Pontrhydyfen (or Pont-rhyd-y-fen) is a small village in the Afan Valley, in Neath Port Talbot county borough in Wales (grid reference SS794940).

[2] The industrial history of Oakwood began in the 1820s, when the first blast furnace was lighted for the Pontrhydyfen Iron Works[3] and coalmaster John Reynolds built the aqueduct to power it.

[4] By 1877 local Ordnance Survey maps show the site of the iron works as ruins,[5] but there are continued historical references to the two blast furnaces at Pontrhydyfen until 1902.

[3] George Yates' Map of the County Glamorgan shows Coal mining just south of Oakwood on the West slopes of Moel y Fen and Mynydd Bychan by 1799.

[9] The Bont Fawr Aqueduct is 'one of the few surviving structures relating to the use of water power in the iron industry in the region' and is a Grade II* listed building.