PONT-Y-POOL, a market-town and chapelry in the
parish of TREVETHAN, upper division of the hundred of
ABERGAVENNY, county of MONMOUTH, 20 miles (S. W;
by W.) from Monmouth, and 146 (W. by N.) from
London. The population is returned with the parish.
This town, the name of which is a corruption of Pont
ap Howel, is situated on a declivity between the river
Avon and .the canal to Newport, near the base of the
bold elevation of Mynydd-Maen. It appears to have
arisen out of the village of Trevethin, and to have owed
its present importance to the inventive genius of Thomas
Allgood, a native of Northamptonshire, who made some
discoveries here of considerable advantage to the manufactures
of the country, in the art of imitating japan
varnish, from which the articles were denominated
Japan ware: in addition to which his son introduced
and carried on here for a considerable time, a branch
of art in cleansing and polishing iron, which produced
articles of such excellent workmanship, as eventually to
obtain for them the name of Pont-y-pool ware. The
prosperity of the town was completed, about the close
of the sixteenth century, by the establishment of ironworks,
under the auspices of Capel Hanbury, to which
the mineral productions of the county, with, the numerous
forges and furnaces, and the more modern
accommodations of conveyance, both by land and water,
have essentially contributed. The surrounding scenery
is of a rugged character, the prospect from some points
being exceedingly extensive. The town is situated on
the great basin of coal and iron stone which extends
westward through Wales to Pembrokeshire; it is irregularly
built, and consists chiefly of two streets, which
contain many neat, but detached, houses; the streets
are partially Macadamized, lighted with gas, and well
supplied with water from the small river Avon, and
the adjacent springs: many good houses are in.progress
of erection, and the town is in a state of moderate improvement.
In the vicinity is a great number of new
buildings for .the accommodation of agents to the differ r
At companies, also. numerous cottages for workmen,
the walls of which are invariably whitewashed. The
extensive iron-works were begun in .1565, and enlarged,
by John Hanbury, Esq., who, in addition
to various improvements in machinery, discovered
the method of making sheet-iron by the compression
of rollers, .and of casting iron .with tin. Numerous
forges and iron-mills,  for making tin plate,
are continually at work. The furnaces of the British
Mining. Company .are situated at the Yarteage, about
three miles distant from the town. A great part of
the soil in this district is upon limestone, and the sheep
fed here yield excellent mutton. Ahout a mile southwest
of the town, at the;base of the mountain called
Mynydd-Maen, a level and colliery have been lately opened,
which drain ten veins of coal forty-two feet in thickness,
with an equal number of iron-stone, one hundred
feet thick, whence issues a stream of chalybeate water.
The manufacture of the Japan and Pont-y-pool ware
is still carried on, though it is now rivalled by that of
Birmingham. The chief articles of trade are, iron of
every description and quality, of which this parish is
capable of sending thirty thousand tons annually to
market; and coal, in which the neighbouring hills
abound: these works, with the lime-kilns, afford employment
to many thousand persons. There is also
some business in the leather trade, and a good brewery.
Facility of conveyance is supplied by several tram-roads,
and, to the port of Newport, by the Monmouthshire and
Brecon canals, which pass through Pomy-pool, and
form a junction at the village of Pent-y-Moil. The
market is on Saturday, and, during the summer, there
is an additional market on Wednesday: fairs are on
April 2nd and 22nd, July 5th, and October 10th, for
horses, cattle, sheep, cheese, &c. The government of
the town is under the jurisdiction of the county magistrates,
of whom one is resident; and petty sessions for
the upper division of the hundred of Abergavenny are
held here; as also an annual court leet for the lords of
the manors of Wensland and Brynwyn, at which the
stewards preside.
The living is a perpetual curacy, united to that
of Trevethan, in the archdeaconry and diocese of
Llandaff, endowed with £2200 parliamentary grant,
and in the patronage of the Chapter of Llandaff. The
chapel, dedicated to St. James, is a very ancient building,
but it has recently undergone such considerable repairs
as to make it a neat and commodious structure: it
contains four hundred and fifty free sittings, the Incorporated
Society for building and enlarging churches and
chapels having contributed £350 towards defraying the
expense. There are four places of worship for Baptists,
four for Wesleyan Methodists, three for Independents,
and. one each for the Society of Friends, and Roman
Catholics; some of these are situated on the adjacent
hills.