Forge Side

thumb|Forgeside '''Forge Side''' ({{langx|cy|Ger yr Efail}}) was the site of an ironworks started in 1836. The development was soon abandoned, but resumed in 1859. A settlement of houses was built for the workers.

The rows of workers' cottages, a chapel, and a few other buildings are all that remain. The small village is 0.5 miles south-west of Blaenavon 0.5 miles south-east of Big Pit, and is in the community of Blaenavon, in the north of Torfaen county borough, in South east Wales.

==Development==

The Blaenavon Iron and Coal Company was formed in 1836, and purchased the Blaenavon Ironworks. The new managing director, James Ashwell, started to build a new ironworks, to be called Forgeside, on a pocket of freehold land, so that the new company would be free of the rents, royalties, and insecurity of the leasehold of the old ironworks. Foundations were built for blast furnaces, forges and rolling mills.{{r|Wakelin Blaenavon Ironworks}}

Within a few years there was a downturn in the industry, Ashwell was forced to resign in 1841, and the new works abandoned. Building eventually resumed when the puddling forge was opened in 1859 and engines for the rolling mills were bought in 1860.{{sfn|Wakelin|2011|p=16}}

The terraced cottages for the workers were built on a grid plan, unimaginatively called Row A, Row B, Row C, Row D, and Row E. typically indicative of the attitude of the 19th century employers to their workers.{{r|Barber Eastern Valley}}

==Decline==

The works closed in 1911, re-opened for munitions work in 1914–18, and briefly re-opened again in 1924–5. Much of the Forgeside work was sold for scrap in 1934.{{sfn|Wakelin|2011|p=17}}

==Present day==

Very little remains of the works, although an electricity power house, built for the works in 1920, survives, and is now a Grade II listed building.{{r|Pevsner GwentMonmouthshire|GGAT Electricity Power House}} Two of the terraced rows of cottages, Rows A and B, were demolished in the late 1970s.{{r|Barber Eastern Valley}} The Zion Baptist Chapel, built in 1875 with a schoolroom added in 1885, and Coity House, built for the manager of the works around 1860 are both Grade II listed buildings.{{r|Coflein Coity House|Coflein Zion Baptist Chapel}}

Forge Side has a rugby team, Forgeside RFC, which currently (as of 2016) play in the Swalec National League Division 3 East D. The club also has under 7's, under 9's, and under 10's teams.{{r|Forgeside RFC|Forgeside RFC U7|Forgeside RFC U9|Forgeside RFC U10}}

Forgeside AFC was formed as a new football club in 2015. The team includes a number of former players from Blaenavon Blues and received a grant of £500 for kit and training equipment from Blaenavon Leisure and Sports Trust (BLAST).{{r|Argus Forgeside AFC}}

==References==

<ref name="Coflein Coity House">{{Coflein |num = 232708 |desc = Coity House, Forgeside, Blaenavon |access-date = 30 September 2021 }} </ref>

<ref name="Coflein Zion Baptist Chapel">{{Coflein |num = 10493 |desc = Zion Baptist Chapel, Forge Road, Forge Side |access-date = 30 September 2021 |fewer-links = yes }} </ref>

<ref name="GGAT Electricity Power House">{{cite web | work = Historic Environment Record (HER) | title = Electricity Power House, Forge Side | url = http://www.cofiadurcahcymru.org.uk/arch/query/page.php?prn=GGAT04860g | via = | publisher = Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust (GGAT) | access-date = 29 April 2016 | id = PRN GGAT04860g}} – [http://www.archwilio.org.uk/ archwilio] (online database of the four Welsh Archaeological Trusts) </ref>

<ref name = "Pevsner GwentMonmouthshire">{{cite book | last1 = Newman | first1 = John | last2 = Lynch | first2 = Frances | last3 = Manning | first3 = William | last4 = Hughes | first4 = Stephen | title = Gwent/Monmouthshire | date = 2002 | series = Pevsner Architectural Guides (The Buildings of Wales) | publisher = Yale University Press | location = New Haven & London | isbn = 978-0-300-09630-9| oclc = 45327986 | pages = 128–9 | section = Blaenavon | ref = {{sfnref|Newman et al|2002}} }} </ref>

<ref name = "Barber Eastern Valley">{{cite book | last1 = Barber | first1 = Chris | title = Eastern Valley - The Story of Torfaen | date = 1999 | publisher = Blorenge Books | location = Llanfoist | isbn = 1-872730-23-X | oclc = 43459623 | edition = 1st | section = The Iron Town of Blaenavon | page = 146 }} </ref>

<ref name = "Wakelin Blaenavon Ironworks">{{cite book | title = Blaenavon Ironworks and World Heritage Landscape | author-first = Peter | author-last = Wakelin | others = Design by Ceri Staziker, Photography by Paul Highman | year = 2011 | orig-year = 2006 | publisher = Cadw | edition = 2nd | place = Cardiff | page = 15 | isbn = 978-1-85760-293-7 | oclc = 858824245}} </ref>

<ref name = "Forgeside RFC">{{cite web | title = 1st Team | url = http://forgeside.rfc.wales/teams/929/1st-team | website = Forgeside RFC | access-date = 29 April 2016 | location = Blaenavon}} </ref>

<ref name = "Forgeside RFC U7">{{cite web | title = Under 7s | url = http://forgeside.rfc.wales/teams/6755/under-7s | website = Forgeside RFC | access-date = 29 April 2016 | location = Blaenavon}} </ref>

<ref name = "Forgeside RFC U9">{{cite web | title = Under 9s | url = http://forgeside.rfc.wales/teams/6757/under-9s | website = Forgeside RFC | access-date = 29 April 2016 | location = Blaenavon}} </ref>

<ref name = "Forgeside RFC U10">{{cite web | title = Under 10s | url = http://forgeside.rfc.wales/teams/6758/under-10s | website = Forgeside RFC | access-date = 29 April 2016 | location = Blaenavon}} </ref>

<ref name = "Argus Forgeside AFC">{{cite news | last1 = Mills | first1 = Hayley | title = New football club rises from the ashes | url = http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/13783146.New_football_club_rises_from_the_ashes/ | access-date = 30 April 2016 | work = South Wales Argus | date = 24 September 2015 | location = Newport}} </ref>

</references>

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Category:Villages in Torfaen