Before 1800, the main materials used for building anything were wood, brick and stone. The development of new methods of making iron in any shape and in massive quantities for low cost turned iron into the ‘wonder material’ of the early 1800s.

Right: Cheap cast iron cooking pots  meant that even poor people could have a range of vessels for cooking. These were made in Coalbrookdale in Shropshire in the late 1700s.

The iron producing areas of Wales were at the centre of the world’s need for iron products. The iron made in South Wales was exported from Cardiff, Newport, Swansea and Bristol around the world. The ironworks of South Wales grew into massive undertakings. They dominated the landscape of the South Wales coalfield, and changed the shape of the land for ever with massive amounts of space needed for stockyards, furnaces, casting houses, railways, canals, housing and waste tips.

People came from all over the British Isles to work in Merthyr, Blaenavon, and the surrounding industrial villages. They brought with them new languages and different cultures which have influenced the character of the Welsh nation.

The iron workers learned many new skills in producing iron in all its forms. Welsh workers became expert craftsmen in coal mining, iron founding, and iron forging and the ‘new technologies’ of heavy engineering and steam engine building. In the years after 1850 many Welsh people emigrated to the United States of America because their skills were in such great demand.