Tredegar, United Kingdom

Local historian Oliver Jones cast doubt on the claim of David Morris in his 1969 book The early days of Sirhowy and Tredegar. He commented that "when the Bretons arrived in 1738 they simply took over a works which had been in existence for many years."

There is also disagreement about the next furnace that was built locally, the coal-fired Sirhowy Furnace. Evan Powell claimed in his 1884 History of Tredegar that it was erected 'a few years' after the closure of the Pont Gwaith yr Hearn furnace, by a Mr Kettle of Shropshire. Oliver Jones also cast doubt on this claim. He commented: 'neither maps nor documents support [Powell] .... Nor does Kettle, the name of the man who is supposed to have built it at that time, appear anywhere in the records.'

However, there is agreement that a furnace was built 'near the confluence of Nant Melin brook and the river Sirhowy at the place then called Aber-Sirhowy' in 1778, by manual workers who were hired by a consortium of four men: Thomas Atkinson, a merchant from York, and three businessmen from London, William Barrow, Bolton Hudson and John Sealy, who were 'involved in the tea and grocery trade'. The consortium secured a forty-year lease on local lands from Charles Henry Burgh, who had inherited the estate of his father, the Rev. Henry Burgh. It employed miners who drove coal levels into the hillsides at Bryn Bach and Nantybwch, the first small-scale coal mining operation in the area, for the coal-fired furnace. (Oliver Jones documented that, from the mid-1780s, 'coal mining became more systematic and much better organised'.) Other trades that the consortium employed included furnacemen, furnace helpers, smiths, cokers, masons and mule drivers.

In 1800, Samuel Homfray, with partners Richard Fothergill and Matthew Monkhouse, signed a lease from the Tredegar Estate in Newport which enabled the creation of the Tredegar Iron Company, which was named in deference to Sir Charles Morgan of Tredegar House in Newport. Previously, Tredegar 'contained only three houses'. In 1891, the company ceased production of iron, but continued to develop coal mines and produce coal. The former Tredegar Ironworks were effectively abandoned, with Whiteheads taking over the southern section of the site from 1907. In 1931, they also closed down their operations, moving everything to their Newport works. TICC continued to develop coal mines and work pits, until it was nationalised in 1946, becoming part of the National Coal Board.

The Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, Virginia, United States was named in honour of the town.

Samuel Homfray, an iron master who managed to obtain a large parcel of land in and around Tredegar, is to be thanked for Tredegar Circle and the wide streets running out from it. He showed a great concern about the state of the current streets and how narrow they were, deciding that his new town would have wide streets running out from a central place. Tredegar Circle was first known as 'The Square', but as buildings and shops developed around it people within Tredegar began to refer to it as 'The Circle'.

The town clock which stands in the middle of Tredegar Circle was once where the town stocks resided, with there being records of people being put into the stocks to be punished for petty misdemeanours. People being punished within the stocks would have their legs trapped in the stocks, being kept outside for hours in all weather conditions.

Prostitution was rife within Tredegar Circle, almost having a reputation of being a 'red light district' in the earlier days.

Tredegar Circle was also seen as being an important 'shopping centre', many local tradespeople would go there to set up stalls and sell their wares to the people within Tredegar, before the town clock was erected. Horses and carts loaded with goods would clatter around Tredegar Circle, with almost every type of produce being available to buy within Tredegar Circle. Tredegar Town Hall, a prominent building in The Circle, was rebuilt in 1892.

Tredegar Circle is also known for the pubs that occupy it, although there have been many that have closed down over the years such as the Greyhound Inn and the Freemasons, both once very popular with local workers. There have been many reported arrests within Tredegar Circle, in both present and earlier days, due to drunken and disorderly behaviour.