Clydach Gorge facts for kids

The Clydach Gorge (also known as Cwm Clydach) is a beautiful valley in south-east Wales. The River Clydach flows through it, joining the River Usk. This valley stretches for about 5.6 kilometers (3.5 miles) from Brynmawr to Gilwern.

The Clydach Gorge was one of the first places in this area to become industrial. This means factories and mines were built here a long time ago. Even with its industrial past, the gorge still has amazing natural beauty. It has always been an important route for travel between Abergavenny and the lowlands of Monmouthshire. Today, the A465 Heads of the Valleys road runs through it.

The gorge is part of the Brecon Beacons National Park. It's a great place for visitors, with picnic spots, walking paths, and places to park your car near the river. You can easily reach it from the Heads of the Valleys Road. The gorge is also home to Smart's Bridge, an old iron bridge, and the remains of an ironworks from the late 1700s. These old sites are now protected as Scheduled Ancient Monuments. There are also old limeworks here.

Villages and Towns

The town of Brynmawr is at the top of the gorge. The village of Gilwern is at the bottom, in the Usk valley. Along the gorge, you'll find smaller settlements like Clydach (now called Clydach South), Blackrock, Cheltenham (now Clydach North), and Maesygwartha. These are mostly north of the river. The village of Llanelly Hill sits on the hilltop to the northwest of the gorge.

Old Industrial Sites

The Clydach Gorge has many reminders of its industrial past.

Ironworks

Ironworks were places where iron was made.

Llanelly Furnace and Forge

The Hanbury family built a furnace and forge here in the 1500s. A furnace heats materials to very high temperatures, and a forge shapes metal. Not much is left today, except for parts of a stone dam from a pool. This pool helped power the forge. At one time, a tinworks also operated here, making tin-plated iron.

Clydach Ironworks

The Clydach Ironworks was the biggest iron-making site in the gorge. It was built around 1793–1795. This was after people started using coke (a type of fuel made from coal) in blast furnaces. By 1841, over 1,350 people worked for the ironworks. Many of them got iron ore, limestone, and coal from further up the valley.

The ironworks greatly changed the area. Houses were built for the workers starting in the late 1700s. You could reach the works by crossing Smart's Bridge, a cast iron bridge built in 1824. The ironworks kept running until about 1860.

Today, you can still see the remains of two large stone furnaces from the 1790s. The base of a newer furnace and other structures are also visible.

Limeworks

Limeworks were places where limestone was heated to make lime. Lime was used for farming and building.

Blackrock Limeworks

These were the first limeworks in the gorge, starting in 1794 or 1795. The quarry (where limestone was dug out) stretches along the gorge above Clydach North. They stopped working in 1908, but the stone limekilns (ovens for heating limestone) are still there.

Clydach Limeworks

The limeworks at Clydach were built in 1877. They made lime for building the nearby Nant Dyar railway viaduct (a long bridge). Two pairs of limekilns remain today, set against an impressive quarry.

Llanelly Limeworks

Llanelly Quarry supplied limestone to the Clydach Ironworks. Later, it provided lime for farming and building. It closed in 1962. Two pairs of limekilns are still there, next to the old Merthyr, Tredegar and Abergavenny Railway line, which is now a cycle path.

Transportation Routes

The Clydach Gorge has been a key route for moving goods and people for centuries.

Old Tramroads and Railways

Tramroads were early railways, often pulled by horses.

Clydach Railroad

This early railroad was built in 1793–1794. It connected the Wain Dew coal mine near Beaufort to Glangrwyne Forge on the River Usk. An important part that still exists is a stone bridge with a single arch. It's impressively built above a waterfall near Maesygwartha. Another tramroad connected to the Clydach Ironworks using a cast-iron bridge built by Smart in 1824. It's one of the oldest cast-iron bridges in the world.

Llam-march Tramroad

This tramroad was also built in 1793–1794. It linked the Clydach ironworks to coal mines and iron ore deposits at Gellifelen and Llam-march. There's a stone bridge with a single arch. The Llam-march Tramroad and Aqueduct Bridge from 1811 also carried water from the Clydach to the Clydach Ironworks.

Govilon Tramroad

Built in 1821, this tramroad runs along the southeastern slopes of the gorge. It connected the Bailey's ironworks at Nantyglo to the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal at Govilon.

Merthyr Tredegar and Abergavenny Railway

This railway was built in 1862. It followed parts of an older tramroad. In 1866, it became part of a larger railway network. By 1877, it had two tracks. Building the railway through the gorge was a huge challenge. It needed several tunnels and a large, curving viaduct across the Nant Dyar ravine. The line ran until the 1950s and closed in June 1958. Most of the old railway line is now a cycle path, part of the National Cycle Network.

Roads

Merthyr Tydfil to Govilon Turnpike

This road was built through the valley in 1812–1813. It was the main road through the gorge until the modern road was constructed.

Heads of the Valleys Road

The current A465 road through the gorge was built in the 1960s. It climbs 210 meters (689 feet) from Gilwern to Brynmawr, with a steady slope. Building it involved a lot of digging and creating embankments. Some parts are built on concrete pillars over the gorge. Work started in March 1960, and it opened in 1962. It currently has two lanes going uphill. Work to make it a dual carriageway (two lanes in each direction) began in 2015.

Protecting the Environment

The entire Clydach Gorge is inside the Brecon Beacons National Park. This park was created in 1957 to protect its beautiful landscapes. Many parts of the gorge are also protected for their wildlife and habitats. These include the Cwm Clydach SSSI and the Cwm Clydach National Nature Reserve. The Cwm Clydach Woodlands is a SAC, and the Usk Bat Sites SAC also covers much of the nearby Mynydd Llangatwg.

There are also many scheduled ancient monuments in the gorge. These show human activity from the Iron Age to the Industrial Revolution. The Blaenavon Industrial Landscape, a World Heritage Site, is next to the gorge. The "Forgotten Landscapes Project" is working to protect and restore the old industrial features in this important area.

Images for kids

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  Railway tunnel at Clydach Gorge, 1973