TheBrecknock and Abergavenny Canal was built under an act of Parliament[which?] of 1793. The act allowed the canal company to build feeder railways up to 8 miles (13 km) in length to transport freight to the canal fortransshipment. The Bryn Oer Tramway was built under this act in 1814, opening in 1815. It was a horse-workedplateway that served the Bryn Oer collieries and the limestone quarries atTrefil, dropping 330 m or 1,080 ft along its route to the canal atTalybont-on-Usk. An extension was built to serve the Rhymney ironworks in theRhymney Valley.
By the 1830s, the growth of local railways had begun to complete with the tramway, especially with the introduction ofsteam locomotives that were too heavy to work on the fragile plateway. By 1860, most of the tramway's traffic was being sent by railways and it closed in 1865.[1]
Much of the route of the tramway is in use as a public bridleway for walkers, horseriders and mountain-bikers, and stonesleepers remain in place in several places.
