Page:EB1911 - Volume 12.djvu/87

 the fall being still higher in the adjoining parts of Breconshire whence Cardiff, Swansea, Merthyr and a large area near Neath draw their main supplies of water.

The county has a coast-line of about 83 m. Its two chief bays are the Burry estuary and Swansea, one on either side of the Gower Peninsula, which has also a number of smaller inlets with magnificent cliff scenery. The rest of the coast is fairly regular, the chief openings being at the mouths of the Ogmore and the Taff respectively. The most conspicuous headlands are Whiteford Point, Worms Head and Mumbles Head in Gower, Nash Point and Lavernock Point on the eastern half of the coast.

Geology.—The Silurian rocks, the oldest in the county, form a small inlier about 2 sq. m. in area at Rumney and Pen-y-lan, north of Cardiff, and consist of mudstones and sandstones of Wenlock and Ludlow age; a feeble representative of the Wenlock Limestone also is present. They are conformably succeeded by the Old Red Sandstone which extends westwards as far as Cowbridge as a deeply eroded anticline largely concealed by Trias and Lias. The Old Red Sandstone consists in the lower parts of red marls and sandstones, while the upper beds are quartzitic and pebbly, and form bold scarps which dominate the low ground formed by the softer beds below. Cefn-y-bryn, another anticline of Old Red Sandstone (including small exposures of Silurian rocks), forms the prominent backbone of the Gower peninsula. The next formation is the Carboniferous Limestone which encircles and underlies the great South Wales coal-field, on the south of which, west of Cardiff, it forms a bold escarpment of steeply-dipping beds surrounding the Old Red Sandstone anticline. It shows up through the Trias and Lias in extensive inliers near Bridgend, while in Gower it dips away from the Old Red Sandstone of Cefn-y-bryn. On the north of the coal-field it is just reached near Merthyr Tydfil. The Millstone Grit, which consists of grits, sandstones and shales, crops out above the limestone and serves to introduce the Coal Measures, which lie in the form of a great trough extending east and west across the county and occupying most of its surface. The coal seams are most numerous in the lower part of the series; the Pennant Sandstone succeeds and occupies the inner parts of the basin, forming an elevated moorland region deeply trenched by the teeming valleys (e.g. the Rhondda) which cross the coal-field from north to south. Above the Pennant Sandstone still higher coals come in. Taken generally, the coals are bituminous in the south-east and anthracitic in the north-west.

After the Coal Measures had been deposited, the southern part of the region was subjected to powerful folding; the resulting anticlines were worn down during a long period of detrition, and then submerged slowly beneath a Triassic lake in which accumulated the Keuper conglomerates and marls which spread over the district west of Cardiff and are traceable on the coast of Gower. The succeeding Rhaetic and Lias which form most of the coastal plain (the fertile Vale of Glamorgan) from Penarth to near Bridgend were laid down by the Jurassic sea. A well-marked raised beach is traceable in Gower. Sand-dunes are present locally around Swansea Bay. Moraines, chiefly formed of gravel and clay, occupy many of the Glamorgan valleys; and these, together with the striated surfaces which may be observed at higher levels, are clearly glacial in origin. In the Coal Measures and the newer Limestones and Triassic, Rhaetic and Liassic conglomerates, marls and shales, many interesting fossils have been disinterred: these include the remains of an air-breathing reptile (Anthracespeton). Bones of the cave-bear, lion, mammoth, reindeer, rhinoceros, along with flint weapons and tools, have been discovered in some caves of the Gower peninsula.

Agriculture.—The low-lying land on the south from Caerphilly to Margam is very fertile, the soil being a deep rich loam; and here the standard of agriculture is fairly high, and there prevails a well-defined tenant-right custom, supposed to be of ancient origin but probably dating only from the beginning of the 19th century. Everywhere on the Coal Measures the soil is poor, while vegetation is also injured by the smoke from the works, especially copper smoke. Leland (c. 1535) describes the lowlands as growing good corn and grass but little wood, while the mountains had “redde dere, kiddes plenty, oxen and sheep.” The land even in the “Vale” seems to have been open and unenclosed till the end of the 15th or beginning of the 16th century, while enclosure spread to the uplands still later. About one-fifth of the total area is still common land, more than half of which is unsuitable for cultivation. The total area under cultivation in 1905 was 269,271 acres or about one-half of the total area of the county. The chief crops raised (giving them in the order of their respective acreages) are oats, barley, turnips and swedes, wheat, potatoes and mangolds. A steady decrease of the acreage under grain-crops, green-crops and clover has been accompanied by an increase in the area of pasture. Dairying has been largely abandoned for stock-raising, and very little “Caerphilly cheese” is now made in that district. In 1905 Glamorgan had the largest number of horses in agriculture of any Welsh county except those of Carmarthen and Cardigan. Good sheep and ponies are reared in the hill-country. Pig-keeping is much neglected, and despite the mild climate very little fruit is grown. The average size of holdings in 1905 was 47.3 acres, there being only 46 holdings above 300 acres, and 1719 between 50 and 500 acres.

Mining and Manufactures.—Down to the middle of the 18th century the county had no industry of any importance except agriculture. The coal which underlies practically the whole surface of the county except the Vale of Glamorgan and West Gower was little worked till about 1755, when it began to be used instead of charcoal for the smelting of iron. By 1811, when there were 25 blast furnaces in the county, the demand for coal for this purpose had much increased, but it was in the most active period of railway construction that it reached its maximum. Down to about 1850, if not later, the chief collieries were owned by the ironmasters and were worked for their own requirements, but when the suitability of the lower seams in the district north of Cardiff for steam purposes was realized, an export trade sprang up and soon assumed enormous proportions, so that “the port of Cardiff” (including Barry and Penarth), from which the bulk of the steam coal was shipped, became the first port in the world for the shipment of coal. The development of the anthracite coal-field lying to the north and west of Swansea (from which port it is mostly shipped) dates mainly from the closing years of the 19th century, when the demand for this coal grew rapidly. There are still large areas in the Rhymney Valley on the east, and in the districts of Neath and Swansea on the west, whose development has only recently been undertaken. In connexion with the coal industry, patent fuel (made from small coal and tar) is largely manufactured at Cardiff, Port Talbot and Swansea, the shipments from Swansea being the largest in the kingdom. Next in importance to coal are the iron, steel and tin-plate industries, and in the Swansea district the smelting of copper and a variety of other ores.

The manufacture of iron and steel is carried on at Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil, Cardiff, Port Talbot, Briton Ferry, Pontardawe, Swansea, Gorseinon and Gowerton. During the last quarter of the 19th century the use of the native ironstone was almost wholly given up, and the necessary ore is now imported, mainly from Spain. As a result several of the older inland works, such as those of Aberdare, Ystalyfera and Brynaman have been abandoned, and new works have been established on or near the sea-board; e.g. the Dowlais company in 1891 opened large works at Cardiff. The tin-plate industry is mainly confined to the west of the county, Swansea being the chief port for the shipment of tin-plates, though there are works near Llantrisant and at Melin Griffith near Cardiff, the latter being the oldest in the county. Copper-smelting is carried on on a large scale in the west of the county, at Port Talbot, Cwmavon, Neath and Swansea, and on a small scale at Cardiff, the earliest works having been established at Neath in 1584 and at Swansea in 1717. There are nickel works at Clydach near Swansea, the nickel being imported in the form of “matte” from Canada. Swansea has almost a monopoly of the manufacture of spelter or zinc. Lead, silver and a number of other metals or their by-products are treated in or near Swansea, which is often styled the “metallurgical capital of Wales.” Limestone and silica quarries are worked, while sandstone and clay are also raised. Swansea and Nantgarw were formerly famous for their china, coarse ware is still made chiefly at Ewenny and terra-cotta at Pencoed. Large numbers of people are employed in engineering works and in the manufacture of machines, chains, conveyances, tools, paper and chemicals. The textile factories are few and unimportant.

Fisheries.—Fisheries exist all along the coast; by lines, draught-nets, dredging, trawling, fixed nets and by hand. There is a fleet of trawlers at Swansea. The principal fish caught are cod, herring, pollock, whiting, flukes, brill, plaice, soles, turbot, oysters, mussels, limpets, cockles, shrimps, crabs and lobsters. There are good fish-markets at Swansea and Cardiff.

Communications.—The county has ample dock accommodation. The various docks of Cardiff amount to 210 acres, including timber ponds; Penarth has a dock and basin of 26 acres and a tidal harbour of 55 acres. Barry docks cover 114 acres; Swansea has 147 acres, including its new King’s Dock; and Port Talbot 90 acres. There are also docks at Briton Ferry and Porthcawl, but they are not capable of admitting deep-draft vessels.

Besides its ports, Glamorgan has abundant means of transit in many railways, of which the Great Western is the chief. Its trunk line traversing the country between the mountains and the sea passes through Cardiff, Bridgend and Landore (on the outskirts of Swansea), and throws off numerous branches to the north. The Taff Vale railway serves all the valley of the Taff and its tributaries, and has also extensions to Barry and (through Llantrisant and Cowbridge) to Aberthaw. The Rhymney railway likewise serves the Rhymney Valley, and has a joint service with the Great Western between Cardiff and Merthyr Tydfil—the latter town being also the terminus of the Brecon and Merthyr and a branch of the North-Western from Abergavenny. The Barry railway visits Cardiff and then travels in a north-westerly direction to Pontypridd and Porth, while it sends another branch along the coast through Llantwit Major to Bridgend. Swansea is connected with Merthyr by the Great Western, with Brecon by the Midland, with Craven Arms and Mid-Wales generally by the London & North-Western, with the Rhondda Valley by the Rhondda and Swansea Bay (now worked by the Great Western) and with Mumbles by the Mumbles railway. The Port Talbot