Welsh Journals

TORFAEN'S MUSEUMS SERVICE: THE ENVIRONMENTAL APPROACH by ADRIAN BABBIDGE THE area within the boundaries of the Borough of Torfaen (which includes the eastern valley of Gwent from Llantarnam in the south through Cwmbran, Panteg, Pontypool and Abersychan to Blaenafon at its north) has an especial importance within the industrial history of Britain. The technological innovations of the Hanbury family in the iron and tinplate industries (and the associated development of the Japan Ware process), the importance of local coalmining and the improvements in steel manufacture that originated in the area, are well known aspects of Gwent's history; the social con- siderations behind these are often neglected, but again are of more than local importance. The aim of the Torfaen Museums Service (a component of the Recreation and Leisure Department of Torfaen Borough Council) is the preservation and interpretation of this heritage, though the means used to achieve this objective are perhaps more widely based than traditional museum agencies; rather than concentrating on the collection of portable antiquities for exhibition within a building, the Torfaen Museums Service sees its role in an environmental context. Although the past decade has seen major changes in the landscape of the eastern valley, much of its heritage survives on the ground in the form of domestic architecture, industrial sites, places of worship and public buildings. The variety of such sites and the more than local importance of many of them makes these a signi- ficant asset for development, and the Museums Service seeks, where- ever possible in close co-operation with related organisations, to preserve and interpret such features on their original sites so as to interpolate the local heritage with the pattern of life today. Work has already begun on several such on-site preservation projects. The pithead balance gear at Cwmbyrgwm near Talywain, built before 1820 and the only surviving example of this once common type on its original site in South Wales, is presently being consolidated and renovated by the Torfaen Museums Service in association with the Department of the Environment. Cwmbran Development Corporation have commenced the restoration of the 18th century watermill at Llanyrafon, which will be subsequently managed by the Museums Service. The twelve workers cottages at Forge Row, Cwmafon, dated to 1804 and protodevelopments in early iron industry housing are being preserved through the efforts of an independent charitable trust, and the Museums Service will be co- operating in the interpretation of this important site. A way- marked walk with accompanying leaflet is being prepared, in associa-