The Three Pyramids Of Llanbradach

You've all heard of the three pyramids of Giza (Egypt) built between 2550 to 2490 B.C.  Well, here is the Welsh entry, the Three Pyramids Of Llanbradach built 1890 to 1961 A.D.


The coal spoils are from Llanbradach Colliery which in 1913 was one of the largest pits in South Wales employing 2,832 men. Part of the colliery working are still above Llanbradach village which is to the right of the blip picture and out of view.

I blipped this coal slag heap last week in a stunning sunset As I had never been up close to them, but often see them as I drive along Llanbradach by-pass from Blackwood to Caerphilly I thought I'd locate them with a view to getting a closer photograph. That led to me being stuck last Sunday as some of you may recall. Well, today I got my photograph.

'Sparserunner' suggested that it was spoil from coal and slag from metal. On looking it up it apears that this is probably more correct, but you can get slag from coal. When coal is “fired” at over 2500 degrees it melts and produces a by-product called slag. Wikipedia says Spoil tips are not formed of slag, but in some areas they are referred to as slag heaps. They are the overburden or other waste rock removed during coal mining.

Spoil tips may be conical in shape, and can appear as conspicuous features of the landscape, or they may be much flatter and eroded. In Loos-en-Gohelle in the former mining area of Pas-de-Calais, France are a series of five, very perfect cones, of which two reach 590 feet.

I hope you enjoy the photograph of the industrial South Wales landscape and the explanation is interesting.