Pit Head Baths
Every day women had had back-breaking work, carrying bucket after bucket of cold water from the outside pump, or later the kitchen tap, to boil on an open coal fire, kept alight by carrying bucket after bucket of coal from the cwch on the backyard.This coal had already been carried bucket after bucket from the back lane or the road in front of the terraced house into the coal cwch. This heavy work resulted in premature births, and miscarriages ensuring the lifespan of women (around 40 years,) at this time was even shorter than that of their husbands risking life and limb down the pit. These pithead baths also reduced the number fo women and children receiving scalds and burns, whilst the boiling water was transferred from the hob to the tin bath.
The Pit Head Baths closed in 1969 and has been used intermittently by other companies for light industry.
But residents have campaigned for years to get rid of the building, Blaenau Gwent council is consulting with residents on plans to bring the site back into use as housing.
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