Canal's end

Signs posted along the Crumlin Arm advise…

Thomas Dadford Junior was the engineer in charge of building the canal in 1796. He knew that 1 barge pulled by 1 horse could shift 30 tons of coal or iron.

Benjamin Hall, owner of Abercarn Colliery and Rhymney Ironworks in 1805, thought that a tram road would solve his problem.  He knew that 15 trams pulled by 6 horses could shift 50 tons of coal or iron.

14 July 1875 was a black night in the story of the Crumlin Arm and Cwmcarn village. After weeks of torrential rain, a decaying reservoir dam, built to supply water to the canal, collapsed.  A wave of destruction roared through the sleeping village. One collier saved his family by battering through his bedroom wall with a bedstead and escaping onto higher ground. Three men drowned in their beds.

Ten miles away in Newport, ten bodies were recovered. They included those of the Hunt family, swept away that fateful night, along with their home and flannel factory.

Twelve perished in all, victims of the weather and neglect.

sculpture canalside at Risca

A sad end to the Crumlin Arm of the canal at Cwmcarn.

A hopeful future awaits this canal as workmen work with machines and pumps to dam and drain approximately a 200mtr section of the canal just below its culmination at Cwmcarn.  This will enable them to rebuild a wall which is currently crumbling into the water, threatening nearby cottages with flooding. They also plan to reinforce the banks and bed of this section.

Work to dam the canal is being carried out to enable repairs to banks and wall.

Example of the crumbling banks of the old canal.