Neath and Tennant Canal - Neath Canal

Neath Canal

Encouraged by the recent granting of an Act of Parliament to authorise the building of the Glamorganshire Canal, a meeting took place at the Ship & Castle public house in Neath on 12 July 1790, which resolved to build a canal from Pontneddfechan to Neath, and another from Neath to Giant's Grave. Among those attending was Lord Vernon, who had already built a short canal near Giant's Grave to connect the River Neath to furnaces at Penrhiwtyn. Thomas Dadford was asked to survey a course, and he was assisted in this task by his father and brother. He proposed a route which required 22 locks, part of which was a conventional canal, while other parts used the River Neath. Dadford costed the project at £25,716, but in early 1791, Lord Vernon's agent, Lewis Thomas, proposed two new cuts, and the idea of using the river was dropped soon afterwards.

The canal was authorised by an Act of Parliament passed on 6 June 1791, which created The Company and Proprietors of the Neath Canal Navigation, who had powers to raise £25,000 by the issuing of shares, and an additional £10,000 if necessary. As well as building the canal, the Canal Company could build inclined planes, railways or rollers if required, and could optionally use the bed of the River Neath. The canal was to run from Glynneath, (called Abernant at the time), which was not so far up the valley as Pontneddfechan, to Melincryddan Pill at Neath, where it would join the river. Thomas Dadford was employed as Engineer, and construction started from Neath, northwards towards Glynneath. The canal had reached the River Neath at Ynysbwllog by 1792, when Dadford resigned to take up work on the Monmouthshire Canal. He was replaced by Thomas Sheasby, who failed to complete the canal by the November 1793 deadline given to him, and was arrested in 1794 for irregularities in the accounts of the Glamorganshire Canal. The canal company completed the building work by 1795, using direct labour, although the lock into the river was never built. Rebuilding of locks and other improvements continued to be made for several years afterwards.

There was no immediate pressure to extend the canal to Giants Grave, as access to Neath for coastal vessels of up to 200 long tons (200 t) had been improved in 1791 by the construction of the Neath Navigable Cut. However, a second Neath Canal Act was passed on 26 May 1798, to authorise an extension of about 2.5 miles (4.0 km) to Giants Grave, where better facilities for transferring goods to sea-going vessels were available. Thomas Dadford again surveyed the route, but Edward Price from Gofilon acted as engineer. This part of the canal was financed by Lord Vernon, although he was also paid £600 for his Penrhiwtyn canal, which became part of the main line. The extension was completed on 29 July 1799, and terminated at a basin close to Giants Grave Pill. Flood gates on the canal enabled water to be released into the pill to scour it of silt. The total cost of the project was about £40,000, which included 19 locks and a number of access tramways. Between 1815 and 1842, additional docks and wharfs were built at Giants Grave, extending the length slightly, and the canal was extended to Briton Ferry by the construction of the Jersey Canal in 1832, which was about 0.6 miles (1.0 km) long, and was built without an Act of Parliament by the Earl of Jersey. Another short extension was made around 1842. The final length of the canal was 13.5 miles (21.7 km).

From the northern terminus, a tramway connected the canal to iron works at Aberdare and Hirwaun. This was built in 1803, and included an incline just north of Glynneath, which was powered by a high-pressure Trevithick steam engine. The Tappenden brothers had bought into the iron industry in 1802, and built the tramway because of high tolls on the Glamorganshire Canal, but by 1814 they were bankrupt, and had no further connections with the canal.