Lower or Abbey Wireworks, Tintern

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 an iron forge, a building or site where bloom iron or cast iron is forged into wrought iron. This was the first water-powered wire drawing works in Britain and was established in 1566. It was known as the Abbey or Lower Wireworks and may have been part of the original operations at Tintern. From 1568 to 1631 it was taken over by the Society of Mineral and Battery Works, who constructed a series of water power sites up the Angiddy Valley. Wire making continued at the location until about 1900, alongside tinplate manufacture which had started at the site in the 1880s. The Lower Wireworks consisted of at least seven buildings, including water powered scouring, rolling and wire drawing mills, which were documented in 1763 as being fed by three separate leats. The rear wall of the site demonstrates multiple phases of construction and is the main upstanding feature.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of 18th or 19th century iron working and other industrial practices. It retains significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of associated archaeological features and deposits. The structure itself may be expected to contain archaeological information concerning chronology and building techniques. An iron forge may be part of a larger cluster of 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.