Photography by John Ball - 5 May 1998 (with Agfa ePhoto307 digital camera)

Dowlais, on the north-eastern outskirts of Merthyr Tydfil, was once the site of one of the world's greatest ironworks, founded in 1759. It was overlooked by massive man-made mountains of smouldering slag, called 'tips'. One of the tips is said to have glowed so brightly that one could read by its light at night.
The tips have now been removed or landscaped, and as the photographs below demonstrate, the Dowlais environment is no longer sulphurous and polluted.

Image 1:

Dowlais Crumbs, the local baker's shop.

Image 2, 3:

Street scenes in Dowlais.

Image 4:

Beulah Chapel, Dowlais built in 1856. For further details of Beulah Chapel, see my Welsh Churches and Chapels Collection

Image 5:

Market Street, Dowlais (an open-air market used to be held near here). The large building in the distance is the engine house of the old ironworks. Note the landscaped tip in the background.

Image 6:

The Stables. This building once stabled the horses that pulled the iron-ore wagons. It's now been converted into apartments for the elderly.

Image 7:

Local resident Mr Dennis Treen, who kindly provided me with useful background information about Dowlais. Mr Treen, now retired, lives within a stone's throw of the site of Dowlais iron foundry where he once worked.