The Coal House cottages date back to the 1780s. They are sited at Blaenavon Ironworks, which are in the care of Cadw and part of the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape World Heritage Site. Cadw is the Welsh Assembly Governent's historic environment division.

Visit Stack Square

One of the featured Stack Square cottages was left fully furnished to allow visitors to see the 1927 living conditions endured by the Coal House families during their four week stay.
See photos of inside the cottages
See the site's opening times on the Cadw website

How did Cadw get involved with Coal House?

We were first approached by Indus Films about 12 months ago. They were looking into possible locations for an exciting new television series.

We were very interested to be involved from the start but we were a bit cautious. This is a scheduled ancient monument for which you need monument consent even to put up a hat and coat hook so we knew it wouldn't be easy! It's also true that Cadw's main role is conservation and preservation rather than restoration so this was relatively new to us.

Why these three cottages?

Stack Square is a three-sided square! Each side comprises a terrace of cottages - Engine Row, Middle Row and North Row. Engine Row already has two cottages 'dressed' and presented in period style together with a museum of artefacts from the site. North Row is in need of further conservation work. Therefore the cottages in Middle row were the obvious choice for Coal House as they needed the least, but still lots of, work to bring them up to a standard suitable for habitation.

What happened next?

We discussed with Indus their aspirations and talked through some possibilities. There were many considerations including how the refurbishment, and indeed the filming, would impact on the fabric of the buildings. We hired a consultant to advise both parties to try to get the best outcome.

Before Coal House the cottages were derelict. They were just a shell and there was no upstairs. However, the fabric was strong and they were well maintained.

One of the main requirements was to make the cottages habitable, but only for a matter of weeks so it was agreed that it would be a cosmetic restoration - the flooring, the walls nor the windows were touched. Plasterboard was used for all internal walls and Indus fitted their own floorboards so they had free reign with those. We worked closely with the TV production designer.

Are you happy with the refurbishment?

We are more than happy with the results. The restoration has exceeded expectations and we're glad that because of the interest in the series more people will enjoy a visit to the Ironworks.