Wales has lots to offer in terms of its industrial heritage,
with many industrial treasures which are well worth a
visit — including a site of such industrial importance it
has been granted World Heritage status. The World
Heritage landscape of Blaenavon, in the heart of the south
Wales valleys, offers numerous attractions including the
opportunity to experience life as a miner at Big Pit
National Coal Museum, and as a worker at the Blaenavon
Ironworks, a site which had a significant impact on the
world as we know it today. Further west is home to
the National Wool Museum, located in the historic former
Cambrian Mills, and in the heart of the Snowdonia
mountains in north Wales is the National Slate Museum.
All four corners of Wales have an industrial story to tell…
Industrial heritage itinerary:
explore the rich industrial heritage of Wales
Just under an hour’s drive from the capital city of Cardiff,
in the famous south Wales Valleys stand Blaenavon
Ironworks. The ironworks were a milestone in the history
of the Industrial Revolution and at the time were at the
cutting-edge of new technology. The power of steam was
harnessed and a way of making steel using iron-ore was
developed, which led to a worldwide boom in the steel
industry, taking Wales’s industrial might to a new height.
Visitors to the site can see the refurbished Stack Square
cottages, to see how the workers lived through the ages,
and the recreated company truck shop. New, cutting-edge
audio-post technology helps bring the story of the
Ironworks to life like never before. The landscape of
Blaenavon has gained World Heritage status as a result of
its revolutionary form and function. From mines to train
lines, you can still trace the routes in and routes out, from
raw material to finished product.
At the heart of the UNESCO World Heritage landscape
of Blaenavon, around the corner from the Ironworks lies
Big Pit, a former working coal mine. This award-winning
museum offers an experience unparalleled in the
country, and one of only two sites in the UK where
visitors can go underground in an original coal mine.
Guided by ex-miners, visitors descend over 90 metres to
the very depths of the mine and get a taste of what life
was like for those who made their living at the coal face.
There are further facilities to educate and entertain all
ages above ground, including a multi-media virtual tour in
the Mining Galleries and exhibitions in the Pithead Baths
and historic colliery buildings. Admission is free.
Blaenavon Ironworks
Big Pit National Coal Museum
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2
Located in the heart of west Wales’s countryside, the
National Wool Museum tells the story of the once-
thriving woollen industry in Teifi Valley, which dominated
the area during its peak in the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries. This gem of a museum is housed in
an original mill building, where industrial machinery and
live weaving displays can be seen which bring to life the
process of 'fleece to fabric'. This once mighty industry
produced clothing, shawls and blankets for the workers
of Wales and the rest of the world. Admission is free.
National Wool Museum
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Blaenavon and Big Pit can be reached from Cardiff in just under an hour. The journey time from Swansea to the National
Wool Museum is just over an hour. The National Slate Museum is situated in the north Wales village of Llanberis at the
foot of Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales, and approx. 1.5 hours from Liverpool.
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Industrial heritage itinerary: explore the rich industrial heritage of Wales
Housed in original quarry workshops in the
Snowdonia mountains, the National Slate
Museum tells the story of life in Wales’s slate
communities when the Welsh slate industry
‘roofed the world’. As well as opportunities
to see the foundry, forges, sheds and the
largest working waterwheel in the UK,
skilled craftsmen also give live demonstrations
of the art of splitting and dressing slate by
hand. The National Slate Museum is twinned
with the Slate Valley Museum in Granville, NY,
USA, reinforcing the links between Welsh
communities on both sides of the Atlantic.
Admission is free.
National Slate Museum
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3National Wool Museum
4National
Slate Museum
2Big PitNational Coal Museum
1BlaenavonIronworks