Forge Row is a terrace of seven, originally twelve, cottages build around 1804 for workers at a nearby

forge A forge is a type of hearth used for heating metals, or the workplace (smithy) where such a hearth is located. The forge is used by the smith to heat a piece of metal to a temperature at which it becomes easier to shape by forging, or to the ...

Cwmavon, Torfaen Cwmavon ( Welsh spelling: Cwmafon; translation: "river valley") is a hamlet about 2 miles south of Blaenavon and 4 miles north of Pontypool. The hamlet is part of the community of Abersychan in the county borough of Torfaen in south east Wales, ...

, south east Wales. The cottages have been sympathetically restored. The terrace is regarded as a fine example of early housing for industrial workers in South Wales, and all the cottages are Grade II* listed buildings. The cottages lie to the east of the

Afon Llwyd The Afon Lwyd or Afon Llwyd () is a long river in south-east Wales which flows from its source northwest of Blaenavon, through Abersychan, Pontnewynydd, Pontypool, Llanfrechfa and Cwmbran before flowing, at Caerleon, into the River Usk, which ...

river.

Building

Around 1804 a forge was built at Cwmavon as part of

Varteg Ironworks Varteg () is a village in the county borough of Torfaen in Wales. Location It lies near Abersychan on the hills above the valley of the Afon Llwyd, between Pontypool and Blaenavon. History and amenities Varteg owes its origin to the fact ...

(although the

ironmaster An ironmaster is the manager, and usually owner, of a forge or blast furnace for the processing of iron. It is a term mainly associated with the period of the Industrial Revolution, especially in Great Britain. The ironmaster was usually a larg ...

s of

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 o ...

also seem to have been involved as the forge was near to the recently completed Blaenavon Railroad). The row was built for the workers at the forge around 1804-6 as twelve tiny cottages, each only the width of a door and window, with an alternating left and right pattern with shared chimney stacks, so they appear as six cottages. The cottages each had four rooms on two storeys with the front door opening directly into the kitchen/dining room. Unusually for the time there was also a back door. A winding staircase led to the front bedroom which accessed the back bedroom. The small size of the cottages contrasts with Cwmavon House, which was built a few years later in 1830 for the manager of the forge. Cwmavon house is a two-storey house with four bays and is about north of Forge Row and is a Grade II listed building.

Occupation

The forge closed in 1840 and many of the workers moved away. In 1852 only six of the cottages were occupied, with an average occupation of 4.3 residents. The row was later bought by the Varteg Hills colliery, on the west of the valley, for its workers and remained fully occupied for many years. A resident of Cwmavon remembers that in the late 1920s No. 5 Forge Row was owned by Mr Llewellyn, the Sunday school superintendent, who ran the cottage as a small shop selling "household goods such as soap, scrubbing brushes and blacklead along with sweets, cigarettes and paraffin". They also remember that Mr. Humphries, the colliery manager, lived at Cwmavon House.

Decline

In 1975 the last resident was rehoused by the local authority and by 1980 the then owners, the

National Coal Board The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "ve ...

, wanted to demolish the row, but the Torfaen Museum Trust bought the buildings to ensure their survival.

Protection and restoration

The six cottages were designated as listed buildings in 1973. In 1989 restoration of the row was undertaken by the British Historic Buildings Trust and the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

with support from

Cadw (, a Welsh verbal noun meaning "keeping/preserving") is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage ...

and the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

Committee. The original fireplaces and staircases were retained, and extra staircases and downstairs closets were added. The twelve original cottages were combined to create six cottages. The stone walls were whitened and the doors and window frames painted in earth colours. The £200,000 restoration, carried out by Ferguson Mann in 1987-8, retained the original charm of the dwellings while also adding modern facilities. The cost of the restoration was covered by the sale of the cottages. The new owners had to sign covenants to protect the cottages from being spoilt or altered. Forge Row is further protected as it lies within the

Blaenavon Industrial Landscape Blaenavon Industrial Landscape, in and around Blaenavon, Torfaen, Wales, was inscribed a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000. The Blaenavon Ironworks, now a museum, was a major centre of iron production using locally mined or quarried iron ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

), the Blaenavon Landscape of Outstanding Historic Interest, and the Cwmavon

Conservation Area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...

. Forge Row is mentioned a number of tourist walks and trails around the area.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite book , title = Blaenavon Ironworks and World Heritage Landscape , author-first = Peter , author-last = Wakelin , others = Design by Ceri Staziker, Photography by Paul Highman , year = 2011 , orig-year = 2006 , publisher =

, edition = 2nd , place = Cardiff , page = 9 , isbn = 978-1-85760-293-7 , oclc = 858824245 {{cite book , title = Eastern Valley – The Story of Torfaen , author-last = Barber , author-first = Chris , publisher = Blorenge Books , place = Abergavenny , edition = 1st , isbn = 1-872730-23-X , oclc = 43459623 , pages = 279 , year = 1999 {{cite book , last1 = Newman , first1 = John , last2 = Lynch , first2 = Frances , last3 = Manning , first3 = William , last4 = Hughes , first4 = Stephen , title = Gwent/Monmouthshire , date = 2000 , series =

Pevsner Architectural Guides The ''Pevsner Architectural Guides'' are four series of guide books to the architecture of the British Isles. ''The Buildings of England'' series was begun in 1945 by the art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, with its forty-six original volumes pu ...

(The Buildings of Wales) , publisher = Penguin Books , location = London , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=knRf4U60QjcC&q=westlake+brewery+manager%27s+house&pg=PA111 , isbn = 0-14-071053-1 , oclc = 45327986 , page = 111 , section = Abersychan: Cwmavon {{cite book , last1 = Gwent Federation of Women's Institutes , title = The Gwent Village Book , date = 1994 , publisher = Countryside Books , isbn = 978-1853063121 , url = http://www.visitoruk.com/Abergavenny/cwmavon-C592-V29996.html# , access-date = 16 April 2016 , via = Welcome to Abergavenny {{cite web , title = Varteg Ironworks , url = http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Varteg_Ironworks , website = Grace's Guide , access-date = 11 April 2016 {{Cadw , work = Statutory List of Buildings , desc = 1 Forge Row, Abersychan , num = 3133 , date = 28 July 1997 , access-date = 26 July 2016 , orig-year = Listed 1973 {{Cadw , desc = 2 Forge Row, Abersychan , num = 18586 , date = 28 July 1997 , access-date = 26 July 2016 , orig-year = Listed 1973 {{Cadw , desc = 3 Forge Row, Abersychan , num = 18587 , date = 5 September 1973 , access-date = 26 July 2016 , orig-year = Listed 1973 {{Cadw , desc = 4 Forge Row, Abersychan , num = 18588 , date = 28 July 1997 , access-date = 26 July 2016 , orig-year = Listed 1973 {{Cadw , desc = 5 Forge Row, Abersychan , num = 18589 , date = 28 July 1997 , access-date = 26 July 2016 , orig-year = Listed 1973 {{Cadw , desc = 6 Forge Row, Abersychan , num = 18590 , date = 28 July 1997 , access-date = 26 July 2016 , orig-year = Listed 1973 {{Cadw , desc = Cwmavon House, Abersychan , num = 18584 , date = 28 July 1997 , orig-year = Listed 1997 , access-date = 26 July 2016 {{cite web , work = Torfaen Walks , title = Cwmavon Heritage Trail , url = http://www.torfaen.gov.uk/cy/Related-Documents/Countryside/Torfaen-Walks/Cwmafon-Heritage-Trail.pdf , publisher = Torfaen County Borough Council , access-date = 13 April 2016 , date=2006 {{cite web , work = Torfaen Walks , title = Torfaen Leisure Route , url = http://www.torfaen.gov.uk/en/RoadsTravelParking/WalkingCycling/Torfaen-Walks/Torfaen-Leisure-Route.aspx , publisher = Torfaen County Borough Council , access-date = 13 April 2016 , date = 5 November 2015 {{cite web , title = Chartism , url = http://trails.visittorfaen.co.uk/FileDownload.ashx?filepath=/media/3033/chartism_w.pdf , website = Torfaen trails and tales , publisher = Torfaen County Borough Council , access-date = 13 April 2016 , date = February 2010 {{London Gazette , issue = 49925 , page=15277 , date = 12 November 1984 {{cite book , title = Nomination of the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape for inclusion in the World Heritage List , date = 1999 , publisher = Torfaen County Borough Council , page = 48 , url = http://212.219.230.30/$sitepreview/world-heritage-blaenavon.org.uk/whs-info/documents/nomination.pdf , access-date = 7 April 2016 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160418014349/http://212.219.230.30/$sitepreview/world-heritage-blaenavon.org.uk/whs-info/documents/nomination.pdf , archive-date = 18 April 2016 , url-status = dead {{cite report , title = Cwmavon Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan , date = April 2011 , url = http://www.visitblaenavon.co.uk/en/Publications/WorldHeritageSite/LookingAfterBlaenavon/CwmavonConservationAreaManagementPlan.PDF , publisher = Torfaen County Borough Council , page = 35 , access-date = 12 April 2016 , archive-date = 21 April 2016 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160421204728/http://www.visitblaenavon.co.uk/en/Publications/WorldHeritageSite/LookingAfterBlaenavon/CwmavonConservationAreaManagementPlan.PDF , url-status = dead

External links

Aerial view of Forge Row, 1999 (RCHAWM website)
Grade II* listed buildings in Torfaen