Guided Tinplate Works Tours
Join the CofGâr team for a free guided tour of one of the most significant industrial heritage sites in Europe.
Fully booked
The Guided Tours of Kidwelly Tinplate Works are now fully booked. However, you're welcome to join the waiting list by following the booking link.
What the tours include
Tours will guide you through the history of the Tinplate Works and give you an introduction to the process of tinplating through the stories of each of the historic buildings on the site. We'll share some anecdotes from past workers at the site and look at future possibilities for a reimagined visitor experience.
All tours will be led by members of the CofGâr team. Each tour will be a 2-hour walking tour that will begin and end at the Mynyddygarreg Community Sports Club. You'll receive a safety briefing before setting off about the risks of visiting an industrial heritage site and will be given safety helmets and high visibility jackets to wear. You'll also receive a torch to help light your way in some of the areas with lower light levels.
You'll then be guided along the Llangadog Road down to the entrance of the Tinplate Works site. We'll stop within the old car park of the Industrial Museum and introduce the early history of the site and explain the significance of the 'lower works', weir, and pond.
We'll move on to visit the Boxing Room and Assorting Room and introduce you to the start and end points of the tinplating process.
Then, we'll move to the other side of the main path through the site to take a look inside the Blacksmith's Shop, which was recreated in the 1990's close to where an original shop stood when the works were in use.
Further into the site, we'll take you into the Hot Rolls building, where some of the largest and most impressive original machinery remains preserved.
Then we'll head to the rear of the site, stopping off to see the areas where the pickling and annealing processes took place.
Opposite these areas, we'll take in the magnificent brick chimney that towers over the site, then move inside the Cold Rolls building next door. This was where many workers began their jobs at the Tinplate Works before moving onto other processing areas.
On the way back to the site entrance, we'll take a peek inside the Collections Store building, where we'll share our ideas for one of our next major projects on the site. Finally, we'll lead you back to the Mynyddygarreg Community Sports Club, where we'll be happy to answer any further questions you may have.
Why we're hosting these tours
Earlier this year, we presented the findings of a research project into the global colonial histories of the tinplate industry in south-west Wales, in partnership with Swansea University. The event was hosted at the John Burns Centre in Kidwelly.
It was also an opportunity to begin a community conversation about reopening the Kidwelly Tinplate Works as a museum. People from the surrounding communities of Kidwelly, Mynyddygarreg, and others were invited to consider how a renewed museum might help and contribute to their communities. All ideas and views were recorded and have helped to shape the next steps of this long-term project.
Your feedback encouraged us to work on preparing the site to host special events in the form of these public guided tours. If these prove popular, we will look to host further events like this over the coming years, with each event helping to shape the future of the site. We'll keep you updated on what's happening behind the scenes along the way.