Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Tredegar

TREDEGAR, a town of Monmouthshire, England, is situated on the Sirhowy river, and on the London and North Western Railway system, 7 miles east-north-east of Merthyr Tydvil and 249 west of London. The town owes its existence to the establishment in the beginning of the century of the works of the Tredegar Iron and Coal Company, who lease the soil and minerals from Lord Tredegar. The iron-works, chiefly for the smelting of iron and the manufacture of iron and steel rails, are of enormous extent, and employ upwards of 4000 men. The town is also surrounded by iron and coal mines, the property of the company. It consists chiefly of workmen's houses, but is built with regularity and neatness, the principal streets diverging from an open space called the Circle, in the centre of the town, where there are a number of good shops. The church of St George is a tasteful modern building in the Norman style. The temperance hall, union workhouse, and literary institute and library deserve notice. The population of the urban sanitary district (area 7029 acres), a small portion of which is in Brecknockshire, in 1871 was 16,989 and in 1881 it was 18,771.