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Overspill water after heavy autumn rain.
©Gareth Davies
Dist:0.1km<br/>This footpath between Longford and Penshanel was formerly the route taken by the railway line owned by the Main Colliery Co. taking coal from Bryncoch Pit down the Skewen incline to Skewen Wharf
©Dai Bevan
Dist:0.1km<br/>This view scanned from a print taken in the 1960s, shows in the foreground, Darran Woods and the row of houses at Penshanel. The fields between there and the village of Longford (centre of picture) have now been built on. Beyond Longford is Taillwyd, where the fields have again been replaced by houses. Towards the top centre of the picture is the Village of Caewern, and in the background the Neath Valley runs between the two sets of hills.
©Dai Bevan
Dist:0.4km<br/>These falls were formerly the site of a large waterwheel used to power the old Neath Abbey Ironworks that were situated below the falls.
©Dai Bevan
Dist:0.5km<br/>The falls on the river Clydach in full spate, the power that once drove the wheels of industry going to waste. The pool into which it falls was once known to older residents of the area as Pwll Ddu - (Black Pool).
©Robert Davies
Dist:0.5km<br/>Autumn after Heavy Rain
©Gareth Davies
Dist:0.5km<br/>Machinery at the dam at Cwm Clydach pond. The dam was constructed in 1840 to ensure a constant supply of water for the water-wheels of the Neath Abbey Ironworks further downstream.
©Robert Davies
Dist:0.8km<br/>The top of one of the two blast furnaces of the 19th Century Neath Abbey Ironworks. This picture taken on Longford road, just south of the point where it is crossed by the main London-Swansea railway line.
©Dai Bevan
Dist:0.8km<br/>The two blast furnaces of the 19th C ironworks, immediately South of the railway line on the banks of the River Clydach at Neath Abbey. The furnaces were charged from the top (see other pictures)
©Dai Bevan
Dist:0.9km<br/>This former gateway to the Abbey is situated on the north side of the main Neath to Skewen road, and lies between Neath Abbey Infants School and the Hope & Anchor pub.
©Dai Bevan
Dist:1.0km<br/>The remains of the abutments of the bridge over the river Clydach that once carried the tramway that served Fire Engine Pit.
©Robert Davies
Dist:1.0km south<br/>Viewed from the back of the industrial area (north)
©Chris Shaw
Dist:1.1km south<br/>
©Kevin Trahar
Dist:1.1km south<br/>The ruins, now in the care of Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council, are those of an abbey founded by Richard de Granville in 1130 and established as a ‘daughter house’ of that of Savigny in Normandy. All Sivigniac monasteries were absorbed into the Cistercian order in 1147 it and the Neath Abbey became quite a wealthy house after early economic difficulties. Its estate expanded as far as Devon, Somerset as well as the nearby county of Glamorgan. The community soon outgrew the original 12th-century buildings necessitating major reconstruction throughout the 13th and 14th centuries. The remains of the west range are relatively complete and date from 1170-1220. The lay brothers, the manual workers on the estate, initially occupied this. The abbey church was rebuilt in the period 1280 to 1330 and the high quality of the architecture can be seen in the remnants of the original building. Dissolved in 1539, the estate passed to Sir Richard Williams in 1542 and he was responsible for regenerating its fortunes and it was either him, or perhaps his son, who converted the south-eastern part of the cloister ranges into a grand mansion. This was built over the monk's dormitory and latrine, and is recognised today by its large rectangular windows of dressed stone. By 1600 property had passed to Sir John Herbert and it remained occupied throughout the 17th century. With the passage of time the abbey precinct was turned into a copper smelting and casting workshop but this in turn passed into history until, in the early 1920’s, the site was gradually cleared of the industrial debris that had accumulated from this period of its existence. Today the Abbey ruins offer a quiet retreat beside the Tennant Canal.We have Henry VIII to thank for these beautiful ruins, and others like it, but can only wonder at what glories they might have become had they not been destroyed.
©Mick Lobb
Dist:1.1km south<br/>The ruins, now in the care of Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council, are those of an abbey founded by Richard de Granville in 1130 and established as a ‘daughter house’ of that of Savigny in Normandy. All Sivigniac monasteries were absorbed into the Cistercian order in 1147 it and the Neath Abbey became quite a wealthy house after early economic difficulties. Its estate expanded as far as Devon, Somerset as well as the nearby county of Glamorgan. The community soon outgrew the original 12th-century buildings necessitating major reconstruction throughout the 13th and 14th centuries. The remains of the west range are relatively complete and date from 1170-1220. The lay brothers, the manual workers on the estate, initially occupied this. The abbey church was rebuilt in the period 1280 to 1330 and the high quality of the architecture can be seen in the remnants of the original building. Dissolved in 1539, the estate passed to Sir Richard Williams in 1542 and he was responsible for regenerating its fortunes and it was either him, or perhaps his son, who converted the south-eastern part of the cloister ranges into a grand mansion. This was built over the monk's dormitory and latrine, and is recognised today by its large rectangular windows of dressed stone. By 1600 property had passed to Sir John Herbert and it remained occupied throughout the 17th century. With the passage of time the abbey precinct was turned into a copper smelting and casting workshop but this in turn passed into history until, in the early 1920’s, the site was gradually cleared of the industrial debris that had accumulated from this period of its existence. Today the Abbey ruins offer a quiet retreat beside the Tennant Canal.We have Henry VIII to thank for these beautiful ruins, and others like it, but can only wonder at what glories they might have become had they not been destroyed.
©Mick Lobb

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