Our former industrial heritage

I usually experience a degree of pathos when visiting old industrial sites, for despite often being dirty, unsafe and noisy, they provided employment and represented a British industrial heritage that is lost for ever.  Recent visits to the riverside walk at Newburn on the old Stella Power Station site and the nature reserve created from the former Weetslade Colliery spoil-heap, reminded me of just how much heavy industry has vanished from Northern England, with inevitable socio-economic consequences.  Although the areas now provide wildlife habitats, ghostly echoes of a different time when coal was king and life was hard, still linger.

Stella Power Station 1991 by Aidan Doyle

Weetslade Colliery

The Stella Site 2015

The former Weetslade Colliery site

A humbling reminder

On the tramway

We’ve climbed many of the most famous mountains in Wales but our route up to the modest summits of Moel Yr Hydd and Moelwyn Mawr, is definitely up there with the best. Taking the derelict tramway from Tanygrisiau, our climb rewarded us with stunning views over Blaenau Ffestiniog and the excitement of a short scramble through the tunnel.  The poignant relics of an industrial past defined the walk; our recreational journey made through a starkly beautiful landscape, shaped in recent history by men who had literally worked themselves into an early grave.  It was a humbling experience for us all.

Mouth of the Tunnel

Alex

Industrial dereliction

Slate Mine

Light Shaft

Moelwyn Mawr

Ice cream castles

Who lived here?

Rhosydd Quarry Barracks

Shaped by industrialisation