Machen Coal Spoil

South Wales is synonomous with coal mines, all of which are now closed; many you would never know existed as all traces have been obliterated.

The only trace that there was a coal mine/s in Machen is the 0.25+ mile long coal spoil on top of the mountain that is about 40-50 feet high and can easily be seen from Cardiff, along with Machen Mast which is nearby. There must be hundreds of thousands of tonnes of coal spoil which has been dumped there, up until about 1950 from what I can gather. Nature has started to reclaim it with litchen, moss and grass turning it a shade of green. It appears there were quite a few mines in the area and the history is quite complex. I've posted a question on this coal spoil, online, to try and find more out about it as there doesn't seem to be anything on the internet - unusually! It may even have come from a coal mine in Risca which is the other side of the valley to Machen.

I've climbed up and walked it's spine on many many occasions marvelling the view over The Bristol Channel(Flat & Steep Holme Islands can be seen in the blip picture), Cardiff, and even the Severn Bridges!

Hopefully the blip picture will give you an idea of what I've just mentioned. A man made scar on the landscape that is now being reclaimed by nature . Once an eyesore, it's now blending in and would be missed if it was ever removed. Probably there for all eternity now.