Report - Cwm Coke, Beddau, South Wales - September 2012

[Seffy]

Cwm Coke, Beddau, South Wales - September 2012

Vistied with whodareswins and END-PROC.

Some history:

There was originally a colliery named "Cwm Colliery" at this site in Beddau, just south of Pontypridd in Rhondda Cynon Taf, that was sunk in 1909. No coal was actually extracted until 1914, however, and then it came from two shafts, Margaret and Mildred which were over 750 yards deep. In 1928 the colliery was taken over by Powell Duffryn Associated Colleries Limited, and at this point it employed over 1000 men. It operated under their name until 1948 when the National Coal Board (NCB) was established to manage the nationalised coal industry in the UK. The NCB updated the colliery in a massive £9 million redevelopment between 1952 and 1960. This included connection Cwm (pronounced "Coomb") to Coedely Tonyrefail, and of course building a massive Cokeworks, Cwm Coke.

In the 70s, the cokeworks alone employed 1,500 men and produced some 515,000 tonnes of coke each year. It continued to do so until 1986, when the NCB was privatised. The colliery ceased production at this point, but the cokeworks were bought buy CPL Industries and continued producing coke right up until 2002. It would have remained open had it not been for the fact it was extremely outdated, in desparete need of modernisation and no one was willing to invest in new technologies.

We set off across the bridge towards Wales on a very wet Sunday morning. Not as early as planned, which was my fault as I was still feeling partially drunk from the night before. But sure enough, after making END-PROC wait at Temple Meads for over an hour (sorry) and then picking up whodareswins even later, we were off.
After hearing tales of Pyestock style security and alsations, we were quite apprehensive whilst making our way into the site, and indeed for the first few hours. It was only after we climbed some ladders in plain view of any possible security huts, we realised that these were tales of the past as there was no security even on site! Perhaps he was off having a Sunday roast? Or maybe he'd lost his sheep. Who knows. This meant that we had a nice relaxed finish to the day, and apart from getting shouted at by an angry man in a window with a very strong welsh accent, all went to plan.

We by no means covered the whole site, as it is so mahoosive. Reminded me quite a lot of Pyestock in size and layout. Just without the Landie racing around though.

Let's get on with some shots.

Thanks for taking a look
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