Woolly says – We had set off in moderate sunshine and arrived in torrential rain, how can weather change so quickly and where on earth had Jo put my raincoat!

I had no sympathy; I had last seen his raincoat in Welshpool way back in March when he was asked if he was taking it with us and he replied that he wouldn’t need it.

Woolly says – I’m sure she images some of these conversations, needless to say it looked as though I was going to get wet. The car park was a first as it seemed that you could also park your sheep and several people already had, they seemed to be having a lovely baaing session under the trees whilst they waited for their owners to return. We meanwhile crossed the road and entered Blaenavon Ironworks.

A former industrial site which is now a museum in Blaenavon, Wales. The ironworks was of crucial importance in the development of the ability to use cheap, low quality, high sulphur iron ores worldwide. It was the site where the experiments of Sidney Gilchrist Thomas and his cousin Percy Gilchrist had led to “the basic steel process” or “Gilchrist–Thomas process” which has gained it its status as a World Heritage Site.

At first sight it looked rather good and I thoroughly approved of the contrast of colours with the rusty iron and green background, as I took in a model of how the site would have once looked Jo clicked away with the camera.

In 1789 Blaenavon Ironworks first harnessed the power of steam to blow air into its huge blast furnaces, sadly the large chimneys hadn’t survived the intervening years so well.

We headed into the cast house where examples of the ironwork lay, fireplaces, cogs and wheels Alfie the Dog found it fascinating although that might have had something to so with the pigeons that were also on display.

At the rear of the building stood two of the old furnaces remains, they were huge and gave some idea of how large they would have been when fully in use.

We moved into the next area and before I could even glance around the lights dimmed and suddenly the Welsh language was pouring into my ears as neon colours highlighted certain aspects of the iron making process.

A wall acted as a screen where shots of men who had once toiled were displayed as the Welsh commentary continued. Then the other side of the room lit up and what appeared to be molten lather started heading in my direction, the mutt didn’t seem fazed as it headed rapidly towards his paws, I took the more sensible route and leapt into the human’s jacket to protect her from the possible outcome.

As suddenly as it had started it stopped and the lights went back to normal, I blinked a few times before urging Jo towards the area where the red hot metal had once come from. The furnace looked safe enough and having looked upwards and downwards to check we headed back outside and into the rain.

More of the former furnaces lined the banks and I tried to imagine the heat that must have been pumped out hour after hour and day after day, it was impossible.

The Balance tower was a striking building this had once used water power to lift the raw materials from the ground to the upper levels ready to be put into the roaring heat. We followed the pathway upwards pausing for a moment so that I could use the former workman’s facilities…the rain always makes me go more!

As we reached the top of the balance tower, we peered over the edge to the site below and admired the iron drain cover that had been made here many years ago.

A lovely sculpture had been added to the site in the last few years to represent the hardworking pit ponies who had brought the iron ore to the works for 7 days a week for 50 weeks a year, the scene showed the horses enjoying their two week holiday.

As we walked back down, we peered into the area where the ore had been fed into the furnaces for 24 hours a day, a backbreaking and highly heat intensive occupation. It did give us a wonderful view across the workman’s homes and the surrounding area.

The cottages were considered spacious and well designed with each one having a parlour and one bedroom on the ground floor and a further two bedrooms on the first floor with the privy being shared by all.

A large number of the houses were open and allowed us to follow the history of how the folks had lived from the 1790’s with its incredibly basic bed, table and Chairs through to

1840 which in all honesty wasn’t much comfier

By 1927 things were starting to improve

And by 1944 it was becoming almost comfortable

By 1955 it was only missing a few basic like central heating and a decent cooker

But by 1967 they had a gramophone to enjoy

At the end of the houses stood the former convenience store where prices were much higher but being the only shop locally there was no competition to being those prices down.

Large jars held arrange of cooking ingredients that would have been purchased by the ounce although having read the signage no credit was given so if you hadn’t got the beans, you couldn’t by the beans.

Stepping outside the rain had finally eased and we stood for a while admiring the site and considering how hard life must have been for these families and their menfolk.