Afonwen

Location:

Clinker manufacture operational: 1874-8/1914

Approximate total clinker production: 196,000 tonnes

Raw materials:

Ownership:

Also known as Denbigh Works. The plant is shown on the 1899 and 1913 County maps. Davis assigned it an output of 250 tons per week in 1907. There was also a plant known as Ysceifiog about 2.5 km east at Sarn Mill, mentioned by Francis, but this was extinct before 1895. A paper mill previously occupied the site, and water power was originally used. This seems to have been the first plant to attempt to make real Portland cement from Carboniferous Limestone, although the plant (and the paper industry) were probably originally predicated on the use of the "tufa". There is a local deposit of chalky consistency produced by downwash from the high-grade limestone of Ffrith-y-garreg-wen, 4 km to the north. The high-grade limestone was dry-ground, then washed with clay to a thick slurry. Henry Reid described its operations with some amusement: the stone was inadequately ground and led to high free-lime levels, exacerbated by high magnesia. The plant had three wet process bottle kilns until 1900, after which seven Batchelor chamber kilns were installed. A further three had been installed by 1907, to give total capacity 250 t/week, but its rating was only 200 t/week in 1913 (indicating that two kilns had been de-commissioned), with a fuel consumption of 15.7 MJ/kg. The railway confirmed that it stopped "temporarily" in August 1914 due to slow market and low prices, and it never re-opened. It was used to make basic slag fertiliser during the war. It was derelict in 1924. The remaining plant was described in a 1924 schedule. It was close (300 m) to Caerwys station on the Mold & Denbigh Junction Railway, which was its main transport link. The site is now a holiday park. The Batchelor kiln bank still stands: the chambers have been built over, but the hot end remains in good condition and is a Grade II listed building.

Power supply

The plant was direct-driven by 275 HP double-expansion steam engine.

Rawmills

The original plant dry-ground the limestone, then incorporated it with clay in a washmill. Later, flat stones were used to re-grind the slurry.

No rotary kilns were installed.


Sources::