32-542: The Pwll Du Tunnel was the longest horse-powered tramway tunnel to be built in Britain at 1,875 metres (6,152 ft) in length. It started in Blaenavon , Torfaen, Wales, and was originally a coal mine, running northward almost horizontally into a hillside. Later it was extended right through the hill and used to carry limestone from quarries at Pwll Du and Tyla to the ironworks at Blaenavon, and to carry pig iron from Blaenavon to
64-599: A World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000. Attractions in the town include the Big Pit National Coal Museum (an Anchor Point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage ), Blaenavon Ironworks , the Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway and Blaenavon World Heritage Centre. The town has a male voice choir, a town band, and many historical walks through the local mountains. A railway viaduct was constructed in 1790;
96-680: A year before the Beeching Axe took place. The lower line's passenger service was among many in Gwent (Monmouthshire) which Ministry of Transport de-classified papers reveal were axed because of rail congestion in the Newport area following the newly opened Llanwern steelworks . Following Samuel Hopkins' death in 1815, his sister Sarah Hopkins of Rugeley, who had inherited much money from her late brother, erected Blaenavon Endowed School in his memory. Which has since been permanently closed. St Peter's Church
128-425: Is 2,050 yards (1,870 m) long. The tunnel was the longest that was ever built in Britain for a horse-powered surface railway. The tunnel was accessed through a portal at the south end by Blaenavon. This impressive portal was named "The Marble Arch". The Pwll Du end of the tunnel was a stone lined trench, later covered, with two linked portals in a Y branch. There was a junction just inside the tunnel. The tramroad to
160-526: Is an electoral ward of Torfaen County Borough Council . Blaenavon is twinned with Coutras in France. The town lies near the source of the Afon Lwyd river, north of Cwmbran . The population of Blaenavon has declined gradually at each ten-year census since the closure of the ironworks in 1900. It had fallen to 8,451 by 1961 and fell more rapidly after closure of the coal mine in 1980. Part of this decline
192-621: The Garnddyrys Forge . The tramway was extended past Garnddyrys to Llanfoist Wharf on the Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal. The tramway from Pwll Du to the canal fell out of use when the railway came to Blaenavon and the Garnddyrys forge was closed in 1860, but the tunnel continued to be used to carry limestone to Blaenavon until 1926. It is now a scheduled monument and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Blaenavon Ironworks , completed in 1789,
224-698: The Napoleonic Wars , Thomas Hill, who managed the Blaenavon ironworks, began to build what became called Hill's Tramroad from Pwll Du to the Llanfoist wharf around 1815. The tramroad ran past Garnddyrus forge, down the northern side of the Blorenge hill to Llanfoist Wharf on the Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal . Pig iron and iron products were then transported down the canal to the Newport Docks . Thomas Hill extended
256-567: The West Midlands industrialist Thomas Hill and his partners, Thomas Hopkins and Benjamin Pratt. The businessmen invested £40,000 into the ironworks project and erected three blast furnaces. Hopkins, as a result of operating the Cannock Wood Forge, Staffordshire, was in contact with skilled and experienced ironworkers, and managed to persuade many of them to migrate to Blaenavon to help establish
288-522: The 20th century. In November 2000 UNESCO designated the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape as a World Heritage Site , including the town, ironworks, Big Pit Museum and Hill's tramroad with its Pwll Du tram tunnel. Part of the ironworks is now a museum. Blaenavon Blaenavon ( Welsh : Blaenafon ) is a town and community in Torfaen county borough, Wales , high on a hillside on
320-725: The Blaenavon Ironworks was northward through the Pwll Du Tunnel and then along Hill's Tramroad to Llanfoist , from where the goods were shipped by the Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal in the Usk Valley . Limestone for the Blaenavon furnaces came from the Tyla quarry and was shipped southward through the tunnel. The Garnddyrys Forge was built by Thomas Hill II in 1816–17. The tramroad brought cast iron from Blaenavon and took wrought iron from
352-480: The English border). However, the project did not succeed. This can be attributed to a combination of the town's remote location and the established competition from Hay. Many thriving community groups serve and improve the town, including Future Blaenavon, which has helped to create a community garden at the bottom of the town. Parts of the town and surrounding country form the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape , selected as
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#1733093126891384-528: The Tyla quarries entered the western portal. The tramroad to the Garnddyrys Forge and onward to the canal entered the eastern portal, probably built in 1816. Pig iron was carried from the ironworks to the Garnddyrys forge, established in 1817, for conversion to wrought iron. The section running to Llanfoist wharf became obsolete when mainline railways reach the Blaenavon ironworks in the 1850s. The tunnel bore heavy traffic for forty years while Garnddyrus Forge
416-488: The UK Ministry of Health ; it was run as a cottage hospital until 1985. When the hospital closed the building was sold by the local authority and refurbished as a nursing home for the elderly. In 1995 the building was listed as a Grade 2 listed building . Following the closure of the nursing home in 2007, the building was left empty. It was badly vandalised and stripped of its lead work, slate roof and original interiors, and
448-481: The early tunnel through the hill to form a tramroad tunnel from Blaenavon to Pwll Du to carry limestone and coal. The tunnel, high enough for horse drawn trams, runs through the Mynydd Garn Fawr in a sweeping curve. The horse drawn railway through the tunnel was in operation by 1817. Limestone was taken from the quarry up to the railway by a water-balance lift, using water from a reservoir above. Hill's tramroad
480-542: The forge to the Llanfoist wharf. The tunnel became inadequate to handle the volume of traffic. Around 1850 Thomas Dyne Steel (1822–98), engineer of the Blaenavon Company, designed a standard-gauge railway that ran from New Pit up the mountain and than down to Pwll Du. A stationary steam engine and winding drum at the summit pulled the trams up both sides. The incline soon proved a faster and more cost-effective route than
512-477: The hill sitting on the trams in bad weather, rather than walk over the hill. The limestone quarries closed after the General Strike of 1926, and the tunnel was no longer used. In 1933 a measurement survey was undertaken to explore for coal. In 1933–34 a team of fifteen to twenty men from the Blaenavon Company drove a heading that found a workable 2 to 3 feet (0.61 to 0.91 m) coal seam. Eventually exploration
544-536: The new ironworks. In 1836 Robert William Kennard formed the Blaenavon Coal and Iron Company, which subsequently bought the Blaenavon Ironworks. Blaenavon House, a mansion constructed in 1798 by Thomas Hopkins, was repurposed as a hospital in 1924, supported by the subscriptions of local iron and coal workers. In the 1940s the hospital site was given by the then owners of the site, the National Coal Board , to
576-515: The source of the Afon Lwyd . It is within the boundaries of the historic county of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent . The population is 6,055. Parts of the town and surrounding country form the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape , selected as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000 . Blaenavon literally means "head of the river" or loosely "river's source" in the Welsh language . Blaenavon grew around an ironworks opened in 1788 by
608-541: The structure disappeared and was unearthed in a 2001 episode of the archaeology television programme Time Team . The Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway is a scenic attraction rich in geological and historical interest. Blaenavon lost both of its passenger railway stations — Blaenavon High Level station closed in 1941, and the last train from Blaenavon (Low Level) (to Newport via Pontypool Crane Street ) ran in April 1962. The lower line had already been closed for more than
640-470: The tunnel in the 1940s. In 1999 a team of cavers and industrial archaeologists announced plans to investigate the tunnel. The exploration team sank a shaft into the water-filled tunnel beyond the roof fall at the Pwll Du end. After pumping the water (if not contaminated) they planned to explore the full length. The tunnel at the Blaenavon entrance is now lined with brick and supported by large timbers installed in
672-417: The tunnel. In 1860 the Garnddyrys works were closed and the forge was relocated to Forgeside, Blaenavon . The incline was dismantled by 1880. The route of the incline is still easily seen, including shallow cuttings and embankments. The engine house no longer stands, but its platform is visible. It is thought that the bases of the engine and the drum below ground are well preserved. There are also traces of
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#1733093126891704-420: Was a plateway with 2 feet (0.61 m) gauge on stone sleeper blocks. It had connections to limestone quarries at Pwll-Du and Tyla . It was extended around 1817–22 to run from Pwll Du to Llanfoist via Garnddyrys. The tramroad ran for 3 miles (4.8 km) north east from the north portal round the Blorenge shoulder to Llanfoist Wharf. The tunnel rose by 70 feet (21 m) from Blaenavon to Pwll Du. The tunnel
736-484: Was brought up in the town. Dyne Steel Incline The Dyne Steel Incline was a steam-powered tramroad that carried tram loads of cast iron up and over the hill between the Blaenavon Ironworks and Pwll Du . From there the trams continued along Hill's Tramroad to the Garnddyrys Forge and on to the Llanfoist wharf. It operated from around 1850 to 1860. From 1817 the main route for exporting products of
768-546: Was constructed in 1804, gifted to the parish by Thomas Hill and Samuel Hopkins. Blaenavon Golf Club (now defunct) was founded in 1906. The club closed in 1937. Notable people born in Blaenavon include the Broadway and film actor E. E. Clive , award-winning mystery writer Dorothy Simpson , and international rugby union players Mark Taylor , Ken Jones (also an Olympic athlete), John Perkins , Chris Huish and Terry Cobner . Nick Thomas-Symonds , elected MP for Torfaen in 2015,
800-426: Was halted due to faults, water and risks from uncharted older disused mines. A brick wall closed off the Pwll Du end. There was a major collapse about 50 yards (46 m) into the Tyla branch that may have been caused by water leaking from the Pwll Du reservoir. There was a bedding collapse about 40 metres (130 ft) into the Garnddyrys branch, perhaps from the same cause, but possibly due to open cast workings above
832-652: Was inaugurated in 1796 to take limestone from the Blorenge Mountain quarries to the ironworks. When plans were made to build the Garnddyrys iron forge in Cwm Llanwenarth on the west branch of the Blorenge hill, they included replacing a steeply sloped tramroad from Blaenavon by a shallow gradient tramroad along an extension of the earlier tunnel through the hill to Pwll Du. In response to a surge in demand for iron during
864-613: Was not emigration but a decrease in birth rate. The Blaenavon Coal and Iron Company developed the Big Pit coalworks with adjoining steel works particularly for rail manufacture. The steel-making and coal mining industries followed, boosting the town's population to over 20,000 at one time before 1890. Since 1988, part of this site has been the Big Pit National Coal Museum . Government, publishers and mainly Welsh writers sought in 2003 to attract more visitors by introducing Blaenavon as Wales' second " book town " (the first being Hay-on-Wye on
896-400: Was operating. The minerals on both sides of the tunnel continued to be mined, with secondary workings in 1814, 1864, 1867–68, 1894, 1898 and 1902. The Dyne Steel Incline railway over the mountain was built about 1850. The double incline ran up and over the hill above the tunnel, with a steam engine at the summit to haul up the loaded trains. In 1860 the Garnddyrys works were closed, the forge
928-565: Was placed on the Buildings At Risk register. In 2016 a fire caused severe damage to the ballroom wing and adjoining extension. The House was sold in 2017 to private owners and is currently undergoing restoration as a family home once again. The Municipal Offices in Lion Street were the home of Blaenavon Urban District Council until local government reorganisation in 1974. Blaenavon is a community represented by Blaenavon Town Council and
960-480: Was relocated to Forgeside, Blaenavon, and the northern branch of the tunnel at Pwll Du was closed. The tunnel continued to be used to carry limestone to Blaenavon. Limestone was being carried from the Pwll Du and Tyla quarries through the tunnel to Blaenavon as late as 1926. In later years the trams were hauled by stationary engines at each end of the tunnel. A train might consist of 15–20 trams, each holding about two tons of limestone. Women of Pwll Du would ride through
992-467: Was started around 1782 to extract iron ore. The historian William Coxe gave it a length of about 0.75 miles (1.21 km) in 1801. The Pwll Du limestone quarry, Blaenavon, lay on the north eastern lip of the South Wales Coalfield , on the upland bluff that overlooks Abergavenny. From 1789 limestone was carried south to Blaenanon over the mountain by a cart-road from Pwll Du. A horse-drawn railway
Pwll Du Tunnel - Misplaced Pages Continue
1024-504: Was the most advanced in Wales in its day, using coke rather than charcoal for smelting with a steam engine to blow the furnace. The coal and iron ore were extracted from mines at various levels in the north east side of the Afon Lwyd valley. What would become the Pwll Du Tunnel was one of these mines, extending for about 0.75 miles (1.21 km) into the hillside on a gentle slope. The tunnel
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