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What is really needed here is 'before and after' photographs,
but regrettably I didn't take the requisite first shot in the 70's, so I'll have
to paint a picture with words. Here was sited one of the earliest mines in the
Blaenafon area, and all the concomitant filthy buildings and giant slag heaps
of maybe 200 years of industry. The Aberfan disaster of 1966 meant that a program
for levelling or removing the spoil heaps was given priority, but usually only
when near habitation. The only civilisation nearby being the previously featured
Whistle Inn and a few cottages, they had to wait a long time for beautification
to reach this far - however when it came, it came with a vengeance. The slag was
dispersed and crafted into the rolling meadows you see in the foreground. Lakes
were created from the recoursed river, and lambs were instructed to frolic and
gambol whenever anyone passed by. It is difficult to see in these low resolution
pictures, but the dark hillocks shown above and to the left of the lake are some
of the last remaining slag heaps around Blaenavon, near Big Pit, whose headgear
may just be visible to you at the very left of the tips. |
