Blaina Town

Blaina Museum map of Blaina and Nantyglo

This excellent map of Blaina and Nantyglo is in Blaina Museum. I have annotated it as much of it is difficult to read so there are certainly some mistakes. Please let me know if you can decipher anything else.

Click on the thumbnail to enlarge it and click 'Full Size' on the toolbar to see the maps full-size. They take a few seconds to load as they are quite large files.	Brynmawr and Nantyglo	Nantyglo	Nantyglo and Blaina
Blaina	Blaina and Cwmcelyn	Blaina and Cwmcelyn	Blaina and Cwmcelyn

Cwmcelyn - SO 2060 0855

Cwmcelyn ponds from East Blaina

Bryn Maen 1857 bridge keystone

Bryn Maen levels tips

Bryn Maen quarry

Other places around Blaina

GWR trackbed at West Side	GWR trackbed at West Side	River Ebbw tunnel at West Side
Lower Deep Colliery bridge	Lower Deep Colliery memorial	Lower Deep Colliery memorial
Bourneville landslip control box	A 'Blaina' rail found in France	'BIW' from Blaina Ironworks

'Stinky Hole'

The River Ebbw Tunnel under Blaina (Stinky Hole)

And now for something completely different - a trip down 'Stinky Hole', the River Ebbw tunnel as it runs under Blaina. The main purpose of the trip was to retrieve an unusual railway wheel for Blaina Museum. Most of the tunnel is in a modern concrete culvert but the first section is the original stone tunnel with side tunnels and loads of dram wheels, axles and rail ties.

River Ebbw tunnel, Blaina	River Ebbw tunnel, Blaina	River Ebbw tunnel, Blaina	River Ebbw tunnel, Blaina
River Ebbw tunnel, Blaina	River Ebbw tunnel, Blaina	River Ebbw tunnel, Blaina	River Ebbw tunnel, Blaina
River Ebbw tunnel, Blaina	River Ebbw tunnel, Blaina	River Ebbw tunnel, Blaina	River Ebbw tunnel, Blaina
River Ebbw tunnel, Blaina	River Ebbw tunnel, Blaina	River Ebbw tunnel, Blaina	River Ebbw tunnel, Blaina
River Ebbw tunnel, Blaina	River Ebbw tunnel, Blaina	River Ebbw tunnel, Blaina	River Ebbw tunnel, Blaina
River Ebbw tunnel, Blaina	River Ebbw tunnel, Blaina	River Ebbw tunnel, Blaina	River Ebbw tunnel, Blaina

Henwaun Colliery

Henwaun Colliery - SO 2040 0720

Sunk in 1856 to feed the Nantyglo Ironworks, this colliery passed to John Lancaster's empire in 1881. It closed in 1922. By 1948 an incline ran up to a level on the hillside above. There's not much trace of the incline but the tips and tramway are at the top with the frame of at least one dram. The buildings at the foot are used as stables now but may be connected with the level.

Henwaun Colliery site	Henwaun Colliery site	Henwaun Colliery site	Henwaun Colliery landslip
Henwaun Colliery level	Henwaun Colliery level	Level tramway embankment	Henwaun Colliery level rail
Henwaun Colliery level rail	Henwaun level dram frame	Henwaun level dram frame	Henwaun level dram frame
Henwaun level dram frame	Henwaun level dram frame
Henwaun Colliery reservoir	Henwaun Colliery reservoir	Colliery reservoir pulley	Colliery reservoir valve

Trostre Pit and West Blaina Red Ash Colliery

Trostre Pit - SO 1933 0889

Trostre Pit was part of the Coalbrookvale Collieries, opened around the 1850s and then abandoned in 1916. There was also a 'Trostre Coal Pit' below Trostre Cottage but this was part of the Coalbrookvale Deep Pit complex.

Trostre Pit, Blaina, in the 1930s	Inscribed stone at Trostre Pit	Trostre Pit site, now a sheep pen	Pile of rails, Trostre Pit
Rails covering a drain	Trostre Pit reservoir buildings	Trostre Pit reservoir buildings	Trostre Pit reservoir buildings
Trostre Pit reservoir buildings	Trostre Pit reservoir buildings	Trostre Pit reservoir	Trostre Pit tramway
Level above Trostre Pit	Sheep creep above Trostre Pit	Possible level above Trostre Pit	Possible level above Trostre Pit

West Blaina Red Ash Colliery - SO 1925 0808

West Blaina opened in 1889 with an incline straight down the hillside to North Griffin Colliery. A new incline was built by 1912 running down past Trostre Pit to the sidings of Coalbrookvale Deep Pit where it nay have owned a shunting loco. The colliery just survived into NCB days but closed in 1948.The incline up from Trostre is a public footpath and there are a few remains along the moorland fence but the rest has been landscaped.

West Blaina Red Ash Colliery	West Blaina Red Ash Colliery	West Blaina Red Ash Colliery	Lower 1912 incline
Upper 1912 incline	West Blaina Red Ash Colliery	West Blaina Red Ash Colliery	Reservoir at West Side, Blaina

West Blaina Red Ash Colliery - 'Life' Magazine

West Blaina Red Ash Colliery was the subject of these excellent photographs in 'Life' magazine in its final working days in 1947.

West Blaina Red Ash Colliery	West Blaina Red Ash Colliery	West Blaina Red Ash Colliery	West Blaina Red Ash Colliery
West Blaina Red Ash Colliery	West Blaina Red Ash Colliery	West Blaina Red Ash Colliery	West Blaina Red Ash Colliery

John Monks Quarry

John Monks and Co Quarry - SO 1945 0730

The ropeway and it's winding wheel is quite a feature of the quarry but it is another industry that doesn't seem to appear on any OS maps. The ropeway was probably a 'Blondin' type ropeway down which ended at a now-demolished building beside Baldwin Park. John Monks and Co also owned Swffryd Quarry. The area at Darren Ddu, SO 1985 0605, shows signs of quarrying but is described as a landslip.

John Monks and Co Quarry	John Monks and Co Quarry	John Monks and Co Quarry	John Monks and Co Quarry
John Monks and Co Quarry	John Monks and Co Quarry	John Monks and Co Quarry	John Monks and Co Quarry
John Monks and Co Quarry	John Monks and Co Quarry	John Monks and Co Quarry	John Monks and Co Quarry
John Monks and Co Quarry	John Monks and Co Quarry	John Monks and Co Quarry	John Monks and Co Quarry
John Monks and Co Quarry	John Monks and Co Quarry	John Monks and Co Quarry
John Monks and Co Quarry	Darren Ddu quarry

East Blaina Red Ash Colliery

East Blaina Red Ash Colliery - SO 2105 0803

The East Blaina Red Ash Colliery was something of a mystery. It has skillfully avoided appearing on any OS maps that I've found. It seems to have sunk by J C Jenkins & Co before passing to the 'Bargoed Coal Co' who also owned Abernant and Llanover Collieries. It was active from 1925, being described as 'abandoned' and dismantled in 1936-38. It appears to have re-opened further along the hillside a year or two later, known as the 'Major' level. It looks like it closed around nationalisation in 1948.

The remains are quite substantial for a short-lived concern. The dog-legged incline is easily followed to its brakehouse and then along the tramway to many foundations, levels and tips. It looks like an aerial ropeway ran North towards some small levels at Cwmcelyn and the supports can be followed as far as the Highland Cattle (I didn't push my way past them, another time perhaps.)

March 2018

The Aberystruth History and Archaeology Society have completed their project to survey and record the site of East Blaina Red Ash Colliery. Here are the final photos of their work which will soon be sorted out with the others to make a coherent story.

East Blaina Red Ash Colliery, 1936	East Blaina Red Ash Colliery	East Blaina Red Ash Colliery	East Blaina Red Ash Colliery
East Blaina Red Ash Colliery	East Blaina Red Ash Colliery	East Blaina Red Ash Colliery	East Blaina Red Ash Colliery
East Blaina Red Ash Colliery	East Blaina Red Ash Colliery	East Blaina Red Ash Colliery	East Blaina Red Ash Colliery
East Blaina Red Ash Colliery	East Blaina Red Ash Colliery	East Blaina Red Ash Colliery	East Blaina Red Ash Colliery
East Blaina Red Ash Colliery	East Blaina Red Ash Colliery	East Blaina Red Ash Colliery	East Blaina Red Ash Colliery
East Blaina Red Ash Colliery	East Blaina Red Ash Colliery	East Blaina Red Ash Colliery	East Blaina Red Ash Colliery
East Blaina Red Ash Colliery	East Blaina Red Ash Colliery	East Blaina Red Ash Colliery	East Blaina Red Ash Colliery
East Blaina Red Ash Colliery	East Blaina Red Ash Colliery

July 2017

The Aberystruth History and Archaeology Society commenced a 4 year project in 2017 to survey and record the site of the colliery as so little is known about it. These photos show their early work in progress in July 2017.

The incline brakehouse	Halfway up the incline	Incline retaining wall	The aerial ropeway bucket run
Unidentified foundations	Unidentified foundations	Unidentified foundations	Unidentified foundations
Unidentified foundations	Foundations of a tank	The colliery from Cwmcelyn	Glynmilwr Colliery vent pipe

2010-2016

These photos were taken before the AHAS project began.

East Blaina Red Ash Colliery	East Blaina Red Ash Colliery	East Blaina Red Ash Colliery	East Blaina Red Ash Colliery
The tips from the incline	Looking up the incline	The incline from the brakehouse	The lower end of the incline
The brakehouse area	The brakehouse area	The brakehouse area	The brakehouse area
The brakehouse area	The brakehouse area	The brakehouse area	The brakehouse area
The ropeway running North	The ropeway running North	The ropeway running North	The ropeway running North
The ropeway running North	A typical ropeway pylon	Main tramway and ropeway	Main tramway and ropeway
Unidentified foundations	Unidentified foundations	Unidentified foundations	Foundations for a tank
Believed to be the stables	Believed to be the stables	Base of the ropeway engine	Base of the ropeway engine
Engine base ironmongery	Engine base ironmongery	Engine base ironmongery
Looking back along the tramway	First of the possible levels	Second of the possible levels	Second of the possible levels
Second of the possible levels	Third of the possible levels	Tips at the end of the tramway	Tips at the end of the tramway

Acknowledgments, sources and further reading

Thanks for addition information to :- Aberystruth History and Archaeological Society, Ian Fewings, Geoff Palfrey
or Blaenau Gwent's heritage :- Blaenau Gwent Heritage Forum