Porth Wen is the site of a now mostly unknown industrial heritage of North Wales. Having started around 170 years ago, the brickworks actually had a relatively short lived production, and has now fallen into disuse and decay as local difficulties emerged after world markets shifted their attention to cheaper manufacturers around a century ago. In that time the site has slowly crumbled into a timelessly charming coastal retreat that I fell in love with as soon as I first visited around three years ago.
On our visit we decided to follow the original workers path that approaches the coastline downwards from the hills of the island. At first if you didn't know what lies ahead, you'd think this was just a farmers road, but the undisturbed grass here is a clue, as no vehicles have been down here in such a long time, despite once leading somewhere..
Eventually we reach signs of old industry - the gates that would once have allowed transport to reach the site are still standing, as well as the path itself which has remained trodden throughout the years despite its closure.
Further down the path we're eventually greeted by the open Irish sea, a sight that remains almost entirely unchanged since the days when workers would have walked these paths to and from their nearby homes in the island. It's here that we catch our first glimpse of the treasures that sit below.
Nature however has certainly moved in with the absence of production, and coastal brambles have emerged all around the paths just above the brickworks. Definitely no horse and carts making their way down here!
Breaking free from the overgrowth, we emerge above the fire kilns and are greeted by an idyllic scene of these victorian ruins. On a clear day, you can see right across the bay.
The view looking back at the point of the previous picture shows the levels of the brick structures that lead down to ground level. Roofs have disappeared and wooden parts have perished over the last century, but nature has reclaimed it in a brilliant way.
To imagine this site back in its prime, you have to reach back into the fires of Victorian innovation and gigantic industrial growth that taught the world how it was done. The Victorians were very much like the Romans in that whatever territory they found themselves they would scour the countryside for materials that would sustain their civilisation.
Littering the shores that touch the water are vibrant purple and multicolored stones. For those in the know, this gives an indication to what lies beneath the ground here. It would have been obvious to any Victorian geologist that the North Anglesey coastline indicated an abundance of Quartzite. But why bother with it?
Much of the wealth of the British Empire came from Steel Production; whether as a material or goods to sell to the rest of the World, or as a means for transportation: railways, trains and ships. Steel was vital. The steel industry is based on heat; its generation and sustaining the metal furnaces at incredibly high temperatures. Bricks inside the older furnaces maintained temperature and protected the vessel itself. Specialised bricks were required for this role.
That’s where Porth Wen comes in, with the specialised manufacture of Silica Bricks. Quartzite is a siliceous rock rich in silica for making these bricks. So it didn't take much convincing for there to be enough reason to start production here.
The challenge of transportation from the very isolated Anglesey coastline was a problem that had to be overcome. The ore on the headland was first mined around 1850, with the ore being hewn out the living rock by hand and simple engineering innovation.
The material used to make the bricks came from two distinct areas. A small quarry above the works which was accessed by a tramway and a two stage gravity worked incline. While the clay came from open workings on the hillside immediately south of the works.
The views above the works show the abandoned drumhouse or 'winding house' at the top of the incline. Part way up the incline was another drumhouse from which a branch to the south led to the site of the earliest quarry to exist within the bay.