| Anthony
Bacon arrived in Merthyr Tydfil in 1763. He was a wealthy London merchant
who had acquired a knowledge of iron smelting in his native Cumberland.
He made a careful survey of the district, and then decided to obtain a stretch
of land along the right bank of the river Taff. In 1765 he leased a portion
measuring eight miles by five miles, and agreed to pay the sum of £100
a year. Being a shrewd business man, he was more far sighted than the other
early iron masters for he saw that it was necessary to have a better road
to join the village to Cardiff. Only by so doing could the iron be sent
to the seaport more easily and cheaply. The work of constructing the road
soon began and by 1767 it was opened for traffic.Bacon paid particular attention
to the production of iron of a very high quality. So good was it that he
obtained the contract for supplying some of the cannon used by the British
forces in the American War of Independence.Two men who were destined to
become prominent local iron-masters were brought to the district by Anthony
Bacon. These were Samuel Homfray and Richard Hill. The efficiency of these
managers and the skill of the workforce made Cyfartha and Plymouth famous,
and enabled Bacon to amass a large fortune. He retired from the district
in 1784, and on his death in 1786, he left the works to his sons, who took
no interest in the industry. The Plymouth and Cyfartha undertakings were
sold to Richard Hill and Richard Crawshay respectively, and then entered
upon a period of even greater prosperity. |
