Aiming to preserve historic Glyn Pits (From Free Press Series)

Aiming to preserve historic Glyn Pits

IT IS a bit of a hike, but it's worth it. To stand before the once-mighty Glyn Pits is an evocative experience.

The mine, just hidden on the side of the Hafodrynys Road, was abandoned in 1932 and is slowly crumbling away.

It is older than Big Pit, and silent as the grave. Indeed, the bodies of five miners and nine pit ponies are still at the bottom of its 190-yard-deep shafts. The shafts were flooded to extinguish a fire and it was considered too dangerous to retrieve the bodies.

There are long-term moves by the Glyn Pits Preservation and Com-munity Heritage Project to attract lottery funding so the pit can be opened up to the public. It has already been fenced off and given a tin roof to stop any further deterioration.

It used to be that if you could not make it along the forestry roads to the mine, the only way you could see it is through old pictures.

But two local historians, part of the preservation group, have made a video detailing the pit's history.

Gwyn Tilley provides the narration for Clive Davies's work behind the camera.

Cwmynyscoy councillor Neil Waite, chairman of the group, also appears in the film.

The hour-long video features a history of the pit along with footage of how the vertical winding engine - the only in-situ one of its type found in the country - would have worked.

"It was one of the first, if not the first, in South Wales to use steam power for winding," said a spokesman for the group.

"This is older than Big Pit. Glyn Pit is the most historic mine in South Wales. It is crucial we preserve it."

The video is on sale at Pontypool Museum and indoor market priced £10. All profits go towards the restoration project backed by the Pontypool Regeneration Group and Pontypool Community Council.