The Abandoned Coal Mines of South Wales - Short Film
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 มิ.ย. 2024
- This short documentary was filmed over the Summer and Autumn of 2021, and features no fewer than six different locations including the sites of five former coal mines - just a few of the thousands that once dominated South Wales up until only a few decades ago. In this video, we investigate what happens when national interests change and huge industries are suddenly abandoned. How have the communities of South Wales adapted the remains of their collieries in the 21st century?
P.S. Apologies for any horrific butchering of pronunciations - feel free to correct
List of locations featured:
- Blaenavon Ironworks
- Big Pit Colliery National Coal Museum
- Penallta Colliery Power Hall, Headstocks & Bath House
- Hafodyryns Colliery Washery
- Blaenserchan Colliery Washery
- Llanhilleth Colliery Pit Head Baths
(just a few of the many fascinating remains)
Please subscribe to Beyond the Point for the rest of Abandoned Wales. Our 5th episode is a mixture of cinematic and hands-on exploration, as we look at the diversity of South Wales' abandoned heritage from ruined castles to steel works railways.
Find out about the video series here:
beyondthepoint.co.uk/abandoned...
Filmed on the Nikon Z50 with 16-50mm, 70-250mm and Sigma 8-16mm lenses.
To this day the former South Wales mining communities still struggle with moving on from the end of coal
Penallta winding house was a grand building for its day, and was kept spotlessly clean, as were most winding houses. Its heart breaking to see. Great film, hafodyrynys and blaensychan colliery.
Thanks a lot! Would be good to see any pictures of the winding house interior during use
my grandfather and all his brothers worked at Penallta colliery, up till it was shut down just like his father before him. he also worked at britannia colliery. i used to walk around it with him as a kid while it was shut down. he used to get upset how a major part of his life and family heritage was taken away from him and how i wouldnt be able to follow him. he never forgave thatcher.
Mine too. Bloody Thatcher.
Far more mines were shut down when Labour was in power. They had all been taxpayer subsidised for years and were hugely uneconomic.
Who'd want to send their kids down a coal mine these days anyway?
Where would you find kids to go down a coal mine anyway?
Industrial buildings of this era were often monuments to great craftsmanship as can be seen in the ornate tiles and curved alcoves of the engine hall. Much better than today's bland industrial factories. Visited "Big Pit" many years ago, a fascinating insight to the workings of coal mines. Living in Somerset, around my town used to be about 74 collieries within around a 3 mile radius. Great video Liam and a brilliant start to 2022, keep up the fine work. 🙂
100% right there Steve, whilst the power hall is in a rough state today you can still tell how much of an ornate showpiece it would have been as a bit of a commercial advert. Industrial design today is now as utilitarian as it gets. I didn’t realise Somerset had collieries, I’ll have to look into that, cheers again 😁
I was born in a house at Elgam Avenue in Blaenavon, and went to school there until the age of ten. The iron works, and the Big Pit, were places that we played in as kids, and one day, I found a small bottle of powder in the disused laboratory at the ironworks, and after smelling it, and tasting it, me and my mates decided to throw it around between us. Later that day, it rained, and where the powder had landed on my skin and clothes, the area became bright crimson red, especially my hair and face and hands. God knows what the stuff was, but my Nanna went berserk when I crept into the house to try to clean up before dinnertime. That was seventy years ago, and the iron works has since been done up, and it has little plaques telling the public how important the place was to the first Industrial Revolution. Apparently the two great inventors Gilchrist and Thomas were doig experiments there too. It's strange to see the place fenced off, as it used to be completely open for kids to play there.
I found an old wind-up record player there, took the box off it, and make a whitworth quick return mechanism with a rubber glove filled with plaster of paris attached to it. It became a wind-up wanking machine, which I swapped for a prismatic compass with the school bully, apprently he his the machine under his bed and used it frequently. I always knew that I would one day become an Engineer , and so it turned out, I am still working and hope to continue so, for many more years, after all my Nanna lived to 100 years old.
Great video. It’s so good to see the artistic video footage of the now derelict buildings. They often show 1 or 2 on the mainstream channels when they’re doing a piece on the mines but this was fantastic to see so much focus these detailed shots. 👌🏼
Plenty of artistic videography and still an informative piece of history about the area. Thanks for making this.
Thanks for this that's a kind comment, that's exactly what we hope to achieve. High quality videos on local topics and places that otherwise wouldn't get such treatment in the mainstream
That same vein of coal in South Wales goes underneath the Atlantic Ocean and Pops back up in Pennsylvania America.
Immigrants from all over Europe came to Scranton Pennsylvania to work the coal mines my grandfather from Italy died in the mines my grandfather from Poland survived.
When I was a kid in grade school we were all taught about the Welsh coal miners they are the ones who taught Americans how to Coal Mine.
How to mine coal.just sayin😊
i went down six bells colliery first, with my grand father, when i was 14, imagine how happy i was, when it closed in 89 :)
Thank you to the coalminers and those who delivered the coal who kept us warm prior to central heating and boilers it was very tough and dangerous and dirty work 🙏♥️
Absolutely,they worked damn hard underground for the owners to become RICHER off the backs of the brave men.🏴🏴🏴🏴
As always, loved the vid - also it's weirdly nostalgic to see Pwll Mawr/Big Pit, which I haven't been to since a Year 4 school trip. Did they also try to scare you by talking about the Senghennydd Disaster, in which some 400 people died, then promptly cause sparks on the comms wires to show how the glasses would've been ignited?
Haha they certainly did the wire sparking thing. I can’t remember if they mentioned the disaster or I read about it but they also proceeded to take us up on the lift without any lights to bring home the reality even more so 😂
Nice peice on some interesting bits, a nice selection of buildings, good to get a history lesson, well done Liam!
Thanks guys!
There's so much history from around here being a local. Even the cycle route outside has the old track platforms. In the area I'm at now I found an old brick labeled from the local colliery I kept as a past time souvenir. My dad once used too be mine rescue. He still has old memorabilia from back in the day and an old dram as a flower bed. Guess he's always held on to memories. Great documentary and sure to be enjoyed by many locals....
Many thanks for the kind words
@@BeyondthePoint not a problem! Keep up the great work. I pm'd you on insta with some other local stories...
Interesting stuff, thanks.
Very interesting. Thanks
I love this round building at hafodrynys always wanted to convert it when I was a youngster .
the pit i was at didn't have a baths till 1957
My father and grandfather worked t penalta colliery for many many years
Very entertaining
We’ll told story! Your editing-both music and visual, shows considerable sophistication. The pacing and cuts all contribute to the sparse and looming structures without removing all hope for redevelopment. A pity that with housing in the UK always in demand that both small commercial and residential uses could save these structures and renew a community. One can easily see the opportunities as only outsiders can, the brickwork and soaring interiors, the otherworldly shapes! This could be given wider viewing and certainly immigrants would seize the opportunity these present for redevelopment.
A lot of land is unbuildable on due to the disruption and subsiding cause by the mining activities.
There's also massive pollution in some areas and problems with colliery waste.
@@harry130747 Sad.
Excellent video. When you make your next one, please could you check your pronunciation of Welsh place names - it does grate on me as a Welsh speaker when people get things wrong. But keep up the good work.
The washery plant showing out from the trees was the same as when i worked in the wi dsor colliery at senghenydd
I enjoyed this, I like learning about our industrial heritage, when they redevelop this area I hope they incorporate many of the old buildings 😊
Cheers!
Enjoyed watching, thank you. I’m planning a visit to S Wales this year to explore the collieries and find where an ancestor lost his life in a mining accident at Groeswen. Are there any websites you can suggest to research?
Thanks for the comment, glad to hear you liked it and are planning on exploring yourself! This website seems to have a lot of good info on a lot of collieries:
www.welshcoalmines.co.uk/index.html
@@BeyondthePoint thank you, I’ll check that website out👍🏻
Great video loved it . It's pronounced havodrinis
Thanks, glad to finally know how it's pronounced!
Do any body know Any thing about the drift mine in portmead swansea
Or the drift mine in amanford
Very interesting video thanks for sharing would love to pay a visit to Panallta winding house and take some photos can anybody tell me what the access is like I would have thought it would have been fenced off?
Thanks, we haven't been in a while but check round the back ;)
@@BeyondthePoint Thanks will do 🙂
Really enjoyed that..well made and researched....I believe it could be better though with correct pronunciation...if you need a narrator ...I'm a Welsh actor and narrator and would gladly help out
People need to know the reasons for the closure of the mines?
I have been to big pit on a school trip
Lol! Big pit, much like walking across the Somme today and saying "yeah, must have been hard during the war". As far as you can get from the truth! Lol! I know cos "I was there", Lived in "C" row Forgeside and worked in Nantgarw/Windsor.
Always thought they should of converted the haffodrynys washery into a McDonald's because of its burger shape lol
Best comment so far 😎
My son in law works at big pit
Who was Lord George Watkins in Wales ?
The NCB just changed name to British Coal in 1987, it carried on till 1995, though Penallta closed around 91, still being profitable when it closed, purely political not economical closure
Mate I wicked again brother can we meet up I have a few places up my sleeve. I make videos too. You sound like your from essex?
The cold washer is private property I went there
Great vidio but you have to love the english trying to pronounce welsh names 😂🏴👍
I tried! 😂
Without knowing any of the back story. I can promise you that this village is never going to be invested in or redeveloped by the local council. Their only interest in that building will be to shove money into their pockets or one of their friends. As a massive music snob I often give people grief for adding bad music to their vids. Not so with you though, great soundtrack.
Excellent video. However you need to swot up on Welsh pronunciation of place names, they are unrecognisable.
Different sounds are allocated to the alphabet in Welsh as compared to English.
Informative video just a pity that the person doing the commentary couldn't pronounce some of the locations properly
At least research how the place names are pronounced
German coal was, indeed, cheaper...but only because it was subsidised! The Welsh mines were, in reality, the most efficient in Europe!
Not true. German coal came from open cast mines and was far cheaper though inferior.
maggie thatcher caused the mines to close
I think you should do a little bit more homework before putting silly comments 😅
I'm not a nationalist but mispronouncing the welsh names indicates lack of sincerity in research/production values... after the mines closed these communities were left devastated.. the least you could do is recognise the place-names properly.
You are being unfair to the guys as I've said in other comments I've heard worse attempts. Just how does mispronouncing a place name show a lack of sincerity. Cymraeg ydw I.
@@barrie5852 I've worked in media production.. it takes no time at all to find out pronunciation of a place name. It just shows poor production values.. just like the place I worked for where it did not occur to them that poor spelling, grammar, vocabulary, etc. reflected poorly on the company no matter how good the graphics or content.
It's like putting in the effort of making good food and then serving it with dirty cutlery.. a little bit of polish makes a difference.. 🙂
@@fiskrond9212
If this was broadcast on a conventional satellite or terrestrial channel I would agree 100% but it's not, it's a TH-cam video. You're response still doesn't answer my question of how does it show a lack of sincerity, all you're done is critizied their production ability, I say again it's a TH-cam video it's not Panorama on the BBC.
@@barrie5852 yeah I know... but if I were going to make a video about Scotland (for example).. I would make sure I knew how to pronounce Auchtermuchty rather than just take a stab at it.. lol
Wonderful video , but guys as a resident of Blaenafon, please research how you pronounce place names , Google even helps , it is so cringe worthy and very disrespectful.
Give the guys a brake,, I've heard worse attempts at Welsh place names. As for being disrespectful, get a grip. Cymraeg ydw i.