Clydach Smithy. The present former smithy building adjacent to Lock 6 may date from the early twentieth century. The patched area of the north wall may incorporate parts of an older building indicated on map l6 of the G.W.R. l875 Survey of the canal and on a plan of 1901 from which tolls may have been collected from passing boats.1 The present structure, now used as a store, consists of an older stone building on the south-west measuring about 5.5m by 6.5m, with a slightly smaller and very poorly built extension 4m deep, on the north-east side. The smithy contains the remains of three hearths. Within living memory the building served horses from the Mond Nickel Works, founded in l902. Its position would almost certainly have attracted canal custom.

Smithy at SN 6954 0144

l. British Waterways Estates, Gloucester, Plan of l90l. 80' to 1"scale.

Stephen Hughes, 16.08.2006.