Hello
I have just borrowed the book 'Tinopolis' edited by John Edwards. Find a
list of the tinworks and the years the opened.
1737 Kidwelly.
1846 Dafen.
1851 Morfa, Llanelli, First named Llanelly Works.
1860s Cambrian, Llanelli. Later taken over by Morewood.
1863 Western (Marshfield) Llanelli.
1866 Old Castle, Llanelli.
1866 Hendy.
1867 Llangennech
1869 St David's (Yspitty) Bynea.
1872 South Wales (Morewood) Llanelli.
1873 Morlais, Llangennech.
1875 Burry, Llanelli.
1880 Old Lodge, Llanelli.
1890 Ashburnham, Burry Port.
1910 Richard Thomas Mills (RT's) Llanelli.
1911 Pemberton Llanelli.
1912 Burry Extension, Llanelli
1928 Pencoed, Bynea.
1951 Trostre, Llanelli.
For a whole century Llanelli was the centre of the world's tinplate industry
and was known as Tinopolis. The tinplate works at Kidwelly had started in
1737, and came second only to the original Hanbury works at Pontypool. It
was more than a century later that Dafen Works was built in 1846, an event
which saw the beginning of the great surge forward in the tinplate trade.
Llanelli would never be the town it is if it were not for tinplate and its
attendant industries. The characters of generations of Llanelli people are
grounded in heavy industry and the unremitting toil associated with it. As
the town grew and workers flocked in from the surrounding countryside,
workers were bonded together in a new industrial milieu which never forgot
its rural roots. They worked hard together and looked after one another.
They worshipped together, sang together and played together. They were the
salt of the earth.
Pauline James
Carmarthenshire FHS