History of the Wye Valley Railway

The Wireworks Branch

Just 3⁄4 mile long the Wireworks Branch connected the main line to over 300 years of industrial history at Tintern. When the route of the main line was changed from the west bank of the River Wye through Tintern to the east bank, missing out the town, the Duke of Beaufort insisted on an onerous agreement that the Wye Valley Railway build and maintain the branch line without benefitting from any income. The line was worked by private locomotives for 22 years and then by horses for 35 years. (7)

Wireworks and ironworks in the Anghiddy Valley

The Anghiddy Valley above Tintern was the site of a large industrial complex, the first wire mill in Great Britain being established there in about 1568. Furnaces and forges supplied the ductile iron required for wire-making. Charcoal was burnt in the neighbouring woods and Welsh iron ore was used. The wire-making machinery consumed substantial amounts of power which was supplied by waterwheels. Dams on the stream created ponds that formed reservoirs to even out the water flow to the wheels. The remaining ponds make a pleasing addition to the valley scenery. In 1821 there were 20 working waterwheels in the valley.

The Duke of Beaufort’s estate produced surveys between 1763 and 1821 which are referred to by H W Paar and D G Tucker (1). In 1821 the only industrial site in Tintern close to the River Wye contained the Abbey Forge and the Abbey Corn Mill. Remnants of the buildings and a later waterwheel can be found at Abbey Mill today. The Abbey Forge/Cornmill are probably the subject of the watercolour by Joseph Powell. No wire was made on this site at this time.

In 1821 only two forges are listed, Abbey Forge and Pont-y-Saeson or Upper Forge both of which are possible locations for the ‘Iron Forge’ in the engraving. Pont-y-Saeson is situated about 1 1⁄2 miles from the River Wye just south of the joining stream named the Anghiddy Fechan. The forge probably took cast iron from the Abbey Tintern Furnace, a short distance downstream, and repeatedly heated and hammered it to become rods of osmond iron needed at the wireworks.

H W Paar and D G Tucker (1) drew a plan of the remains of Pont-y-Saeson or Upper Forge. This shows a dam with three exits evenly spaced and one overflow in a very similar arrangement to the photograph above.

It is possible that the waterwheel of the Iron Forge in the engraving and the dammed pond in the photograph were part of the same complex and were located close to each other.

In 1821 there were 4 watermills on Abbey Forge/Cornmill site so it is also possible that the watermill in the ‘Iron Forge’ engraving could be one of the three watermills not shown in the watercolour.

The Abbey Tintern Iron and Wireworks (the Lower Wireworks) was the destination of the branch line. It is likely that the plant and equipment was little changed from the above advertisement when the line opened as there were no significant improvements in manufacturing methods up to that time.

‘We farmed at Trellick Grange. Top end of Angidy brook. There were lots of different industries along the brook. We had a water wheel on our farm which has gone now. There were lots of other mills on the way down to Tintern.’

In 1866 Murrell and Stothert leased the whole complex including the Abbey wireworks.(1)

The importance of the wire trade

One of the most important uses of wire was for making ‘cards’ for the preparation of wool for spinning. Wire was also used in making knitting needles and, in the Elizabethan period, farthingales to hold skirts out and stomachers to pull stomachs in.2 It is said that by 1597 there were 5000 workers employed in different parts of the country making goods from Tintern wire. (1)

In the 19th century the demand for wire increased. Wire rope was developed between 1831 and 1834 in Germany and was far superior to hemp. The telegraph was developed in the 1840’s and barbed wire in 1874.

Increasing demand for wire does not, of course, guarantee the success of any business venture in the field unless it is competitive.

Wire manufacturing in the 19th Century

The circular spool to the right pulls the wire through the die powered by shafts, belts and pulleys driven by a water wheel in the case of Tintern. The greater the power available, the greater the reduction of diameter achievable, increasing productivity. Several dies can be used one after the other to produce smaller diameter wires. This avoids unloading the wire from the collection spool, loading it onto the feed spool and then feeding the reduced diameter wire back onto the collection spool. The collection spool was tapered so that the spooled wire could be lifted off easily.

The following link, in English, shows wire making at the Wire Museum in Altena, Germany. The museum tells of the story of the machines and methods once used to produce wire. A very noisy replica machine illustrates the process.

During the wiredrawing process the iron hardens. After each few drawings it is necessary to anneal it by heating in a furnace, usually to red heat. The wire is then allowed to cool slowly restoring its ductility.

A detailed contemporary explanation of wire drawing, titled ‘1856-A Day at Tintern Wireworks’, is displayed as an interpretation panel on the retaining wall of the Lower Wireworks, known as the Abbey Works when the branch line was built. A photograph of the circular panel is shown Annex A at the end of this section ‘The Wireworks Branch’.

Productivity

Paar and Tucker’s opinion is that (3):

‘After the initial success under monopoly conditions in the 16th century and the early 17th century (the Tintern wireworks) failed to respond to growing competition from other works and were backward and unsuccessful’ and

‘After the first quarter of the 19th century the works appear to have been generally in decline’.

The last innovation was probably the introduction of grooved rolls of c 1800. This eliminated one stage in manufacture.

Wireworks indenture and the behaviour of wireworkers

In 1844 Samuel Waite (the great grandfather of Carolyn Limbrick and Sheila Hayward Black) was indentured to Henry Hughes, Wire Manufacturer Tintern Abbey Works4. In 1851 Henry Hughes employed 120 workmen. (2)

To comply with these demands of the Indenture Samuel needed to be of impeccable moral repute:

The indenture required him not to:

‘commit fornication or contract marriage,’

‘play at Cards or Dix (Dice) tables or any other unlawful games,’

‘haunt taverns or Playhouses’

After working at the Wireworks Samuel ran the Cherry Tree Inn, with parts dating back to the 17 th Century, moving to Beech Cottage and later to Beech House.

The wireworkers did not always behave impeccably as shown by this Facebook exchange: (4)

Status of wireworkers

Wireworkers were privileged. They enjoyed voting rights, tax concessions, sick pay and pensions were paid to those too old to work. A priest and a schoolteacher were funded by the company (2).

Building the Wireworks branch line

The route in the 1865 railway proposal followed the west bank of the River Wye passing though Tintern and would have served directly the wireworks owned by the Duke of Beaufort. However, the 1875 and finally agreed route of the railway followed the east bank of the River Wye crossing the river approximately one mile north of Tintern. This clearly was not to the Duke of Beaufort’s liking as the wireworks, which were on his land, would have no direct link to the railway. Even though the wireworks were in decline in the 1870s, he insisted that the Wye Valley Railway build a branch line or ‘tramway’ across the river to the Lower Wireworks (also known as the Abbey Works) to take advantage of cheaper transport of coal, iron ore and finished goods.

The Wye Valley Railway Amendment Act, 1875 contained all the provisions of the 22 November 1872 agreement. These provisions include:

1. The WVR (Wye Valley Railway) shall, at its own expense, construct and build a junction with and branch line from the main line of the railway with a bridge across the River Wye, so as to connect the main line with the Abbey Tintern Wire Works; such branch line shall be carried through the said Abbey Tintern Wire Works up to the high road that leads from Chepstow to Monmouth on the west side of said works.

2. The junction and branch line shall be for the exclusive use of the duke and marquis and their tenants who had their consent. This provision denied the inhabitants of Tintern the use of the branch line which terminated near the centre of the town. The duke’s motives seemed only to be to maximise his income from the wire works.

3. The line was to be completed by 1 November 1874, or on or before the completion of the main line whichever is the earlier.

4. The WVR shall for ever maintain the branch line, junction and bridge in a good and proper state of repair.

5. The branch line shall not become part of the WVR without the consent of the duke and marquis.

6. All trucks, waggons and carriages for the transport of goods to and from the Abbey Tintern

   Wireworks shall be supplied by the WVR. Locomotives are omitted from this list. It is unlikely that this is an oversight by the Duke of Beaufort. Perhaps this was the only concession that the WVR requested and were granted.

7. No charge is to be made by the WVR for the transport of goods to and from the Abbey Tintern Wireworks from the main line.

8. The branch line shall be of the same gauge as the main line and the rails to be not less than 60 lb. per yard. The maximum gradient to be 1 in 70 and level over the bridge. The maximum radius of the curve was to be 300 ft. On the west side of the bridge the branch line shall occupy the site of the present railway of Messieurs Murrell and Stothart, the lessees of the Tintern Abbey Wireworks.
   Introduction to the Agreement between the Duke of Beaufort and his son the Marquis of Worcester of the one part and the Wye Valley Railway Company of the other part dated 22 November 1872.
   The detailed specification was to ensure that the branch line could operate efficiently with standard locomotives and wagons. The existence of a railway on the west side of the bridge before the branch line was built indicates that horses hauled trucks to and from the loading jetty.

9. The bridge was to be constructed in accordance with a drawing appended to the Act (see below). It shall be capable of sustaining an engine and three loaded trucks at least and there shall be a clear headway of 15 ft. between the ordinary high-water mark and the crown of the arches to allow river traffic to pass underneath.
   The bridge platform was raised 2 ft. 6 in. at the suggestion of the Board of Trade at an estimated cost to the WVR of £556 15s. (2)

Work started on the branch on 5 June 1874 and was completed on 6 August 1875. It was not usable until the main line was finished in October 1876. The length of the branch line was approximately 3⁄4 mile long. The only financial benefit to the Wye Valley Railway was income from a weighbridge adjacent to the entry to the bridge from Tintern.

When reporting the opening of the Wye Valley Railway the Bristol Mercury of 21 October 1876 optimistically stated:

‘near the village of Tintern Parva there is a station, certainly rather inconveniently situated for the accommodation of tourists, being about 1 mile beyond the Abbey; but a branch line with a smaller bridge across the river, has been constructed for the purpose of serving the Tintern Abbey Wireworks, an extensive factory, and it is hoped that arrangements will be made by which this branch line may be used for tourist traffic.’

The 1880 Ordnance survey map below shows five wireworks in a distance of less than one mile, two of which are marked ‘disused’. At about this time all manufacture of wire in Tintern stopped and was superseded by tinplate.

Abbey Mill Sawmill and Turnery

After the tinplate works closed in 1901 several sawmills were built. The Lower Forge site, now the Abbey Mill, was operating by 1917 at the latest as this letter, by courtesy of Sheila Hayward Black (4), shows. It is written by the owner, John Jones, requesting that his son be excused military service from the First World War as he was needed in his sawmills and turnery works (owned by Messrs. J. Jones & Son). The original (below) is accompanied by a transcription by Sheila.

This painting by local artist Donald Floyd shows the sawmill at work.

In the background left is a woodturning lathe driven by a pulley and belt system. The drive shaft was connected to a water wheel. Water power is suitable for powering a woodturning lathe as the power required is well within the capability of a water mill.

Mary Simpson has written a vivid impression of working at the Mill: (4)

‘Jim Simpson says in the early 50s he used to sit on his bike and watch the water wheel turning and after ride down into the Mill and watch the men turning legs and spindles for chairs and streams of wood shavings flying up in the air from the lathes. He can still hear the sound of the belts and the line shafts turning and the saws working. Albert Marshall, who we later moved next door to, was one of the workers.’

Dennis Bigham recalls chair legs going to High Wycombe:(4)

‘I remember the pond, and the mill wheel when it was a sawmill turnings out chair legs to go to High Wycombe.’

High Wycombe used to be the biggest chair making town in the country and was world famous. Windsor chairs, ladder back chairs and Ercol furniture were made there. The parts from the Tintern Sawmill and Turnery would have been sent there to be ‘framed-up’ into chairs. By 1875 the output from High Wycombe is estimated at 4700 chairs per day. A GWR branch line passed through Wycombe and so it is likely that legs and spindles made at the Tintern Sawmill and Turnery were transported by horse drawn wagon to the junction with the main line and then on to High Wycombe.

Wooden objects such as the rolling pin below (still in use), potato masher and sock mushroom were turned at the sawmill. It takes considerable skill to turn a rolling pin freehand keeping the rolling surfaces straight and parallel to each other.

Sheila Hayward Black bought six traditional wheelback dining chairs (see photograph below) unstained in 1960. They were then stained to match the dining table. The legs and spindles were turned in Tintern. Sheila is almost certainly right to believe that the chairs were assembled in High Wycombe where the seat, shaped by an adze and the steam- bent backrest hoop were probably also made. The price of the set was £11. Five of the six chairs have been in continuous use. This design dates from the 18th century. The legs and spindles of these type of chairs would probably have been carried in horse drawn wagons to the main line up to the time the line fell out of use.

The sawmill and turnery brought fond memories to Dennis Bigham(4):

‘I still have a (sock) mushroom from the mill from my time staying at my Nan’s in the 50s, the Men working in the mill were smashing, I would have a cup of tea with them made on a tin tub outside, it was the best cup of tea you have, great times.’

Wireworks bridge

More functional than beautiful, the wireworks bridge has been designated Garde II by Cadw (Welsh Heritage) and English Heritage. The English Heritage principal reasons were:

‘It is an unusual mid-C19 light-rail bridge. It is largely complete in its original form and is of good quality design with impressive rubble stone abutments and large flood arches. It provides part of the setting of Tintern and its Abbey’.

The period when private locomotives operated on the branch line

When the Wye Valley Railway was connected to the Wireworks branch in 1876 there was a general slump in the British Wire Trade and the Abbey wireworks had stopped trading. In 1878 Josiah Richards, John Rowland Griffiths and David Williams leased the whole valley complex. The South Wales Daily News reported on 25 August 1879 that production had commenced:

Tinplate making as an alternative to wire making was anticipated in 1842 when the Monmouthshire Beacon advertised the Let by Tender of the Abbey Tintern Iron & Wireworks on 9 July describing the works as:

Tinplate manufacturing was well established in South Wales. The Redbrook Works in the Wye Valley closed in 1962 after over 150 years of production. One of the principal uses of tin plate was for canning. Cans, or simply tins, were tin plated for corrosion resistance. Tin cans first came into use in 1810 after a patent was granted for the tin canning concept for preserving food.

The first waterborne cargo of tinplate was despatched on 14 April 1880 and was reported in the Monmouthshire Beacon of 17 April 1880:(1)

‘The Abbey Tintern and Wire Works and Tin-plate Company sent off their first cargo of tin down the Wye by the steamer ALBERT of Chepstow on Wednesday, Mr. Josiah Richards and others interested in the manufacture being present. The company sent off several trucks of tin to Liverpool and Birkenhead last week.’

So, the railway was not the only method of transport used by the Works.

In March 1881 the WVR directors referred to the branch line as ‘constructed at great and needless expense’. In March 1883 the directors continued in a similar vein reporting the branch as ‘long a subject of anxiety’. It was hoped that much, if not all the wireworks traffic would now be carried by the main line. Instead of going by water ‘as a large portion does at present.(8)

The Wye Valley Railway was in no financial position to do other than the minimum and then in January 1884 an agreement was reached by the Board with the GWR for them to keep the branch line in repair at cost. By November the branch was again badly in need of repair. The GWR felt that they were not obliged to inspect it regularly and were not carrying out this work. In September 1885 Griffiths, the owner of the tinplate works, complained to the Board that people were using the bridge with horses and carts as a public road, but there were other representations asking for permission to use the bridge occasionally. (8)

The dangers of working on the railways was never far away as this report in the Weekly Mail of 27 January 1883 describes:

The works were not doing well, for on 1 June 1895 the Monmouthshire Beacon reported that:

‘We regret to report that the Tintern Tin Works, which
have been going most irregularly for some time past, closed up last Saturday with no hope of an immediate restart. This is a serious blow for the neighbourhood, as the men, unless something is forthcoming soon, will have to remove, and the loss of about £100 per week in circulation must of necessity affect others besides the workpeople. On Wednesday the agents of the Duke of Beaufort, placed Mr. Coomber, bailiff of Chepstow, in possession for arrear of rent, and unless an arrangement is come to a sale of all the loose plant and stock, will be held on Monday.’

adding more bad news for Tintern by also reporting:

‘We also have to chronicle the closing of the chair factory, employing half-a-dozen hands. Mr. Free, the proprietor, is going to Africa.’

The business finally failed by 1900. The Chepstow Weekly Advertiser of 12 January 1901 reported:

‘TINTERN: SALE OF THE WORKS PLANT – Failing an offer to purchase the above Works as a going concern, Mr. J. E. Gunn (of Cardiff) put up by auction on Thursday [10 January] (under instructions from the debenture holders) the whole of the tin and black plate machinery and plant, including rolls, drying machines, locomotive, railway tracks, and a general stock incidental to the business. A fair sprinkling of buyers from Llanelly and other tin-plate quarters were present, the whole of the plant (which was sold in small lots) realising something like £1500.’

This brought to an end the period when the line was operated by private locomotives. It must have been a welcome event for the Wye Valley Railway when the Abbey Works ceased trading.

H W Paar (7) describes the purchase in 1875 by Murral and Stothert of two 2-4-0 tender locomotives previously owned by the Taff Vale Railway. One was put up for sale immediately as it appeared that only one machine travelled to Tintern where it was wanted as a stationary engine. The Industrial Railway Society Gwent handbook describes these as nos 336 and 394 both built in 1854. The Chronicles of Boulton's Sidings describes one of the locomotives, after I.W. Boulton had bought it, as missing its wheels and tender. It seems that this one had been in stationary use. A photo exists of ELY (KTH 336) in Taff Vale Railway days, and was reproduced in the Railway Correspondence and Travel Society (RCTS) Locomotives of the GWR Part 10 Absorbed Engines 1922-47, Part Ten. Also, in the Chronicles of Boulton's Sidings there is a drawing of the one that was still complete when acquired by I.W.Boulton.

Murral and Stothert leased the works from 1866 to September 1878 when Griffiths and partners took up the lease.

An inventory of 1878, attached to the Griffiths and partners lease, adds support to H W Paar’s interpretation. This inventory includes in the New Forge a ’Driving wheel, flywheel, driving wheel and band’ – which only requires combining with a stationary steam engine to provide the power that the New Forge needed.

According to H W Paar (7) the Griffiths partnership undoubtedly did use a locomotive on the Tintern branch, an 0-4-0 vertically-boilered machine known locally as the ‘Coffee-pot’. This locomotive was working at Tintern as least as early as 1892, as I M Heath saw it there and was inspired to purchase a similar machine, by Chaplin. The Gwent handbook confirms this recording that a 0-4-0 Chaplin vertical boilered locomotive No 1886, built in 1876, was delivered to the works. Martin Swill of the Industrial Railway Society believes that the Chaplin was delivered in 1887. This leaves a gap of 7 years when there is no record of locomotives using the branch line. Perhaps horses, with their limited power output were used in this period which could help explain why steamships were more economic.

This 1881 advertisement by Chaplin illustrates the type of locomotive purchased. A toothed wheel can be seen on the inner side of one of the wheels. This would have been driven by a geared or chain-driven transmission attached to steam driven cylinders. These vertical steam cylinders are shown between the water tank and the boiler. There would normally be a coal bunker behind the driver.

Chaplin built 135 similar locomotives between 1860 and 1899 with sizes of 9, 12 and 15 hp.(9)

It is somewhat ironic that these locomotives are advertised as replacing horses when the opposite occurred on the branch line.

The Beamish Museum runs a restored 0-4-0 vertical-boilered geared locomotive, known as ‘Coffee Pot No 1’, It was supplied by TH Head of London in 1871 at a cost of £462.9.6, to the Dorking Greystone Lime Company for use at its Betchworth Quarry in Surrey where it remained in service until 1952.(10)

Edgar Waite started work at the wireworks in 1887 when he was ten years old. His job was to walk in front of the ‘Coffeepot’ with a flag in the daytime or a lamp in the dark to warn people walking along the line. A local person who knew him recalls that it was a dangerous job on the bridge at night, especially as the wooden decking was in poor shape and there was a danger of falling into the river. He was probably the same lad who worked at the level crossing with a red flag to warn road users of the approach of a train.(7). Photographs of Edgar appear in the next section when he was working with horses at the Abbey Mill sawmill and when he held Dolly, the horse ridden by his nephew Ray.

Wireworking ran in the family. Edgar’s two grandfathers Josiah Waite (born 1802) and William Evans also worked as wiredrawers. Edgar’s paternal great grandfather, also named Josiah (born 1778), was a wiredrawer as well. .William appears on the electoral register for 1849 living in a leasehold property with land . This indicates that the wireworkers enjoyed voting privileges as at that time only leaseholders in the boroughs (towns incorporated under royal charter) could vote. The health of wireworkers was also provided for when, for example, in January 1876 Mr. George Henry Horsfall De Wolfe was appointed medical officer for the Tintern District of the Chepstow Union, and the Tintern Abbey Iron and Wireworks. Edgar’s father Samuel Waite was an apprentice at the Lower Wireworks in 1844. His indenture and a photograph of him are included above in this section of the history.

The news of the relief of Mafeking (17th May 1900) reached Tintern when William (‘Bill’) Roberts was driving the train. He opened up the whistle to full blast, abandoning his engine; leaving the whistle sounding until it ran out of steam and made off to celebrate for the rest of the day. [During the Boer War Mafeking was besieged for 217 days. The commander in charge was Colonel Robert Baden-Powell who became a national hero and later founded the Boy Scouts].

The period when horse drawn wagons operated on the branch line

The sawmills and turnery that operated after the iron works went out of business made use of the branch line using horses to haul the wagons up to the main line and gravity to deliver them in the opposite direction. A team of horses would have been needed to haul a rake of wagons loaded with iron wire, whereas several wagons loaded with wooden products could probably have been hauled by a single horse making horsepower feasible when wire production ceased.

During the First World War sawmills were built close to the water’s edge by Gale Bros. The timber for the mill was cut on the east side of the Wye, partly if not wholly along the main line. The trees were loaded on wagons on a Sunday as there was no Sunday train service and ran by gravity over the bridge right to the mill, horses only being employed to get the wagons back onto the main line. According to Danny Lewis, gravel was laid between the lines for the horses.

Working at Pask’s Mill which used the Lower Iron (Wire) Works buildings was similar. Up to twelve wagons were loaded with poles suitable for woodturning and were hauled to the junction by horses. The wagons were released at the junction and came to a halt over the bridge where horses were hitched for the short stretch to the turnery. This activity only continued for a short period probably ceasing around 1926. The Lower Wire Works was later used by the Forestry Commision as a sawmill up to the 1990s and made, for example, farm gates. Jim Simpson worked there in 1958/59. At that time, it was possible to see, under ground level, a vertical water turbine. The turbine was probably installed in 1880s.1The fitter’s shop was housed in one of the original stone buildings. After the sawmill finished production, the site was cleared, except for a retaining wall, and became a car park.

Fryer’s of Bristol also performed woodturning at Tintern and had a steam boat, the LIZA, to take away chair legs and other products and so did not use the railway. It is believed that they also used a trow, The ELIZA. (14)

The work of the Lower Forge site, now the Abbey Mill, is described in the section above titled ‘Abbey Mill Sawmill and Turnery’. This section describes that it is quite likely that legs and spindles was carried by rail to High Wycombe for assembly into chairs.

Edgar is mentioned above as the ten-year-old who led the ‘Coffee pot’ locomotive with a red flag. He served in WW1 and was demobbed in 1919. At the time of the photograph, he was working with Dolly at Abbey Mill. Dolly’s duties could have included hauling wagons but more likely it was hauling timber out of the woods for the sawmill. The photograph, with Tintern Abbey in the background, was probably taken for the Tintern carnival. Danny Lewis, born in 1936, recalls seeing Edgar looking after Dolly with a pony (large horses were usually kept with a pony because horses are herd animals and large horses could otherwise break down fences trying to find a companion) in the field of Abbey Passage Farm. Danny and other children played with the pony but never the large horse.

A further sawmill operated close to the chapel by the water’s edge and was equipped to handle large timber. It obtained its timber from the far side of the river, converted it on site and despatched it by rail. After 1918 Mr Jones had the dock which he used for his barge MARY ANN which operated on the river getting pitwood to be put on the branch line for despatch to the Welsh valley pits. The MARY ANN unfortunately sank and another barge named INDUSTRY was purchased.

House coal, anthracite coal for the sawmills and occasional wagons of bricks used the line.

The early 1920s were possibly the busiest time for the branch line, and it is locally estimated that between 200 and 300 wagons a year were handled at that time.

In 1933 a correspondent to the Railway Gazette wrote:

‘though the works fell into disuse 30 years ago and the points at the junction with the GWR have been taken out, the bridge is still employed by the residents of the neighbourhood, however, as a convenient short cut for themselves and for their cattle across the River Wye.’(11)

But this description does not correspond to T. B. Peacock’s investigations which ascertained that horse-drawn traffic for J. Jones & Sons sawmill and turnery continued until 1935 when the line buckled in the heat of the summer and was rendered useless.12 The rails were lifted and sold in 1941 except for a section crossing the main road that was removed in the 1960s. (14) The junction with the main line was removed in January 1945 together with the gate to the branch line that crossed the track.

References

The following references were used throughout this section. A representative range of extracts are annotated in the text.

1 H W Paar and D G Tucker, ‘The old wireworks and ironworks of the Angidy Valley at Tintern, Gwent’, J. Hist. Metallurgical Society, Volume 9, No1 1975.

2 ‘The Angidy Trail’ produced the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (ANOB) unit as part of the Overlooking the Wye Scheme.

3 H W Paar and D G Tucker, ‘The technology of Wire Making at Tintern, Gwent, 1566-c.1880, Journal of the Historical Metallurgical Society, Volume 11, No 1 1977.

4 Facebook : Tintern and surrounding areas memories old photos etc.

5 H W Paar and DG Tucker, The Wireworks Tramway and Bridge at Tintern, in ‘Severn & Wye Review, Vol.2, No.2, Winter 1972/73. ‘

6 B.M. Handley and R. Dingwall, The Wye Valley Railway and the Coleford Branch.

7 H W Paar, ‘Tintern’s Railway’, Industrial Railway Record, No.72, August 1977. This reference was used, for example in the section about the period in which horse drawn wagons were operated. Local residents supplied much of the information. Additional information was taken from H W Paar, ‘Tintern’s Railway -Some New Evidence’, Industrial Railway Record , No.115, December 1988.

8 Wye Valley Railway Company, Director’s reports.
9 http://www.douglas-self.com/MUSEUM/LOCOLOCO/vertical/vertical.htm 10 https://www.beamish.org.uk/news/happy-150th-birthday-coffee-pot-no-1 11 Railway Magazine, April 1933, p. 307.
12 T.B. Peacock, Railways to Tintern and Coleford (London, 1952).
13 https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/410022?term=Beaufort%20dam
14 Correspondence with Jim Simpson
15 Information from Danny Lewis