Beaufort Iron Works

Edward (1750–1807) and Jonathan Kendall or Cendl of Dan-y-Parc Crickhowell established these works in 1779 on a 99-year lease. In 1833, by which time there were four furnaces, the works were taken over as an extension of their Nantyglo operations by the Bailey brothers, Joseph and Crawshay who put their sister’s son, William Partridge (1800–1862), in charge. Unmarried Agents (senior managers) of the local iron works companies lodged at the Rhyd-y-Blew, a drovers' inn, probably the hunting lodge of the Duke of Beaufort who carried out an annual rough-shoot of the area. The inn was at the end of the toll road from Merthyr Tydfil and for the rest of the year provided the drovers’ animals very good pasture and water in the Ebbw river. Suffolk-born Partridge married Charlotte Bevan, daughter of the Rhyd-y-Blew’s innkeeper, and remained in charge of the Beaufort iron works until his early death in 1862. The works soon closed. In conjunction with the then well-known Needham family of Beaufort mining engineers Partridge sons became involved in local collieries and established the substantial business later known as Partridge Jones. Grandson, rugby international and Barbarian, "Birdie" Partridge founded the Army Rugby Union.

The Beaufort Works house eventually became a Fever Hospital in 1902, it later became a depot for the South Wales Electricity Board, it was then demolished and Plas-y-Coed  Care Home was built on the site, that has since been demolished.

The ground, just south of Beaufort Hill, and close to a Chapel of Rest in the area known as Glanyrafon, once occupied by the iron works has long been cleared and covered with houses. Giant pieces of slag remained in place until the most recent developments.