Transporting the Goods

Start at Blaenavon Ironworks and view the models in the cottages that highlight the transport network that was needed to support the booming iron industry. 

• Notice the Water Balance Tower, used to lift pig iron up the bank to meet Hill’s Tramway, which then transported the iron through a 2.4km tunnel, emerging at Pwll Du on the other side of the mountain. 
• Take the B4246 towards Abergavenny. Turn left just before the Keeper’s Pond and take the road to the Lamb and Fox Inn. 
• Take a short walk along the footpath and find the entrance to the Pwll Du Tunnel, located just below the road. Here you can see traces of the tramway, which carried the limestone to the furnaces from the quarries on Gilwern Hill to the west. 
• Look eastward and you can see the line of Hill’s Tramroad along the contours of the mountain to Garnddyrys Forge, evidenced by residue slag heaps just below the Abergavenny Road. 
• Drive down to Govilon or Llanfoist and see from the canal towpaths where the iron was exported by barge to Newport. 
• Return to Big Pit via the Gilchrist-Thomas Industrial Trading Estate, passing under the line of the London and North Western Railway from Pontypool to Brynmawr. This line was once the highest main line in Wales and served the local collieries and the new steelworks and forge, which were created at Forgeside during the 1860s.