Major John Hanbury (1664-1734) acquired a reputation as an industrial pioneer and through the endeavours of Hanbury and his leading agents, Thomas Cooke, William Payne and Thomas Allgood, significant developments within the British tinplate industry were made in Pontypool, including the introduction of the world's first rolling for the production of iron sheets and blackplate at the Pontypool Park works in 1697. Tinplate was being produced at Pontypool from c. 1706, with an important tin mill in operation at Pontymoile during the early eighteenth century.