Abercraf Ironworks were the first ironworks to be built expressly to use anthracite as fuel. It worked between 1824 and 1829 but was disused until it re-opened in 1855-61. The base of a circular stone-built furnace remains. The stone retaining wall of the charging bank gives an idea of the original height of the furnace. The lines of a tramroad and the diverted canal leat can be traced towards Abercrave village. The large white houses in the terrace leading from the ironworks towards the village were originally a house and the truck-shop of the ironworks. There are remains of charging embankment leats and other buildings.

(Site entry from "A Guide to the Industrial Archaeology of the Swansea Region", Association for Industrial Archaeology, 2nd Edition, 1989)
J Hill 24.10.2003