Welsh Journals

The Crawshay Bailey Estate by Alan Jones Introduction In 1920 the Crawshay Bailey Estate, Abergavenny, was sold by public auction. This preliminary paper considers two main themes. First the systematic acquisition of lands by Crawshay Bailey, senior, from the wealth generated by his iron works and other interests, and further consolidated by his only son and heir, Crawshay Bailey, junior. Secondly, it touches on the role of Crawshay Bailey, junior, as the landlord and ben- efactor of an estate community. Crawshay Bailey was one of the sons of the marriage between Susannah Crawshay, sister of Richard Crawshay, and John Bailey, a Yorkshire farmer, and the story of how Crawshay and his elder brother, Joseph, came to work in their uncle's ironworks at Cyfartha, Merthyr has been recounted by others1 Both brothers benefited from their uncle's death in 1810 since Richard Crawshay bequeathed a quarter share of Cyfartha ironworks to Joseph and £ 1,000 to Crawshay Bailey. 2 Crawshay Bailey married Ann Moore in 1820, but his only son and heir, Crawshay Bailey, jnr, was borne by Sarah Baker, a servant in his household, in 1841. In 1873 Crawshay Bailey, jnr, married Elizabeth, Countess Bettina, daughter of John Baptiste, Count of Metaxa and they had two daughters, Clara and Augusta. Bailey jnr, died in 1887 at the relatively young age of forty-six. His two daughters managed the estate until they put it up for sale in 1920. 4 Background and Industrial Interests In 1811, Joseph Bailey entered into partnership with Matthew Wayne, also from Cyfartha, and purchased the Nantyglo Ironworks which had been lying idle since 1802.5 The finance for this venture was probably made possible by the £ 32,000 that Joseph received from selling his share of the Cyfartha Works to Richard Crawshay's son, William the elder, who had only been left a three-eighths share in the works.6 Wayne left the partnership in 18207 and Crawshay joined his brother at Nantyglo. The Baileys formed a dynamic team and under their leadership the works thrived with new plant being regularly installed to cope with the ever increasing demand for their products, particularly that of railway lines for the home and overseas markets The most significant event of this period was the purchase by the Bailey brothers of Beaufort Ironworks in 1833 for £ 45,0009 because it meant that by concentrating the production of pig iron in Beaufort, the output of the furnaces and rolling mills at Nantyglo was substantially increased. This policy was successful because at its peak