New Hafodyrynys Mine 1950s

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The Coal industry Nationalised in 1947 was to make major alterations in the 1950s at Hafodyrynys where a new idea of great expectations was in the air, with a new mine being born and in fact named  'The Hafodyrynys New Mine' The idea was to link several Gwent collieries underground to modernise mining methods in an attempt to make these collieries pay their way. This linking up meant that vast amounts of money were spent on huge developments that were undertaken to drive tunnels over long distances and in effect, turning these collieries into one large drift mine with the major outlet being at the new mine. This meant the removal of thousands upon thousands of tons of spoil (mine waste) and hence had to be deposited somewhere. The designated area to deposit this mine waste was along the south side of the then railway line between Hafodyrynys and Old Furnace. Amidst this selected area apart from being very picturesque, the vegetation contained bull rushes and watercress in abundance. This beautiful place was home to numerous sorts of wildlife e.g. Moorhens, along with Butterflies of all descriptions and Dragonflies that darted about due to the presence of two huge fish ponds which covered much of the selected area.