Cyfarthfa Castle and Nantgarw Chinaworks
Aug. 10th, 2019 02:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smallhobbitNormally we try and have a few days out on August Fridays. Last Friday we went to Cheltenham and had Afternoon Tea (croque monsieur, scones, cakes). This week there were a couple of places in Wales we wanted to visit, so we decided to stay overnight and do one on the Thursday (I have some time off due as I worked some additional hours in the last couple of months) and the second on the Friday.
Our first visit was to Cyfarthfa Castle. This is not an old castle, but was built by William Crawshay in 1824 to show how wealthy he was. He was the grandson of Richard Crawshay who had begun the Crawshay ironworks. This was one of four ironworks in Merthyr Tydfyl, which in the 1820s was the source of 40% of the UK's iron exports. There's a very interesting exhibition on the ironworks, which I found fascinating as I knew very little, and hadn't realised the pre-eminence of Merthyr as the iron capital up until the 1850s.
After we'd looked around the exhibition and the art and other items on display we walked through the grounds and around the lake.
We stayed overnight in Merthyr, walking along the River Taff to find a pub for our evening meal.
The next morning we went to the Nantgarw Chinaworks. From 1813-14 and 1817-20 William Billingsley made the finest porcelain in the world in Nantgarw. It was much in demand by the wealthiest people in London. The porcelain is translucent, not because of its thin nature, but due to the specific ingredients. However, the nature of the porcelain was such that any slight variation in the firing temperature caused it to break, which led to 90% breakage and therefore it wasn't economically viable.
We were shown round by a very informative guide, and learnt a lot about the process. After the porcelain manufacture was abandoned William Henry Pardoe started to make clay pipes and basic earthenware items. We were able to see where the kilns had been. Behind the main building is the area where broken pottery was thrown, and now the moles living in the ground underneath push up some of the broken pieces.
There's currently an exhibition (Coming Home) showing a number of the items made by Billingsley, which have come both from the National Museum of Wales and also private collections.
(photos taken from the website)
Our first visit was to Cyfarthfa Castle. This is not an old castle, but was built by William Crawshay in 1824 to show how wealthy he was. He was the grandson of Richard Crawshay who had begun the Crawshay ironworks. This was one of four ironworks in Merthyr Tydfyl, which in the 1820s was the source of 40% of the UK's iron exports. There's a very interesting exhibition on the ironworks, which I found fascinating as I knew very little, and hadn't realised the pre-eminence of Merthyr as the iron capital up until the 1850s.
After we'd looked around the exhibition and the art and other items on display we walked through the grounds and around the lake.
We stayed overnight in Merthyr, walking along the River Taff to find a pub for our evening meal.
The next morning we went to the Nantgarw Chinaworks. From 1813-14 and 1817-20 William Billingsley made the finest porcelain in the world in Nantgarw. It was much in demand by the wealthiest people in London. The porcelain is translucent, not because of its thin nature, but due to the specific ingredients. However, the nature of the porcelain was such that any slight variation in the firing temperature caused it to break, which led to 90% breakage and therefore it wasn't economically viable.
We were shown round by a very informative guide, and learnt a lot about the process. After the porcelain manufacture was abandoned William Henry Pardoe started to make clay pipes and basic earthenware items. We were able to see where the kilns had been. Behind the main building is the area where broken pottery was thrown, and now the moles living in the ground underneath push up some of the broken pieces.
There's currently an exhibition (Coming Home) showing a number of the items made by Billingsley, which have come both from the National Museum of Wales and also private collections.
(photos taken from the website)
no subject
Date: 2019-08-10 02:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-08-10 02:28 pm (UTC)I shall have to remember that for a Ferret 'verse ficlet - as you say it would be ideal.
And thank you - yes, it was a good trip.
no subject
Date: 2019-08-10 05:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-08-10 05:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-08-10 09:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-08-10 10:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-08-10 11:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-08-11 07:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-08-16 07:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-08-16 07:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-08-17 07:14 am (UTC)The casualty rate of the translucent pottery is striking
no subject
Date: 2019-08-17 07:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-08-17 11:57 am (UTC)My mom did some work in porcelain and said it was a pain. So I have respect for their product.
no subject
Date: 2019-08-17 05:54 pm (UTC)Yes, porcelain is not the easiest to work with. And in this particular case, the temperature of the kiln had to be so precise, losses would almost inevitable be high. I suspect even today it would be an art to keep it at the right temperature, then, without the benefit of accurate thermometers would have been nearly impossible.
no subject
Date: 2019-08-29 09:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-08-29 09:07 pm (UTC)