soozsnapz

By soozsnapz

Parc Slip - Wales Wildlife Trust site

Is near Bridgend in South Wales. I met some friends there today for a walk. 
Parc Slip was a deep coal mine opened in 1864. The main is a wooden sculpture commemorating the miners, and their young sons who went down the pits with them. In 1892 there was an explosion while the miners were at work. 39 people were rescued, and 112 men and boys died. The second extra shows the pavement to remember those individuals - there’s 112 black bricks, with the name and age of each person who died, and 39 named red bricks for the survivors, who were not lucky, I think, because they would have been haunted by terrible memories, and also would lose their jobs. The bricks are arranged in families - you can see of the Jones family, 5 boys and young men died, and one male family member survived. Presumably a mum and girls were at home, bereaved.  No benefits in those days.  Very harsh. 
The first extra is a carved post showing the history.  In the 1960s Parc Slip was reopened as an open-cast mine, which closed in 1980. It was then turned into a wildlife area with wetlands, woods and grasslands.  It’s really lovely there. The third extra is a glimpse of the lush green woodland with a stream running through. 
It rained most of the time we were there, but it was still a fabulous place to visit

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