Coedcae estate Nantyglo Blaina South wales

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• published: 23 Aug 2016
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Coedcae estate Nantyglo Blaina South wales by Simon Furber http://www.brunel.ac.uk/~simon/blaina.html 200 years ago the valley was very different from today. The side of the valley were forested, the river and stream clean the there was no significant housing anywhere. The only buildings were a scattering of small farm houses and a village church. There was a blacksmith, a shop and a few mills. The name of the area was then Aberystruth. The only work in the area was farming. I was a very simple subsistence way of life. The farms produced everything that the inhabitants required to live. The soil was poor and land difficult to work. With very hard work the people made a living from the land. Most people relied on traveling by foot but if they were lucky they might have a horse and cart. there were no roads only track which were difficult to pass in bad weather. Many of the old farms can still be seen on the side of the mountains, usually on the slope half way between the mountain and the valley. These farm houses were usually low with high roofs, this construction giving good protection against the winter weather. A mixture of clay and lime was used as a kind of cement to keep out that damp. Aswell as living in these farm houses, the farmers also had to keep all their animals under the same roof. The names of the farms typically tell us they were occupied by people who were then welsh speaking for example Ysagbar - Little Barn Dol-y-Garn - The meadow below the rock Hafod-y-pwll - Summer house by the pool Hafod-y-ddol - Summer house in the meadow Maes Hafod - Summer Dwellings As late as the 1820's Blaina remained very rural with only the farms and a church. The original church was a wooden one with a stone tower. This burnt down. The church before the current one was taken down in 1969. The new church is a modern design but was rebuilt on the same site. In the 1790's english industrialists came into the area to set up their iron works. The choose the region because of the easy with which the raw materials could be obtained. Limestone from Llangattock and Trefil, water from the stream coal and iron ore found together. Many people were needed to work in the iron and coal industries in the mines quarries and foundries. The local farmers who and struggled to make a living welcomed the chance to work for a wage. This meant that the predominant language in the valley remained welsh. The actual beginnings of the ironworks remain a mystery to everyone because there was no record of their founding or founders. Despite this, it is know that in 1823, George Jones of Wolverhampton, leased certain lands and mines in the parish of Aberystruth and the labour ( although there were many small iron smelters in operation before, the start by George Jones is the main one in the area ). In 1827 George Jones formed a partnership with John Barker also from Wolverhampton, but in 1835 it was dissolved. In 1839 John Russell of Pontymister and Thomas Brown of Blaina over. Then finally in 1873, the works were sold to the Nantyglo and Blaina Ironworks Company Ltd. After another five years in 1878 the work were totally dismantled except for a few buildings left in ruins, which were later destroyed by fire around 1920. Although the making of iron in Blaina only lasted for a short time, the products were said to be of very good quality and were exported all over the country and abroad.