Plans to save the historic Navigation Colliery in Crumlin have been given £60,000 of funding from the Welsh Government.
Caerphilly County Borough Council, working with the South Wales Building Preservation Trust and local charitable group Glofa, has secured the grant which will fund a project to carry out essential ground investigation work and site improvements.
Navigation Colliery was built between 1907 and 1911 and is a mixture of Grade II and Grade II* listed buildings. Heritage experts have described the site as a “nearly complete colliery complex of national importance”.
The South Wales Building Preservation Trust took over ownership of the site in 2011 and is working closely with the Council and other organisations, including the Princes Regeneration Trust, to safeguard the future of the historic buildings.
Glofa Navigation Trust and The Friends of the Navigation have around 15 dedicated community volunteers, who are working hard to maintain the site to prevent further deterioration.
Vera Jenkins, Community Champion for Glofa Navigation Trust, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have secured this significant funding. We would like to thank the Council, and in particular the Urban Renewal Team, for their support. Hopefully this will be the start of something really exciting for Crumlin.”
Cllr Ken James, Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Planning and Sustainable Development, said: “Navigation Colliery is a historically significant site not just for the county borough, but for Wales, and I am delighted that the Welsh Government has chosen to support this ambitious regeneration project. I hope this will encourage other funding organisations to come forward and join the inspiring community efforts to save these nationally important buildings.”
For more information on how you can get involved and contribute to the efforts to save Navigation Colliery please contact 01495 243729 or visit www.crumlinpitstop.org. Alternatively follow Friends of the “Crumlin Navigation Colliery” on Facebook.
The Crumlin Navigation Colliery is the finest set of Edwardian colliery buildings to be found anywhere in the UK. They date from a time when the Welsh coal industry was approaching its peak and coal owners were willing to splash out on magnificent surface works.
I hope that the volunteers involved are able to arrest the deterioration of the buildings but the grant mentioned will not go far. There is very likely to be asbestos there which will need to be removed at some point and that sort of job eats money.
The amount of money given is so small that it's almost pointless receiving it. The ageing colliery needs hundreds of thousands annually to maintain.
At last some help from caerphilly cbc for something that is not in bargoed or ystrad mynach.