Bersham Ironworks is one of the most important historical industrial sites in Wales.

Already recognised as the 1st Blast Furnace in Wales and famous as the original working site of the great ironmaster John Wilkinson, an even bigger story hides within these old ruins. On 27th January 1773 this already very noisy area was rent by loud screeches and screams of tortured iron. The world’s 1st Machine Tool had started boring out a cannon barrel. Having successfully made one cannon it immediately made other identical barrels, making John Wilkinson the world 1st Precision Engineer in the very area you are standing at. His method of making cannon was then universally adopted by the Admiralty, providing the Royal Navy with the most powerful guns in the world. Under the leadership of men like Lord Nelson, the Royal Navy helped create the British Empire which controlled a quarter of the world’s land area. But this amazing story goes on. In 1774 James Watt had invented his steam engine but could not get it to work. He came to Bersham in 1775 and told John Wilkinson about his problems. Iron Mad Jack (JW) then adapted his cannon boring technology to accurately bore out the cylinders which made Watt’s steam engine the power source of the early Industrial Revolution. This engine helped make Britain the richest and most powerful nation in the world at that time. The wooden waggonway in the Clywedog Valley was one of the first railways in the world. It was built by Isaac Wilkinson entirely from wood and had modern features such as a 'points system' and had a 48 inch gauge which is almost identical to modern railways. It is thought that Isaac copied the design from the wooden tramways used for moving coal around the docks in Newcastle. The wheels were flanged to keep them on the rails. One horse could pull a cart containing seven to eight tons of coal on the railway and so could deliver goods to Bersham Ironworks much cheaper than the local carters could.