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Home » Industry » Metal mining and manufacturing » Dowlais iron and steelworks

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  • Adrian Stephens was born near Penzance, Cornwall, in 1795. He moved to Merthyr Tydfil in 1827. There he worked at Dowlais Iron Works where he invented the steam whistle as a warning device on the boilers.
World's first steam whistle, invented by Adrian Stephens, 1833
  • An engineer and antiquarian, Clark worked for Isambard Kingdom Brunel on the Great Western Railway. In 1852 he became a trustee of the Dowlais Ironworks, effectively controlling the works until his death. He was deeply committed to improving the appalling living conditions of the town and was Chairman of the Board of Guardians, of Merthyr Tydfil Poor Law Union, as well as the Local Board of Health.
George Thomas Clark (1809-1898), by Joseph Edwards
  • Josiah John Guest (1785-1852) was the grandson of a Staffordshire brewer, farmer and coal dealer who became manager of the Dowlais Ironworks in 1767. He inherited this vast industrial concern in 1807 and ensured that it overtook Cyfarthfa as the largest ironworks in the town and indeed the world, rolling many hundreds of miles of railway lines to supply the 'Railway mania' of the early 19th century. He married twice, firstly to Maria Rankin who died very young, and secondly to the popular Lady Charlotte Guest. He was Merthyr's first M.P. in 1832, and pioneered schooling and library provision for his workers. Paradoxically, he was also a champion of the unpopular 'truck' system of paying tokens instead of wages to be redeemed in company shops, and provided inadequate housing for his workers, making Dowlais a particularly crowded and insanitary place to live in his time.
Josiah John Guest M.P. Bart. (1785-1852) by Joseph Edwards, 1838
Aerial photograph of Dowlais Ironworks Blast Engine House, Merthyr Tydfil, 1990
  • When King George V and Queen Mary visited the Dowlais Steelworks on 27th June 1912, they entered on foot through the 'Coal Arch' which had been specially constructed by Dowlais Work's craftsmen for the occasion. The Penywern Male Voice Choir entertained the Royal couple during their luncheon in Dowlais House. Afterwards the visitors saw, amongst other processes, the tapping of pig iron and the making of components for the Uganda Railway. With their tour of the works completed the King and Queen emerged onto the Dowlais High Street through the 'Goat Mill' gate, which had been decorated into the form of a triumphal arch, festooned with manufactured components made of steel rails and steel sleepers twisted into shapes. The anchor and crowns were formed by polished rail crop ends and there was a model of the new blast furnace plant sitting in the centre. The footpath was crushed sand and gravel in the form of an anchor. Source: Merthyr Tydfil Public Library (1991)
The Goat Mill Steel Arch, Dowlais Works, 1912
Extracts from 'A visit to the iron works and environs of Merthyr Tydfil in 1852' , frontispiece [image 1 of 9]