The route is set out as a circular walk but does involve some scrambling down rocks. Our 6 year old managed this with some help but the rocks can be wet and slippery. The Glynneath Gunpowder Works were establish on the site in1857 to produce black powder for use in mining and quarrying, and operated until the early 1930s, although the works had many different owners over this time. Initially you may think that this steep sided valley seems like a strange place to build and operate a manufacturing business, however, the location was actually well suited to the manufacture of gunpowder. The manufacture of gunpowder is a very dangerous process and there is a very high risk of explosion, however the site is large and remote, stretching over a mile and a half along the north bank of the River and covering an area of 180ha. This provided plenty of space between each factory building to allow any explosions to be localised.
The silica rock was discovered in the 1780s and exploited thereafter, in 1807 a tramway was installed to take the product to the Neath canal. The first large scale mining at Dinas was by a William Weston Young. Young was born 20 April 1776 into a devout Quaker family. Educated at Gildersome Quaker boarding school in Yorkshire, he gained a rudimentary knowledge of science which he was to apply in his invention of the silica firebrick. Visitors should note that the silica mines and the surface area surrounding is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and should be respected as such.
Virtual Reward - 2017/2018
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between August 24, 2017 and August 24, 2018. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards on the Geocaching Blog.