The Gadlys Ironworks were opened in 1827 by a partnership
of George Rowland Morgan, Edward Morgan Williams and Matthew
Wayne. Matthew Wayne had been furnace manager at Cyfartha
Ironworks, and with the help of his son Thomas Wayne, was
instrumental in developing the sale coal market in the Cynon
Valley. When it opened the Gadlys ironworks had only one
furnace and this was first put into blast in 1828. When the
works were put up for sale in 1835 it included 350 acres
of mineral rights and an iron mine employing 150 men, the
single blast furnace was capable of producing 1,700 - 2,000
tons of iron per annum. In the proceeding years the works
expanded as by 1850 there were three blast furnaces at the
site and a fourth was added by 1854.
After a period of expansion in the 1860's the Ironworks
were at the peak of their development when the First Edition
of the Ordnance Survey map was surveyed in 1868. Identifiable
on the map are the four Blast Furnaces (1); the Casting House
(2); the Puddling Furnaces and Rolling Mills (3) and the
Coke Ovens and Mine Kilns(4).
For much of its life the Gadlys Ironworks produced iron
for tinplate bars, but from 1861 production began wrought
iron rails. In 1872 fifteen puddling furnaces and two rolling
mills were in operation at the works, and the works were
capable of producing 500 to 600 tons of rails per week. However,
in common with the Aberdare and Abernant Ironworks, the works
at Gadlys did not weather the downturn in trade of the early
1870's and production ceased in 1876.
The remains of the Gadlys Ironworks are the
best preserved of the Cynon Valley Ironworks. The engine
house, which housed the engine that supplied the blast, has
been restored and the casting sheds are now the sites of
the Cynon Valley Museum. The remains of the blast furnaces
are also still in a relatively good condition, and can be
seen behind the Museum building.
