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Stepaside/Kilgetty Ironworks is a post-medieval and modern industrial site situated on the South Wales coalfield. The works developed on bedrock of the Pennine and South Wales Lower Coal Measures Formation, a geological sequence laid down during the Westphalian period that contains the mudstones, siltstones, sandstones, coal seams and ironstone bands essential to iron smelting. This rich mineral endowment made the locality suitable for iron production during the industrial period, when the South Wales coalfield became a major centre of iron manufacture. The site is protected as a scheduled monument under Cadw reference PE418, recognising its significance to Wales' industrial heritage.
The ironworks represents the intensive exploitation of local geological resources characteristic of nineteenth-century South Wales industry. The varied strata beneath the site—particularly the ironstone and coal deposits interbedded with clastic rocks—provided the raw materials needed for blast furnace operation. Such sites typically combined ore extraction, fuel production and smelting in close proximity, maximising efficiency and profit.
Today the monument preserves evidence of this crucial phase in Welsh industrial development. The landscape bears the marks of extraction and processing, testament to the scale and intensity of operations that transformed the South Wales valleys into a global centre of iron production during the height of industrialisation.
Stepaside/Kilgetty Ironworks is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference PE418. View the official record →
Stepaside/Kilgetty Ironworks is a post-medieval and modern industrial site situated on the South Wales coalfield. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference PE418.
Stepaside/Kilgetty 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.
Stepaside/Kilgetty 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 PE418.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Tenby Castle (6.9 km), Tenby Town Wall (7.1 km), Fort St Catherine (7.1 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Stepaside/Kilgetty Ironworks'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.
Stepaside/Kilgetty 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.