We have a station on the main line of the Great Western and have connection with the
London and North Western, and we have the Llanelly and Mynydd Mawr and other local lines,
which do not however carry passengers. A Bill promoted by the Fishguard Railway Company
promises us all that we require even in this direction. One of the essential conditions,
of industrial development is a plentiful water supply. and it is very pleasing to note
that the Llanelly Urban Council is preparing for coning generations by providing an
additional storage reservoir above the present one at Cwmlliedi. Llanelly possesses one of
the finest Market Places in Wales, and the volume of business dole within it is constantly
enlarging. and not until a Corn and Hay Exchange is established and the Market becomes the
centre for the county for the sale of agricultural produce will our more-aspirited public
men be satisfied. The new Town Hall is the most handsome and commodious building of its
kind in the Principality, and the arrangements for the location of the offices of the
Clerk, Surveyor and Collector, and the Registrar of the County Court, together with the
Council Chamber and the large Hall for Police, County Court, and some day not far off,
Assize business, are about as complete and convenient as they possibly can be. Structures
which can lay claim to some architectural beauty have made their appearance during the
last few years. The town has in fact been making strides in every direction and the only
matter of regret is that the movement to estabish a Free Library has not yet ripened into
fruit; that the town has not been running with quick footsteps towards Incorporation; and
that a Public Hall commensurate with. The importance of the town has not been built. The
sun of public opinion is bearing upon the Library question and making it ripe ; the pace
towards the much-needed Charter, though still slow, is quickening; whilst the Public Hall
will surely come with the prosperity of trade. We could enlarge on all the points we have
raised ; we could dwell with delight on the progress of education in this vicinity - but
that is not necessary in a work of this kind. We have given the actual facts with
reference to the commercial life of Llanelly ; veneering and hyperbole have been
studiously avoided. We have seen a town of sturdy growth which has become important.
Suppose we now take a glance backward and learn something of the early history of
Llanelly. For this purpose we cannot do better than re-produce the 11 Retrospect "
prepared by Mr. Arthur Mee, formerly Editor of the SOUTH Warns PRESS, who has done more
than any living man to investigate and preserve the past history of the town. In our
Almanac for 1887 Mr. Mee writes
"To understand the rise and growth of commercial and manu¬facturing Llanelly, its
geological position must be borne in mind. To this we shall now direct our attention.
Llanelly and its immediate neighbourhood are on the carboniferous formation forming part
of the great basin or coalfield of South Wales. The coalfield consists of a great
thickness of sandstones, shales and clay, containing numerous seams or veins of coal, many
of which are too thin to be profitably worked. Locally an enormous trough (synclinal axis)
runs nearly east and west through the centre of the town : a line drawn from Whitford
Lighthouse through the Old Castle and Cae, and carried eastward so as to cut the channel
about three-quarters of a mile north of Loughor Bridge, nearly defines the position of
this axis. All the veins, and the strata containing them, rise gently northward, more
steeply to the south from this line, and the coal seams consequently reach the surface or
"crop out" nearly parallel to it. On the north rise are the Box, St.
David's, Bryngwyn, Pencoed, and all the anthracite collieries of the Gwendraeth
Valley, &co., on the south slope St. George, Bigyn, Glynea and others. Cutting right
through the coal basin, and extending into the formations which surround it, are numerous
dykes or "faults" running about north and south. The Stradey Fault lies midway
between Pwll and Old Castle ; Box big fault is a little to the left of the Cae on the map;
Brynsherfel fault takes its name from a farm so called near the Bryn, which it passes
through ; and an immense fault is cut where the G.W.R. spans' the Loughor river. The
coal veins which are or have been most largely worked are (beginning nearest the surface,
the Great Vein, 6ft. The Four Foot; the Rosey, aft 4in.; Fiery, aft. 6in.; and the Golden
and Bushey, about two feet each in thickness. Numerous fossil ferirs and conifers appear
in the shale or fire-clay underlying the coal, and of this shale a variety of fire-brick
is made. The Cae pit is moo feet deep. Surrounding the Coal Basin and immediately under-
lying it comes a narrow belt of mill stone grit or silica, the fare¬well rock of the
miner, from which the best fire-bricks are made ; next is a stratum of limestone, and
below that the old red sand¬stone. A submerged forest may be seen at low water at St.
Ishmael's and westward. The local formations do not yield a thoroughly good stone for
making or repairing roads.
Llanelly Directory 1897
Regards
Richard
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