Blaenavon Ironworks
Encyclopedia
Blaenavon Ironworks is an industrial museum
in Blaenavon
in Wales
. The ironworks was of crucial importance in the development of the ability to use cheap, low quality, high sulphur iron ores worldwide. It was the site of the experiments by Sidney Gilchrist Thomas
and his cousin Percy Gilchrist
that led to "the basic steel process" or "Gilchrist-Thomas process".
It is located close to Blaenavon
, in Torfaen
, which is a World Heritage Site
.
The site is under the care of CADW
.
. By 1833 the company owned 430 houses and employed 1000 workers but suffered economic boom-and-bust that accompanied iron-making with wage cuts, strikes and the emergence of "Scotch Cattle
".
In 1836, the works was bought by the Blaenavon Iron and Coal Company, financed by Londoner Robert Kennard
, later an MP. Led by new managing director James Ashwell, a huge investment was made in the ironworks, including the construction of the impressive Balance tower which utilised a water displacement lift
to carry pig iron
from the base of the site to the Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal system, which offered lower tolls to Newport than the Monmouthshire Canal. After this £138,000 investment the site showed little sign of profit and sho Ashwell was forced to resign in 1841. In the following years iron rails produced at Blaenavon was exported all over the world, including India, Russia and Brazil but also in projects closer to home such as the construction of Crumlin Viaduct
.
The company was relaunched in 1870 as the Blaenavon Iron & Steel Company and was one of only six south Wales ironworks that successfully made the change to steel production. By 1878 the company employed 5,000 people but had greatly overreached itself financially and failed amongst tough competition. With financial ruin just around the corner the company was given some respite thanks to the discovers of Sidney Gilchist Thomas and Percy Carlyle Gilchrist which enabled the use of the previously uneconomic phosphoric iron ore. This was short lived as it meant Germany and North America were now able to utilise their own phosphoric ores and ironically accelerated the decline of Blaenavon Ironworks.
In 1880 the Blaenavon Company opened Big Pit
and moved away from iron production. In 1904 the ironworks finally ceased production, restaring briefly in 1924 but was unsustainable. The forges at the site were still being used and helped with the production of steel shell during both world wars but was mostly used as a storage yard for the National Coal Board.
In 1959 novelist Alexander Cordell
set his most famous novel, Rape of the Fair Country
at the Ironworks and the surrounding area at the height of the industrial revolution. At around the same time, industrial archaeology began to emerge as a discipline and the site was spared the fate of so many other 18th-19th century industrial works. In 1974 the conservation of the ironworks began. Shortly after statutory protection was provided for various sites in Blaenavon including the Ironworks.
In 2000 Blaenavon was awarded World Heritage Site
status for the industrial landscape including the Ironworks and are now under the care of Cadw
and open as one of only two free admission staffed sites.
Coal House
was a reality TV series shown one BBC One Wales. In October 2007 three Welsh families were transported back to the south Wales coalfield of the 1920s. The Stack Square cottages located at the Ironworks were transformed into authentic 1927 coal mining family homes.
In October 2008 this series was followed by Coal House at War where three new families were transported back to the second world war era conditions of 1944. This time they were joined by evacuees and Bevin Boys.
The furnished cottages used for both series are open to the public at the Ironworks.
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
in Blaenavon
Blaenavon
Blaenavon is a town and World Heritage Site in south eastern Wales, lying at the source of the Afon Lwyd north of Pontypool, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. The town lies high on a hillside and has a population of 6,349 people...
in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. The ironworks was of crucial importance in the development of the ability to use cheap, low quality, high sulphur iron ores worldwide. It was the site of the experiments by Sidney Gilchrist Thomas
Sidney Gilchrist Thomas
Sidney Gilchrist Thomas was an English inventor.-Life:Thomas was born at Canonbury, London and was educated at Dulwich College....
and his cousin Percy Gilchrist
Percy Gilchrist
Percy Carlyle Gilchrist FRS was a British chemist and metallurgist born in Lyme Regis, Dorset, and who studied at Felsted and the Royal School of Mines...
that led to "the basic steel process" or "Gilchrist-Thomas process".
It is located close to Blaenavon
Blaenavon
Blaenavon is a town and World Heritage Site in south eastern Wales, lying at the source of the Afon Lwyd north of Pontypool, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. The town lies high on a hillside and has a population of 6,349 people...
, in Torfaen
Torfaen
Torfaen is a county borough in Wales within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. It was originally formed in 1974 as a district of the county of Gwent and in 1996 it was reconstituted as a unitary authority.-Education:...
, which is a World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
.
The site is under the care of CADW
Cadw
-Conservation and Protection:Many of Wales's great castles and other monuments, such as bishop's palaces, historic houses, and ruined abbeys, are now in Cadw's care. Cadw does not own them but is responsible for their upkeep and for making them accessible to the public...
.
History of the works
The land on which the Ironworks reside was at one time the property of Lord Abergavenny and was leased in 1787 by three Midlands businessmen, Thomas Hill, his brother-in-law Thomas Hopkins and Benjamin Pratt. Work constructing the Ironworks began immediately and included several "luxury" cottages. It is believed that Blaenavon Ironworks was the first to be designed as a multi-furnace site from the outset , with three furnaces, Calcining kilns, cottages, and a company shop. By 1800 Blaenavon Ironworks contributed greatly to South Wales becoming the foremost iron-producing region in the world. Two new furnaces were added over the next decade and in 1804 a forge was constructed in nearby CwmavonCwmavon, Torfaen
Cwmavon is a small village located near the towns of Abersychan and Blaenavon in the county borough of Torfaen, Wales, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire.- Rural setting :...
. By 1833 the company owned 430 houses and employed 1000 workers but suffered economic boom-and-bust that accompanied iron-making with wage cuts, strikes and the emergence of "Scotch Cattle
Scotch Cattle
Scotch Cattle was the name taken by bands of coal miners in 19th century South Wales, analogous to the Molly Maguires in Pennsylvania, who, in disguise, would visit the homes of other local miners who were working during a strike or cooperating with employers against the local mining community in...
".
In 1836, the works was bought by the Blaenavon Iron and Coal Company, financed by Londoner Robert Kennard
Robert Kennard
Robert William Kennard JP DL was a London-born merchant, financier, entrepreneur, JP and later Member of Parliament.The son of jeweller turn banker John Kennard , and Harriet Elizabeth Peirse, he trained as a merchant in London...
, later an MP. Led by new managing director James Ashwell, a huge investment was made in the ironworks, including the construction of the impressive Balance tower which utilised a water displacement lift
Funicular
A funicular, also known as an inclined plane or cliff railway, is a cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope; the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalance each other.-Operation:The basic principle of funicular...
to carry pig iron
Pig iron
Pig iron is the intermediate product of smelting iron ore with a high-carbon fuel such as coke, usually with limestone as a flux. Charcoal and anthracite have also been used as fuel...
from the base of the site to the Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal system, which offered lower tolls to Newport than the Monmouthshire Canal. After this £138,000 investment the site showed little sign of profit and sho Ashwell was forced to resign in 1841. In the following years iron rails produced at Blaenavon was exported all over the world, including India, Russia and Brazil but also in projects closer to home such as the construction of Crumlin Viaduct
Crumlin Viaduct
Crumlin Viaduct was a railway viaduct located above the village of Crumlin in South Wales. Originally built to carry the Taff Vale Extension of the Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway across the Ebbw River....
.
The company was relaunched in 1870 as the Blaenavon Iron & Steel Company and was one of only six south Wales ironworks that successfully made the change to steel production. By 1878 the company employed 5,000 people but had greatly overreached itself financially and failed amongst tough competition. With financial ruin just around the corner the company was given some respite thanks to the discovers of Sidney Gilchist Thomas and Percy Carlyle Gilchrist which enabled the use of the previously uneconomic phosphoric iron ore. This was short lived as it meant Germany and North America were now able to utilise their own phosphoric ores and ironically accelerated the decline of Blaenavon Ironworks.
In 1880 the Blaenavon Company opened Big Pit
Big Pit
Big Pit: National Coal Museum is a museum in Blaenavon, Torfaen, South Wales. A working coal mine from 1860 to 1980, it was opened to visitors from 1980 under the auspices of the National Museum Wales...
and moved away from iron production. In 1904 the ironworks finally ceased production, restaring briefly in 1924 but was unsustainable. The forges at the site were still being used and helped with the production of steel shell during both world wars but was mostly used as a storage yard for the National Coal Board.
In 1959 novelist Alexander Cordell
Alexander Cordell
Alexander Cordell was the pen-name of George Alexander Graber, a prolific Welsh novelist and author of thirty acclaimed works including Rape of the Fair Country, The Hosts of Rebecca and Song of the Earth....
set his most famous novel, Rape of the Fair Country
Rape of the Fair Country
Rape of the Fair Country is a novel by Alexander Cordell, first published in 1959. It is the first in Cordell's "Mortymer Trilogy", followed by The Hosts Of Rebecca and Song of the Earth...
at the Ironworks and the surrounding area at the height of the industrial revolution. At around the same time, industrial archaeology began to emerge as a discipline and the site was spared the fate of so many other 18th-19th century industrial works. In 1974 the conservation of the ironworks began. Shortly after statutory protection was provided for various sites in Blaenavon including the Ironworks.
In 2000 Blaenavon was awarded World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
status for the industrial landscape including the Ironworks and are now under the care of Cadw
Cadw
-Conservation and Protection:Many of Wales's great castles and other monuments, such as bishop's palaces, historic houses, and ruined abbeys, are now in Cadw's care. Cadw does not own them but is responsible for their upkeep and for making them accessible to the public...
and open as one of only two free admission staffed sites.
Coal House
Coal House
Coal House is a Welsh television series made by Indus Films for BBC Wales, and broadcast on BBC One Wales, with a subsequent UK wide repeat of both series on BBC Four. Series 1 was set in the depressed economic coalfields of 1927, while Series 2 was set in 1944 as World War II draws to a close...
was a reality TV series shown one BBC One Wales. In October 2007 three Welsh families were transported back to the south Wales coalfield of the 1920s. The Stack Square cottages located at the Ironworks were transformed into authentic 1927 coal mining family homes.
In October 2008 this series was followed by Coal House at War where three new families were transported back to the second world war era conditions of 1944. This time they were joined by evacuees and Bevin Boys.
The furnished cottages used for both series are open to the public at the Ironworks.