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Evening all,
My third visit to this place which is not that far away from me in South Wales.
Wasn't really going for myself but two long time explorer non members of this forum, one of which has been caught here twice in quick succession going back a few years before security got a bit slack. As with a lot of revisits, the challenge is to find something new or a different viewpoint to photograph and maybe change lenses.
As per the first and second times, security was non existant and knowing most of the site like the back of my hand, took the guys to the areas I was familiar with and also starting at the bottom and working the way up through.
The site was extremely overgrown and a lot of stomping down of brambles and weeds had to be done, some of the paths and especially the steps you couldn't even see and were wet with moss and slippery too. But going on some of the areas I found, especially across the top of the coke ovens, the revisit was definately worth it - Especially considering the weather was great too.
A bit of history (Found following a Google search)
There was originally a colliery named "Cwm Colliery" at this site in Beddau, just south of Pontypridd in Rhondda Cynon Taf, that was sunk in 1909. No coal was actually extracted until 1914, however, and then it came from two shafts, Margaret and Mildred which were over 750 yards deep. In 1928 the colliery was taken over by Powell Duffryn Associated Collieries Limited, and at this point it employed over 1000 men. It operated under their name until 1948 when the National Coal Board (NCB) was established to manage the nationalized coal industry in the UK. The NCB updated the colliery in a massive £9 million redevelopment between 1952 and 1960. This included connection Cwm (pronounced "Coomb") to Coedely Tonyrefail, and of course building a massive Coke works, Cwm Coke.
In the 70s, the coke works alone employed 1,500 men and produced some 515,000 tonnes of coke each year. It continued to do so until 1986, when the NCB was privatized. The colliery ceased production at this point, but the coke works were bought buy CPL Industries and continued producing coke right up until 2002. It would have remained open had it not been for the fact it was extremely outdated, in desperate need of modernization and no one was willing to invest in new technologies.
On with some photos.
Thanks for looking in.
My third visit to this place which is not that far away from me in South Wales.
Wasn't really going for myself but two long time explorer non members of this forum, one of which has been caught here twice in quick succession going back a few years before security got a bit slack. As with a lot of revisits, the challenge is to find something new or a different viewpoint to photograph and maybe change lenses.
As per the first and second times, security was non existant and knowing most of the site like the back of my hand, took the guys to the areas I was familiar with and also starting at the bottom and working the way up through.
The site was extremely overgrown and a lot of stomping down of brambles and weeds had to be done, some of the paths and especially the steps you couldn't even see and were wet with moss and slippery too. But going on some of the areas I found, especially across the top of the coke ovens, the revisit was definately worth it - Especially considering the weather was great too.
A bit of history (Found following a Google search)
There was originally a colliery named "Cwm Colliery" at this site in Beddau, just south of Pontypridd in Rhondda Cynon Taf, that was sunk in 1909. No coal was actually extracted until 1914, however, and then it came from two shafts, Margaret and Mildred which were over 750 yards deep. In 1928 the colliery was taken over by Powell Duffryn Associated Collieries Limited, and at this point it employed over 1000 men. It operated under their name until 1948 when the National Coal Board (NCB) was established to manage the nationalized coal industry in the UK. The NCB updated the colliery in a massive £9 million redevelopment between 1952 and 1960. This included connection Cwm (pronounced "Coomb") to Coedely Tonyrefail, and of course building a massive Coke works, Cwm Coke.
In the 70s, the coke works alone employed 1,500 men and produced some 515,000 tonnes of coke each year. It continued to do so until 1986, when the NCB was privatized. The colliery ceased production at this point, but the coke works were bought buy CPL Industries and continued producing coke right up until 2002. It would have remained open had it not been for the fact it was extremely outdated, in desperate need of modernization and no one was willing to invest in new technologies.
On with some photos.
Thanks for looking in.
