Aberdulais Falls

Aberdulais Falls lie where the River Dulais drops over hard sandstone into the Vale of Neath. The river rises in the western Brecon Beacons and travels seven miles through villages before reaching the falls. A ridge of Pennant sandstone forces the water into a gorge carved by glacier meltwater twenty thousand years ago. Flash floods can swell the river quickly after heavy rain in its catchment. The site sits near Neath in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot. Power has been drawn from the falls since 1584, when copper was smelted using ore from Cornwall. Later the site became a corn-mill, then a tinplate works, and in the 19th century a weir and waterwheel were added. Today’s wheel is a modern steel structure, the largest electricity-generating waterwheel in Europe. It turns at five revolutions per minute and has seventy-two buckets to catch the falling water. The National Trust now cares for the falls and their industrial remains. Visitors park beside the A465 road that passes the site. The water plunges into a deep gorge lined with sandstone walls. The roar of the falls and the steady turning of the wheel fill the air. The scene links natural power with centuries of industry.