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Iron Ore Scours and Patch Workings at Winch Fawr is a post-medieval and modern surface iron mine near Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. The site exploits ironstone deposits within the Pennine and South Wales Lower Coal Measures Formation, which here comprises mudstone, siltstone, sandstone and coal seams laid down during the Westphalian period. Iron ore and ferricrete layers weathered from these coal measures rocks provided the raw material that drove extraction across the site.
The landscape shows characteristic evidence of small-scale, intermittent iron working typical of patch and scour mining. Rather than deep shafts, miners worked the exposed ironstone layers close to the surface, creating a patchwork of shallow excavations and quarried areas that sculpted the hillside. This scattered approach reflected the distribution and variable quality of the ore horizons within the underlying strata.
The workings at Winch Fawr form part of the intensive iron and coal extraction heritage that defined the industrial valleys of south Wales. The site is now protected by Cadw, the Welsh Historic Monuments service, under reference GM554, preserving evidence of the small-scale mining operations that supplemented larger ironworks before the consolidation of the iron industry in the nineteenth century.
Iron Ore Scours and Patch Workings at Winch Fawr, Merthyr Tydfil is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference GM554. View the official record →
Iron Ore Scours and Patch Workings at Winch Fawr is a post-medieval and modern surface iron mine near Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference GM554.
Iron Ore Scours and Patch Workings at Winch Fawr, Merthyr Tydfil dates from the post medieval/modern period, and is classified as a iron mine. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Iron Ore Scours and Patch Workings at Winch Fawr, Merthyr Tydfil 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 GM554.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Carn Castell y Meibion ring cairn (4.1 km), Gadlys Ironworks (Remains of Blast Furnace) (4.2 km), Darren Fawr Round Cairns (4.7 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Iron Ore Scours and Patch Workings at Winch Fawr, Merthyr Tydfil's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Iron Ore Scours and Patch Workings at Winch Fawr, Merthyr Tydfil 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.