Wales (NLW Journals)

Contents

A FURTHER CONTRIBUTION TO THE COMMERCIAL HISTORY OF GLAMORGAN

Moelwyn I Williams, National Library of Wales journal, Summer, 1961, Vol XII/1. pp58-81

Extracted onto the pages of GENUKI by Gareth Hicks with the kind permission of the National Library of Wales

This is the second part of this 'Further Contribution' follow up series

• See also Part I of the original article
• See also Part II of the original article
• See also Part I of   A FURTHER CONTRIBUTION TO THE COMMERCIAL HISTORY OF GLAMORGAN  
• See also Part III of  A FURTHER CONTRIBUTION TO THE COMMERCIAL HISTORY OF GLAMORGAN
• See also Part IV of   A FURTHER CONTRIBUTION TO THE COMMERCIAL HISTORY OF GLAMORGAN

The information contained in the following tables represents the official record of the coastal trade between Minehead and the Glamorgan 'ports' of Aberthaw and Newton as shown in the Bridgewater   1  series of port books for various years between 1615 and 1701. 2   It should be noted that the tables are used here merely as a convenient form of presenting the details contained in the port books: they do not represent the pattern of the entries as they appear therein.

It is evident that the port books were made up at different intervals by different customs officers or their clerks. Consequently the transcriber is frequently confronted with a change of hand which is usually accompanied by changes in spelling and other details. Therefore, in transcribing these documents I have not hesitated to reproduce the original entries with their inconsistent spelling and capitalisation. Occasionally, I have made use of additional punctuation marks to make the entries more readable. Moreover, for purposes of simplification, I have represented all numbers by using the equivalent arabic numeral. For example, an entry in the port books similar to 'two thousand weight of Wooll' will appear in the tables as '2,000 weight of wooll', and similarly 'three score sheep' would be written as '60 sheep'.

Some of the entries throw welcome light on the significance of certain contemporary units of weight and measure. The 'stone', for example, is sometimes referred to as containing 16 pounds, 3  and at other times 18 pounds. Other entries merely make 'confusion worse confounded'. For example, it will be observed that the terms 'fardle' and 'pocket' were used quite indiscriminately. Small quantities of wool were usually made up into 'fardles' and 'pockets' but such units often contained the same weight of wool, that is, from 50 lbs to 60 lbs. The larger consignments however, were made up into 'bags' which sometimes contained as much as 800 lbs of wool. The terms 'fardle', 'pocket,' and 'bag' did not represent any standard weight.

It will be noted that shipments of coal from Newton were invariably measured in terms of caldrons (or chalders) of London measure---26 cwt per caldron.

Finally, it should be noted that for some years the port books contain entries relating to shipment of goods into and out of Aberthaw and Newton. Accordingly, the terms Intra and Extra have been inserted at the beginning of the appropriate tables.

MOELWYN I. WILLIAMS.

Aberystwyth. 

Notes;

• 1. See National Library of Wales journal, Vol. XI, No. 4, pp. 332-333.
• 2. There is one exception in the table for the year 1661, which has been compiled from the entries recorded in the Swansea and Neath Port Book, P.R.O, E190/1277/3.
• 3. P.R.O. E190/1088/10. (Entry for 17 Sept. 1635.)
• 4. P.R.O. E190/1090/1 (Entry for 18 April 1662) Note. The definitive clause '18 pounds to the stone' has in most cases been represented by the symbol (...). Cf. entry for 26 June 1662 et seq.

TABLES

Pages 59-81 of the article are all Bridgewater Port Books schedules, too onerous to copy here apart for that for 1615 which is shown for illustration purposes. I have instead compiled single indexes of the names of ships, masters and merchants detailed therein. These indexes also include all the names from the continuation articles from the Bridgewater Port Books series in the NLW journal Summer/Winter, 1962, Vol XII/3-4, as in Parts III & IV linked above.

Details of Shipments of Goods into and out of Aberthaw and Newton, for Various Years from 1615 -1701. Transcribed from the King's Remembrancer Port Books.

Extracts from the Bridgewater Port Books (Customer and Controller) P.R.O. E190/1085/11 et al

1615

Destinations for the table below are all Mynehead.

DATE-NAME OF SHIP-MASTER- MERCHANT-CARGO

• 5 Feb.-Speedwell of Newton (18 tonns)-Edward Bowen from Newton-William Thomas-30 kynderkins of butter and 40  stones of Welsh woolles
• 17 Maye-Harte of Aberthawe-Arthur Spencer from Aberthawe-James Gibbons-30 stones Welshe wooll
• 17 Maye-Harte of Aberthawe-Arthur Spencer from  Aberthawe-Hamlett Borane-30 stones Welshe wooll
• 17 Maye-Speedwell of Newton-Edward Bowen from Newton-Charles Morgan-40 stones Welshe wooles
• 23 Maye-Harte of Aberthawe-Arthur Spenser from Aberthaw-Richard Adams-80 stones Welshe woolles
• 29 Maie-Flower of Porlock (17 tonns)-Thomas Dunny from Newton-Thomas Ryce-20 stones Welshe woolles
• 27 Maye-Elizabeth of Aberthawe-Ryce Hopkyn from Cardiff-Walter Atkins-120 stones of Welsh woolles
• 31 Maye-Speedwell of Newton-Edward Bowen from Newton-Thomas Lewis-100 stones of Welshe woolles
• 12 June-Edward of Aberthawe (18 tons)-Thomas Spencer from Aberthawe-Thomas Tyrrell-60 stones of Welshe wooll, 2 kinderkins of butter
• 13 June-John of Mynehead (12 tons)-Richard Joyner(?)  from Newton-John Petty-60 stones of Welshe woolles
• 22 June-John of Porlock-George [?] from Newton-Thomas Ryce-60 stones of Welshe woolles
• 13 July-Speedwell of Newton-Edward Bowen from Newton-Hopkyn Davy-150 stones of Welshe Wooll
• 28 Aug.-Harte of Aberthawe-Arthur Spencer from Aberthawe- Samuell Williams-100 stones of Welshe Woolles
• 20 Sept.-Speedwell of Newton-Edward Bowen from Newton-Thomas Apievan-40 stones of Welshe woolles
• 27 Sept.-Elizabeth of Aberthawe-Hugh Jones from Aberthawe-[?]-140 stones of Welshe Wooles, 30 kynderkins of butter
• 27 Sept.-John of Porlock-Robert Ffrancis from Newton-Thomas Byre-40 stones of Welshe woolles
• 28 Sept.-Edward of Aberthawe (18 tonns)-Thomas Spencer from Aberthawe-Lewis Mathewe-40 kynderkins of butter
• 28 Sept.-Edward of Aberthawe -Thomas Spencer from Aberthawe-Richard Adames-80 stones of Welshe woolles
• 19 Oct.-Speedwell of Newton- Edward Bowen from Newton-Llewellyn Apievan-120 stones of Welshe woolles and 10 kynderkins of butter
• 16 Nov.-Blessing of Myneheade-Thomas Dunny from Ogmore-Sylvister Bick-100 kinderkins of butter

Ships (Names in schedules)

Masters (Names in schedules)

Merchants (Names in schedules)

The schedules are variously signed by the following people;

• Blake, Geo - Depty Comptroller
• Culliforde, Lawrence - Compt.
• Hillier, James - Deputy Comptroller
• James, Richard - Customer
• Litham, Mich? - D. Compt
• Pulham, Mich.  - D. Comptroller
• Wolstonhome, Thos. - Customs Collector
• Worth, Ande - Custr.

Find help, report problems, or contribute information.

(Gareth Hicks)