It's goodbye to Griffith's Mill - by W. E. Pride Western Mail 30 July 1957
The lofty factory chimney of Melingriffith Tin Works rises in the middle of the Taff Valley, between the wooded escarpments of Garth and Castell Coch.
For more than two centuries, in good time and bad, its iron, steel sheet and tin-plate processes have employed many hundreds of strong and skilful men. In the pack-mill and the tin house the craftsmen have handed down their jealously guarded secrets from one generation to the next. Its impending closure saddens me, for I visited when I travelled from Whitehall as one of the Regional Controllers to organise the wartime uses of so many steel and tinplate factories.
Melingriffith was one of the 60 large tinplate factories affected by wartime concentrations, which my Department of the Board of Trade initiated. Since 1750 the old forge on the banks of the Taff has had many owners. A Bristol society of Merchant Adventurers handed it over to Reynolds, Getley and Co, - a group of Quakers from the same city - in 1768. They were succeeded by Harford, Partridge and Co., in 1786 and Richard Blakemore and Co., in 1808.
Puddled iron bars were produced at Pentyrch, of all places, in that era and carried to Melingriffith for rolling into plates. In his "Pleasant Tours of South Wales" in 1803 Malkin wrote: "The tinworks at Melin Gruffyth are perhaps the largest in the kingdom." The Melingriffith works are distinctive in this electric and atomic age because they still use water-power. Several rolling mills are driven by water from the Taff, at favourable periods of the year.
In 1875 its then owners, Thomas W. Booker and Co., encountered the economic consequences of Dr. Siemens, of Landore, whose revolutionary mild steel proved excellent for tinplating, just as strip-milled steel is dominating today's tin-plate.
Fifteen hundred men were put out of work in 1879 when the factory owed the bank £600,000 and then closed down. That man of destiny in the trade, Richard Thomas, put up the purchase money in 1888, with his chairman, Sir William Thomas Lewis (later Lord Merthyr). The assets went to Richard Thomas & Co., Ltd, in April 1939.
After the war, when the Steel Company of Wales brought the strip mills to South Wales, Melingriffith was absorbed. Students of automation will note the continued use of water power wheels alongside modern prime movers and remarkable combination machines, now 60 years old, designed to to release manpower. The distinctive Melingriffith "tinning pot" patented by Thomas and Davies in 1893 and the combined pickling and tinning machine of Beaumont and Spence Thomas were feared in their time as "causes of unemployment."
Although it is due to be closed, Griffith's Mill moved with the times, and its charcoal brands of tinplate, "Tyrant" and "R.G.," and its coke brands, "Pen" and "Elyn," went from Cardiff all over the world.
The Man Who Died of a Broken Heart - Western Mail 15 Nov 1957
This is the story of Bert King, of Cardiff - the man who died of a broken heart. Bert had one interest in life - the Melingriffith Tinplate Works at Taff's Well. He was born there. He worked there for 40 years and rose to become the works manager. But the works will soon die. And Bert has died, too.
The news that the Melingriffith was to go struck Mr. King, of St. Angela Road, Heath, Cardiff, a hard blow. Bur cheery, soft-spoken Bert watched the workers start to dismantle the machinery without complaining. Only when he got home at night did he tell his wife Freda, how much the place meant to him, how unhappy he was to see it doomed...
On Wednesday, he paid his usual visit to his daughter, Mrs. Joan Platt, at her Court Road, Cardiff, home. He sat down, passed a word on the weather ... and never spoke again. When Mrs. Platt touched him, she found father was dead. Doing her best to suppress her sobbing, Mrs. Platt told last night of her father's last days. "He was dreadfully upset that the works at Taffs Well were closing down," she said. He was born there, you know. His grandfather was caretaker in a cottage on the grounds which is now the gatekeeper's lodge. "And the old place meant everything to him. He was heartbroken at the closure news." Yesterday a post mortem was held to determine the cause of Mr. Kings death. The finding will be announced.
Last night, Mr. Emrys Pride, Cardiff consulting engineer who was a fellow member with Mr. King on the city Productivity Committee, said: "Mr. King was genial, hardworking man. Always ready with a happy word - and always with a good scheme to overcome one of the committees difficulties.
Obituary:
KING - On Nov 13, suddenly at his daughter's residence . Albert Edward (Bert), Works Manager, Melingriffith Tin Plate Works, beloved husband of Freda Margaret of 22 St. Angela Rd, Heath, very dear father of Stuart and Joan, Father-in-law of Avril and Len. loved grandfather of Stephen , Anthony and Caroline. Funeral Saturday, arriving Llanishen Church for service at 10 a.m. (Masonic); Gentlemen Only. Flowers may be sent to Harry Evans, Funeral Director, Whitchurch.
THE PENTYRCH IRON WORKS AND MELINGRIFFITH LIGHT RAILWAY
The iron from Pentyrch was initially transported to Melingriffith tin plate works using pack horses then "Tub" boats were used on the river Taff passing onto the feeder through a lock at Radyr Weir, parts of this lock can be seen alongside the feeder sluice. In 1815 the "Tub" boats were discontinued and a tramway constructed from Pentyrch along the West bank of the Taff to a new bridge at Gelynis Farm then it followed the East bank to the Melingriffith Works. Horse drawn trams were used on it until 1871 when it was converted into a railway, and then used two saddle-tank locomotives until the works closed in October 1957. The Melingriffith works had two saddle-tank type steam locomotives. The one used most often was called Emerald Isle with green paint and brass that was always shining. The engine would bring loaded wagons of tin plate from the works to the mainline at Pentyrch sidings. The other engine was called Queen Charlotte.