The Vale of Neath and Dulais Valley
In contrast to the narrow Afan Valley, the Vale of Neath (Cwm Nedd) is broad for much of its 
length. It never experienced the intensive heavy industrialisation endured by most of the other valleys, although it most definitely played a similarly significant role in the industrial revolution, e.g. the Neath Abbey Ironworks became one of the country’s greatest engineering concerns producing engines, iron ships, railway locomotives and cast iron rails, including those for the Stockton and Darlington Railway, the first public passenger railway in the world. Today, the remains of those works and others, as well as the Neath-Tennant Canal, are testimony to the role the area played in helping transform the world and are certainly well worth discovering.
Cefn Coed Colliery Museum, home to the largest running winding engine in Wales and the only gas powered passenger tram in the world.
The Afon Dulais joins the River Neath at Aberdulais. The ‘Neath and Dulais Angling Club’ (NADAC) offers salmon, sewin and brown trout fishing on the River Neath and brown trout fishing on the River Dulais.
Travelling down through the Vale along the Heads of the Valleys Road, probably the first thing to strike visitors is the broad, lush, verdant nature of the valley and the magnificently wooded hillsides. Renowned naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace when living there near Cadoxton in 1845 when he started to formulate his revolutionary ideas on evolution, said: ‘I cannot call to mind a single valley that in the same extent of country comprises so much beautiful and picturesque scenery and so many interesting and special features as the Vale of Neath’ In the lower part of the Vale, waterfalls can also be found at Melincourt and Aberdulais as well as cascades at Gnoll Country Park in Neath.
Looking at the area today it is hard to disagree. Nowhere else in Wales has such a wealth and diversity of waterfalls within such a small area as the Vale of Neath with area around the deep gorges of the rivers Pyrddin, Mellte, Hepste and Nedd Fechan often referred to as ‘Waterfall Country’. Many of the falls are spectacular, such as Sgwd-yr-Eira and Sgwd Clun Gwyn, and repay repeated visits throughout the changing seasons.
Pontneddfechan, just outside Glynneath, standing at the confluence of the Mellte and the Nedd Fechan rivers provides an excellent access point to the waterfalls as well as Craig-y-Dinas (Dinas Rock), which is a favourite spot for rock-climbers. The area, which is part of the Fforest Fawr Geopark, also has a number of fascinating relics of its industrial past with trails taking in the former gunpowder works and the famous silica mines. A number of local pubs provide fine fare and sustenance for those who have worked up a thirst and appetite.
Glynneath (Glyn Nedd) a small town situated towards the top end of the Vale of Neath is the hometown of Welsh comedian Max Boyce and Ken Elias, one of Wales’ leading contemporary artists who still lives and works there. Visitors are welcome to play a very picturesque round of golf at Glynneath Golf Club.
Further down the valley is Resolven, just south of which on a tributary of the River Neath is the spectacular 25-metre high Melincourt waterfall, which was painted by Turner in 1794.
Also close to Resolven is the historic, beautiful 120-acre Rheola Estate. Rheola House is a private residence and the estate is not open to the public, but the former aluminium factory next to it is now a traditional Welsh building salvage works and also the site of the highly popular and fascinating weekly Rheola indoor market, reputed to be the largest in Wales, where you never know what you might find.
The upper reaches of the Neath Canal alongside the estate has been restored with over four miles of walkable towpath between Resolven and Glynneath offering excellent views up and down the valley.
Further down the valley, as its name indicates, Aberdulais is where the Dulais and Neath rivers meet. The falls on the Dulais have been harnessed to provide energy since 1584 when it was used originally for smelting copper and later tin. The remains of the water-powered tin works and the fall are now owned by the National Trust. The Turbine House provides access to an interactive display, fish pass and observation window whilst the waterwheel is the largest one in Europe generating electricity.
A few miles further down the valley is Cadoxton, whose picturesque church, dedicated to St Catwg, warrants a visit. However, it is the small cemetery outside that has a tale to tell. Amongst the 30 or so graves, one stands out from all the others, its headstone bearing a chilling epitaph proclaiming in capital letters the word; MURDER. The ‘Murder Stone’ as it is known locally, was erected memory of Margaret Williams in 1822 whose murder still remains shrouded in mystery.
Neath (Castell Nedd) has existed as a settlement since Roman times. A market town, it expanded in the 18th and 19th centuries with the new metal industries. Once the largest abbey in Wales, Neath Abbey, founded by Cistercian monks in 1130, was used by Savigniac monks from western Normandy, but by 1730 much of it was being used for copper smelting. Today, Neath Abbey is a very peaceful historic site to visit.
By the end of the 18th century, Neath Abbey Ironworks had been established. It was here that David ‘Papa’ Thomas, considered to be the father of the American iron industry, commenced work in 1812. The ruins of its impressive furnaces and engine manufactory remain tucked away from view close to the Clydach brook.
The Gnoll Estate was once owned by a wealthy Mackworth family. Today, its has developed into the Gnoll Estate Country Par, which retains many of its original features including historic landscaped gardens, two 18th century cascades, four large duck ponds, and the ruins of Gnoll House.
Legend has it that St Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was born in 385 AD in the village of Banwen in the Dulais Valley, the site of what was a very important Roman fort. On 17 March every year, people in the valley hold their own very special parade to mark St Patrick's Day.
From Banwen, you can join the Sarn Helen Road, a major Roman thoroughfare high on the hills, linking the port of Nidum (Neath) in the south with the stronghold at Segontium (Caernarfon) in the north, which enjoys spectacular panoramas over the Black Mountains and Brecon Beacons and south to the coast.
Seven Sisters once a major centre of the anthracite mining industry, lies at the heart of the Dulais Valley. Humphrey Jennings’ classic film, The Silent Village, was filmed here in 1943. Award-winning ‘Call of the Wild’ outdoor activities are based in the village.
Cefn Coed Colliery, near the village of Crynant, was once the deepest anthracite coal mine in the world and one of the most dangerous in Wales, earning the terrifying sobriquet, ‘The Slaughterhouse’. Its story and the history of mining in the Dulais Valley can be discovered at the fascinating
