Open Doors - Neath Abbey Ironworks Open Days with Friends of Neath Abbey Iron Company and CADW on 23rd and 24th September, 2017 from 10am to 4pm. All are welcome and admission is free.
Take a guided tour of Neath Abbey Ironworks, a birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, with expert historian Bill Zajac. From 1792 until 1885 it manufactured locomotives, ship engines, ships, gas works machinery and mine engines for global export. Its 8,000 engineering plans are recorded in the UNESCO Memory of the World UK register.
See two superb eighteenth century blast furnaces built into a cliff for ease of charging, Ty Mawr, the 1801 ironmaster's house, and the engine manufactory where numerous steam locomotives were constructed.
Expert historian, Bill Zajac, will be guiding tours at 12.30pm on the 23rd and 24th September to explain how it worked. The Friends of Neath Abbey Iron Company will have a stall with literature which will explain the importance of the company, and will answer questions regarding the site. The Dyffryn Clydach Volunteers will be present as well explaining the work they have done on the site. Refreshments will be served. All are welcome and admission is free.
Neath Abbey Ironworks is easily accessible by the lane at the side of GMF Motor Factors, opposite the Smith’s Arms on New Road, Neath Abbey, Neath SA10 7NH on the A4230. It is to the rear of the Industrial Units. The site is flat, but uneven and rough. There may be difficulties for wheelchair users but it is accessible.
Neath Abbey is holding an Open Doors event on the same days, and Bill Zajac is also conducting tours there.
Further details are available at: www.facebook.com/FriendsofNeathAbbeyIronCompany/
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