Old Iron Works, Mells

Old Iron Works, Mells is a 0.25 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, in the Wadbury Valley, south of the village of Mells in Somerset, notified in 1987. The site is a ruined iron works, which mainly produced agricultural edge-tools which were exported all over the world, and is now, in addition to its unique and major importance in relation to industrial archaeology, used as a breeding site by horseshoe bats. The block of buildings adjacent to the entrance is listed Grade II* and most of the rest of the site is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. It is included in the Heritage at Risk Register produced by English Heritage.Biological InterestThe site is used by both Greater and Lesser Horseshoe Bats. The roofspace of one of the former works building was used, before the building burnt down in the 1980s, as a breeding roost in summer by large numbers of Greater Horseshoes and smaller numbers of Lesser Horseshoes. Disused flues and tunnels in a low cliff are used for hibernation.HistoryIt is likely that there was some form of foundry on or near the site since about 1500 when Mells seems to have been known as Iron Burgh. There are further documentary records which indicate that iron working had been undertaken locally since at least the early 13th century.