Big Pit National Coal Museum

Big Pit was originally an iron mine, driven into the side of the mountain not far from the surface due to the shallow iron deposits, the level is called Engine Pit Level and can still be seen on the bridge connecting Blaenavon and Garn Rd at . The Iron Workings are above the Big Pit coal workings, for some time Engine Pit Level was used as an emergency exit for Big Pit whilst it was working, now the River Arch Level is the escape route. Engine Pit Level was driven around 1810 by hand due to dynamite being invented 5 decades later, there are no known records of the iron mine. There are a few pictures online showing the interior of the Engine Level from the 1960s when miners from Big Pit…

Intentionally preserved as an operational attraction, the site was redeveloped in 2003, with design work from TACP/Brooke Millar Partnership. The pit props and steel bands are not for show, but to hold up the mine roof. The water flowing down the tunnel towards the cages is authentic, apart from the fact that it now flows down a channel rather than over the miners' feet. The museum features a range of above ground attractions including a winding house, saw mill, pithead, baths. Visitors are also taken below ground to the pit bottom where they tour the mine workings. A number of buildings at the site have protected status. The Powder House, Saw mill Office and the Electrical Workshop, were…