Forge Side ( cy, Ger yr Efail) was the site of an ironworks started in 1836. The development was soon abandoned, but resumed in 1859. A settlement of houses was built for the workers.
The rows of workers' cottages, a chapel, and a few other buildings are all that remain. The small village is 0.5 miles south-west of
Blaenavon
Blaenavon ( cy, Blaenafon) is a town and community (Wales), community in Torfaen county borough, Wales, high on a hillside on the source of the Afon Lwyd. It is within the boundaries of the historic county of Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshi ...
0.5 miles south-east of Big Pit, and is in the
community
A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...
of Blaenavon, in the north of
Torfaen
Torfaen (; cy, Torfaen ) is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. Torfaen is bordered by the county of Monmouthshire to the east, the city of Newport to the south, and the county boroughs of Caerphilly and Blaenau Gwent to the south ...
county borough, in
South east Wales
South East Wales is a loosely defined region of Wales generally corresponding to the preserved counties of Mid Glamorgan, South Glamorgan and Gwent. Highly urbanised, it includes the cities of Cardiff and Newport as well as large towns in th ...
.
Development
The
Blaenavon Iron and Coal Company was formed in 1836, and purchased the
Blaenavon Ironworks
Blaenavon Ironworks is a former industrial site which is now a museum in Blaenavon, Wales. The ironworks was of crucial importance in the development of the ability to use cheap, low quality, high sulphur iron ores worldwide. It was the site ...
. The new managing director,
James Ashwell
James Ashwell (1799-1881) was an engineer and director, working in the coal, iron, and railway industries. In 1836 he helped in the formation of the Blaenavon Iron and Coal Company and was appointed resident managing director.
Early life
James ...
, started to build a new ironworks, to be called Forgeside, on a pocket of freehold land, so that the new company would be free of the rents, royalties, and insecurity of the leasehold of the old ironworks. Foundations were built for blast furnaces, forges and rolling mills.
Within a few years there was a downturn in the industry, Ashwell was forced to resign in 1841, and the new works abandoned. Building eventually resumed when the puddling forge was opened in 1859 and engines for the rolling mills were bought in 1860.
The terraced cottages for the workers were built on a grid plan, unimaginatively called Row A, Row B, Row C, Row D, and Row E. typically indicative of the attitude of the 19th century employers to their workers.
Decline
The works closed in 1911, re-opened for munitions work in 1914–18, and briefly re-opened again in 1924–5. Much of the Forgeside work was sold for scrap in 1934.
Present day
Very little remains of the works, although an electricity power house, built for the works in 1920, survives, and is now a Grade II listed building. Two of the terraced rows of cottages, Rows A and B, were demolished in the late 1970s. The Zion Baptist Chapel, built in 1875 with a schoolroom added in 1885, and Coity House, built for the manager of the works around 1860 are both Grade II listed buildings.
Forge Side has a rugby team, Forgeside RFC, which currently (as of 2016) play in the Swalec National League Division 3 East D. The club also has under 7's, under 9's, and under 10's teams.
Forgeside AFC was formed as a new football club in 2015. The team includes a number of former players from
Blaenavon Blues and received a grant of £500 for kit and training equipment from Blaenavon Leisure and Sports Trust (BLAST).
References
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Villages in Torfaen