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There were several quarries on the ‘big ridge’, which gives the village its Welsh name of Cefn Mawr. Sandstone was hand-worked from the quarry faces and old chisel marks can be seen on some of the stone in the old quarries. Cefn sandstone is still used for new buildings and renovation work including the Aqueduct and the Holly Bush Inn.
Cefn Stone has been worked from early times and examples of Cefn freestone may be seen at Valle Crucis Abbey, in the narrow door surrounds as well as in the basses and capitals of the columns. At Castell Dinas Bran, a similar use of Cefn freestone can be seen, which again is repeated at Chirk Castle, and in the large houses of the area such as Wynnstay and Erdig Halls.
Black Park, near Chirk, was the oldest colliery in Denbighshire. It was first mined in the early 1600s. Thomas Ward, who also owned mines at Cefn Mawr, leased it from 1805, specifically to take advantage of the canal connection. Closed in 1949, almost nothing remains of the pit above ground. Black Park Colliery modern memorial sign ©Andrew Deathe
The aqueduct is supported by 18 tapering sandstone piers quarried from Cefn Mawr while William Hazledine supplied the cast iron from his foundries at Cefn Mawr and Shrewsbury. Telford Inn was called Scotch Hall when it was built in the late 1790s and is typical of Thomas Telford’s work as an architect, with a hipped roof and overhanging eaves.
The villages were formerly heavily industrialised with large deposits of iron, coal, clay and lime stone. Iron was worked at Newbridge, Plas Madoc, Cefn Mawr and Acrefair. The area lending itself well too early to iron production with advent of the coal fired blast furnace at the turn of the 19th century.
In nearby Cefn Mawr a high quartz content sandstone was discovered at the location where the new Cefn Druids football stadium has since been built. Known locally as 'The Rock', the sandstone was extracted and worked here into the many numerous shapes as required by the engineers.
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Then in 1846 the mighty Cefn Viaduct was built by Thomas Brassey and this ushered in the second industrial revolution, the Age of the Steam Railway Engine and another major transport route to Cefn Mawr and Surrounding Villages. During this era in the 1840’s New British Iron Works became the dominant iron producer in the area at Acrefair and ...
