MM224

Pwll Du Village  

30/12/1994  

Designated  

Monmouthshire  

Llanfoist Fawr  

324536  

211706  

Industrial  

Settlement  

Post Medieval/Modern  

The monument comprises the remains of the former industrial settlement of Pwll Du. It is located on a shelf of level ground at the southern end of Cwm Llanwenarth at 410m AOD and sits between the Pwll Du and Tyla Quarries in an area of open grassland on Blorenge Common. The houses, built around 1818 by the Blaenavon Company, are some of the earliest examples of standard Company housing outside the town of Blaenavon and were constructed to house Blaenavon Company employees and their families. There were two rows of housing, Long Row (Item A, later known as Lower Rank) and Lower Long Row (Item B) located either side of the Tyla Quarry tramroad. The settlement also included a company shop within one of the buildings on Lower Long Row (Item B), more houses at Tunnel House with the Blacksmith’s shop below (Item C), the National School built in 1871 (Item D) and an earlier school and church (Item E). Stables and an associated yard (Item F) for housing the horses that were used to pull waggons through the Pwll Du tunnel were located behind Lower Long Row. Later a steam engine was installed to haul the waggons and an engine house constructed close to the eastern portal of the tunnel (Item G). The northern entrances to the Pwll Du Tramroad Tunnel (MM223) are located just outside this scheduled area. The buildings within Pwll Du were removed in two phases, first in the 1890s when Lower Long Row and the stables were taken down, and then in 1964 when the remainder of the settlement was demolished. Substantial remains survive, however, including sections of upstanding wall, and the possibility of the preservation of foundations and floor surfaces within the different structures is high. The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of the interrelationship between the social, economic and technological structures of the early Industrial period within the Blaenavon landscape. It retains significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of intact archaeological features and deposits. The site forms part of a larger cluster of monuments related to the industrial workings of the Blaenavon Company, including Pwll Du Limestone Quarry and Water Balance Lift (MM225), Garnddyrys Ironworks (site of) and Adjacent Tramway (MM189), Pwll Du Tramroad Tunnel (MM223) and Blaenavon Ironworks (MM200), and their importance is further enhanced by their group value. Originally scheduled in 1994 as ‘Pwll Du Tramroad Tunnel Northern Entrances & Site of Lower Rank’, this scheduling has been revised to include additional buildings that were not originally designated and to exclude the Pwll Du Tramroad Tunnel northern entrances, which have been added to the revised scheduling for the Pwll Du Tramroad Tunnel (MM223). The scheduled area comprises the remains described and an area around within which related evidence may be expected to survive. It comprises two areas separated by the road, Area A to the north of the road and Area B to the south of the road. Area A is centred on OS NGR SO 24530 11697, it is irregular in plan and measures a maximum of 275m NW-SE by 65m NE-SW. Area A contains archaeological items A, B, C, F and G. Area B is centred on OS NGR SO 24477 11717, is rectangular in plan and measures 90m NW-SE by 35m transversely. Area B contains archaeological items D and E. Archaeological Items: Item A – Site of Long Row/Lower Rank Long Row (later known as Lower Rank) consisted of 30 houses built in a curved row on the western side of the Tyla tramroad. The houses were built in 1818 by the Blaenavon Company, to the same design as their standard housing seen elsewhere in the Blaenavon area and were small with two downstairs rooms and a single open space upstairs with a ladder for access. At a later date the houses were enlarged by knocking together two adjacent houses. They had no running water and were only connected to the electrical mains in 1952. Between the front of the houses and the Tyla tramroad was an area of open ground where sheds, coal stores and outhouses were located, together with two bakehouses for the use of the residents. The houses were mostly demolished in 1964, and the remains of Long Row/Lower Rank survive as a curving platform orientated roughly north/south, 150m in length, 10m in width and around 0.5m in height, located immediately to the west of the north-west portal of the Pwll Du tunnel. The height of the surviving remains suggests that intact floor surfaces and foundations could survive below the turf. Item B – Site of Lower Long Row and the Company Shop. Lower Long Row was located at the south-eastern end of Long Row, on the opposite side of the tramroad, and consisted of three houses adjoining the Company Shop. Mapping evidence shows a row of houses, perhaps bigger than those in Long Row, with the shop occupying a large building at the western end of the row. The combined buildings covered an area measuring 35m in length and 12m in width. These structures were demolished in the late 19th century and have been subsequently partly covered by a spoil tip, although the turf-covered outline of walls can be seen protruding from beneath the tip. There is the potential for structural remains to survive intact beneath the later spoil. Item C – Tunnel House and Blacksmiths Shop Tunnel House (actually two houses) is located between the two portals of the Pwll Du tunnel (MM223). The structure was built into the slope and consisted of a three-storey building with the houses occupying the upper two storeys and the blacksmith’s shop below. The houses were entered from the south, the higher side of the slope, and the blacksmith’s shop from the north. The footprint of the building is visible on the ground with walls and rubble piles surviving to a height of around 2m. The substantial nature of the remains suggests that there is potential for in situ structures and deposits to survive beneath the turf. The house remains are orientated roughly NW-SE and measure 14m in length by 5m in width. Item D – The National School The National School at Pwll Du was opened in 1871, following a grant of land from the Marquess of Abergavenny. It consisted of a large school building set within a walled yard on the southern side of the road. The main building consisted of a large rectangular hall with vaulted ceilings and high windows, entered on the west side through a lean-to structure housing cloakrooms. On the southern side of the building were further single-storey rooms housing the infant’s classroom and a boiler room. The schoolhouse also served as a Church for the local community, with a small section of the building screened off from the classroom for services. The yard comprised a play area for the children and had outhouses containing the girl’s and boy’s toilets in opposite corners on the southern side. The remains of the school building survive as a grass-covered pile of rubble and walling up to 2m in height, within which the shape of the original structure is discernible. The wall surrounding the yard survives as a low grass-covered mound. The area of the school is roughly rectangular and measures 44m E-W by 26m N-S. The substantial nature of the surviving remains suggest that there is the potential for in situ structure and associated deposits below the turf. Item E – Wesleyan Sabbath School and Church The Wesleyan Sabbath School and Church at Pwll Du was also located on the southern side of the road, 20m SE of the site of the later National School. Mapping evidence indicates that it was constructed sometime between 1819 and 1840 and served the communities of Pwll Du and Garnddyrys but went out of use when the National School was built in the 1870s. The tithe and early OS maps show that the building comprised a long narrow building, perhaps subdivided into different structures, located on a flat terrace at the foot of a spoil tip. The only visible remains of the School and Church are the grass-covered terrace and the remains of a stone wall enclosing a square area at the eastern end of the terrace – this is thought to be later than the Church and was the site of a garden associated with one of the houses in Long Row. The terrace area measures 45m in length and 20m in width and is grass-covered. There is the potential for survival of structural remains associated with the school and church on the terrace. Item F – Stables and associated yard The stables and yard were located immediately behind Lower Long Row. The stables housed the horses used to move waggons through the Pwll Du tunnel and around the various industrial workings in the landscape. The stables had been demolished by 1900 but originally consisted of a long building set within a yard, walls of which survive. The south-western wall of the yard survives for 20m in length and to a maximum height of around 1.5m and is stone built and bonded with lime mortar. At the north-western end the remains of the stables consist of a stone-built rectangular structure, measuring 10m in length by 5m in width and up to 0.5m in height. The substantial nature of the surviving remains suggest that there is the potential for in situ structure and associated deposits. Item G – Engine House The engine house was built in the late 19th century to accommodate a static steam engine that pulled trams through the Pwll Du tunnel. A second static steam engine was located at the southern end of the tunnel and is included in the scheduled area of MM223. The engine shed was located adjacent to Tunnel House and consisted of a rectangular stone-built structure measuring 12m in length by 10m in width. The rear wall of the engine house survives to a height of around 1m and the footprint of the building can be identified as a flatter area of grass adjacent to the tramroad. There is the potential for the survival of further structural remains below the turf.