A mid-nineteenth century foundry with an earlier wooden crane, believed to have come from the octagonal casting house at Bersham ironworks. The building has stone rubble walls. There is a separate chimney (nprn 85301) and a modern cupola furnace, served by a short inclined railway.
The foundry dates from the mid-nineteenth century, but the exact date seems unknown. According to local legend, the internal crane came from the octagonal casting house at Bersham ironworks. It is known that the casting house was in use as a barn by 1829, so presumably the crane was removed by then; also Pentre Saeson was built on Wilkinson estate land, as was Bersham Ironworks. The foundry was adjacent to a colliery, now long gone, and may have been built to serve it; there is also an unsourced suggestion that it may have been a lead smelter as the chimney seems far too large for such a small-scale iron-foundry operation.
In the last period of operation, a modern cupola furnace was in use. Set outside the north end of the east wall, the cylindrical furnace, a brick core clad with steel plates, was charged from an adjacent platform served by a short inclined length of 500mm-gauge railway. A compressor (now removed), belt-driven from a two-cylinder petrol engine, both installed under a lean-to extension on the E wall, provided air to the furnace and also to a small forge inside the foundry. From the cupola, an iron tapping-chute passed through the wall into the building. The whole floor area consists of a deep layer of casting sand, and shows evidence of having been used for forming moulds, although the area served by the original wooden crane extends only to the north east part.
B.A.Malaws, RCAHMW, 19 May 1994.