REVIT Heritage Report.pdf

Torfaen County Borough Council
REVIT: A Review of the Conservation of Industrial Heritage Assets on Brownfield Sites
4.2.28 At the time of its construction it was one of the largest ironworks in the world
and is the best preserved blast furnace complex of its period and type in the
world. The ironworks site has been conserved to emphasise its authenticity as
a consolidated ruin, preserving its surviving features. Therefore, no
reconstruction has taken place except where necessary for structural purposes
and wherever possible, all conservation measures are devised to be
reversible.
4.2.29 One of the most impressive monuments at Blaenavon Ironworks is the water
balance tower which was built in 1839. This form of lift technology using water
to counter-balance loads was used in the mine shafts of south east Wales and
at several ironworks. This site is one of the best preserved surviving examples.
4.2.30 Adjacent to the Ironworks stands Stack Square and Engine Row, a small group
of solidly constructed stone cottages, incorporating patterns of building, notably
door and window heads, characteristic of the West Midlands in England
alongside more local building practices. The houses were probably erected in
1788 for the first skilled workers who operated the furnaces from the time they
were built. The houses form a square with the central range originally forming
the Company office, shop and manager's house, until it was converted to
dwellings in the 1860s. The whole square is a Scheduled Ancient Monument
which has been carefully conserved.
4.2.31 There are a number of community buildings within Blaenavon, such as the
church of St Peter, built in the Gothic style in 1804 by the ironmasters Thomas
Hill and Samuel Hopkins, and the Blaenavon's Workmen's Hall and Institute.
The latter is the most imposing building in the town and was designed by E. A.
Lansdowne of Newport and opened in 1895.
4.2.32 At nearby Cwmavon, there was a forge linked with Blaenavon Ironworks which
carried out the puddling process, operated from about 1804; there are no
surviving remains above ground. A terrace of twelve dwellings which was built
for the forge workers in 1804, was repaired by the British Historic Buildings
Trust in 1987-88; it has been described as the finest surviving terrace of early
workers'housing in the South Wales Valleys. The more substantial, Cwmavon
House, was built for the ironmaster in the 1820s.
Tourism
4.2.33 In addition to the Blaenvaon landscape there are a number of other industrial
era attractions within the vicinity including:
• Five locks, Cwmbran, M&B Canal;
• Glyn Pitts, Pontypool;
• Griffithstown Railway Museum;
• Heritage and Cordell Museum;
• Hill's Pits chimney, BWHS;
• Lower Navigation Colliery Engine House;
• Pontymoile Basin, Pontypool - Toll House & aqueduct, M&B Canal;
• Pontypool heritage townscape;
• Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway; and
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