demolished. No. 3 furnace, built in 1941, was retained and used as a stand-by, until demolished in the mid-2000s. At the time of peak employment in the 1960s, the Abbey Works was Europe's largest steelworks and the largest single employer in Wales, with a labour force of 18,000.

In 1967, the Steel Company of Wales was nationalised and absorbed into British Steel Corporation, which was subsequently privatised and merged with Hoogovens