Aberlash Tinplate Works
1889 Tirydail Tinplate Works was erected at Ammanford, Camarthenshire.
1889 'THE NEW TIN WORKS AT TIRYDAIL. On Tuesday the new works of the Tirydail Tin-plate Company, Limited, at Ammanford, were successfully started. The proceedings wore of great interest to the neighbourhood, for the enterprise is an addition to the industries of the place, and the company will give employment to about 200 hands. The works have been erected in proximity to the Tirydail Station of the Great Western Railway, on land secured by the company from Mr W. N. Jones, of Tirydail. They are distant from Swansea about 17 miles, and 12 miles from Llanelly, to which ports they will have easy access by both the Great Western and London and North-Western Railways. They will have a never-failing supply of water unrivalled for quality and purity. They are also situated in that portion of the anthracite coalfield, which produces the best coals, a position which gives the work every advantage for fuel supply. The construction of the whole of the buildings, foundations of the machinery and offices, has been carried out by Messrs Thomas, Watkins, and Jenkins, contractors, of Swansea, in the most substantial and workmanlike manner, and the arrangements, which are on the most economical principles for the convenient conduct of the company's business, were carried out in accordance with the practical views and under the able superintendence of the company's outdoor manager, Mr Griffith Elias. The architecture of the works is pleasing to the eye and systematic in detail. The whole of the machinery for this works was supplied by the Lilleshall Company, Limited, Shropshire (owned by the Right Honourable Earl of Granville). The tin-plate rolling machinery is the most approved of its kind in the whole of the trade, and comprises all the necessary arrangements for a full complement of three mills and four pairs of cold rolls, fitted in an excellent and finished manner. There are two boilers, each 30 feet long, by eight feet in diameter, with the very latest improvements and fittings. They appear perfection itself in structure, and well adapted for producing best results. They were supplied through the Lilleshall Company, Limited, and were made by Mr Thomas Bailey, Hyde Junction Works, Manchester. The patent-fuel economisers were supplied by Messrs Arthur Lowcock, Limited, Shrewsbury, a firm well known for this kind of plant. The while of the tinhouse machinery has been made fitted up by Mrs White, Lliw Forge, Pontardulais, under the supervision of her son (Mr George White), the whole being admirably arranged. The blackplate pickling machine and bar-cutter were supplied by Messrs Taylor, Struve, Eton, and Price of Briton Ferry; while the furnace and other castings were supplied by Messrs Lewis and Cule, of Ammanford Foundry. The works and offices have been admirably tilted up with electric light by Mr J. C. Howell, of Llanelly, ........'[1]
1899 'TINPLATE TRADE. ABERLASH WORKS. The Tirydail Tinplate Works some time ago was taken over by a new company, and will henceforth be known as Aberlash. It is now ready to be started as a sheet works, and operations are expected to commence in a week or so.'[2]
1908 The works closed.
By 1989 the building was was ivy-grown and deteriorating with the original roof in an apparently dangerous state, although one of the chimney stacks from the tinning bays survived.
See Also
Sources of Information
[1] Coflein - Aberlash