The metal works at Cwmbran started with the building of an iron foundry in 1800. After various changes of ownership the works were acquired by the Patent Nut and Bolt Company on its formation in 1864. In 1900 the works passed into the hands of Guest Keen & Co. and in 1902 became the property of Messrs. Guest, Keen and Nettlefold Ltd.

The works comprised an ironworks and foundry, a bolt and nut railway fastenings plant, coke ovens, washery and by-products plant and two collieries - the Cwmbran and the Viaduct Collieries. Nearby was the Henllis brick and retort works which the Company also took over. The Viaduct Colliery supplied the clay to the brickworks.

There was a gasometer marked adjacent to the southern end of the Patent Nut and Bolt Works, Cwmbran. This could have been a private gasworks, or a gasholder fed from the gasworks at Cwmbran, to the north. The gasometer only featured on the 1881 and 1882 OS maps. The gas would have been used to light the works with gas.

In 1964 only the foundry was worked by the Company. The Company at that point still owned the Henllis brickworks which manufactured firebricks and other refractory goods for steel and other furnaces together with retorts of varoius designs.

Reference: Gwent Record Office: Records of the Cwmbran Works of Messrs. Guest, Keen and Nettlefold Ltd (administrative and biographical history): Ref: GB 0218 D409.
RCAHMW, 2011.