Cwmafan copper works flue

Cadw's description

Summary description and reason for designation

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Monument.

The monument comprises the remains of the Cwmafan copper works flue and stack. Copper smelting was established in Cwmafan in 1835, when the foundation stone of the original works was laid. At the time, the Swansea district was the centre of the copper industry. The works first produced copper in 1838 and continued under several different ownerships until it was abandoned in 1906. The flue was constructed to combat the effects of the pollution caused by the works and comprised a culvert that climbed the slope to the west of the works, culminating in a stack situated on the summit. An essay by the Rev John Rowlands (1853) describes the works: "The works were sited at the foot of the Foel mountain, a culvert (flue) being constructed from them to its summit, noxious copper smoke, which threatened the health of the inhabitants of Cwmafan being drawn through it, eventually dispersing into the atmosphere. This culvert is a mile long, if we take note of the sections of it which run to various parts of the works, being arched with stones through its entire length. Its internal width is 15ft and its height is 10 ½ ft. A strongly-built and attractively designed stack about 30ft high stands at the Foel's summit, the copper smoke from the works dispersing from it into the atmosphere after being sucked through the culvert" (A Leslie Evans, 1992, p14). The stack was intentionally destroyed in 1940 as it was felt to be a navigational aid to the Luftwaffe during their bombing raids on Swansea; it now survives as rubble-strewn foundations.

The monument is of national importance as the principle remains of one of the largest copper works flues to have existed in Wales and as substantial evidence of this characteristic monument type. Such flues were central to the operation of early copper works and illustrate an early interest in polution control.

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