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Aberdulais
Aberdulais
	Aberdulais Location within Neath Port Talbot
Population	2,400 (2011 census)
OS grid reference	SS773995
Principal area	Neath Port Talbot;
Preserved county	West Glamorgan;
Country	Wales
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	NEATH
Postcode district	SA10
Dialling code	01639
Police	South Wales
Fire	Mid and West Wales
Ambulance	Welsh
UK Parliament	Neath;
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament	Neath;
Councillors	Doreen Jones (Labour);
	List of places UK Wales Neath Port Talbot 51°40′51″N 3°46′24″W / 51.68086°N 3.77324°W

Aberdulais is a village and electoral ward in Neath Port Talbot, Wales, lying on the River Neath, in the community of Blaenhonddan. The village grew around the Aberdulais Falls, the site of successive industries and now a hydro-electric station. The National Trust owns and administers the site.

The name Aberdulais is from the Welsh for the mouth of the River Dulais.

Industrial history

Aberdulais has a lengthy industrial history thanks to the abundant supply of energy derived from the waterfall and the presence in the vicinity of coal and timber. The first business here was a copper smelting industry, using ore delivered via boat from Cornwall. Over the years the site was successively used as an ironworks, a cornmill and a tinplate works. The Welsh tinplate industry was very successful for a time, until the American government levied heavy duties on imported tinplate.^[2]

The present water wheel is a modern steel structure 8.2 m (27 ft) in diameter. It generates electricity for use on the site, any excess current being fed into the national grid.^[3]

Other history

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, various artists visited the falls to paint.^[4] In 1795, J. M. W. Turner used a sketch he made here of the waterfall and cornmill to paint his watercolour "Aberdulais Mill, Glamorganshire" which hangs at the National Library of Wales. John Ruskin also painted here.^[2]

Amenities and attractions

Local attractions include a canal and the Cefn Coed Colliery Museum. Aberdulais Falls and the associated industrial infrastructure are in the care of the National Trust in recognition of the site's value as a key part of the region's industrial heritage. The water wheel at Aberdulais falls produces £20,000 worth of electricity that powers the site, and the surplus is sold back to the national grid.^[3]

Several of the old buildings remain, and the tall smokestack of the tinplate works towers above the site. The school house for the children of the workers survives. The remains of a bridge that formerly linked the site by a tramway to the Tennant Canal can be seen.^[2]

Government and politics

Aberdulais is also the name of an electoral ward covering the village. It is a constituent of the parish of Blaenhonddan. The electoral ward of Aberdulais includes some or all of the settlements of Aberdulais and Cilfrew in the parliamentary constituency of Neath. Most of the ward consists of woodland and farmland with a small residential area to the far south. Aberdulais is bounded by the wards of Crynant to the north; Resolven to the east; Tonna to the south; and Cadoxton and Bryncoch North to the west.^[5]

In the 2017 local council elections the results were:^[6]

Candidate	Party	Votes	Status
Doreen Jones	Labour	344	Labour hold
Simon Hopkins	Independent	282
Daniel Thomas	Plaid Cymru	118

In the 2012 local council elections, the electorate turnout was 40.81%. The results were:^[7]

Candidate	Party	Votes	Status
Doreen Jones	Labour	431	Labour hold
Ken Thomas	Plaid Cymru	290

References

^ "Ward population 2011". Retrieved 11 April 2015.
^ ^a ^b ^c Ross, David. "Aberdulais Tin Works and Waterfall". Britain Express. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
^ ^a ^b "The Waterwheel at Aberdulais". The National Trust. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
^ Taylor, John Walter, "Aberdulais Mills in History and Art" (Neath: Neath Antiquarian Society, 2024)
^ "Neath Port Talbot Local Government Elections 2012 Results". Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
^ "Election results for Aberdulais". Neath Port Talbot Borough Council. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
^ "Local Government Elections, 2012: Aberdulais". Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council. Retrieved 29 April 2016.