The hub of the system situated at the heart of Oakfield village, owned by Whitehead, Hill and Co Ltd from 1925. The wireworks was opened in 1857 by J.C.Hill with connections to both the MRCC's canal and railway. The railway link closed in December 1966 when the contract to supply coal to the white brickworks ended. The works passed to BSC in 1968 and closed in 1971. The railway system connected to the MRCC just south of Cwmbran goods yard, opposite the Vitriol Works. From the internal system, one spur crossed Hill Street to a wharf on the canal and the other left the wireworks by a fine set of iron gates, crossed Llandowlais Street and immediately forked to the red and white brickworks. The railway system was operated by two locos, 'Whitehead' and 'Hill', either being known locally as 'Puffing Billy' when being watched through the iron fence round the white brickworks. 'Hill' was used to keep 'Whitehead' running and was finally scrapped when the line closed. 'Whitehead' is preserved and can usually to be found at the Midland railway Centre, Butterley, Derbyshire. The site is now occupied by the TA headquarters.

The original brickworks at Ty-coch specialising in refractory or fire bricks, dated from before 1840 and is now a housing estate. The site was originally the canal basin at the lower end of the incline from Henllys Colliery, probably dating from around 1814. It was described as a 'coalworks' and owned by Joshua Hanson in 1840, the six bottle-shaped kilns of the 'firebrick' works being opened in 1842/43 by Joshua's son Cyrus. It seems one of the kilns had collapsed by 1882 but not replaced.

A 'new' brickworks making ordinary house bricks, opened shortly after the second world war, c1950, at Llandowlais. It quarried its clay from claypits to the south of the works, east of Ty-coch Lane and the canal. A trial pit was dug on the west side of Ty-coch Lane in the early 1960s, reached by a concrete culvert over the canal, but not developed.The red brickworks was disused by 1966, the sidings containing one solitary boxvan, and probably closed when the railway closed at the end of the year. The brickworks site is now occupied by the Ty-coch Industrial Estate.

The Incline began at the 'white' brickworks canal basin and ran for around two miles to Henllys Colliery, rising over 600ft (210m) in the process. There were two main sections to the incline plus an extension to the large upper quarry. The main section rose steadily, running virtually due West, from the end of the brickworks yard at ST 282941 to Machine Cottage at ST 2666 9414. Machine Cottage stood beside the head of the main incline and the weighing machine, from which it took its' name, and Incline Terrace just below it included a shop. The upper section carried on steeply to the colliery at ST 2590 9440. From there the third section ran up to the large quarry. There also appears to be a short incline up to the small upper quarry, coming off the tramway from the colliery yard to the upcast shaft.

This was the closest Eastern Valley colliery to Newport, at 900ft (300m) high on the hillside above Cwmbran. Joshua Hanson opened it in c1814 along with the incline and tramway down to the canal basin and brickworks at Ty-coch. Around 1878 the colliery changed hands, passing to J C Hill of the Oakfield Wireworks, later 'Whitehead, Hill & Co'. The colliery came under the ownership of 'The Patent Nut and Bolt Co' of Cwmbran, later GKN Ltd, by 1896 but both collliery and incline closed around 1926 as being unrenumerative. The ruins of the engine house, other buildings and open adit were still there in 1959-60 when I first visited it, the adit being full of tiny frogs!

The main colliery consisted of the main or downcast adit, three quarries, two reservoirs, a drainage or water level, a double limekiln and a small row of cottages. The quarries supplied the stone for the Ebenezer Chapel of 1860 at Two Locks. In June 1970 the whole area around the adit was bulldozed and filled with weathered shale (RL). A drainage level went right through the hillside, emerging in the Cwmcarn Valley above Cwmcarn Colliery.

The upcast shaft was about 1/2 mile to the north, around 15ft diameter and 370ft deep, connected to the main area by a tramway. It doesn't appear on the 1882 OS map but is shown on the 1901 version. Certainly the remaining foundations appear more modern.

There were also four small levels about 1/2 mile to the South, above Blaen-y-cwm Farm. They don't appear on the 1901 OS map but one is shown as 'old' in 1920 and three others as 'disused' by 1962.

The Oakfield wireworks has been completely re-developed as the TA headquarters. Modern Hill Street roughly follows the Western wall of the yard. This is marked particularly by the electricity sub-station which was inset into the wall. It is now a modern unit but until the early 2000's it was a brick-built building inscribed 'Cwmbran Urban District Council 1937' if I remember correctly.

The area around the railway spur to the canal bank has been replaced with industrial units. From the roundabout, the branch to the Llandowlais 'red' brickworks followed the outside line of the car park of the older 'Printpac' factory on the left. The red brickworks itself lies under the ex-Ferranti factory on the Ty-coch Industrial Estate. Its clay pits have been levelled and are now offices and housing. There is nothing to use as a reference point.

The branch to the 'white' brickworks went from the roundabout to the right behind the 'Waterloo' pub and the builders / timber yard, the trackbed can just be made out as far as the site of the canal bridge. Beyond the bridge a housing estate occupies the site of the white brickworks and there are no reference points.

From the Hollybush roundabout, looking back towards the brickworks, the tramway from the brickworks to the colliery followed the access lane to the house and garage. The tramway crossed the road and passed behind the Mill Tavern to cross Coed Eva Lane. From here on the route up to Incline Terrace and Machine Cottage is a modern public footpath. The only point of interest is the apparent abutments of an overbridge at the upper end but there is no trace of a bridge on the OS maps.