Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal
1792 A canal was proposed to link Brecon to the River Usk near Caerleon. The proprietors of the Monmouthshire Canal invited their potential competitors to alter the plans to create a junction with the Monmouthshire Canal at Pontymoile near Pontypool and share the navigation from there to Newport.
1793 An Act of Parliament was obtained allowing the newly=formed Canal Company to raise money.
1794 The associated railway line was opened
1795 Thomas Dadford Junior was appointed as the engineer for the canal itself and construction began
1797 First section opened
1799 The canal was completed and opened to Talybont-on-Usk
1800 Opened to Brecon
1801 Thomas Dadford died; Thomas Cartwright was appointed engineer
1805 The section to Govilon, near Abergavenny was completed
By 1809 the Monmouthshire Canal was threatening litigation about the uncompleted connection from Gilwern. Richard Crawshay, the Merthyr Tydfil ironmaster and a major force on the Glamorganshire Canal, provided a loan of £30,000 to help the canal. This enabled the company to appoint William Crosley to complete the work, which opened in February 1812.
1865 The Monmouthshire Canal Company bought out the Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal Company
Between 1818-21, Thomas Hill opened a tramroad tunnel to bring limestone from Pwll Du to Blaenavon with a roadway link for pig iron from the Blaenavon furnaces to the Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal via the Garn-Ddyrys Forge. This was the longest tunnel of its kind in Britain at just over 2km[1].
1865 Acquired by the Monmouthshire Canal
See Also
Sources of Information
- Wikipedia [2]