Nantyglo Tower

It was quiet workwise so I went for a drive. Nearing Brynmawr, I saw a sign at Nantyglo for 'The Towers' and decided to have a look.

The two Nantyglo Round Towers are located at Roundhouse Farm. The two fortified towers were constructed in 1816 as places of retreat by the ironmaster Joseph Bailey, after a riot was caused by his brother's threat to cut wages. They are believed to some of the last privately built defensive fortifications in Britain. One of the towers remains intact today whilst the other is ruinous having been partly demolished to salvage scrap iron in the 1940s.

The Blip photo shows the tower that remains intact. It seems to be used as a house for pigeons which every now and again took off from there to stretch their wings.

All of the fittings of the towers were made from cast iron and were one of the earliest surviving uses of structural cast iron in Britain. The south-west tower was originally one storey higher than the two-storey north-east tower and served as a residence until the 1930s. The towers were restored in 1986–93 by the Gwent County Council and several other governmental bodies. They aren't open to the public but can be viewed from the footpaths.