Hafod Copper Works Musgrave Engine and Rolls

Cadw's description

Summary description and reason for designation

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Ancient Monument.

The monument consists of the remains of a Musgrave engine and rope drive to a series of rolling mills, used to manufacture copper bar and plate, dating to the 19th century. The Hafod Copper Works was established by John Vivian in 1810 and managed by the Vivian family until 1924. The engine and mills were installed in 1910 and was in use until 1980 when the works was owned by Yorkshire Imperial Metals. The engine is of the uniflow type and was built by John Musgrave and Sons of Bolton in 1910, the first year in which such engines were made in Britain. The uniflow engine, where steam is exhausted in the middle, was regarded as the highest development of the steam engine. The engine retains its cylinder and piston, valve gear, crank, drive shaft and flywheel. The rope drive consists of multiple large-diameter ropes wound around a drive wheel in the engine house, which pass through a brick passage and a metal cage to a large gear wheel and a set of smaller gears. The bar and plate rolls form a two-high line with pits beneath.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance and illustrate our knowledge and understanding of the development of the copper working industry in Wales. It retains significant archaeological potential, with the strong possibility of the presence of associated archaeological features and deposits. A Musgrave engine and rolling mills may be part of a larger cluster of industrial monuments and their importance can further enhanced by their group value.

The scheduled area comprises the remains described and areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive.