Another Gower Mystery (or 'Arches Arches Everywhere')

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Scruffyone

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Gowerton, Swansea
Went out earlier for a quick nosey, its another site I'm not too sure about. Some people have said it was a kiln, some have said it was an old brickworks, OS maps don't mention it at all, and an old map I looked at mentioned a colliery nearby.
Google maps link here
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?t=h&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=51.632248,-4.080241&spn=0.000406,0.003455&z=18

If anyone has an idea, I would be grateful. Anyway, on with the pics.

This is what I think of as the front of the stucture. It's just one massive chamber, with a vaulted ceiling.
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This is the right hand side of the same view, there was a narrow tunnel or walkway.
3206300467_c4aa5149bc.jpg


Rear View of the above tunnel
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View of the rear of the structure. The tunnel leads through to the main chamber
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Close up of the above tunnel
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The vaulted ceiling of the main chamber
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The right hand side of the structure
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I did take more pics than this. Unfortunately I was a bit of a shitwig with my new camera and most of them ended up in the bin (which is why the first two pics are black and white, its the only way I could save em) :(. I will have to go back and get more......
 
Interesting. I know that collieries used a lot of bricks, so it could well have been a brickworks. Possibly a coking plant maybe?
 
I think Andy is on the ball with his second nomination - coke production. The structure looks very like a retort house and nothing like the usual brick kilns of the period, and the mention of an old colliery on OS maps must be a big pointer to its use. Whilst there are examples of brick kilns being built alongside early construction sites such as collieries, remains that I have seen indicate these were of a very crude temporary construction.

Scruffyone, keep up on the black and white images, your first photograph is very atmospheric and along with the other black and white image give one a true feeling of the place. It's always nice to see good examples of the 'art' side of photography coming to the fore.
 
Used to drive past it every day on the way to work! If you carry straight on down Cefyn Stylle Road, rather than turning left to get there (when coming from 3 crosses), halfway down is a fabulous derelict cottage
 
yup, its on the way to my house, and its on my to do list. this weekend hopefully. There is another very interesting place i found too, but needs a proper look before i commit it to my CF card! :lol:

Found out that this coke oven/retort house would probably have been connected to the 'Wernbwll' colliery. Apparently there is a commemorative plaque for a big explosion that happened there.

more info here

http://www.welshcoalmines.co.uk/GlamWest/Wernbwll.htm

I think that the remains of the bridge can be seen just past the 'Sea Garden' restaurant on the way to Penclawdd. Oh dear, seems like I've just started down the road to quite an extensive report. :lol: I'll update this thread soon with more pics and info.
 

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