As part of the 'Overlooking the Wye' scheme, volunteers from the Chepstow Archaeological Society geared themselves up for a day of cleaning up at Angiddy Furnace. This was due to start on Tuesday of this week.

Angiddy Furnace is situated in one of the valleys above Tintern on the Angiddy River. The river once powered a busy and important industrial environment with mill ponds and industrial workings all the way down the Valley.

Furnaces and Forges giving rise to a noisy and smoky environment in a landscape that would hardly be recognisable compared with the one we see today.

Angiddy Furnace is one of the first projects to get the volunteers in to help.

The 'Overlooking the Wye' £2.8m scheme is supported by £1.9m from the Heritage Lottery Funding to conserve and interpret the Wye Valley, with new signage and better public access.

Over the next three years the project will be contributing to the conservation and interpretation of over 40 projects sites in the Wye Valley AONB.

The Angiddy Furnace site which dates from the 16thC is situated halfway up the valley and was excavated in the 1980s, what can been seen is only a small part of the site, it originally included many more buildings and the cottages that can be seen across the road from the main site were cottages for the workers to live in.

These are now inhabited by Mr & Mrs Saunders who have lived here since the site was first excavated.

Over the intervening years nature has started to reclaim the site which is overgrown with vegetation and weeds, the site has also been flooding which has left a build up of silt.

Now Chepstow volunteers have offered to help by clearing the site of vegetation. Once the site has been cleared Archaeologists and partners in consultation with the Tintern Community Council and Monmouth County Council will decide on how best to conserve it for the future.