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Waun y Coed Colliery Branch Canal and Tramroad Incline is a post-medieval and modern canal structure located in Wales, protected by Cadw under reference GM400. The monument represents the industrial infrastructure developed to transport coal and minerals from the South Wales coalfield during the period of intensive extraction. The underlying geology of South Wales Upper Coal Measures Formation—comprising mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete deposited during the Westphalian period—made this location economically significant for colliery operations. The incline facilitated the movement of loaded coal wagons via both canal and tramroad systems, connecting pit-head workings to wider distribution networks essential to the region's industrial economy.
The canal and tramroad infrastructure reflects the engineering solutions developed in South Wales to overcome the challenging topography of the coalfield valleys. Inclined planes were critical components of such systems, using either gravity or mechanical power to raise and lower laden wagons between different working levels. This combination of canal and tramroad technology exemplifies the transitional phase between waterborne and rail-based transport that characterised early nineteenth-century industrial Wales.
The monument remains a significant physical record of the technological and economic organisation of coal extraction in South Wales during the industrial period, documented within Cadw's protected heritage inventory for its contribution to understanding post-medieval industrial development.
Waun y Coed Colliery Branch Canal and Tramroad Incline is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference GM400. View the official record →
Waun y Coed Colliery Branch Canal and Tramroad Incline is a post-medieval and modern canal structure located in Wales, protected by Cadw under reference GM400.
Waun y Coed Colliery Branch Canal and Tramroad Incline dates from the post medieval/modern period, and is classified as a canal. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Waun y Coed Colliery Branch Canal and Tramroad Incline 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 GM400.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Neath Abbey Ironworks Calcining Kilns (7.1 km), Neath Abbey Ironworks (7.2 km), Court Herbert Cross & Grave Slab (7.3 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Waun y Coed Colliery Branch Canal and Tramroad Incline'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.
Waun y Coed Colliery Branch Canal and Tramroad Incline stands on South Wales Upper Coal Measures Formation, bedrock that formed in the Westphalian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete.