Welsh Journals

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of the works. The cast houses, forges, refineries and mills were built on flat land next to the river, while furnaces were terraced into the hillside to the west. Above the furnaces were the calcining and coke ovens and stocks of raw materials. To the north-east, the ironworks are overlooked by Cyfarthfa Castle built by William Crawshay II in 1825. The works were bought by Richard Crawshay in 1786. As with other ironworks, many technological and methodological innovations that improved the efficiency of iron production were made at Cyfarthfa, especially the perfection of 'Cort's dry puddling process'. In the 1880s the Ironworks were modernised to produce steel and continued in production until 1926. Today the visible remains of the site consist of a long stretch of retaining wall leading to a row of six blast furnaces. A large arch now spans the space once occupied by a seventh furnace. Little of the ironworks that originally surrounded the blast furnaces is visible today. The blast furnaces were preserved because they were re-used as a charging platform for the furnaces of the later steel works built in the early 1880s. The surviving furnaces are now some of the most impressive and best preserved examples of the period. Several other features associated with the ironworks survive in the area surrounding the existing site. With the erection of scaffolding, the opportunity was taken to produce elevations of the exterior of the furnaces. A more detailed ground plan of the furnaces was also produced, showing some of the structural details of the furnaces and their relationship with the Cowper stove foundations. Duncan Schlee Cambrian Archaeological Projects Limited