Caerphilly and the Big Pit

 Aerial view of Caerphilly Castle.

The Big Pit coal mine.

  The cages that took us 400' underground.

The waterfront of the Bay of Cardiff.

Saturday, August 26^th.

Today John and I drove to the town of Caerphilly north of Cardiff, to see the castle. This is a castle I found on the internet and wanted to visit. From the aerial photo (which I had seen on the web) you can see that it is surrounded by water which means the enemy couldn't dig under it and cause a cave in. The castle dates back to the 13^th century. We wandered around checking out all the nooks and crannies until we came across a dramatization of the King talking with the castle sheriff about whether he should surrender the castle to an advancing army. The drama started in the great hall and then went outside to the green when the enemy arrived. It was very entertaining and included humour and a battle with four knights.

After that we left and drove to the Big Pit Coal Mine, which is a World Heritage Site and a very interesting museum dedicated to the coal mining industry in Wales, where at one time 1 in 10 people in Wales worked in coal. We took a guided underground tour to see the grim working conditions of the miners. They told us that boys were trained in the mines from the age of eight. They were to open and close the doors that allowed proper ventilation and they were tied to the door to prevent them from wandering off. They worked 12 hours shifts, much of which they spent in total darkness when their candles blew out. Horses worked in the mines in the early days, and were brought underground at 4 years old and were never brought to the surface again. We toured the museum which was also their original working space, complete with lockers, showers, and a medical room. We also read about the diseases that affected them including lung problems from breathing coal dust and about the miners strike that Maggie Thacker used to break the unions and close the mines.

From there we drove back to Cardiff and spent the early evening wandering around the Bay and the waterfront. We had dinner there and then listened briefly to a live band playing outside. Then back to the house.