Cefn Coed Colliery Boilerhouse

Cadw's description

Location

Located at the Cefn Coed Colliery Museum in the Dulais Valley, on the A4109 two miles north of Aberdulais. The boilers are in the centre of the Museum complex, housed beneath a corrugated roof.

History

Cefn Coed Colliery was sunk in 1926-7 at that time being the deepest anthracite mine in the world with two shafts over 732m deep. The colliery began production of high-quality anthracite in 1930, employed over 900 men in 1945 and closed in 1968. The site remained in use in association with the Blaenant Drift Mine in the valley floor to the south, which was driven in the 1960s and closed in 1990. The Cefn Coed Colliery Museum was established in 1978 and has within its area at the side of the site several important monuments, including the colliery’s chimney, compressor house, electrical generating house, two headframes and the winding house of No 2 shaft with the original steam winding engines. The boilers supplied steam to both the surviving engines for winding No 2 shaft and to the engine house (now demolished) for No 1 shaft. The boilers originally stood in the open air but are now covered.

Exterior

The row of six Lancashire boilers survive in excellent condition from their installation in 1926/7. The earliest of the boilers was re-used from another site and dates to 1910. Four of the six were converted in 1958 to run on methane gas brought from the mine workings rather than coal. They are of wrought iron, set in a brick plinth, and stood in the open air in this form. A modern cover structure now protects them.

Reason for designation

Listed at grade II* as the sole remaining set of colliery steam boilers in Wales, and for group value with this exceptionally complete colliery complex.