Bunker's Row was constructed in 1790 to house iron ore miners and their families and subsequently modified. In their original form they consisted of two very small rooms, one downstairs with a fireplace in the corner and one unheated room upstairs.

The first phase consisted of a block of twenty houses built back-to-back between 1790 and 1792. The second phase was a block of fourteen back-to-back houses built shortly after between 1796 and 1800. Extensions to the rows of buildings were added at the beginning of the nineteenth century and Larder blocks were added in front of the rows across an alleyway.

Renovation of the properties saw the back-to-back houses enlarged into a single house by knocking through the dividing wall to create single house with a connecting doorway. The walls were raised in height by a metre and better quality floor and roof timbers were used. Finally, new doors and bigger windows were fitted.

The last occupants moved out of Bunkers Row in 1971, and the houses demolished in October 1972.

Site visited 08.06.2000 by Richard Hayman of Hayman & Horton

References:

Lowe, J. B. 1977 Welsh Industrial Workers Housing 1775-1875, National Museum of Wales Press, Cardiff

Thomas, M. and Lewis, J. 1993 Blaenavon though the Years in Photographs, Volume 3, Old Bakehouse Press, Abertillery

Spencer Gavin Smith, RCAHMW, May 2012