In a message dated 5/20/2007 6:11:27 AM Eastern Daylight Time, roydavies39@msn.com writes: ...they also smelted Iron at the Blaenafon Ironworks, using a small scale smelter and iron ore they had picked up off the mountain (literally) . According to a local guide, girls as young as 8/9 , as well as boys and adults, were employed ,from dawn to dusk, doing this work. ============= Hi, Roy, and thank you for your post! It sheds new light on what my GGrandmother (and her sister and several other fellow female lodgers) may have been doing as "ironstone fillers" in Blaina c1861. My GGrandmother was age 19 at the time, and two of the other girls were 15 and 16. The sister was age 26. Regards, Cecil ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.