The Raby Furnace is a Grade II* listed building in the Carmarthenshire local planning authority area, Wales. First listed on 3 March 1966. Industrial. 1 related planning application.
The Raby Furnace
- WRENN ID
- north-panel-mint
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Carmarthenshire
- Constituency
- Llanelli MP: Dame Nia Griffith (Lab)
- Country
- Wales
- Date first listed
- 3 March 1966
- Type
- Industrial
- Address
- The Raby Furnace, Llanelli, Llanelli Rural
- OS grid reference
- SN 503 015
- Coordinates
- 51.69233, -4.16595
- Source
- Cadw listing
Description
The Raby Furnace is a large blast-furnace built on a quarried site next to a culverted stream. It measures about 8 meters square at the base and tapers slightly towards the top. The furnace stands approximately 3 meters away from the quarried face, with its upper part connected by a vault that extends the full width of the furnace. It survives to the height of the charging area, which is now adjacent to a public road. The structure is made of coursed Pennant stone rubble and features arches on three sides, with small holes spaced regularly in the facing stonework.
The interior of the furnace is accessible only above the boshes level, where it has a diameter of about 4 meters, tapering upwards to about 2 meters at the top. Most of the vitrified firebrick lining, made of header fire-bricks, is still intact.
On the western side, there is a working arch that is segmental in shape and spans about 4.5 meters, although the throat masonry behind it has partially collapsed. The northern and southern sides contain narrower arches for blast pipes.
At a high level, the rock against which the furnace is built has been partially faced with masonry. Additionally, there is a masonry wall made of the same stone as the furnace, aligned north-south, located on the eastern side of the stream to the north of the furnace.
Local climate
The Raby Furnace sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,430 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 98% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 99% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 10 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 91% of listed buildings. Of these, 3 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- Sale history — 1 transaction since 2017
- Related listed building consents — 1 application
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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