Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal

This canal was authorised by an act of Parliament, the '''' (32 Geo. 3. c. 102), passed on 11 June 1792, which created the Company of Proprietors of the Monmouthshire Canal Navigation'' and empowered it to raise £120,000 by the issuing of shares, and a further £60,000 if required. The act stated that the canal would run from Pontnewynydd to the River Usk near Newport, and would include a branch from Crindau to Crumlin Bridge. The company also had powers to construct railways from the canal to any coal mines, ironworks or limestone quarries which were within of it. Construction of the canal was supervised by Thomas Dadford Jr., and further acts of Parliament were obtained as the work progressed. An act of 4 July 1797, the ' (37 Geo. 3. c. 100), gave the company powers to extend the navigation, which resulted in the Newport terminus being moved southwards to Potter Street, while a third act of 26 June 1802, the ' (42 Geo. 3. c. cxv), authorised specific railways, and allowed the company to raise additional finance. The main line, which opened in February 1796, was long, and ran from Newport to Pontnewynydd, via Pontymoile, rising by through 42 locks. The Crumlin Arm left the main line at Crindau, rising through 32 locks to Crumlin (including the Cefn flight of Fourteen Locks), and was opened in 1799. In the late 1840s, a short extension joined the canal to Newport Docks, and hence to the River Usk. Because the canal was isolated from other similar undertakings, Dadford was free to set the size of the locks, and they were designed to take boats with a maximum width of , a length of and a draught of . On the main line, railway branches were constructed from near Pontypool to Blaen-Din Works and Trosnant Furnace. From Crumlin a railway was built to Beaufort Iron Works, which was long and rose by , and there were additional branches to Sorwy Furnace, Nantyglo Works, and the Sirhowy Railway at Risca. == The Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal ==

This canal was first proposed in 1792 as a separate venture, to link Brecon to the River Usk near Caerleon. The Monmouthshire proprietors 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. An act of Parliament, the '''''' (33 Geo. 3. c. 96), was passed on 28 March 1793, allowing the newly formed canal company to raise £100,000 in shares, with an additional £50,000 if required, and to construct railways to link the canal to mines, quarries and iron works. Additional water is taken from a number of streams, where part of the flow is diverted into the canal and the rest flows under an aqueduct to reach the River Usk. == The tramroads ==

The Welsh canals were in the main constructed along narrow valleys, where the terrain prevented the easy construction of branches to serve the industries which were located along their routes, but they had the advantage that their enabling acts of Parliament allowed tramways to be constructed, the land for which could be obtained by compulsory purchase, as if the tramway was part of the canal itself. This led to the development of an extensive network of tramways, to serve the many coal and ironstone mines which developed in the area. Dadford was an exponent of "edge rails", where flanged wheels ran on bar section rails, similar to modern railway practice, rather than wheels with no flanges running on L-shaped tram-plates. because it proved to be quite lucrative for Sir Charles. The tramroad was constructed between 1802 and 1805 or 1806. Branches would be built to the limestone quarries at Trefil (the Trefil Tramroad) and to the Union Ironworks at Rhymney. Two more branches, from Llanarth and Penllwyn to Nine Mile Point Colliery were added in 1824. Conversion of the whole line to standard gauge was completed in 1863, and the Sirhowy Tramroad became the Sirhowy Railway Company in 1865. The tramway was built to a gauge of . The railway adopted the use of cast-iron L-shaped tramroad plates in its construction. The vertical portions of the two plates were positioned inside the wheels of the tramway wagons and the plates were spiked to stone blocks for stability. The size of the stones, and their spacing, was such that the horses could operate unimpeded. From 1 May 1820, the Hay Railway was joined at its Eardisley terminus, in an end on junction, by the Kington Tramway. Together, the two lines totalled 36 miles in length, comprising the longest continuous plateway to be completed in the United Kingdom. The Hay Railway operated through rural areas on the borders of England and Wales and was built to transport goods and freight. Passengers were not carried on any official basis. The Hay Railway was absorbed into the Hereford, Hay and Brecon Railway in 1860 and the line was converted to standard gauge for operation by steam locomotives. == Decline and re-opening ==

With their network of feeder railways, the canals were profitable. Coal traffic rose from 3,500 tons in 1796 to 150,000 tons in 1809, but the arrival of the railways brought serious decline, and in the 1850s, several schemes to abandon the canals were proposed. The Monmouthshire Company, which had become the Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company under the Newport and Pontypool Railway Amendment Act 1848 (11 & 12 Vict. c. cxx)), bought out the Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal Company in 1865, but the move came too late, and the Monmouthshire Canal gradually closed, while the Brecon line was retained as a water feeder. The section of canal from Pontymoile to Pontnewynydd was converted into a railway in 1853, with the loss of 11 locks, and more significantly, much of the water supply to the lower canal. The Crumlin branch was abandoned as a commercial waterway in 1930, but was retained in water. In February 1946, a serious breach occurred at Abercarn, from Crumlin, and although this section of the canal had not been used for 16 years, the breach was repaired. However, the branch was closed just three years later in 1949, Bettws Lane bridge was itself rebuilt to provide more headroom for boats, using grants from the European Regional Development Fund and the Local Regeneration Fund. The grants were secured in 2004, and the bridge was formally opened by the Mayor of Newport on 1 March 2007. The trust was awarded a grant of £854,500 in 2012 by the Heritage Lottery Fund, to enable the eight locks near Ty Coch to be restored. It will also be used to train people in the skills needed to restore historic canals, and to enable lock gates to be made locally using traditional working methods. == The canal today ==

Communities on or near the canal include: On the main arm: • Brecon * Talybont-on-Usk [https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/49223 • Llangynidr * Crickhowell [https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/49769 • Gilwern * Govilon [https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/108204 • Abergavenny * Goetre [https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/302313 • Pontypool * Cwmbran [https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/95993 • Newport On the Crumlin arm: • Risca [https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/295715 • Crosskeys Access Much of the canal towpath is easily walkable along the entire route. The towpath from Brecon to Pontymoile is passable by cyclists over its whole length. The Taff Trail cycle route follows the canal for a few miles from Brecon, but the path after that is not suitable for cyclists with road bikes. National Cycle Network Routes 47 and 49 follow the canals between Cross Keys and Pontypool. October 2007 breach On 16 October 2007 a serious breach occurred when part of the canal bank near Gilwern collapsed, causing a number of houses to be evacuated. Subsequently, they announced that a full geotechnical survey would be carried out, and that they expected the stretch to be closed for up to a year. Water levels on this section were reduced significantly, but engineers were then faced with the task of moving upwards of 100,000 fish before it could be drained fully. At a meeting at Crickhowell on 20 December 2007, British Waterways announced the preliminary results of the investigations: there were over 90 leaks on the section from Talybont to Gilwern, with less leakage on the stretch from Llanover to Goytre Wharf. A press release in February 2008 announced that the total cost of restoration was likely to be around £15 million, with major investment required in the 2008/9 financial year, to repair the breach and to deal with other areas identified as being of top priority. The aim of the work would be to ensure that the canal would be safe and fully open from March 2009, but further work would be required during the following three winters to complete the process. Their actions earned British Waterways the praise of Rhodri Glyn Thomas of the Welsh Assembly, who applauded their "courageous decision" to manage the breach in the way that they had. The repaired canal was officially reopened on 29 March 2009, when a ribbon was cut by Huw Irranca-Davies, the waterways minister, and Rhodri Morgan, the first minister. Concerns over new water abstraction licensing Legislative changes intended to safeguard the protected wildlife of the Usk required Glandŵr Cymru to obtain a new licence to continue abstracting water from the river at Brecon for the canal. An appeal by Glandŵr Cymru against certain provisions failed with the result that when river levels fall below a certain threshold, abstraction will have to cease. This would mean the stopping of boat traffic on the canal as the locks could not operate, with resultant effects on businesses based on the use of the canal. Although Welsh Water could provide compensatory water, this would be at commercial rates which Glandŵr Cymru as a charity has said it could not afford. == Restoration ==

The canal is located within the boundaries of a number of local authorities, and such bodies are increasingly aware of the benefits and regeneration that a canal restoration project can bring. To this end, the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canals Regeneration Partnership was created as a collaborative effort between the Monmouthshire, Brecon and Abergavenny Canals Trust, Torfaen County Borough Council, Newport City Council, Caerphilly County Borough Council, the Forestry Commission and British Waterways. The partnership submitted a bid to the Big Lottery Living Landmarks Fund for £25 million, this being 75 percent of the estimated cost of restoring the main line from Barrack Hill to Cwmbran, including the construction of a new aqueduct to take the canal over Greenforge Way, and of restoring the Crumlin Branch from Malpas Junction to the bottom of the Cefn flight of Fourteen Locks, including improvements to its water supply. The bid reached the development stage, and the partnership successfully obtained a grant of £250,000 to enable them to undertake a full cost and engineering study for the proposed community based regeneration of the waterway. The partnership continues to meet to discuss the way forward to completing the restoration. Restoration of the top lock of the Cefn Flight (lock 21) was completed by volunteers in 2003. The Canals Trust and Newport City Council made a joint presentation to the Heritage Lottery Fund for £700,000 to restore the next four locks of the flight, and this was granted on 23 March 2007. The regeneration of the Cefn flight (Fourteen Locks) is a separate project from the main scheme; contractors will work down the flight, while a voluntary team led by the Canals Trust and Waterway Recovery Group will work up from lock 3 on the Allt-yr-yn locks. There are also plans to connect the southern end of the canal to the River Usk by means of a marina in Crindau. The Crindau Gateway Project is an urban regeneration project for the area around the southern terminus of the canal, which has received £75,000 in funding from the Welsh Assembly to consider the provision of a marina as part of the scheme. A link from the marina to the River Usk would be provided by way of Crindau Pill, an inlet from the river which would be made navigable. This would create sustainability for the project. As of February 2015, Caerphilly County Borough Council plan to develop the canal corridor from Fourteen Locks to Cwmcarn Forest Drive, and fully restore this part of the canal with a new marina in Risca. The Canals Trust has taken over the lease of the Canal Centre at Fourteen Locks. An extension has been completed, which houses a meeting room (available for groups to hire) and also a community run tea room. The Canal Centre is now a base for the trust and its restoration work at the centre of the community. The Welsh Waterways Festival 2010 Organised by the volunteers of the Mon & Brec Canals Trust, the 2010 Welsh Waterways Festival, which included the IWA National Trailboat festival was held at Newport at the end of May 2010. Over 30 boats attended from all over the UK. The boats were able to cruise from Barrack Hill to Pentre Lane in Torfaen Borough for the first time in 84 years, using restored locks at Malpas, Ty Fynnon, and Tamplin. Over 15,000 members of the public turned up over the four days of the festival, which was a tremendous success for Newport and its canal. == See also ==