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Cwm Pit and head of railway is a post-medieval and modern coal mine situated in Wales. The site exploits the coal-bearing strata of the Pennine Middle Coal Measures Formation and South Wales Middle Coal Measures Formation, which underlie the landscape. These rocks, formed during the Moscovian period, comprise mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal seams, ironstone and ferricrete, and were laid down in ancient swamp and deltaic environments hundreds of millions of years ago. The presence of multiple mineable coal layers made this location suitable for extraction during the industrial expansion of Welsh mining.
The mine comprises a pit worked from the surface and associated railway infrastructure, reflecting the typical arrangement of collieries developed during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The railway head would have facilitated transport of coal from the pit to wider distribution networks, a characteristic feature of industrial mining operations in South Wales. Such railways were essential to the economic viability of individual pits and connected them to ports and industrial centres.
The site is now protected and recorded as a monument of post-medieval and modern heritage significance by Cadw, the Welsh heritage agency, under reference number GM607. This recognition reflects the historical importance of coal mining to Welsh industry and landscape, preserving evidence of the technological and labour systems that shaped the region's development during the industrial era.
Cwm Pit and head of railway is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference GM607. View the official record →
Cwm Pit and head of railway is a post-medieval and modern coal mine situated in Wales. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference GM607.
Cwm Pit and head of railway dates from the post medieval/modern period, and is classified as a mine. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Cwm Pit and head of railway is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Cadw — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Wales. The official designation reference is GM607.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Brynbychan Round Cairn (5.7 km), Cefn Merthyr Round Cairns (5.8 km), Rhos-Gwawr cairn cemetery (6.2 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Cwm Pit and head of railway's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Cwm Pit and head of railway stands on Pennine Middle Coal Measures Formation And South Wales Middle Coal Measures Formation (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Moscovian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete.