Historic ironworks Brymbo unveils its 300million-year story

10/07/2026

An ariel image of a red brick 1920s building

The restored building for Stori Brymbo, from the 1920s. Credit: The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The former iron and steelworks near Wrexham, north Wales, will be transformed into a visitor attraction, community hub and business space.

Stori Brymbo has brought new facilities, jobs, training and apprenticeships to the area.

It's also protected and opened its 300-million-year-old "fossil forest" to visitors. The internationally important site was discovered during open cast coal mining in 2003.

Reworking an industrial legacy

The Brymbo works was founded by industrialist John 'Iron Mad' Wilkinson (1728–1808). Wilkinson made his fortune pioneering the manufacture of cast iron goods.

Following his successful iron smelting business and the invention of new technologies, steel production began on site from 1885. Business boomed over the following decades.

One hundred years later, fortunes had changed. Brymbo suffered heavily during the decline of industry in the 1970s and 1980s. It eventually ceased production in 1990. The site was left largely abandoned and the local community devastated, with the loss of 1,125 jobs.

An aerial view of Brymbo steelworks in the 1980s — Brymbo in the 1980s.

A new future

Now the site is welcoming visitors back through its doors and creating new opportunities for local people to work, learn and play.

Expected to attract up to 37,000 visitors per year, the restored site has:

restored and repurposed the Machine Shop as a visitor centre including an art gallery exhibition, shop and coffee shop, rentable office/workshop spaces and a flexible space for learning and meetings
repurposed the Pattern and Joiners’ Workshop as an event and function space, along with the rest of the ironworks buildings, which will be coming in September
created a covered, protected environment for the excavation and public presentation of the Fossil Forest. This will enable visitors to take a chronological trip through Brymbo's story, from fossils to coal, iron to steel, closure to renewal.
refurbished and repaired historic structures. These will include the Grade II* listed Agent’s House, the Blast Colliery and a series of ironworks buildings including the Foundry, Cast House and Blast Furnace.
delivered a series of activities for volunteers, people with disabilities and people on low incomes