Dowlais Pit 1
The concrete cap of Dowlais pit number 1 was discovered during the initial box cut works. Archaeological works were then carried out on the area with stone and brick structures soon being discovered.
Dowlais pit number 1 was an ironstone pit dating to the 19th Century, possibly the 1820's. It is first depicted on the 1880's 1st edition OS, but local knowledge suggests that the pit was coming to the end of its lifespan by then. By the 2nd edition OS the pit is marked as disused and only a house and stables is shown. Although pit 1 is indicated as an ironstone mine on the OS, we have no doubt that they mined coal as well as there is a vast amount of working in the coal seams in this area.
The shaft had a square outer retaining stone wall, whilst the inner shaft was oval in shape (image depicting view to the south east). The first question we wanted to answer with regard to the shaft was how were the men and trams getting into and out of the shaft? We were never able to answer this question leading us to believe that this shaft may have been used for pumping out water, or for air ventilation to the workings below. There is a section within the shaft wall that was later blocked off and this section was sat on a metal plate. The metal plate was discovered to have wooden sleepers beneath it for shock absorption. This metal plate appears to be a base for machinery, probably some sort of a of a beam engine.
The beam engine would have been powered by steam. We first found a large furnace complex, which probably dates to the latter half of the 19th century (1850's onwards) and consists of two furnace areas. The furnaces have sunken stoke holes, where there would have been a fire, which would have produced the heat to make the steam. The brick and stone in this area looked as if they had been heat affected and burnt which further supports this theory. Above the stoking areas are long brick avenues, where the cylindrical metal boilers would have been situated. In the north west corner was a square brick chimney with a large flue connecting to it. The flue has a mechanism for controlling the air flow, allowed access or was used to inspect the flue. The yellow firebricks of the chimney were covered in a sooty type of material, further supporting the evidence that this structure was a chimney. We have also found many flues/ culverts for both air and water flows in this area, probably related to the furnace and boiler system. Below this furnace system was a smaller furnace, possibly relating to the earliest phase of the pit. It consisted of a sunken stoking area, where the fire would have been and two parallel brick avenues leading to a chimney. In these brick avenues would have been smaller boilers from which the steam would have been created to power the beam engine.
Additional features have been discovered possibly associated to part of the boiler system. There appears to be a series of inlets/ outlets in its southern face which could be possible access points for raking out the sooty/ ashy material. A possible small metal door has been found in this area which could be an example of a door which could have been in place. There was also a lot of ashy material in the area which further supports the theroy that this flue was raked out through these access channels.
Towards the end of the 19th Century the pit became disused and a family moved into one of the existing buildings (view to the north west of the remains of a stone building). It was a two storey building with two seperate basements, though the family only knew about the eastern basement. By the time we excavated the structure the top floor had already been destroyed but the ground floor and both basements had survived. The house was adapted for two different occupants - a family on one side and an elderly gentleman who had a ground floor room. Excavations on this building revealed three windows and two doorways on the south elevation. Internally the dividing wall of the building has been found to have a spiral staircase built in together with a central range with bread oven and a blocked doorway giving access to the second room. Within the second room was a small fireplace, a stone floor and several recesses in the walls which could have been used for storage. One of the recesses on the western elevation appears to be a blocked window. A flight of stairs was discovered to the east of the structure leading downwards to the eastern basement area. During this time the family built a twin roomed stable as they kept horses and pigs. This building was found to have details such as a stone floor in the northern most room and a brick and a partial wooden floor in the southern most room. The northern most room has additional features such as a doorway in the western face of the building and internally small brick walls which partly divide the space within the area.
Once the post excavation work as been completed which includes examining the finds and carrying out additional research more information will be available about pit 1.