Wales and Marches group visit to Navigation Colliery

Event details

Saturday 8 November, 10.30am

Join the Wales and Marches group for a walk around the remaining buildings of the Navigation Colliery, a mine that was opened in 1911. It is the finest example of brick buildings architecture amongst any coal mine in South Wales which were usually stone or steel framed sheds.

The tour will start at the lower level with a description of the site by John Cranna who is a local structural engineer and a volunteer for the Friends of the Navigation who hope to restore the buildings for community use. The buildings are a mixture of Grade II and II* listing and probably represent about half of the buildings/structures actually present when the mine was running. It closed in 1967.

The colliery buildings are on two levels with the fan house (forced ventilation of the mine) and power house on the lower level and pay office, lamp house and workshops and two winding gear houses to operate the lifts down the two shafts. The lower levels had many ancillary buildings associated with grading and sorting the coal for transport by rail to Newport or Cardiff docks.

You will need

Please wear warm, comfortable layers and sturdy and closed-toed shoes. Some parts of the site get quite muddy. We recommend bringing a raincoat or umbrella as part of it will be outdoors.

We will supply tea, coffee, biscuits.

How to get there

Navigation Colliery, Crumlin, Caerphilly, NP11 3AY

There are no easy public transport options, but there is ample parking at the site.

Accessibility

Access to the site and the lower part of the site is all level. There is a slight incline walk up to the higher level. Wheelchair access is available to the lower part only.

There is ample parking and toilets are available.

Anything we can do to make this event more accessible for you? Please email membership@spab.org.uk.

Photos and filming:We may take photos or videos at this event to be used in future promotion, including in print and online. Participants may take photos and short videos for personal use, with permission of the course leader and all other participants in frame. If you want to post on social media, please message SPAB's Comms Team (press@spab.org.uk or @spab1877) for permission. If your material is good, we might ask to share it with our followers.

All bookings are subject to our Terms and Conditions.

Photo credit: MJ Roscoe, CC-BY-SA via Wikimedia Commons