The Doctor’s Canal 1809-2019
Llanwonno born physician and entrepreneur Doctor Richard Griffiths (1756-1826), proposed the cutting of a coal canal from Treforest to a junction with the Glamorganshire Canal at Dynea, east of Rhydyfelin in the early part of the 19th century. He had successfully managed profitable coal mines at Trehafod in the Rhondda and was looking to enhance the shipment of his product via the Glamorganshire. His tramroad, canal and bridge, also known as ‘Machine Bridge’ allowed him to achieve this aim. Left: The remains of the Doctor’s Canal head lie beneath this copse between the A470 dual carriageway and the current Cardiff Road (lower image) at Treforest. The Drs Tramroad made connection here along with a short tramroad to the Glamorganshire Canal at upper left. Both images are south-east views. Eventually, Walter Coffin, owner of the earliest deep shaft mines in the Rhondda Valley at Dinas, built a branch line to connect with Griffith's tramroad at Trehafod. As a board member of the Glamorganshire Canal Navigation Company, Griffiths would have been well aware of the legal ruling which allowed any business within four miles of the canal to construct a means of transport to the said waterway in order to facilitate the shipment of their goods to Cardiff and beyond. However, canal owners of the time were highly protective of their water supplies and Richard Crawshay, as head of the Glamorganshire Canal Company, would not allow Griffiths to connect to his canal at Pontypridd. Therefore, Griffiths proposed a tramway connection at Treforest and a new canal to be cut to Dynea to connect with the Glamorganshire to the east of Rhydyfelin. This was accepted but, unsurprisingly, Crawshay did not permit a joining of the two canals for another four years following the completion of the Drs Canal in 1809. Left upper: Looking north along Poplar Road, Dynea, Rhydyfelin and the former route of the Drs Canal. Left lower: Location of the junction with the Glamorganshire Canal just below Dynea Lock. At around the same time a rather similar situation existed between the Aberdare Canal (opened 1812) and its junction with the Glamorganshire at Abercynon. The Glamorganshire Canal Company insisted on the installation of a stop lock (as a means of preventing water loss from one canal, usually the older navigation, to the newer waterway), on the Aberdare’s approach to the junction. This benefitted the older canal as each time the lock was opened to traffic water would flow into the Glamorganshire at the expense of the newer navigation. As previously mentioned Crawshay’s anxieties concerning the supply of water to the Glamorganshire resulted in the expensive and time consuming task of Griffiths’ workers having to unload trams and load boats at the Doctor’s Canal head at Treforest; only for the cargo then to be unloaded once more and transferred to boats on the Glamorganshire just a mile further down the navigation. In an attempt to enhance the water supply to his canal Crawshay commissioned a new feeder to be built between Nant Clydach at Glyncoch just north of Pontypridd. This water source, the Berw feeder, linked the Clydach stream with the upper basin near Ynysangharad locks. In addition, with the development of a reservoir at Dynea, Crawshay was satisfied that his canal would maintain a more than adequate supply of water and he finally permitted Griffiths to complete the joining of the two waterways. Left: To the north of Pontypridd the Berw feeder crossed the River Taff west to east via an aqueduct. Its crumbling east support pier can still be seen today. It has been two hundred and ten years since the Doctor’s Canal first began operation; eventually closing in 1832. Nothing can be seen of the original cut; although a survey of the site by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales in 1979 revealed an outline of the canal evident at the junction with the Glamorganshire at Dynea. Sources helpful in the compilation of this page: The Glamorganshire and Aberdare Canals, S. Rowson & I. Wright Vols 1 & 2, 2001, 2004 Doctor Griffiths’ Tramroad and Canal, R. Large, 2011 Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales/Coflein website Images are my own. Kelvin Merriott |