Aberdulais is a village and electoral ward in

Neath Port Talbot Neath Port Talbot ( cy, Castell-nedd Port Talbot) is a county borough in the south-west of Wales. Its principal towns are Neath, Port Talbot, Briton Ferry and Pontardawe. The county borough borders Bridgend County Borough and Rhondda Cynon Taf ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, lying on the River Neath, in the

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

of Blaenhonddan. The village grew around the

Aberdulais Falls The Aberdulais Falls are found on the River Dulais at Aberdulais, near Neath in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales. The falls are formed as the river plunges over beds of hard Pennant Measures, Lower Pennant Sandstone just before meet ...

, the site of successive industries and now a

hydro-electric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...

station. The

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

owns and administers the site. The name Aberdulais is from the Welsh for the mouth of the River Dulais.

Industrial history

Aberdulais has a lengthy industrial history thanks to the abundant supply of energy derived from the waterfall and the presence in the vicinity of coal and timber. The first business here was a

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

smelting Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a ...

industry, using ore delivered via boat from

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

. Over the years the site was successively used as an ironworks, a cornmill and a

tinplate Tinplate consists of sheets of steel coated with a thin layer of tin to impede rusting. Before the advent of cheap milled steel, the backing metal was wrought iron. While once more widely used, the primary use of tinplate now is the manufacture ...

works. The Welsh tinplate industry was very successful for a time, until the American government levied heavy duties on imported tinplate. The present water wheel is a modern steel structure in diameter. It generates electricity for use on the site, any excess current being fed into the national grid.

Other history

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, various artists visited the falls to paint. In 1795, J. M. W. Turner used a sketch he made here of the waterfall and cornmill to paint his watercolour "Aberdulais Mill, Glamorganshire" which hangs at the National Library of Wales.

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...

also painted here.

Amenities and attractions

Local attractions include a

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

and the

Cefn Coed Colliery Museum Cefn Coed Colliery Museum is a former coal mine, now operating as a museum. It is located at Crynant near Neath in the South Wales Valleys. Background Coal mining in the Neath area began with the development of the port of Neath in the 16th ...

. Aberdulais Falls and the associated industrial infrastructure are in the care of the

in recognition of the site's value as a key part of the region's

industrial heritage Industrial heritage refers to the physical remains of the history of technology and industry, such as manufacturing and mining sites, as well as power and transportation infrastructure. Another definition expands this scope so that the term a ...

. The water wheel at Aberdulais falls produces £20,000 worth of electricity that powers the site, and the surplus is sold back to the national grid. Several of the old buildings remain, and the tall smokestack of the tinplate works towers above the site. The school house for the children of the workers survives. The remains of a bridge that formerly linked the site by a tramway to the Tennant Canal can be seen.

Government and politics

Aberdulais is also the name of an electoral ward covering the village. It is a constituent of the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

of Blaenhonddan. The electoral ward of Aberdulais includes some or all of the settlements of Aberdulais and Cilfrew in the

parliamentary constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

of Neath. Most of the ward consists of woodland and farmland with a small residential area to the far south. Aberdulais is bounded by the wards of

Crynant Crynant ( cy, Y Creunant) is a village and community in the Dulais Valley in Wales. It lies 7¾ miles north-east from the town of Neath in Neath Port Talbot, situated between the mountains of Mynydd Marchywel to the west, Hirfynydd to the east ...

to the north;

Resolven Resolven ( cy, Resolfen) is a small village and community in Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. It is located in the Vale of Neath. Location The village is situated in the Vale of Neath, north east of the town of Neath, next to the A465 ...

to the east; Tonna to the south; and Cadoxton and

Bryncoch North Bryncoch North is an electoral ward of Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales forming part of the parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the past ...

to the west. In the 2017 local council elections the results were: In the 2012 local council elections, the electorate turnout was 40.81%. The results were:

References

External links

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Cwmdulais Historical Societywww.geograph.co.uk : photos of Aberdulais and surrounding areaAberdulais Sion Calvinistic Methodist Chapel monumental inscriptions and images
{{authority control Villages in Neath Port Talbot Vale of Neath Dulais Valley Electoral wards of Neath Port Talbot