Hello Peter
What is alum and any idea what the name of the works or the owners were. We might be able
to search the local newspapers for them.
The first alum works were established at Whitby by Sir Thomas Chaloner in the 15th century
who was ex-comunicated by Pope Pius II. for doing so, His Holiness having assumed the
right of exclusively supplying Europe.
Gareth
--- On Sat, 30/3/13, peter.appleton3(a)ntlworld.com <peter.appleton3(a)ntlworld.com>
wrote:
I've just subscribed to this list in the hope that somebody might be able to shed a
little light on something for me. I am in the middle of some research into the alum
industry of north-east Yorkshire (I know, that's a long way from Glamorganshire!).
Last week I came across a published source that was new to me. The author was writing
about the Scottish alum works at Hurlet and Campsie but went on to explain that alum
making " ...had been attempted, at other times, in different parts of the kingdom;
particularly a few years ago at Neath, in Glamorganshire." The book was originally
published in 1812 and so this Welsh alum works would have been around in the 1790s or the
early 1800s. Can anyone shed any further light on this for me or point me to other
sources that might be of interest to me? If it actually got into full production it would
have been a competitor to the Yorkshire works, hence my interest.