Introduction

The Blaenavon Industrial Landscape World Heritage site is located on the north-eastern rim of the South Wales coalfield in the United Kingdom. Today, it still shows evidence of the extensive coal mining and ironworking that took place during the Industrial Revolution.

In December 2000, a 33-km2 area of the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape was inscribed as a World Heritage site and recognized for its outstanding universal value. The site met two of the prescribed selection criteria for inscription: (iii) the Blaenavon Landscape constitutes an exceptional illustration in material form of the social and economic structure of 19th-century industry; (iv) the components of the Blaenavon Landscape together make up an outstanding and remarkably complete example of a 19th-century industrial landscape.

The landscape includes the Blaenavon Ironworks, dated around 1789, the best preserved blast furnace of its type and period in the world. The Big Pit: National Coal Museum, dating from the mid 19th century, is a complete coal mine and is the best preserved monument of the great South Wales coalfield. The landscape exhibits numerous historic mineral workings and waste tips. Waymarked footpaths following the tracks of some of the earliest iron railways, lead to the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal, an internationally significant waterway that provided the early export route for iron and coal.