NAR SH72NW2

A medieval iron working camp or settlememt was excavated in 1997 & from 2001. It has now been partly reconstructed and consolidated for public view.
One or two furnaces were set within a rectangular timber building whose south-east end had been buried in a slag heap up to 2.0m high. To the south-west is a stone walled horseshoe shaped charcoal store.
Seven ostensibly similar sites have been recorded in the immediate vicinity. The iron ore (bog ore) was brought in from a distance as it was the charcoal from Coed-y-Brenin that was at a premium. The Llwyn Du bloomeries are thought to have been peripatetic iron works, occupying a site for perhaps a decade before moving on in search of charcoal across the wood.

Source: Crew & Crew in Archaeology in Wales 41 (2001), 83-7

John Wiles 17.09.07