71 Nightingale Street

71 Nightingale Street is a terraced house built between 1852 and 1861, probably by the Plymouth Iron Company to house workers employed at the Abercanaid Pit and Pentrebach Forge. It forms part of an important early group of industrial housing at Abercanaid that originally comprised 7 terraces arranged in 4 rows facing east between the river and canal, plus 3 longer rows to the north known as The Squares, a terrace of larger houses backing onto the canal, and 2 detached houses for higher-grade employees. Of these structures, the 7 terraces survive (5 listed), though much altered since listing in 1975. The northern terraces and one detached house have been demolished; only Llwynyreos remains.

The house is relatively generous in size for its era, double-fronted rather than the earlier single-window-and-door type, but narrow with roof-spans of 4–5 metres and no rear outshuts, as roads or access paths ran both front and back. The original plan form was arranged around a centre passageway and rear staircase. The façade is of square rubble stone with a close-eaved slate roof and stone end stacks. It is 2 storeys with small-paned sash windows, 2 on each floor, and a centre door probably with an overlight. Stone voussoirs ornament the openings on both floors, with stone sills below. The façades are slightly offset to accommodate larger kitchen chimneys, with the offset side alternated to create mirrored pairs. The rear wall is also of rubble stone and originally had one small door and pantry window on one side at ground level and one small upper window.

Gardens in front or behind were accessed across a footpath running down the terrace line. Houses backing onto gardens in the Nos 70–81 range have generally been extended to the rear; the others retain their original depth.

No. 71 retains one plate glass sash window to the ground floor on the left; windows elsewhere are 20th-century replacements, as is the 20th-century door. The rubble stone rear wall remains.