Pontypridd Wales

Go north into the valley region and bump into this town of bus terminals.

Pontypridd Museum.

Bridge Street, Pontypridd CF37 4PE, Wales:-An old chapel now a museum, top floor as a selection of military item mainly from the Welch Regiment 41st of foot, and mining items from the past, also on show are the Banners from the different pits, this little museum has all the charm of a small museum with the mind of a big museum, could take some time to see all the items, the history is there for you to find, so take your time and look around see what you can find. As with local museum conventions, start with celebs and critical events of the proximal region. You can start with the first floor for these.  The ground floor currently holds this memorial to WWI soldiers from Pontypridd.
The first floor features multiple models of collieries. You can imagine the scale of coal-mining in the area by looking at the scale of production. An impressive collection of miners’ lamps – in chronological order. From naked flame to safety lamps to electric. As you traverse through the technological development, you’ll also realize how these changes have helped alleviate the hardship of the coalmining industry. (Now go outside to enjoy the view of River Taff.)

Caerphilly Castle

Castle Street, Caerphilly CF83 1JD, Wales :-The fortress sprawls over a huge area making it the largest castle in Wales. Like the famous cheese, the castle has long been synonymous with Caerphilly. It dominates. Hogs the limelight. Think slumbering giant awaiting a call to arms. It's also a great backdrop for TV and film. It secured a starring role recently in the popular BBC TV series Merlin.

The Royal Mint Experience 

 Heol-Y-Sarn | Cardiff, Llantrisant CF72 8YT, Wales:- is the only place in the world where you can watch the United Kingdom's coins being made. Go behind the scenes to follow the journey of a coin from a blank to a bank in our 45-minute Guided Factory Experience. After your Factory Experience, wander at your own pace through the Interactive Exhibition, discovering the incredible processes needed to make a coin. Come face to face with British monarchs over the past 1,000 years. Get up close to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic medals, and listen to the stories of those whose bravery has been rewarded with the UK's gallantry and service medals. Touch and hold a 400oz Gold Bar- worth approximately £400,000!

Nantgarw China Works-CF157TB

Tyla Gwyn, Nantgarw- Rhondda Cynon Taff, CF15 7TB-Wednesday – Sunday- 10:00am – 4:00pm

What makes Nantgarw Porcelain special?

Nantgarw China Works is the only surviving early 19th century porcelain works in the United Kingdom. In the years 1813-1814 and again in the period 1817-1820 the finest porcelain in the world was produced here in Wales by William Billingsley, one of the most remarkable porcelain painters and manufacturers of his time.

What is porcelain?-

Porcelain is a vitrified (glass-like) ceramic with a white, fine-grained body that is usually translucent, as distinguished from earthenware, which is porous, opaque, and coarser.

Types of porcelain-There are two main types of porcelain:

Hard-paste porcelain typically the type of porcelain made by the Chinese for more than a thousand years. This is extremely hard, can be slightly gray in colour and has some translucency. It needs to be fired at high temperature.Soft-paste porcelain dates back to early attempts by European potteries in the 18th century to replicate Chinese porcelain by adding a ground glass type substance (known as a frit) to china clay. This porcelain is softer, can be fired at lower temperatures but often lacks strength being prone to collapsing during firing. It is expensive to make due to extra firing costs of the frit and relatively expensive ingredients.

There is also a hybrid – bone china which combines bone ash to hard paste porcelain ingredients to giver a whiter more translucent body and added strength and which can be fired at lower temperatures than hard-paste porcelain.

Nantgarw Porcelain-

At Nantgarw William Billingsley perfected his porcelain recipe with the addition of a variety of ingredients known only to him He succeeded in producing the finest porcelain ever made.
Nantgarw Porcelain is unique in that it is a bone ash/frit based soft-paste porcelain body which no other porcelain can come close to in translucency or whiteness. Furthermore, the glaze on Nantgarw porcelain is the perfect complement to enamelled decoration giving the colours true vibrancy and allowing the decoration to merge into the glaze.

William Billingsley was born in Derby in 1758. He was apprenticed at the William Duesbury Derby China Works 1774. In November 1780 William Billingsley was married to Sarah Rigley at St Alkmunds church in Derby. They had three children: Sarah born in 1783, James, who died in his infancy born in 1793 and Lavinia born in 1795. He is particularly associated with the rose which he painted in all its aspects. He introduced the new style of painting known as the wiping out process when painting flowers. The ‘Prentice Plate’ was used in the Derby factory as an example of the standard that was expected of new apprentices.

After experimenting in firing porcelain in a small kiln installed at his home, Billingsley decided to leave Derby in 1795. Be the decoration so fine, its beauty could never otherwise but be marred by an inferior body and this Billingsley knew well.

He moved constantly and worked at a number of different potteries. At Torksey, Lincolnshire he first came into contact with Samuel Walker, who later married his daughter Sarah in 1812. The family arrived at Flight Barr and Barr’s porcelain factory at Worcester and between 1809 and 1812 Billingsley was instrumental in refining its porcelain recipe whilst Walker developed new kiln designs.
Their departure from Worcester was abrupt and followed the end of their period of contract. Billingsley and Walker were bound by the owners in the sum of £1,000 not to disclose to any third party details of the ‘new method of composing porcelain’ which they had developed at Worcester.

Their arrival at Nantgarw late in 1813 and the subsequent story can be followed elsewhere on this site.Following his departure from Nantgarw, Billingsley worked for the Coalport China factory. He died on 16th January 1828, almost unmourned and was buried in an unmarked grave in the parish of Kemberton near Coalport.

In 2017 Nantgarw China Works undertook a project to recreate the original recipe for Nantgarw Porcelain which had been lost for over two hundred years. This successful completion of this project has enabled our current artist in residence to start making new contemporary work from this exceptional porcelain body. A small number of items made from this porcelain will be sold to help support the sustainability of the museum.