Images of Wales

The series of photographs below shows Stack Square and its workers cottages built circa 1790 frighteningly close to the ironworks.

It is believed the cottages were originally built for key workers such as craftsmen and furnace managers who had come from the West Midlands of England to commission the ironworks.
The cottages had stone rubble walls, with the heads of doors and window openings in red brick. This style of construction was common in the West Midlands. The front doors were in two parts, like stable doors. There was no plumbing or sanitation, but by the standards of the day, these homes offered good quality accommodation. Ash buckets would have been used, and emptied into a cess pit. A row of outside privvies was added in the late 19th century.

Above: The centre of Stack Square.

The 1841 census recorded the following occupations represented in Stack Square (then known as Shop Square): coker, servant, filler, labourer, moulder.
Forty years later, in 1881, the occupations represented in Engine Row included: clerk in ironworks, mechanical engineer, servant, coke-yard worker, labourer, coalminer, saddler, blast furnace man, blast engine tender, blacksmith striker, gasman (iron), collier, shoeing smith, engine driver, ironstone miner.

Above and below: The north-eastern wing of Stack Square.

Above: The Water Balance Tower viewed from Stack Square. This shot gives an impression of the proximity of these residences to the noisy and polluted ironworks.

Above: Blaenavon ironworks, including Stack Square and Engine Row, viewed from the Big Pit Mining Museum whose pithead gear is in the left foreground. The two sites are just under one mile apart

When iron and coal production were at their height the population of Blaenavon was 25,000. Today, due to the loss of its heavy industries, Blaenavon is home to just 6,000 people, more than 70 per cent of whom are aged 60 or over and the town has increasingly looked to the tourist trade to boost its economy. The Big Pit Mining Museum is built on an old colliery, closed by the National Coal Board in 1980. Guided underground tours of the tunnels are given by experienced miners. Some of the mining buildings at ground level, including the blacksmith's workshop, the engine house and the workers' houses can also be visited.

Above: A plaque recording the recognition by the American Society for Metals of the international importance of Blaen- avon to the development of metal refining.

Blaenavon is now expected to attract greater development funding, particularly from the European Union and the UK National Lottery. It is hoped that World Heritage status will bring around 250,000 visitors a year to this Welsh valley, and increase recognition of the vital role of Wales in the Industrial Revolution.

Source: KNIGHT, Jeremy K., 1992 Blaenavon Ironworks, CADW: Welsh Historic Monuments, Cardiff. ISBN 0 948329 89 0