Talybont limekilns
Talybont limekilns
Look across the canal from this point on the towpath to see a large bank of limekilns. They are listed Grade II* and were built to produce lime, which farmers used to fertilise their fields. Lime was also used on buildings.
The kilns were built by the company which owned the Bryn Oer Colliery, near Rhymney. That may seem a long way away, but the kilns were planned in conjunction with a new tramroad which was completed in 1815. The Bryn Oer Tramroad was designed to connect the colliery and other industrial sites to the canal (click here for more about the tramroad in Talybont).
The tramroad tracks were built as a plateway, with L-shaped rails. They extended along the top of the limekilns so that coal and limestone could be tipped directly into the kilns from horse-drawn wagons. The limestone was burned in the kilns and the resulting lime was removed from the holes which you can see at the base of the kilns. In between the holes are spaces where lime could be stored until it was collected by canal boats from the wharf in front of the kilns.
The kilns’ construction was authorised in 1814, when the tramroad was under construction. Small kilns may have been built originally and replaced by the ones we see today as trade increased.
The navigable section of the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal is looked after by the charity Glandwr Cymru the Canal & River Trust in Wales.
With thanks to the archive of the Monmouthshire, Brecon and Abergavenny Canals Trust
Canal & River Trust website – Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal
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