Late 1830's - A section of the Map of Cardiff prepared for John Crichton Stuart, Marquis of Bute by John Wood. [599] The map has been colourised for effect. Note the Taff Vale Railway (red line). [AIX]

The Bute Ship Canal opened in 1839 but the cost of construction escalated to around £350,000 over the estimated £66,000. Trade in coal was slow and thus Bute's financial expectations were not fulfilled. The James Green report of 1828 had justified the building of the dock through the financial return from the coal trade alone leaving the iron trade within the Glamorganshire Canal. The iron trade remained within this canal as the iron-masters were aggrieved at the costs of wharfage in the new Bute Ship Canal. Bute apparently became obsessed that the hostility of the ironmasters towards him was a coordinated, malicious conspiracy designed to bankrupt him and destroy his empire! Most of the powerful, self-made Merthyr ironmasters including William Crawshay and Richard Blakemore totally ignored the new Bute Ship Canal facilities and retained their wharves within the Glamorganshire Canal thus adding further financial duress upon Bute.