Melincourt Falls

Melincourt Falls stands in a quiet wooded valley one mile south of Resolven in Neath Port Talbot. The waterfall plunges twenty-four metres over a band of hard sandstone into a deep plunge pool below. A small nature reserve of five hectares surrounds the site, managed by the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales. The brook that feeds the falls is called Melin Court Brook, a left-bank tributary of the River Neath. Visitors reach the falls by a public footpath that leaves the B4434 Resolven to Tonna Road. The falls have drawn walkers for more than two centuries. In 1794 the painter J. M. W. Turner sketched and painted the scene. Some consider Melincourt part of Waterfall Country, though most of the larger falls lie a few miles further northeast. A minor road crosses the brook just above the drop, giving another viewpoint from above. The sandstone lip that forms the cascade is unusually resistant, creating the vertical fall. A visitor follows the footpath from the roadside car park across a stile and down into the wooded gorge. The path leads to a viewing platform beside the plunge pool where the water roars over the rock. Above the falls the brook widens into a shallow riffle under the small road bridge. Oak and beech trees frame the scene, and ferns grow along the damp banks. From the platform the full height of the cascade can be seen, framed by the surrounding trees.