Gwynedd Archaeological
Trust Regional Historic Environment Record
Silica Brick Works, Porth Wen
Primary Reference Number (PRN) : 3562 Trust : Gwynedd Community : Llanbadrig Unitary authority : Ynys Mon NGR : SH40199465 Site Type (preferred type first) : POST MEDIEVAL BRICKWORKS Status : Scheduled Monument
Summary : A spectacular coastal site, dating from the nineteenth century, and occupying a spectacular coastal location. The site had been mechanised by 1889, when the Ordnance Survey shows an incline delivering silica sand to a brick-works complex on the coast. It may have gone through a period of closure and have been worked under successive lessees from 1906 to 1924.
The output was alumino-silicate bricks (those composed of compounds of alumina and silica), which retain their size when burnt in kilns. The process carried out at Porthwen was typical in that silica rock was crushed in a stone-breaker, of which the structural work survives, then added to lime and water in a pan mill. The paste thereby formed was moulded and pressed. The bricks thereby formed are allowed to dry in a drying house, which consists of a concrete foundation upon which is laid a series of low brick walls. They are then fired in circular down-draught or 'Newcastle' kilns. A warehouse/workshop survives at the northern limit of the site, a large two-storey building. Nearby are parts of a small stem engine.
Two tall square-plan brick chimneys survive.
The site is suffering severe coastal erosion. It was purchased in 1999/2000 by the National Trust.
Description : Porth Wen Silica Brick Works. <1>
The above mentioned has been scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act, 1979. The extent of the area is shown in red on the attached map. <2>
