Background
The canal was constructed to transport coal from the upper Swansea Valley to Swansea docks for export, or for use in the early metallurgical industries in the Lower Swansea Valley. The period 1830-1840 saw the development of towns around the canal: Abercraf, Clydach, Penwyllt, Pontardawe, Ynysmeudwy, Ystalyfera and Ystradgynlais came into being as early industries developed at those locations.
In 1817, Fforest Fawr (English: Great Forest of Brecon) was enclosed and divided into fields. It covered an area of 61.5 square miles (159 km2) and was owned by the Crown, having originally been used for hunting by Norman lords. The Crown decided to sell it in 1812 to help fund the Napoleonic Wars, but local people with rights to graze sheep and cattle on the common land objected. 12.6 square miles (33 km2) were sold to cover the cost of the Enclosure Commission, and around one third of the total area was offered for sale in 1819. Some two-thirds of this land was bought by an industrialist and London businessman called John Christie. Christie had already developed a limestone quarry at Penwyllt, and decided to develop lime kilns there as well. In 1820 he moved to Brecon, and developed the Brecon Forest Tramroad. This network consisted eventually of over 100 miles (160 km) of tracks connecting the farms of Sennybridge and the Fforest Fawr (where Christie wanted to improve the land through application of lime), with the charcoal burning centres and coal extraction below Fforest Fawr, with the lime kilns at Penwyllt and ironworks at Ystradgynlais, and the Swansea Canal dock for other industries down stream. Before he could complete the system, he went bankrupt.
Read more about this topic: Swansea Canal
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