Scheduled MonumentsWalesBlaenafon Ironworks
Post Medieval/Modern · Ironworks

Blaenafon Ironworks

Wales
Cadw SAM MM200
Period
Post Medieval/Modern
Site type
Ironworks
Broad class
Industrial
Nation
Wales
Boundary

Scheduled area

© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Cadw

Overview

History & significance

Blaenafon Ironworks is a Post Medieval ironworks situated in Torfaen, Monmouthshire, Wales, established in 1789 by Thomas Hopkins and his partners. The site represents a significant example of late eighteenth-century iron production technology and was instrumental in the industrial development of South Wales during the period of intensive ironmaking expansion. The works comprised blast furnaces, forges, casting houses, and associated workers' housing, demonstrating the integrated nature of iron production settlements of this era. Blaenafon Ironworks remained operational for much of the nineteenth century and is now a substantial archaeological and industrial monument, designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument under the care of Cadw, reflecting its importance to the heritage and economic history of Wales.

Blaenafon Ironworks is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference MM200. View the official record →

About this monument

Questions & answers

What is Blaenafon Ironworks?

Blaenafon Ironworks is a Post Medieval ironworks situated in Torfaen, Monmouthshire, Wales, established in 1789 by Thomas Hopkins and his partners. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference MM200.

What period does Blaenafon Ironworks date from?

Blaenafon Ironworks dates from the post medieval/modern period, and is classified as a ironworks. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.

Who is responsible for protecting Blaenafon Ironworks?

Blaenafon Ironworks is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Cadw — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Wales. The official designation reference is MM200.

What other scheduled monuments are near Blaenafon Ironworks?

Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Aaron Brute's Level and Iron Bridge (0.5 km), Coity Sandstone Quarry and Incline (1.9 km), Capel Newydd, Blaenavon (site of) (2.6 km).

Unlimited access

Everything a full report reveals about Blaenafon Ironworks

This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Blaenafon Ironworks's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:

Overview
An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.
Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
Spotlight
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Target Zones
For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.
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The ground beneath

The bedrock under Blaenafon Ironworks

Blaenafon Ironworks stands on Pennine Lower Coal Measures Formation And South Wales Lower Coal Measures Formation (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Westphalian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete.