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Gathering the Jewels features over 30,000 images of objects, books, letters, aerial photographs and other items from museums, archives and libraries throughout Wales.

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Home » Physical Environment/Landscape » Landscape views » Ironworks

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  • By the time this watercolour was painted, Dowlais had outstripped its nearest rival, the Cyfarthfa Ironworks, to became the largest ironworks in the world. It possessed an unprecedented 14 blast furnaces on its main site as well as a four further furnaces at its satellite, Ivor Works. The fires within the open top masonry blast furnaces seen here, were visible for miles around, illuminating the night sky. However, they were soon superseded by new free-standing iron-shelled designs with closed tops. This important innovation, perfected in south Wales, helped to conserve energy.
'Dowlais Ironworks from the south', by George Childs, 1840
  • This dramatic watercolour shows a typical south Wales ironworks at dusk or night. Banks of blast furnaces can be seen on both sides of the Ebbw Fach river with early terraces of workers' housing close by. It was painted when south Wales was just beginning to dominate the international rail trade, and was published as an engraving in Gastineau's 'South Wales Illustrated' in 1830. The ironworks at Nantyglo, which was famous for its bar iron production, features in Alexander Cordell's famous novel 'The Rape of the Fair Country', set shortly before and after the date of this watercolour.
'View of Nantyglo Ironworks', probably by Henry Gastineau, c. 1829 (watercolour)
'Dowlais Ironworks from the south west', by George Childs, 1840
  • Aerial photographs of ironworks and iron mines from the collection of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales.
Aerial photographs of ironworks and iron mines