19th century colliery building demolished
A 19TH-CENTURY colliery building discovered in a Merthyr mine has been knocked down.
The remains of an engine house uncovered at Ffos-y-fran opencast mining site has been demolished.
The structure, known as the Tyle Dowlais Pit Building, was uncovered by site owners Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd – formerly Miller Argent – in December 2017.
Since then reports by Cadw and consultancy firm Archaeology Wales have found the building to be of no historical significance. The structure, found in the UK’s largest opencast coalmine, was also found to sit on top of two old mine shafts.
Georgina Taubman, environmental officer at Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd, said the building was demolished on Tuesday after it was discovered buried under coil spoil.
She said: “We anticipated it coming up from the old historical records from the area. We discovered it where we thought it would be and contacted the GlamorganGwent Archaeological Trust who acted on behalf of the local authority.
“They said given that the site is not a particularly rare type of building they had no issue with it being taken down. There was nothing of sufficient interest for it to be scheduled. We have much better versions of the building elsewhere.”
According to the reclamation scheme, plans for the building date back to 1844. It is believed to have housed winches to help mine ironstone near the pit head.
Since its discovery, concerns have been raised over trespassers visiting the “unstable” site.
Ms Taubman added: “We raised concerns as it is a pit head and there are mine shafts in the area. We have done everything required and everything is above board. “