wholesale grocer in the City of London, by his second wife. In 1831 he entered his father's business and together with his brother Henry took over the cheesemongering side.London Gazette, 23 March 1832, 1 October 1833. However, in February 1837, within a year of their father's death, they gave up this businessLondon Gazette, 3 February 1837. and by the following September Charles Strange, in partnership with Robert Parsons, had moved to south WalesGlamorgan Archives (Cardiff), DLL/E/52, letters dated 26 and 30 September 1837; DLL/E/51, letter dated 3 October 1837. and started to invest heavily in coal mining. The principal source of capital for the business was Charles Strange. His younger brothers, Thomas (1808–1876) and Samuel (1811–1889), provided further support. All had been left well provided for on the death of their father in 1836. In addition to the proceeds from the sale of the cheese business, Charles had inherited property in Bishopsgate, London, a cash sum, entitlement to interest payable on mortgages granted by his father and a share in dairy farms in Essex which were sold in 1838.The Times, 4 and 9 July 1838. With one exception, noted below, there is no evidence of any financial investment in the business from outside the Strange family.
History What exactly led Parsons and Strange to enter an industry of which they had no previous experience in a part of the country with which they had no previous connection is not known. However, the 1830s was a period of sustained economic growth in the United Kingdom which resulted in a strong demand for coal and this in turn led to a number of entrepreneurs choosing to enter the industry. Further, due to the development of locomotive-powered railways, the inland coal field in south Wales was now becoming available for intensive exploitation. The Afan valley in particular, the area where Parsons and Strange chose to operate, was ripe for development. A new dock had been opened at Port Talbot in 1837 and local industrialists, such as John Vigurs of Cwmavon and Joseph Tregelles Price of Neath Abbey ironworks, were seriously interested in acquiring the coal in this area.Kirkhouse, letters dated 4 December 1837, 24 April 1837.
Mineral estate Parsons and Strange took their first mineral leases from landowners in the Afan valley and its tributary valleys in the latter part of 1837. Within a year they had acquired a mineral estate extending over about 5,500 acres, in some cases including the surface rights as well.Richardson (1843), p 11. As was normal practice, they were committed to paying a royalty on the actual quantity of coal that was extracted and in addition a 'dead rent' that had to be paid regardless of whether or not any coal was raised. The total due in dead rents amounted to £2,300 per annum, a liability which contributed greatly to the financial failure of the partners within a few years, especially since they were never able to work the coal under many of the properties that they had leased.
Railway The Glyncorrwg Mineral Railway was essential to the plans of Parsons and Strange: without it, it would have been impossible to bring the coal to market in economic quantities and allow it to be sold at competitive rates.
It was built under the terms of the 'eight-mile clause' in the Neath Canal Navigation Company's Act of Parliament of 1791An Act for making and maintaining a Canal or Navigable Communication from or near a certain Place called Abernant, in the County of Glamorgan, to and through a certain Place called the Brickfield, near Melincrythan Pill, into the River of Neath, near the Town of Neath, in the said County. 31 Geo.3.c.85, 6 June 1791. which gave powers to the canal company or individual industrialists with the consent of the company to build railways to mines, quarries etc. within eight miles of the canal. Parsons and Strange gave notice to the Canal Company in March 1839 that they intended to seek powers under this clause and their application was approved at the company's General Assembly on 4 July 1839.West Glamorgan Archive Service (Swansea), D/D NCa 64, D/D NCa 84, fol 142.
Construction started almost immediately under the direction of the local mining engineer and surveyor, William Kirkhouse (c1785–1873). By December 1839 work was sufficiently advanced for him to start sourcing the rails, seeking quotes from the iron manufacturers Harford, Davies & Co of Ebbw Vale Ebbw Vale and Rowland Fothergill of the Abernant ironworks at Aberdare.Kirkhouse, letters dated 17 December and 28 December 1839. The first four miles to a coal level which they opened on the Fforchdwm estate were probably completed by mid-1840 with the exception of the powered incline at the head of the Gwenffrwd valley where there were delays with the construction of the engine house. It was probably June 1841 before the railway was fully operational, that being the month when the first consignment of coal was shipped on the Tennant Canal.Tonnage books of goods on Neath and Swansea Red Jacket and Junction canals, afterwards the Tennant canal', West Glamorgan Archive Service, D/D T 1065.
The railway terminated at a wharf on the eastern bank of the Neath Canal at Aberdulais () just south of the junction point with the Tennant Canal Tennant Canal. This provided an outlet to the two shipping places of Briton Ferry (via the Neath Canal) and Swansea (via the Tennant Canal). From Aberdulais the railway climbed a series of four self-acting inclines to the top of Cefn Morfydd, each one leading into the next. The railway then ran through a deep cutting and over a high embankment for just over half a mile before descending by means of a powered incline into Cwmgwenffrwd. This was the only powered incline on the railway since this was the only one where the gradient was against the load. The stationary engine to work the incline was supplied from Neath Abbey ironworks in 1840/41.WGAS, D/D NAI/M/154/1-3 and 712/1-7. No trace of the engine house survives but the retaining wall of the reservoir which held water for the engine remains nearby. From the foot of this incline the railway then followed the Gwenffrwd and Pelena rivers to Fforchdwm level, taking a course now followed by the road through the village of Tonmawr which grew up around it from the 1840s.
The construction of these first four miles exhausted all the partners' capital yet most of the mineral estate still remained unworked. To extend the railway and bring these areas into production Parsons and Strange had to seek loans. Early in 1842 they approached James Morrison who granted loans which enabled them to extend the railway to his property of Tonmawr Uchaf and then, later in the same year, to the adjacent property of Blaencregan, the furthest point that the railway reached, a distance of 6½ miles from Aberdulais. Whilst the railway never reached the village of Glyncorrwg its terminus at Blaencregan lay just within the parish of Glyncorrwg, thus justifying its name. This section included a fine stone arched viaduct over the river Pelena which was destroyed in 1979, although the piers remain, hidden in the forestry.
The railway as built was not what had originally been envisaged. The original plan had been to build a connection into the existing Oakwood Railway which ran from the Oakwood ironworks near Pontrhydyfen down the Afan valley to the new dock at Port Talbot. This would have required the construction of only a few additional miles of railway along the flank of the valley which would have been cheap to construct and, having no inclines to interrupt the flow of traffic, simple to operate. This plan was frustrated by the refusal of the landowner, Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot, to grant a wayleave across two of his farms.Glamorgan Archives, DLL/E/51, DLL/E/52, letters from Griffith Llewellyn to Charles Strange dated 12 October and 12 November 1837. Consequently, Parsons and Strange had to adopt an alternative route (the route that was actually built), although it was both more expensive to construct and more difficult to operate efficiently (by reason of the repeated interruptions to traffic flow caused by the inclines).
The railway was an edge railway, not a plateway (or 'tramroad'). The gauge was a rather narrow 3ft gauge. The rails were somewhat heavier than Kirkhouse had initially intended, 34 lb/yd instead of 26 to 30 lb. They were laid on stone blocks with occasional wooden sleepers. Haulage on the level sections was by horse; Parsons claimed that he intended to acquire two locomotivesRichardson (1843), p 30 but these never materialised.
Mines Parsons and Strange opened five coal levels along the length of the railway: Bryngwyneithin, Tonmawr Isaf, Fforchdwm, Tonmawr Uchaf and Blaencregan. The first three came on stream in the summer of 1841, the other two in mid-1842. Bryngwyneithin and Fforchdwm were the most successful.
Production from these five levels was probably in the order of 150 to 200 tons a day although under abnormal conditions output is known to have exceeded 400 tons a day and on one occasion to have been as high as 468 tons.Letter (now in private possession) from John Rutter to James Morrison dated 16 August 1843. This placed Parsons and Strange among the larger producers in the district. The principal market for the coal seems to have been the copper mines of Cornwall but there were also local sales in and around Neath. Parsons also planned to supply the domestic market in Swansea but this hope was never realised.
Failure of Parsons and Strange By the winter of 1842/43 it had become clear that Parsons and Strange were in financial trouble. Their own resources had run out and in the harsh economic climate of the 1840s it was difficult to attract investors willing to provide further capital. The coal business probably covered its costs but without generating sufficient surplus income to invest in extending the railway and opening further levels. Above all, there was the burden of the dead rents. By the summer of 1843 Parsons and Strange had been reduced to trading for ready cash onlyLetter from Rutter to Morrison dated 2 August 1843 (photocopy of original believed to be presently in private hands). and had difficulty in paying their workmen's wages.Letter from Richardson to Rutter dated 3 August 1843 now in private hands; reproduced in the Newsletter of the Welsh Philatelic Society no 93 (May 2003), p 33.