Wales

Embark on a journey through Wales' forgotten landscapes with our collection of abandoned places. From mysterious quarries lost in time to deserted industrial sites and hidden villages, uncover the untold stories of the United Kingdom's hidden gems.

Wales

Great Western Colliery

In Pontypridd, in the heart of the Welsh coalfield, is Hetty Shaft, one of the three mining seats that was founded by the Great Western Colliery Company.

Wales

Relics of the coal industry in South Wales

The south Welsh Rhondda valley was one of the world's largest mining regions for almost a hundred years, but after the turbulent closures, only a handful of coal mines survived.

Wales

Abandoned quarry in Snowdonia

'Welsh Slate' dominated the north-west economy of Wales from 1850 onwards. Slate was exploited in dozens of quarries, such as in the smaller Rhos, on a flank of the Moel Siabod mountain in Snowdonia.

Wales

Iron in Wales: Blaenavon Ironworks

Thanks to the use of 18th-century cutting-edge technology - coal and steam - Blaenavon Ironworks in south Wales became the second largest iron producer in the world.

Wales

Ruins of a blast furnace

Judging from the crumbled remains of Clydach Ironworks, you wouldn't expect more than a thousand people to have been working here in 1840.

Wales

Going underground in Big Pit

Thanks to Blaenavon Ironworks and the Big Pit coal mine, a Welsh, once modest village became one of the key players in the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century.

Wales

A failed slate quarry

This old slate factory in Wales has been unemployed for a century and a half. Slate was only produced for 15 years, a commercial failure in 1850.

Wales

Cable car to nowhere

A cable car from 1927 is the only reminder of the Cwym Bychan copper mine in Wales.

Wales

David versus Goliath: a coal mine fightback

Former miner Glyn Roberts takes us on a tour of Tower Colliery, the coal mine where he worked since the 1960s. He saw one mine after another close in South Wales, and in 1994, the death bells also sounded over Tower Colliery.

Wales

Repurposed observatory

Wales' largest optical telescope has been on Swansea's coastline since the 1990s. But when the municipality increased the rent, the Swansea Astronomical Society cut and ran.

Latest from the blog

Six blast furnaces you can visit today

In the early nineteenth century, the industrial revolution swept across continental Europe and one steelworks after another rose from the ground. Europe had hundreds of blast furnaces, but since the mid-twentieth century, Europe's steel industry has been slowly going downhill.

Wales

Industrial Heritage

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