The Old and Wild loop
Caution: The British is a Former mining valley. Please be aware there may be hazards in the area
The Wednesday Warriors have given a wide range of outdoor activities a go and Geocaching has become a firm favourite.
We have set us this Geocache loop for the enjoyment and education of others of this interesting post-industrial area. It highlights archaeological and historical features and biodiversity.
'The British', named after the ironworks founded there in the 1800s, had been derelict for over 40 years. Its office building and Quadrangle were designed by Hyde Park and London Zoo architect Decimus Burton. There were four furnaces, of which only the bases survive, with coke and calcining ovens. The office block survives, now roofless, as does the beam engine pump house of 1845, and its chimney base, from the British Ironworks Colliery.
I live here!!!!
Big Headed Mining Bee (Andrena bucephala) are one of the largest groups of solitary bees. It is believed to consist of over 4500 known species of bees across the world. Likes to lives in open woodland, pastures, grassland, parkland, disused gravel workings
Nests occur in compact aggregations commonly excavated in a steep bank or hillock. Numerous females enter and leave by this burrow and at times incoming individuals laden with pollen queue on the wing until they can gain access to their nests. Flowers visited include hawthorn, maples, sycamore and holly.
The site is approached through 'Big Arch', an impressive 50-yard, 48ft wide tunnel beneath the Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company embankment of 1879. One mile North West of the ironworks site is a substantial earth and stone faced dam containing a reservoir for the works.
In December 2016 Torfaen council bought the derelict iron works site, bringing it back into public ownership after more than 30 years of uncertainty in the private sector.
At 1300 acres, the British is the largest remaining site of industrial dereliction in south east Wales.
The site is now home to various species thriving in this post industrial landscape!
All of the caches are within close proximity to the paths so please stick to them