Celebrating 30 Years of Business!

Trefonen

Past Work

Client:- Shropshire Council

Project:-  Trefonen

Aerial reconstruction illustration of Trefonen during the Victorian period. Showing the coal mines & brickworks.

In the late 1700s the discovery of coal led to much small-scale industrial and mining activity.  Coal mines, mainly explored through bell pits, scattered the fields and an associated brick-making industry developed in Trefonen.  As one mine was flooded and became unworkable, a new pit was opened.  An amazing water course, known as The Gutter, was built to supply water. Meanwhile, in Treflach and Nantmawr quarrying of limestone for building and road making required many labourers. 
 
The population increased hugely.  In 1861 there were 1248 people living in 297 houses in Trefonen.  There are far fewer people here today!  The Trefonen National School opened in 1826.   This was a time of considerable poverty. Workers were paid from the Efel Inn, where many then spent their money.  Part of the workers’ pay was in the form of tokens which could only be spent at Tommy Shop (in Coed Y Go), so the owners of the mines had considerable control.  In 1877 the Rector and Mr Dumville Lees of Woodhill started the Trefonen band as part of the promotion of temperance, and the instruments were stored in the Band Box, now the hairdressers’.