Recent from talks
Ebbw Vale Steelworks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Ebbw Vale Steelworks
Ebbw Vale Steelworks was an integrated steel mill located in Ebbw Vale, South Wales. Developed from 1790, by the late 1930s it had become the largest steel mill in Europe. It was nationalised after World War II. As the steel industry changed to bulk handling, iron and steel making was ceased in the 1970s, and the site was redeveloped as a specialised tinplate works. It was closed by Corus in 2002, but is being redeveloped in a joint partnership between Blaenau Gwent Council and the Welsh Government.
By the mid to late 1700s, the steep-sided wooded valley of the Ebbw Fawr river was home to a population of around 120, who worked the valley as farmers.
In 1789, Walter Watkins was the owner of a forge in Glangrwney, near Crickhowell, which lacked an adequate supply of pig iron from the Clydach Ironworks. In agreement with two business partners, his son-in-law Charles Cracroft and iron master Jeremiah Homfray of the Penydarren Ironworks at Merthyr Tydfil, Watkins leased land at Pen y Cae farm in the parish of Aberystruth from John Miles. Situated on the northern tip of the South Wales coalfield and located next to the River Ebbw, they had easy access to the basic iron making materials: coal and iron ore obtained by 'patch' working and local drifts and levels, plus water and power from the river. Limestone was to be transported by mule train from Llanelly Quarries, about four miles away.
The partnership erected a blast furnace and casting shop against the hillside, which created a weekly output of 25 tons of pig iron per week. Called "Pen y cae" after the farming hamlet by the locals, the partners adopted the river's name to form the Ebbw Vale Furnace Company Ltd (EVC), hence naming both the works and the developing township.
In 1793 Homfray bought out his partners with help from the Bristol-based Quaker family the Harfords, who in 1796 bought out Homfray himself to take complete ownership.
The plant was developed as a specialist forge. Needing additional supplies of iron, the company, now owned by the Harfords family trust, bought and integrated the Sirhowy Ironworks and colliery. The company then built four new cupola furnaces and added steam engine power.
This allowed the company to produce the world's first rolled-steel rail tracks in 1857, later followed by the pioneering Liverpool & Manchester and the Stockton & Darlington Railway.
The new railway line contracts required additional integration across the production facilities. By the end of the 18th century, both the company and the Tredegar Iron Company needed to transport raw materials to and products from various ironworks in the upper Ebbw Valley, to Newport Docks.
Hub AI
Ebbw Vale Steelworks AI simulator
(@Ebbw Vale Steelworks_simulator)
Ebbw Vale Steelworks
Ebbw Vale Steelworks was an integrated steel mill located in Ebbw Vale, South Wales. Developed from 1790, by the late 1930s it had become the largest steel mill in Europe. It was nationalised after World War II. As the steel industry changed to bulk handling, iron and steel making was ceased in the 1970s, and the site was redeveloped as a specialised tinplate works. It was closed by Corus in 2002, but is being redeveloped in a joint partnership between Blaenau Gwent Council and the Welsh Government.
By the mid to late 1700s, the steep-sided wooded valley of the Ebbw Fawr river was home to a population of around 120, who worked the valley as farmers.
In 1789, Walter Watkins was the owner of a forge in Glangrwney, near Crickhowell, which lacked an adequate supply of pig iron from the Clydach Ironworks. In agreement with two business partners, his son-in-law Charles Cracroft and iron master Jeremiah Homfray of the Penydarren Ironworks at Merthyr Tydfil, Watkins leased land at Pen y Cae farm in the parish of Aberystruth from John Miles. Situated on the northern tip of the South Wales coalfield and located next to the River Ebbw, they had easy access to the basic iron making materials: coal and iron ore obtained by 'patch' working and local drifts and levels, plus water and power from the river. Limestone was to be transported by mule train from Llanelly Quarries, about four miles away.
The partnership erected a blast furnace and casting shop against the hillside, which created a weekly output of 25 tons of pig iron per week. Called "Pen y cae" after the farming hamlet by the locals, the partners adopted the river's name to form the Ebbw Vale Furnace Company Ltd (EVC), hence naming both the works and the developing township.
In 1793 Homfray bought out his partners with help from the Bristol-based Quaker family the Harfords, who in 1796 bought out Homfray himself to take complete ownership.
The plant was developed as a specialist forge. Needing additional supplies of iron, the company, now owned by the Harfords family trust, bought and integrated the Sirhowy Ironworks and colliery. The company then built four new cupola furnaces and added steam engine power.
This allowed the company to produce the world's first rolled-steel rail tracks in 1857, later followed by the pioneering Liverpool & Manchester and the Stockton & Darlington Railway.
The new railway line contracts required additional integration across the production facilities. By the end of the 18th century, both the company and the Tredegar Iron Company needed to transport raw materials to and products from various ironworks in the upper Ebbw Valley, to Newport Docks.
Recent media