Raby's Furnace, Llanelli.

When the rest of Britain was celebrating Wellington's victory at Waterloo, Alexander Raby

Ruin of Raby's Furnace in Llanelli.

was probably none too pleased. Around 1796, at the start of the Napoleonic War, he moved down from London to purchase an iron foundry near Llanelli, and began a successful business supplying cannonballs, canons and colonnades for the war effort. In 1804 the Cambrian Newspaper stated:   'four furnaces were at work night and day solely confined to the service of the Board of Ordnance'. When the war ended in 1815 however, the orders dried up and the foundry was closed later on that year.

Even so, the foundry is considered to be the birthplace of industrial Llanelli, giving rise to the copper and tinplate industries of later years. The foundry was also responsible for the very first public railway in Britain. So all in all a very important landmark in the history of Llanelli and indeed Carmarthenshire.  It is odd therefore that this Grade II listed building doesn't even warrant a sign to say what it is. Especially as everyone and their granny seems to warrant a blue plaque outside their former homes these days.

The ruin can be visible from the main road if you know where to look, although to actually get to it you will have to clamber down a slippery bank through a gap in the fence, so a decent set of steps  would be welcome as well!