Father and son miners

Visit Date: February 2019

This wooden sculpture depicts a father and son, coal miners, in South Wales.

We had lots of coal mines in our area and although this sculpture is on the site of an old mine where there was a disaster. I think that this sculpture is of a more general nature.

When I visited this place the weather was very calm and the few minutes I stood looking at this sculpture I found it very moving.

Having worked on the image I feel that the scene depicts a father looking on at his son who, just a child but in those times considered of working age is being sent to work in the mine for the first time.

The father reflecting on the lost childhood of his offspring and the inevitability of another carefree youth exchanged for a life of hard toil, sweat and tears of a working life spent underground.

The son, scared and unknowing of what's ahead reflects, that in his father he sees a proud man, tired and weakened due to a life of hard physical labour in a hot, dirty and dangerous place, providing what he can for his family and thinking that someday, he will be doing the same thing to his son in what must seem a never-ending cycle of existence.

Although a very moving piece of art depicting working life in the early part of the last century I would like to say that when I became of working age I saw many of my school friends at 16 years old taking jobs with the "National Coal Board" to be coal miners. A few years later and when of an age to frequent "pubs and workingmen's clubs" in our valley, these school friends and their older collier workmates whom I had the privilege to know, were not dour or sad people but where always full of life, fun-loving and had an optimistic outlook on life, they were proud to be continuing in a profession that, although under much-improved conditions was still a hard, dirty dangerous job where disaster could have been just around the corner.

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51.53953367300987, -3.6182176008836633
Google Search reference: Parc Slip Memorial
What Three Words reference : ///trick.matter.violin
Additional information
An esy place to visit this but you will need to walk for 20 minutes or so from the car park located here 51.54556799523835, -3.6144095436986596

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St Lythans Dolmen

 

Built at around 4000bc the St. Lythans Dolmen is a large lonely structure near the Capital of Wales, Cardiff.

Originally covered by an earthen mound around 90ft/27m in length, only traces of this now remain.

Despite its Neolithic origins, the site’s name may derive from the Arthurian legend of Culhwch and Olwen, which appears in two 14th-century texts.

St. Lythans Dolmen is only 1.6km from another more extensive Tinkinswood burial chamber

The capstone, which slopes downwards, measures four metres (13 ft) long, three metres (10 ft) wide, and 0.7 metres (2 ft) thick.

Interestingly, this site is likely to be a lot older than the more expansive and more well known Stonehenge.

There are many of this type of structures, often also referred to as Cromlechs all over Europe.

These structures often have "local legends" attributed to them and the one I like the most is that each Midsummer's Eve, the capstone spins around three times and all the stones go to the nearby river to bathe, Now if I could only capture that with my camera!

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51.442569197823424, -3.294977200482513

Google Search reference: MSt Lythans Dolmen
What Three Words reference : ///sparrows.paddle.cupboards


Additional information
Visiting is easy but there is no parking here and therefore you will have to park on the side of the road. The road is not too busy so for a short visit you should be fine.


The Dolmen is in a field and is signposted but please take care in the field.

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Porthcawl Lighthouse

Visit Date : August 2020

Since the widespread use of digital cameras and smartphones, Porthcawl Lighthouse has become famous at certain times of the year.

The lighthouse is situated on the breakwater to Porthcawl and as such when there are high winds and especially when combined with high tides the scene at this lighthouse with the breaking water over the lighthouse is now a staple on TV and newspapers. The scene is easily accessible from the main promenade and a quick internet search for this lighthouse will lead to many such images.

But this is not how I see, or remember Porthcawl lighthouse. Living less than 20 miles from this seaside town I remember the lighthouse bathed in the summer sun on warm balmy seaside trips.

Lately, we have had some good morning forecasts and this day was one.

With the breeze light and the chance of some good sky, I set off before sunrise to try and capture the lighthouse in a different light (Pun intended).

I was happy with the resulting images I took.

The 30-foot lighthouse was built in 1860 and the lamp was washed away in a great storm in 1902.

Originally the lighthouse was coal powered and then converted to run on Gas.

In 1974 the lamp was converted to run on "North Sea Gas" a natural gas. When the engineer arrived to convert the lamp he was told that there wasn't a switch to turn off the lamp but that it was left burning 24 hours a day. He also recalled that the lighthouse gas supply had previously been paid for by a coin meter that constantly had to be fed with "pennies" every day, that was until the meter was converted to take shillings! This meant that the harbourmaster would often have to brave the elements and rough conditions to "feed the meter" to ensure mariners safety.

This was not in use at the time of the conversion but was still in the lighthouse.

Eventually, the lighthouse was upgraded to electric in 1997 and after a £70,000 renovation in 2013, was fitted with its new £12,000 automatic, low energy, LED lamp, which can be seen 10 nautical miles away, the same distance the old gas lamp shone.

The lighthouse was the last coal and gas-powered lighthouse in the UK, and is now protected as it is a grade two listed building.

OK so now for the "iconic view"

Since converting to digital some time ago I have not taken the popular "storm Picture" of the lighthouse although many years ago, perhaps over 25 years ago I had a second hand Canon EOS 650 film camera. It was the first camera I had that was not "point and shoot". My results were varied, to say the least with most of my efforts being in the "hopeful" range.

I shot lots and lots of film then, and I have lots of the images still boxed up and stored around the house but the following image of the Porthcawl Lighthouse was one of the better shots and perhaps is the reason I have not tried to repeat it

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551.47310273328761, -3.6997247977996683

Google Search reference: Porthcawl Lighthouse

What Three Words reference : ///ramps.crisis.unhelpful

Additional information

As Porthcawl is a seaside town visiting this site is easy with lots of car parking and amenities.

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Aberdulais Falls and Tin Works

Visit Date: February 2019

Aberdulais is a small village in the Vale of Neath in South Wales.

Its history starts way back in 1584, when a German engineer Ulrich Frosse, perfects a new method of smelting copper to make coins. His need was to ply his trade far from his competitors and he chose the small Welsh town of Aberdulais.

However, the story of Aberdulais really starts over 200 years later when in 1831 local businessman William Llewellyn established the Aberdulais Tinplate Company.

This works was one of the first to roll iron ingots into flat plates and the hammers and rollers were powered by a huge water wheel which took its momentum from the river Dulais.

Within a short space of time the Aberdulais Tinplate Company had expanded with the construction of the Lower Works, some 400 yards to the south, and the original site known as the Upper Works. The two sites were connected by a tramway. Horse-drawn drams ferried materials between them.

A further tramway was built to the wharf on the canal and then on to Swansea Docks where the tinplate was exported all over the world

A Commission report in 1842 tells us that there were 138 people working at the two sites, of whom 34 were children aged between 8 and 13.

Tinplate was so popular it was the equivalent of modern-day plastic and was used extensively as packaging for food.

However, it’s success perhaps lead eventually to the downfall of this tin works as the Americans moved to protect their own infant industry and slapped huge tariffs on tinplate imports. Aberdulais’ days were numbered.

Part of the title of this post describes the falls here are there are waterfalls that run alongside the tin works and were also used to drive the machinery.

The falls and associated industrial infrastructure are in the care of the National Trust in recognition of the site's value as a key part of the region's industrial heritage.

With so much of our history being destroyed in the past as worthless it is great to see that some of the relics of this time have survived and the visitor centre at the falls attempts to keep this history alive and thankfully has preserved the great wheel which still turns “at leisure” today.

The “falls” were unspectacular at the time I visited but one could not fail to be impressed but the reconstructed water wheel. I may revisit this after some rains to see the falls in all their glory.

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51.68011460292001, -3.7774655351943447

Google Search reference: Aberdulais Falls

What Three Words reference : ///descended.buns.first

Additional information

Visiting this site is easy with car parking just across the road from the main entrance.

The site is maintained by the National Trust and there is a small entrance fee. Toilets, café and gift shop are also on the site.

 

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Mumbles Lighthouse

Visit Date: August 2020:

Mumbles is a small coastal village near the city of Swansea in South Wales.

It sits at the eastern edge of the Gower peninsular much of which forms the first area in the United Kingdom to be designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Mumbles or as we call it "The Mumbles" is a beautiful place to visit and I'm confident that the village will be the subject of a future blog but for now, it is the lighthouse that takes centre stage.

Built-in 1794 the tower is 17 metres high and stands on the outer of the two outlying small islands on Mumbles head between Swansea Bay and Bracelet bay.

It is 35 metres above mean high water and is one of the most photographed buildings in the area.

The Swansea Harbour Trustees were given the power to provide a lighthouse at the outer Mumbles in the Harbour Act of 1791; in July 1792 work began, but while in construction the structure collapsed in October of the same year.

In 1793 the plans of the local architect William Jernegan were accepted and the lighthouse was finally completed and lit in 1794.

Originally lit by two coal fires it was then converted to oil then a further upgrade in 1860, saw the oil-powered light upgraded to a dioptric light.

A flashing mechanism was added in 1905 and this was automated in 1934.

The lamp was electrified in 1969.

By the late 1970s the lantern was corroded and was replaced in 1987.

In 1995, the main light was replaced and an array of solar panels added.

Around the base is a fort or battery which surrounds the southern side of the lighthouse. it was built in 1860 by the War Department. It is one of the many Palmerston Forts built in response to a perceived French invasion.

It mounted five 80 pounder rifled muzzle-loading (RML) guns, two in casemates and three on the roof

In 1940 two 4.7-inch guns were manned by men of the 531st (Glamorgan) Coast Regiment, Royal Artillery. Well before the end of the war, as the German threat decreased, the battery was placed into care and maintenance.

As the lighthouse is accessible at low tide and I intend to visit the island and take more images of this landmark.

Very near to the lighthouse is Mumbles pier the second landmark of Mumbles.

Built and opened on the 10th of May 1898 at a cost of £10,000

During a major renovation in 2012, a new lifeboat station and Royal National Lifeboat institution gift shop was built at the end of the pier and fishing platforms added.

The original Red and cream coloured lifeboat station can be seen alongside the new station.

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51.566795772416825, -3.9708609642798742
Google Search reference: Mumbles Lighthouse
What Three Words reference : ///vertical.televise.junior

Additional information
Visiting Mumbles is very easy. Take the M4 motorway west until you see the first exit for Swansea then keep on the coast road through Swansea to the Mumbles.
Mumbles is a seaside town and has lots of parking along the coast and there is also a good car park on the west side at Bracelet Bay (51.566758645490815, -3.9814065526495392) which is called Limeslade bay Car Park.

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Golden Hour at Ogmore Beach

Visit Date: October 2020 - (A PB Repost)

Despite all the great advice, I am not one who necessarily chases for the best light. I would say that I prefer to visit places and take the best photographs I can with what's available.

Although I love photography perhaps equally the "getting out" and enjoying the experience is what I'm after.

If a get a shot that I am happy with that's great if not? Well, there's always next time.

However last weekend the late evening light had been so good that I decided to visit one of the local beaches at "Golden Hour".

The area was very busy despite that we have not been out of lockdown very long and the number of people present made me a little uncomfortable, so the experience was not as good as I hoped, however, I thought I did get some good shots (IMHO).

I don't usually post multiple images of the same scene but in the short space of time, the scene did change.

I hope you like them.

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51.45747282502195, -3.6335104586689715

Google Search reference: Ogmore beach / Ogmore-by-sea

What Three Words reference : ///spine.packages.renovated

Additional information

Visiting Ogmore beach is very easy with car parks located on the beach and along the road.

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Stormy Lime Works

Visit Date: November 2021. .

After seeing a local report where someone had visited this site the information that he gave so interested me in this local area that I ventured out to this abandoned Lime Works and was very surprised by what I found.

The Stormy Lime works I have since heard has been also called the Pyle Lime works, the 'Stormy Stone and Brick Company' and also The Tranch Pyle Lime Works.

The coastal land of South Wales covers seams of limestone and as lime is a highly useful product in a diverse range of industries such as iron smelting, land improving and building, it is not surprising that the lime industry did well here.

There is not much officially known about this quarry but lime works or quarries along with lime kilns are scattered around South Wales and perhaps so commonplace that it was felt this smaller site was nothing out of the ordinary. I guess that would have been the case except for the condition as it stands now.

What surprised me the most about my visit was how the site had been abandoned. It was quite eerie walking around as it has something of a dystopian feel about the place. It looks as if one afternoon all the workers just up and left leaving the heavy machinery, buildings and a great hole behind just to rot.

It seems that this place was opened just after the war and carried on working until its closure in the early 1970s when as I said it was just abandoned.

There has been no effort to remove the tons of rusting machinery here or to try and fill in the void left by the quarry operation., indeed on my visit here, there were a few lads fishing in the lake that had been left by the quarry. I found it strange that this is not a river and with no inlet other than rainfall or outlet I wondered how there could be any fish in the pool however it turns out that the quarry workers stocked the pool and there are some reports of people fishing here since the closure with the common Rudd being the breed here.

Known locally as “Sammy’s pool”, but it is not clear who he is or where he lives had lived but it was the owner of the site, although there are reports that he owned a number of small sites in the area.

With over 50 years passing since the abandonment, nature and the elements have taken their toll on the site with the buildings collapsing and the metal pieces left behind rusting badly however, in the Autumn afternoon sunlight the rust almost made them appear to glow.

Of course, the site has also been visited extensively by local graffiti artists.

Please enjoy these images. (visit location information below)

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51.521917433606, -3.653549611707895

Google Search reference: Stormy Lime Works

What Three Words reference : ///fillings.nuns.canny

N.B I have created a short video of these images on You Tube:-

Stormy Lime Works - YouTube

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