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After decades of dereliction, broken promises and growing frustration, Llanhilleth residents are once again being told the former Pithead Baths will finally be demolished. But with bats, delays and uncertainty over what comes next, will this really be the end of the building’s long and troubled story? The Valleys Lead spoke with one resident to find out why he is so keen for the building to come down, and what he’d like in its place.
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The Valleys Briefing
(A little round-up of some stories in brief from our valleys. Anytime you have something you’d like to share, no matter how big or small, email laurencrosbymedlicott@gmail.com):
Two giant shipping containers placed in a front garden in Pontypool without planning permission can remain in place, planners have agreed. The containers are 5.5 metres high and wide and have a combined length of 6.25 metres and are being used for domestic storage. After an objection about the height of the containers and their overpowering visual impact was raised, Torfaen Borough Council’s heritage officer Ross Cannon said with a condition to ensure the containers are clad as proposed in the application there would be no objection as it was considered they would have a “neutral impact on the character and appearance” of the canal conservation area.
This is the view of the containers in front of the the house, and from Wern Road, in Sebastopol, Pontypool. Picture: Torfaen County Borough Council planning file. The Festival of Rail Walking, a four-day walking festival organised by Railwalks and Cardiff Ramblers, will explore the south Wales valleys with guided routes taking walkers between railway stations through the hills and mountains. On each of the four days, there are different routes of varying difficulty on offer. In the evenings walkers will be meeting teach other in pubs or restaurants. The walking tour will run from 9 to 12 October. All walks are free, but booking is required.
21 October marks 60 years since the Aberfan disaster, when a colliery spoil tip collapsed after heavy rain, killing 116 children and 28 adults. The Valleys Lead wants to remember those who lost their lives, and the ongoing impact it has had in Aberfan and the wider Merthyr Tydfil area. Please email laurencrosbymedlicott@gmail.com if you or someone you know remembers that day decades ago.
Llanhilleth Pithead Baths demolition delayed again
Every morning since 1978, Anthony Beach, 77, has looked out the front window of his terraced house and seen the red-brick, derelict building that was once used by coal miners working at Llanhilleth Colliery to clean themselves and their clothing after work before returning home.
The Llanhilleth Pithead Baths, one of several miners’ baths built across the south Wales valleys, opened in 1941.
Before the baths opened, miners would return home covered in dirt and coal dust and wash in a tin bath in front of the fire or outside. The walk home in sweaty mine water, often in cold weather, put them at risk of contracting pneumonia, bronchitis and rheumatism.
Women would work hard to clean coal dust from their homes and prepare baths for the miners. It was never-ending, back-breaking work, with the exhaustion and physical strain often leading to serious health problems, including premature births and miscarriages. Hundreds of children also lost their lives after falling into boiling-hot bath water.
After closing in 1969, the Llanhilleth Pithead Baths building was intermittently used by other companies for light industry. But for decades, it has remained an eyesore for residents like Anthony.
“I’ve been campaigning and writing letters asking what is going on with it,” Anthony told The Valleys Lead.
Anthony and his daughter-in-law Angharad, who lives next door to him, have watched cracks develop along the structure of the old building, and Anthony has told the Welsh Government that he is concerned it could collapse, putting himself and others – including children who sneak into the building – at risk.
“They’ve sent engineers and said it was stable,” he said.
The site has also attracted anti-social behaviour, Anthony said. He recalled cars being abandoned both in the car park and inside the building, before subsequently being burned.
“One time, a chap came down and brought 20 cars and put them inside the building,” he said. “He said he was storing them. I told him to get them out. He told me to get lost – that it had nothing to do with me. In a couple of days, somebody went in and set fire to the lot of them.”
For years, Anthony has listened to local politicians promise that the building was “coming down”, but he said those promises haven’t been kept.