Jonboy
 Second Officer
Flight distance : 436152 ft
United Kingdom
Offline
|
Not steal coal lol
The Navigation Colliery was built between 1907 and 1911 by the firm of Partridge Jones and
Company. Two shafts were sunk into the Black Vein coal seam which runs under Crumlin and forms
part of
the geological sequence known as the South Wales coalfield. By 1935 the Colliery was
employing 86 men on the surface and 358 men
underground.
Early collieries were usually made of local stone which was easy and cheap to quarry locally. More
expensive brick was used only around window and door openings.
However, the Navigation Colliery
was one of the first to be made completely out of brick. This was used creatively, with the red
brick of the buildings being set-off with eye-catching yellow brick pilasters.
Inside, the buildings were also fitted-out to a high standard, with wood panelled offices and up-to-
date machinery. The Navigation Colliery was built with the aim of creating an outstanding set of
buildings and it is now considered to be one of the best examples of Edwardian industrial
architecture in the country.
At the time of construction the coal industry in South Wales was booming, drawing in people from
all over the world. The mines also supported local communities that had developed
their own
unique way of life, which was closely connected to the mines. By the early twentieth century,
South Wales was the largest coal-exporting area in the world, with high quality anthracite and
steam coal powering the globe’s rapidly developing merchant and naval fleets. This is reflected in
the name “Navigation”, a name given
to other collieries that were supplying the maritime
industry with coal. The name was a badge of distinction, denoting that the coal produced in these
collieries was of a sufficiently high quality to be used in the world’s new steam-driven vessels.
However, in 1937 production suffered when miners digging into the Black Vein breached an
underground lake. Water
entered half-way up the mine shafts and led to emergency pumping
operations being put in place. As a result, the bottom of the pit had to be raised by 39 metres.
Despite this setback, the Colliery still employed 79 men on the surface and 336
underground
in
1947, when the industry was nationalised and it continued to be highly productive during the
1950s. Peak production was reached in 1954, when 145,129 tons of coal was produced. However,
by the 1960s
the
coal industry was generally in decline and in 1967 Navigation Colliery closed.
After closure some of the Colliery buildings were used for light industrial use, including car and
furniture workshops. However, as the buildings were expensive to maintain, they slowly fell into
disrepair and suffered fire damage and vandalism. Despite this, the quality of the buildings means
that
they have survived relatively well and they remain one of the best preserved sets of colliery
buildings in Wales, and probably in the UK.
For this reason the buildings at the Navigation Colliery have been listed Grade II and II* by Cadw, in
recognition of their outstanding architecture.
The site is now being slowly transformed into a community project through the hard work of
volunteers and with the help of experts. Regeneration projects take time to develop and can take
many years to come to fruition. In the case of the Navigation Project, the aim is to repair the
buildings gradually, through the use of own labour and community involvement, with the aim
of
finding end uses for the buildings that will serve the local community and help create employment
again on the site. |
|
Captain
Core User of DJI
First Officer
. Great Shots 