Iron and coal patching at Pen-ffordd-goch

Cadw's description

Summary description and reason for designation

The monument consists of extraction and transportation features and associated spoil tips from the mining of iron ores and coal. It is located on the north and south-facing slopes of a ridge on the southern side of the Blorenge. The scheduled area contains many early and well-preserved features related to patching and scouring for iron ore and coal, including leats, ponds, hushing dams, scours, deposition areas, tips, shaft mounds, levels, boundaries, tracks and tramroad formations within a wider landscape of mineral working. The scheduled area is divided into three: Area A around Pen-ffordd-goch Pond (also known as Forge or Keeper’s Pond), Area B to the south of Foxhunter Road, and Area C adjacent to the phone masts to the south of Foxhunter Car Park. This was an area of iron ore extraction from at least the seventeenth century. Ore was dug from outcrops and water was used to scour away soil and clean the raw materials. Extraction grew from 1788 to supply Blaenavon Ironworks, and the area was largely exhausted by the early-nineteenth century. One of the main scours forms the eastern boundary of Area B. Two further scours and associated tips are located in Area A around Keeper’s Pond. They survive as linear gullies several hundred metres long and up to 35m in width, with near vertical sides up to 5m in height. A series of tips are associated with each of the scour channels. They are early in form, being long, narrow and culminating in rounded ends, and are characteristic of the tipping of material by hand. Keeper’s Pond was constructed in the 1820s to supply the Garnddyrys forge. The multiple circular depressions across the monument are the remains of collapsed bell-pits, where early mine shafts were dug to reach the deeper mineral deposits. Many mining levels were established in Areas A and C, identified by surviving entrances. A collapsed mine level is evident as a deep linear gully in Area B immediately to the south of the Foxhunter Road. It measures 250m in length, up to 5m in depth and evidences the use of stall and pillar working. A network of tramroads was used to move materials to Blaenavon via a weighing machine recorded on the site of the later Pen-y-Fordd-Goch House in the north-western corner of Area B. Short sections of tramroad are visible on the western side of the site; the best-preserved section survives as a 100m long cutting with banks measuring up to 1.5m in height on either side.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of late eighteenth and early nineteenth century mineral extraction processes. The leats, ponds, hushings, scours, tips, shafts, levels, tracks, tramroad remains and other associated structures may all be expected to contain archaeological information relating to construction techniques, use and functional detail. The monument retains significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of intact archaeological features and deposits. The site forms part of a larger cluster of monuments related to the industrial workings of the Blaenavon Company, including Blaenavon Ironworks (MM200), Pwll Du Limestone Quarry and Water Balance Lift (MM225), Garnddyrys Ironworks (site of) and Adjacent Tramway (MM189); their importance is further enhanced by their group value.

The scheduled area comprises the remains described above and an area within which related evidence may be expected to survive. It consists of three areas. Area A is roughly triangular in shape, measures 800m east-west by 430m north-south and is centred on NGR SO 25615 10726. Area B is irregular in shape, measures 1km east-west by 580m north/south and is centred on NGR SO 25697 10380. Area C is rectangular in shape, measures 84m east-west by 14m north-south and is centred on NGR SO 26391 10746. Originally scheduled in 1997, this scheduling has been revised to more accurately protect the area around the modern cark park in Area A.