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Nantyglo Heritage Trail
Starting and finishing point: Nantyglo Roundhouse Public Car Park
The roundhouses (1) were constructed about the year 1816 as a protective measure for fear of a workers uprising. The recession in the iron trade after the Napoleonic wars coupled with appalling working conditions led to increasingly strained labour relations. Riots broke out in 1816 and 1822 when a “combination” of Nantyglo workers (an early form of Trades Union) led by Josiah Evans and Harry Lewis defeated local militiamen.
Reinforcements had to be summoned to quell the disturbances, and for almost a fortnight the Scots Grays (famous for their charge at Waterloo) were billeted in the stables of the Roundhouse complex. The towers seem to have served their purpose as a deterrent, experiencing little usage as fortifications. In 1841 the southern tower (now in ruin) was recorded in the census returns as the home of James Wells, private secretary to Joseph and Crawshay Bailey. The northern tower has recently been restored.
Roundhouse farm is privately owned and can only be viewed from the car park or public bridleway to the west of the complex – entrance is prohibited. The tower has a solid iron door set into a stone porch which was originally covered by a slated canopy with protruding curved spikes to prevent access to the upper floors. In the door itself are two musket holes which can be sealed from the interior by swivel flaps.
The opening covered by a grid to the right of the entrance is a ventilation shaft intended to keep provisions in the cellars fresh during any siege. The towers’ walls are four feet thick with the windows narrowing considerably towards the interior, thus affording the occupants maximum protection. The window casements are of cast iron, as are many of the fittings and structural features normally constructed of wood – iron was cheaper than timber in the Nantyglo of 1816! Entering the building and ascending the spiral stairs, the remains of chimney breasts and fireplaces are clearly visible. The roof is unique being designed at the works in “petal” sections extending from a circular central plate. The original furnace ash and lime weather proofing was eventually replaced by pitch. The rest of the complex of barns and storage buildings date back to the original Nantyglo Works of 1795. They stored equipment for the works and housed the tram ponies. The towers were built as much to protect this equipment as the Baileys themselves.
Around 1820 the Baileys built a magnificent mansion, Ty Mawr (2), very close to the older Trosnant House. This was surrounded by large gardens complete with avenues of trees and a mountain stream. Fronted by a colonade of six iron pillars (cast at the works) supporting a verandah canopy, entrance to the house was via a central arched doorway.
Inside was an ornate marble staircase. Servants were housed in the old Trosnant House and a series of annex buildings to the rear enclosed a small courtyard. Today, after extensive excavation, the remaining foundations show us something of the original room layout.
To the rear are three large cellars complete with stairs to the courtyard and kitchen areas, behind these you can see the remains of the annex and Trosnant House. At the front the verandah base still exists, along with the plinth of one of the iron columns and several kerbstones to guide carriages along the frontage. The house was in use until 1885 and was demolished during World War II, having fallen into ruin and decay.
Leaving the site of Ty Mawr one is walking along the route of the 1828 tramroad which ran from Beaufort to Nantyglo Deep Pits. To the right can be seen the entrance to the California Level (3), so called because Silvanus Jones, the owner, entered into a contract to supply the California Company with its coal.
The small recently restored building to the right was once Crawshay Bailey’s gardener’s cottage (4). On the mountainside above can be seen a barn surrounded by the ruins of Penllwyn Uchaf Farm (5) the birthplace (1702) of Edmund Jones, author, historian and Independent Minister known as the “Prophet of Tranch”.
Walking south one can see a stand of pines and yews Ty’r Ywen (6) known locally as the Fever Hospital, a private residence in the last century, it was subsequently converted into an isolation hospital, and is now a private residence once again.
Looking further south and higher up the hillside one can see a small grey cottage, this is Chapel Farm (7). Once known as Ty Gronw (Gronw’s House) this working sheep farm is a fine example of a cruck-built house of the 15th century. It dates back to 1474.
From Ty’r Ywen turn east and drop down the hillside to Coalbrookvale House (8), the former residence of George Brewer, Ironmaster of the Coalbrookvale works. He was one of the few Ironmasters who would not employ children under the age of 10. The house was used as a meeting place of the Ironmasters and Mine Owners Association and it was here that the sliding scale of wages was conceived. The façade of the house we see today is much the same as that of 150 years ago. For economy the rear rooms have been demolished.
Carefully crossing the new Nantyglo by-pass road, climb the hill eastwards until you come to Lodge House (9), just before the junction with the Blaina-Nantyglo road. Built in the south east corner of the Bailey’s estate, this was originally a toll-gate. Anyone wishing to pass through the estate had to pay for the privilege! Although modern materials have been used to face the building, the structure and dimensions remain little altered.
Turning left at Lodge House walk along Farm Road past Beaumont Close and turn right up the hillside (10) to join Queen Street, the main road through Garn Fach near a bus shelter. About 30 yards south of the shelter on the right you will come to the Royal Oak Inn (11), now a private residence. Zephaniah Williams, one of the leaders of the Chartist Insurrection, became landlord of the Royal Oak in 1839. It was here that the Heads of the Valleys column gathered for the march on Newport which culminated in the Rising of November 4th 1839.
After the failure of the attack on Newport, Williams was convicted of treason and sentenced to death. His sentence was commuted to transportation for life and he died in Tasmania in 1874. To the rear of the Royal Oak is a small building which once housed the works school.
Walking north along Queen Street you will pass the site of Hermon Baptist Chapel (12) – one of the oldest and most active (in its heyday) in the area. The graveyard (owned and managed by the trustees of Hermon Chapel) is a treasure house of fascinating historical and social information. Continue north through the village – opposite a fish and chip bar, on the right is a footpath opening (13) which leads back onto Farm Road. Follow this path.
At Farm Road turn right and head north as far as Medhurst, a large house in its own grounds (14). The house’s original name was Ty’r Meddyg (The Doctor’s House), and it was built by Crawshay Bailey for his doctor and surgeon to the Works, Abraham Rowlands. Although converted into flats the exterior of the house remains virtually unchanged. On the lawn at the front is a sundial cast at the Nantyglo works.
Facing you on Market Road stands Rehoboth Chapel (15). Now disused, it was built as a sister chapel to Rehoboth, Brynmawr.
About 50 yards on is a large older building next to a row of bungalows. His was formerly the Company (Truck) Shop (16). The workers at Nantyglo were paid in tokens (instead of the coin of the realm) which could only be exchanged for goods at the Company Shop. As prices at the shop were inflated, the Ironmasters profits were increased. The worker and his or her family were totally dependent upon the Baileys. The system was bitterly resented. The shop was managed by John Jayne of Gilwern who became wealthy on the proceeds that in 1862 he was able to purchase the Clydach Ironworks.
The row of bungalows marks the site of Long Row (also known as Office Row), the first workers’ housing built in Nantyglo in 1793. According to Archdeacon Coxe in 1800, they were “built against a rock ledge, forming two tenements without communication”. The row was demolished in 1962, though three remain attached to the Company Shop. Between the bungalows the arches and back wall of the lower tenements can still be seen.
Cross the footbridge over the main road and walk through Roundhouse Close until you rejoin Waun Ebbw Road (17). Follow the road north west until you reach the site of Winchestown Methodist Chapel (on the corner of Pond Road) (18). In this building in 1834 the governing body of the South Wales Methodists announced that no active trade unionist could also fulfil his obligations as a practising Methodist. This had important implications not only for the future of Nonconformism but also for that of the Welsh language inseparably connected with it.
Looking at Nantyglo School to the east (19), the visitor could be forgiven for not realising that this was once the site of the mills and furnaces associated with the Nantyglo Ironworks. Originally opened in 1795, the works’ early history was fairly chequered until, in 1811, Joseph Bailey went into partnership with Matthew Wayne and bought them outright for £8,000. After 1813 Wayne left and Joseph was joined by his brother Crawshay. A period of rapid investment in the works ensued and by 1825 the firm of Messrs. J. and C. Bailey was attaining a world wide reputation. By 1844 and the opening of the famous Lion Mill, Nantyglo had become one of the most important ironworking centres in the world, employing more than 3,000 men and 500 women and children. Looking north east one can see Waun Pond, constructed about 1820 as a feeder to the works (20).
Walking west along the concrete road, opposite the chapel, you are among the debris of the earliest mining activity in the area. Eleven seams were worked here – some by a method known as “culverting”. Springs and streams were damned and, when enough water had gathered, released to wash away the top soil revealing the shallow coal seams underneath.
Looking to the north west one can see Ty Pwcca Farm (21). Pwcca was the Welsh name for one of the numerous sprites and goblins which local people once believed infested the area. Writing in 1779, the Rev. Edmund Jones recorded: “Abundance of people saw them, and heard their Musick, which everyone said was low and pleasant, but none could ever learn the Tune…..They appeared in diverse ways but their most frequent way of appearing was like dancing Companies with musick, and in the form of Funerals”.
About 150 yards from the cattle grid, there is a fork to the left in the track (22). Taking this left fork and passing through the smallholdings one passes the entrance to the West Monmouthshire Golf Club (23). Built in 1909, this claims to be the highest course in England and Wales with the 14th hole some 1,500 feet above sea level!
Continuing along for a further 150 yards the track turns left to a bungalow and another smallholding. This is Caban Gwyn (24), the site of Horeb Chapel built 1819 at a cost of £111.00. By 1825 it had become too small for the growing congregation and rather than extend the chapel, the members moved to Brynmawr and built a new chapel, Rehoboth.
Continue straight ahead for some 300 yards until the track joins Waun Ebbw Road, turn south (and to the right) and walk the last 200 yards back to the Roundhouse Towers.
Nantyglo Heritage Trail
Starting and finishing point: Nantyglo Roundhouse Public Car Park
The roundhouses (1) were constructed about the year 1816 as a protective measure for fear of a workers uprising. The recession in the iron trade after the Napoleonic wars coupled with appalling working conditions led to increasingly strained labour relations. Riots broke out in 1816 and 1822 when a “combination” of Nantyglo workers (an early form of Trades Union) led by Josiah Evans and Harry Lewis defeated local militiamen.
Reinforcements had to be summoned to quell the disturbances, and for almost a fortnight the Scots Grays (famous for their charge at Waterloo) were billeted in the stables of the Roundhouse complex. The towers seem to have served their purpose as a deterrent, experiencing little usage as fortifications. In 1841 the southern tower (now in ruin) was recorded in the census returns as the home of James Wells, private secretary to Joseph and Crawshay Bailey. The northern tower has recently been restored.
Roundhouse farm is privately owned and can only be viewed from the car park or public bridleway to the west of the complex – entrance is prohibited. The tower has a solid iron door set into a stone porch which was originally covered by a slated canopy with protruding curved spikes to prevent access to the upper floors. In the door itself are two musket holes which can be sealed from the interior by swivel flaps.
The opening covered by a grid to the right of the entrance is a ventilation shaft intended to keep provisions in the cellars fresh during any siege. The towers’ walls are four feet thick with the windows narrowing considerably towards the interior, thus affording the occupants maximum protection. The window casements are of cast iron, as are many of the fittings and structural features normally constructed of wood – iron was cheaper than timber in the Nantyglo of 1816! Entering the building and ascending the spiral stairs, the remains of chimney breasts and fireplaces are clearly visible. The roof is unique being designed at the works in “petal” sections extending from a circular central plate. The original furnace ash and lime weather proofing was eventually replaced by pitch. The rest of the complex of barns and storage buildings date back to the original Nantyglo Works of 1795. They stored equipment for the works and housed the tram ponies. The towers were built as much to protect this equipment as the Baileys themselves.
Around 1820 the Baileys built a magnificent mansion, Ty Mawr (2), very close to the older Trosnant House. This was surrounded by large gardens complete with avenues of trees and a mountain stream. Fronted by a colonade of six iron pillars (cast at the works) supporting a verandah canopy, entrance to the house was via a central arched doorway.
Inside was an ornate marble staircase. Servants were housed in the old Trosnant House and a series of annex buildings to the rear enclosed a small courtyard. Today, after extensive excavation, the remaining foundations show us something of the original room layout.
To the rear are three large cellars complete with stairs to the courtyard and kitchen areas, behind these you can see the remains of the annex and Trosnant House. At the front the verandah base still exists, along with the plinth of one of the iron columns and several kerbstones to guide carriages along the frontage. The house was in use until 1885 and was demolished during World War II, having fallen into ruin and decay.
Leaving the site of Ty Mawr one is walking along the route of the 1828 tramroad which ran from Beaufort to Nantyglo Deep Pits. To the right can be seen the entrance to the California Level (3), so called because Silvanus Jones, the owner, entered into a contract to supply the California Company with its coal.
The small recently restored building to the right was once Crawshay Bailey’s gardener’s cottage (4). On the mountainside above can be seen a barn surrounded by the ruins of Penllwyn Uchaf Farm (5) the birthplace (1702) of Edmund Jones, author, historian and Independent Minister known as the “Prophet of Tranch”.
Walking south one can see a stand of pines and yews Ty’r Ywen (6) known locally as the Fever Hospital, a private residence in the last century, it was subsequently converted into an isolation hospital, and is now a private residence once again.
Looking further south and higher up the hillside one can see a small grey cottage, this is Chapel Farm (7). Once known as Ty Gronw (Gronw’s House) this working sheep farm is a fine example of a cruck-built house of the 15th century. It dates back to 1474.
From Ty’r Ywen turn east and drop down the hillside to Coalbrookvale House (8), the former residence of George Brewer, Ironmaster of the Coalbrookvale works. He was one of the few Ironmasters who would not employ children under the age of 10. The house was used as a meeting place of the Ironmasters and Mine Owners Association and it was here that the sliding scale of wages was conceived. The façade of the house we see today is much the same as that of 150 years ago. For economy the rear rooms have been demolished.
Carefully crossing the new Nantyglo by-pass road, climb the hill eastwards until you come to Lodge House (9), just before the junction with the Blaina-Nantyglo road. Built in the south east corner of the Bailey’s estate, this was originally a toll-gate. Anyone wishing to pass through the estate had to pay for the privilege! Although modern materials have been used to face the building, the structure and dimensions remain little altered.
Turning left at Lodge House walk along Farm Road past Beaumont Close and turn right up the hillside (10) to join Queen Street, the main road through Garn Fach near a bus shelter. About 30 yards south of the shelter on the right you will come to the Royal Oak Inn (11), now a private residence. Zephaniah Williams, one of the leaders of the Chartist Insurrection, became landlord of the Royal Oak in 1839. It was here that the Heads of the Valleys column gathered for the march on Newport which culminated in the Rising of November 4th 1839.
After the failure of the attack on Newport, Williams was convicted of treason and sentenced to death. His sentence was commuted to transportation for life and he died in Tasmania in 1874. To the rear of the Royal Oak is a small building which once housed the works school.
Walking north along Queen Street you will pass the site of Hermon Baptist Chapel (12) – one of the oldest and most active (in its heyday) in the area. The graveyard (owned and managed by the trustees of Hermon Chapel) is a treasure house of fascinating historical and social information. Continue north through the village – opposite a fish and chip bar, on the right is a footpath opening (13) which leads back onto Farm Road. Follow this path.
At Farm Road turn right and head north as far as Medhurst, a large house in its own grounds (14). The house’s original name was Ty’r Meddyg (The Doctor’s House), and it was built by Crawshay Bailey for his doctor and surgeon to the Works, Abraham Rowlands. Although converted into flats the exterior of the house remains virtually unchanged. On the lawn at the front is a sundial cast at the Nantyglo works.
Facing you on Market Road stands Rehoboth Chapel (15). Now disused, it was built as a sister chapel to Rehoboth, Brynmawr.
About 50 yards on is a large older building next to a row of bungalows. His was formerly the Company (Truck) Shop (16). The workers at Nantyglo were paid in tokens (instead of the coin of the realm) which could only be exchanged for goods at the Company Shop. As prices at the shop were inflated, the Ironmasters profits were increased. The worker and his or her family were totally dependent upon the Baileys. The system was bitterly resented. The shop was managed by John Jayne of Gilwern who became wealthy on the proceeds that in 1862 he was able to purchase the Clydach Ironworks.
The row of bungalows marks the site of Long Row (also known as Office Row), the first workers’ housing built in Nantyglo in 1793. According to Archdeacon Coxe in 1800, they were “built against a rock ledge, forming two tenements without communication”. The row was demolished in 1962, though three remain attached to the Company Shop. Between the bungalows the arches and back wall of the lower tenements can still be seen.
Cross the footbridge over the main road and walk through Roundhouse Close until you rejoin Waun Ebbw Road (17). Follow the road north west until you reach the site of Winchestown Methodist Chapel (on the corner of Pond Road) (18). In this building in 1834 the governing body of the South Wales Methodists announced that no active trade unionist could also fulfil his obligations as a practising Methodist. This had important implications not only for the future of Nonconformism but also for that of the Welsh language inseparably connected with it.
Looking at Nantyglo School to the east (19), the visitor could be forgiven for not realising that this was once the site of the mills and furnaces associated with the Nantyglo Ironworks. Originally opened in 1795, the works’ early history was fairly chequered until, in 1811, Joseph Bailey went into partnership with Matthew Wayne and bought them outright for £8,000. After 1813 Wayne left and Joseph was joined by his brother Crawshay. A period of rapid investment in the works ensued and by 1825 the firm of Messrs. J. and C. Bailey was attaining a world wide reputation. By 1844 and the opening of the famous Lion Mill, Nantyglo had become one of the most important ironworking centres in the world, employing more than 3,000 men and 500 women and children. Looking north east one can see Waun Pond, constructed about 1820 as a feeder to the works (20).
Walking west along the concrete road, opposite the chapel, you are among the debris of the earliest mining activity in the area. Eleven seams were worked here – some by a method known as “culverting”. Springs and streams were damned and, when enough water had gathered, released to wash away the top soil revealing the shallow coal seams underneath.
Looking to the north west one can see Ty Pwcca Farm (21). Pwcca was the Welsh name for one of the numerous sprites and goblins which local people once believed infested the area. Writing in 1779, the Rev. Edmund Jones recorded: “Abundance of people saw them, and heard their Musick, which everyone said was low and pleasant, but none could ever learn the Tune…..They appeared in diverse ways but their most frequent way of appearing was like dancing Companies with musick, and in the form of Funerals”.
About 150 yards from the cattle grid, there is a fork to the left in the track (22). Taking this left fork and passing through the smallholdings one passes the entrance to the West Monmouthshire Golf Club (23). Built in 1909, this claims to be the highest course in England and Wales with the 14th hole some 1,500 feet above sea level!
Continuing along for a further 150 yards the track turns left to a bungalow and another smallholding. This is Caban Gwyn (24), the site of Horeb Chapel built 1819 at a cost of £111.00. By 1825 it had become too small for the growing congregation and rather than extend the chapel, the members moved to Brynmawr and built a new chapel, Rehoboth.
Continue straight ahead for some 300 yards until the track joins Waun Ebbw Road, turn south (and to the right) and walk the last 200 yards back to the Roundhouse Towers.
For a hard copy of any of Blaenau Gwent Heritage Trails can be obtained at Parc Bryn Bach Visitor Centre
