Totem pole miners for former pits

The three statues each face a former colliery

A sculpture commemorating the mining history of a country park has been unveiled in south Wales.

Bargoed Woodland Park covers the site of the Bargoed, Britannia and Gilfach pits in the Rhymney valley.

The memorial is in the form of three wooden totem poles topped with statues of miners, each facing towards the former location of the colliery shafts.

The idea for the statue came after an ex-miner wrote to Caerphilly council asking for a memorial.

The council commissioned artist Robert Koenig, who had created sculptures for the park in the past, to carry out the work.

He made the memorial from wood after holding discussions with former miners. There is a statue for each colliery portraying a miner and scenes from the mining industry.

The sculpture has been placed on top of a local landmark hill known as the Monkey Tump, which is visible from large parts of the park.

A lot of the older generation would have played up there and waited for their fathers to come home from the pit Dave Penberthy

The hill has been landscaped to improve access to the memorial.

Dave Penberthy, countryside interpretation officer for Caerphilly Council, told the BBC Wales news website: "[Ex-miner] Colin Thomas wrote to the authority several years ago saying it would be good to have a memorial to the pits that were in Bargoed.

"When the chance arose, which was 2003, we approached him and other former miners from those pits and met an artist whose already been working in the park."

Below the three statues are representations of life below ground, including a pit cage and pony and a "journey of drams", as a line of trolleys used underground were known.

Children planted bulbs and trees after the unveiling ceremony

The memorial has been very well received, according to Mr Penberthy.

"Everybody who's seen them seems to like them. They've caused much conversation," he said.

"I think what's nice about it is the site is quite relevant to the community. For a lot of the older generation, they would have played up there and waited for their fathers to come home from the pit.

"They would look over and see this great industrial site below them.

"It's got fantastic views down the valley - it's now green. It's been reclaimed from industry to nature."

Work began on the park as part of a £11m reclamation scheme funded by the Welsh Development Agency.

Former colliery buildings were removed from the site, a section of the river Rhymney was re-routed and a spoil head from Bargoed colliery was reshaped to improve the environment of the area.

Following the unveiling ceremony, local primary school pupils planted trees and planted native wild daffodil bulbs at the site.