I'm sorry if I have misled - I don't know Merthyr well 'on the ground'.

Here in Yfera the revetment is actually called the 'charging wall'. Google 
Image 'Ystalyfera Ironworks' finds a flanking view (3rd from L on top row, 
in my display, but not a face-on one (i.e. looking west from the modern 
A4097), which is the more dramatic view, and would give a better idea of how 
long the wall is, as well as its height.

Part of the Yfera site was extensively excavated prior to the ASDA build (ie 
in the last couple of years) and there was much local disappointment that 
the site was not given more protection. The official explanation was that, 
while the site was interesting, there were better-preserved examples 
elsewhere, and my memory is that Merthyr was cited. I've just Google Imaged 
'Merthyr ironworks', and there are several pictures of what look to me like 
'charging walls'. It may be that the 'canal link' is my misunderstanding 
with regard to Merthyr.

Ian G.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tim Young" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2013 11:10 PM
Subject: Re: Early C19 ore chute design


>I don't know of any situations like this in Merthyr - where the Glamorgan 
>canal was on the
> lowest ground. There was a short canal linking some pits with the 
> Cyfarthfa Ironworks,
> but so far as I am aware this entered the coking yard on level ground and 
> did not involve
> shutes.
>
> Tim
>
>
> On 12 Aug 2013 at 14:25, Ian Graham wrote:
>
>> Not quite what you asked, but:
>>
>> I know of two locations in Wales where a canal running along a hillside 
>> was
>> related via the necessary stone revetment to an ironworks immediately 
>> below,
>> with various installations incorporated into the wall. I live near one, 
>> in
>> Ystalyfera, where the wall has been conserved resecntly as part of a new
>> ASDA development, and I belive one of the Merthyr works had something 
>> very
>> similar.
>>
>> The Ystalyfera site would date from 1838 on. The Merthyr example probably
>> significantly earlier.
>>
>> Ian G.
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Robert Waterhouse" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Monday, August 12, 2013 1:20 PM
>> Subject: FW: Early C19 ore chute design
>>
>>
>> > Dear List,
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Does anyone know of any published sources for the design and 
>> > construction
>> > of
>> > orechutes, where they open either directly beside or under a railway?
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > I'm in the process of producing an isometric reconstruction of the 1806
>> > double orechutes at Morwellham Quay for my Tavistock Canal book.  These
>> > had
>> > a pair of stone-constructed vertical chutes which opened directly under
>> > each
>> > of a pair of parallel lines.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > I just wondered how unusual they were and whether parallels existed
>> > elsewhere?
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Robert Waterhouse
>> >
>> >
>> > If you need to leave the list, send the following message to
>> > [log in to unmask] -
>> >
>> > leave mining-history
>> > --------- 
>>
>> If you need to leave the list, send the following message to 
>> [log in to unmask] -
>>
>> leave mining-history
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>
>
> -- 
> Dr Tim Young MA PhD FGS FSA
> Email: [log in to unmask]
> Web: www.geoarch.co.uk
> Phone: 07802 413704
> Fax: 08700 547366
>
> If you need to leave the list, send the following message to 
> [log in to unmask] -
>
> leave mining-history
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