Blaenavon Ironworks - Big Pit Mining Museum

"Big Pit" ("Pwll Mawr"), Blaenavon's ironworks, ceased production at the beginning of 1980 after more than a century. Three years later the old blast furnaces and foundries were reopened as a mining museum. Even the tower of the hydraulic lift, with which the ore-laden iron wagons used to be raised on to the loading ramp, has survived. As well as touring the workshops, winding engines and workers' residential area, entry to the 328ft/100m-deep shaft gives visitors an impression of the hard life of a miner. The tours below ground (warm clothes are recommended) are sometimes led by former miners.