6 Forge Row

Cadw's description

Location

Situated on S side of no-through road between Saleyard and the A465. Approximately 1.5 km SW of Maesygwartha. No. 6 forms one of a pair with No. 7.

History

Late C17, probably contemporary with the opening of the Llanelly Furnace Saleyard. The iron furnace was established by Major John Hanbury, and was certainly in production by 1684. Francis Lewis, who built Clydach House in 1693. The furnace was charcoal-powered and by 1704, Hanbury was preparing to produce 300 tons of iron per year. In 1717, the furnace was reckoned to be capable of producing 400 tons per year, and by c. 1720, it was claimed to produce about 25 tons a week in a 40-week campaign. The works closed at the end of the C18, superseded by the coke-fired ironworks at Clydach, set up by 1793. The present Nos. 6-7 Forge Row appear to be contemporary with the setting up of the charcoal furnace, and Nos. 1-5 are of c. 1800, contemporary with the Clydach Works. The row was described in 1813 as ‘twenty workmen’s houses situate on the railway (the Llam-march tramroad of 1809) leading from the furnace (Clydach Ironworks) to the canal, about half a mile from each’.

Interior

Original plan-form to both cottages is difficult to reconstruct, but the attics were habitable (note chimney stairs). The length of both cottages suggests that the ground floor had a secondary room each side of the party wall, which was unheated..

Interior of No. 6 has main room to ground floor with rough stop-chamfered beams. Altered fireplace with altered fireplace stair to left. Roof has single oak truss with no collar and massive paired purlins.

Interior of No. 7 not seen, but said to be modernised.

Reason for designation

Listed for historic reasons for association with the late C17 Llanelly Forge and as an extremely rare survival in Wales of a pair of C17 worker’s cottages. Despite alterations, the cottages retain their original form and roofs.