History: Bolgoed Quarry, Pontarddulais is now nature reserve

Today we take a look at Pontarddulais’ Bolgoed Quarry and the events that took place there and its transition into a nature reserve.

I have not been able to find information on when Bolgoed Quarry was first used but it was in the 1800s.

On Wednesday, June 15, the Swansea and Glamorgan Herald published an article about an explosion at the quarry. The article stated: “A number of workmen employed in a stone quarry, called the Bolgoed Stone Quarry, at Pontardulais, in getting stones for the railroad now making between Swansea and the above place.

“On Friday last they were blasting the rocks, and one of the fuses not going off, after it had been lighted in one of the holes which had been bored, and filled with gunpowder, the men concluded that it had gone out.

“Three of them accordingly went to examine it, when just at the moment of their arrival at the spot, a fearful explosion took place.”

Thankfully, no one was killed in the explosion as the article describes: “William Davies, of Pontardulais, received the contents in his face, hands and body, and the others were knocked down by the shock.

“Dr Jones, of Loughor, was quickly in attendance on Davies, who, he fears, has lost his sight forever. The other men were not hurt.”

At one point in 1877, it was owned by William Williams as an advert in the June 9, 1877, edition of the South Wales Daily News stated that two quarries including Bolgoed were to be let by tender from Michaelmas, 1877 for a term. It was described in the advert as a quarry of ‘best granite stone.’ It is described as “lying, and being at Bolgoed near the thickly-populated and fast improving village of Pontardulais, and on the side of the turnpike road leading thence to Swansea, and within one mile of the Pontardulais Railway Station.”

Of the stone present, the advert said: “The strata is dark grey granite rock, extending from 30 to 40 feet thick, and capable of producing almost an unlimited quantity of dry and very superior material for building and other purposes.

“The produce of these quarries possess such natural bed and face as will favourably compare with brickwork. The facilities are so favourable that they are certain to maintain a great demand and find a ready market in the neighbouring towns and villages.”

In 1889, the quarry was mentioned in another Swansea and Glamorgan Herald article about the death of one of its workers. The article reads: “Information has been laid at the coroner’s office of the demise of Morgan Phillips, a quarryman, aged 45, who met his death under extraordinary circumstances.

“It seems that on the 9th of January, Morgan, who resided at Pontardulais, near Swansea, went unaccompanied to work at Bolgoed Quarry, about 1am, and as he did not return to breakfast, a search was instituted, and about 12 o’clock he was found lying in a pool of blood in an insensible condition with a wound on the side of his head.

“It was surmised that he had fallen from the brow of a precipice, a distance of about 15 feet.

“He was taken home to his lodgings, and Dr. Wm. Griffiths attended him, but he never regained consciousness, and after lying in an insensible state for 25 days, he expired on Sunday evening.”

An inquest was set to be held at the Farmer’s Arms at a later date, but I was not able to locate a report. It was not stated whether his body was found near the quarry or not.

The quarry was mentioned again in 1894, this time in a story about more nefarious purposes as it related to an indecent assault of a 10-year-old girl.

The man who was accused of the crime was not an employee of the quarry, he was a carpenter in Llandybie, but the crime is said to have happened at the quarry.

A South Wales Daily News article on March 1, 1894, covered an initial court hearing in which prosecutor Mr Slater said that “on the 22nd ult., at 6.30pm., as the child was returning from school with several companions, and when a short distance from the quarry, the child being at the time some distance from her companions, prisoner indecently assaulted her.”

Several of the children who were with the alleged victim were called and gave details but a cross examination found that they had been told what to say by the officer in charge of the case.

A doctor, Dr Griffiths, said that when the girl was examined, there had been indications that an attempt at indecent assault had been made.

The prisoner admitted he had been by the area but denied seeing a girl or doing anything to her. The lead officer in the case admitted that he had not put other people in with the prisoner when asking the children to identify him and denied telling them what to say.

The Herald of Wales wrote on March 3, 1894, that the victim was nine. More detail was provided in the article that as the victim and her companion passed the quarry, she was ‘caught hold of’ and thrown down, before ‘seriously assaulting’ the victim as the companion fled.

The child gave evidence at a later court case of her ordeal and injuries and witnesses were called who saw the man in the area and the victim’s adopted mother told of how she came home and had blood on her clothes.

The prisoner was granted £20 bail to another court session but I was not able to find a follow-up report on this.

The quarry was last used in 1955 and has since been turned into a nature reserve, which was stated in the Pontypridd Observer on June 17. The quarry is free to visit and according to WelshWildlife.org there is an open-canopied habitat of mixed secondary deciduous woodland of ash and birch with a ground layer dominated by ivy and bramble and the remainder is dense gorse scrub.

On the ground, there is a range of flora including lesser celandine, wood anemone and bluebells. The quarry faces have groundwater seeping out from the sandstone strata and provide a habitat for a number of common bryophytes.

A range of birds are also found in the reserve, including chiffchaffs, great tits, tawny owls, nuthatch and treecreepers and the floor is a winter roost and feeding site for woodcock.