Blaenavon World Heritage Site
The industrial revolution leader.
This area was covered much more completely in a gallery last year, so this gallery will show other parts or different views ... mostly.
The entrance to Big Pit, now the only working deep coal mine in Wales - it does not actually mine coal any more, but has to be classed as "working" in order to be open for visits. Being working means that it is structurally maintained.
Tippler.
Truck chain.
The lift cage.
Cables.
Truck fittings.
Conveyor.
Pit wheel.
No walking up the walls. Spiderman is forbidden.
Winch.
Forge.
In the forge.
In the forge.
In the forge.
In the forge.
In the forge.
Pneumatics.
Tunnel boring machine.
A simulation of a modern coal mine. Coal mines are very unstable, and need constant support and shoring. This is about as large as the passages get.
A balance shaft head.
Balance shaft pulley.
Rusting parts.
Rusting cutting wheel.
Rusted controls. I very much like the colours in this picture.
Ummm, really?
Sinks.
Shower block. Now that "man riding" sign is sounding even more dodgy.
List of the coal mining pits that have been closed in Wales.
Engines at the Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway.
Piston chamber being restored.
The placeholders for boiler tubes, which would carry the heat through the boiler tank of a steam engine.
The restored chassis and cab of an engine. Looks like they have finally got some of the money they need to restore the engines.
The reserve water tank.
Engine wheels.
Small steam engine in need of a little TLC.
Winch.
Winch cogs.
Steam hammer in the ironworks car park.
Balance tower.
The flue for the furnaces.
Base of the blowing engines which blew the air into the flue.
Flight of the crows.
Ironworks Forge.
Truck wheels in the forge.
Metalworks in the forge.
Artifacts in the forge.
Base of a blast furnace.
Furnace arch.
Crow perch.
Cast house entrance.
Alabaster stal in the furnace.
Solidified iron at a blast furnace.
Deep red.
Straws.
Base of the iron-clad furnace.
Helicopter over the town. There are a number of links I could make to it being industrial, but the fact is that it was there, so I pointed the camera at it.
Sleeper.
Steel belts supporting the top of a furnace.
Munition stores.
Balance tower arch. The upper bench was open this time, so there's a chance to take some pictures that were not possible last time.
Protected furnace top.
Calcining kilns on the upper bench, used to heat the iron ore to drive off impurities before using it in the blast furnaces.
Collapsed kilns.
At least the metal supports have survived.
Top of the furnaces where the ore was tipped.
Points on the top of the balance tower.
View down the balance tower.
Really? You don't say.
Roof of the forge and cast house.
The blast furnaces from above.
Keeper's Pond, used to supply the Garnddyrys Forge.
Where Claudio gets far too well acquainted with a sheep. It tried sucking my finger first, but I was having none of it.
Sunbathing.
Some very obvious scours near keepers pond, where the surface was washed away with water to expose iron ore.
These scours date back to the early industrial revolution at the latest, and may have been used as far back as Roman times.
The entrance to Big Pit, now the only working deep coal mine in Wales - it does not actually mine coal any more, but has to be classed as "working" in order to be open for visits. Being working means that it is structurally maintained.
Tippler.
Truck chain.
The lift cage.
Cables.
Truck fittings.
Conveyor.
Pit wheel.
No walking up the walls. Spiderman is forbidden.
Winch.
Forge.
In the forge.
In the forge.
In the forge.
In the forge.
In the forge.
Pneumatics.
Tunnel boring machine.
A simulation of a modern coal mine. Coal mines are very unstable, and need constant support and shoring. This is about as large as the passages get.
A balance shaft head.
Balance shaft pulley.
Rusting parts.
Rusting cutting wheel.
Rusted controls. I very much like the colours in this picture.
Ummm, really?
Sinks.
Shower block. Now that "man riding" sign is sounding even more dodgy.
List of the coal mining pits that have been closed in Wales.
Engines at the Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway.
Piston chamber being restored.
The placeholders for boiler tubes, which would carry the heat through the boiler tank of a steam engine.
The restored chassis and cab of an engine. Looks like they have finally got some of the money they need to restore the engines.
The reserve water tank.
Engine wheels.
Small steam engine in need of a little TLC.
Winch.
Winch cogs.
Steam hammer in the ironworks car park.
Balance tower.
The flue for the furnaces.
Base of the blowing engines which blew the air into the flue.
Flight of the crows.
Ironworks Forge.
Truck wheels in the forge.
Metalworks in the forge.
Artifacts in the forge.
Base of a blast furnace.
Furnace arch.
Crow perch.
Cast house entrance.
Alabaster stal in the furnace.
Solidified iron at a blast furnace.
Deep red.
Straws.
Base of the iron-clad furnace.
Helicopter over the town. There are a number of links I could make to it being industrial, but the fact is that it was there, so I pointed the camera at it.
Sleeper.
Steel belts supporting the top of a furnace.
Munition stores.
Balance tower arch. The upper bench was open this time, so there's a chance to take some pictures that were not possible last time.
Protected furnace top.
Calcining kilns on the upper bench, used to heat the iron ore to drive off impurities before using it in the blast furnaces.
Collapsed kilns.
At least the metal supports have survived.
Top of the furnaces where the ore was tipped.
Points on the top of the balance tower.
View down the balance tower.
Really? You don't say.
Roof of the forge and cast house.
The blast furnaces from above.
Keeper's Pond, used to supply the Garnddyrys Forge.
Where Claudio gets far too well acquainted with a sheep. It tried sucking my finger first, but I was having none of it.
Sunbathing.
Some very obvious scours near keepers pond, where the surface was washed away with water to expose iron ore.
These scours date back to the early industrial revolution at the latest, and may have been used as far back as Roman times.