On my recent jaunt around South Wales I got to explore a location that was very high on my 'to do list' of sites on my home turf. Granted, that list currently isn't very long at all, but this was on the top of the pile having been closed since 2008 and practically forgotten about in the exploring community because of much bigger and higher profile colliery closures that have taken place over the last few years.

This place was every bit as great as I had expected, the decay in some areas is awesome, and the winding house is epic. After about two and a half hours on site we were alerted to the noise of a vehicle arriving, and after the coast seemed clear we ventured out of our little hiding spot to see what was going on. Soon after up pulled security, who turned out to be an ex-miner from the colliery who had spent forty years down the mine and now worked as security for the site. He pointed out the CCTV cameras and said that they were all active and get monitored at the active open-cast mine just down the road. He was absolutely sound, a really nice guy to talk to about the place, he was only slightly annoyed that we had made him get out of bed on a Sunday morning!

1


2


3


4


5


6


7


8


9


10


11


12


13


14


15


16


17


18


19


20


21


22


23


24


25


26


I hope you enjoyed my take on what was one of my favourite home-grown explores this year!

In retrospect, I feel like a dumb-ass that while reading your introduction I had to jump to another search window to find out what a colliery was. You'd think here in Canada I'd have heard the term frequently, but in southern Ontario there is no such thing. So I'm glad to have the ability to explore one through your eyes. I'm really liking the paint-peelie goodness here and what the heck? - I was not expecting to see a sauna, of all things. My favorite shot is #19, mainly because of the contrast and dark shadows.

Glad to hear that security was cordial.

I did wonder whether the word colliery would translate into American/Canadian English, or whether it was a European thing!

The sauna was a completely unexpected surprise to me as well, it was hidden away in a back room in the main wash building.

Nice shadows!

Awesome set man this place looks huge. Any idea what those are in #9?

Your ninja skills may be slipping a little but your choice of sites and shooting is spot on
A very cool shoot!

Posted by mookster I did wonder whether the word colliery would translate into American/Canadian English, or whether it was a European thing! The sauna was a completely unexpected surprise to me as well, it was hidden away in a back room in the main wash building.

In the US the coal processing plants are referred to as coal breakers.

In Australia, "colliery" generally refers to an underground coal mine. In the United States "colliery" has historically been used to describe a coal mine operation, but the word today is not commonly used.

Colliery in the UK is still a catch-all word to mean a coal mine but mainly refers to it's above ground facilities.

As for what's in #9, I believe they are a kind of respirator with filter but I'm probably wrong.

This is incredible man. Really nice work.