Dulais Valley

Dulais Valley in Neath Port Talbot runs north from Aberdulais following the River Dulais. The valley contains villages including Aberdulais, Crynant, Seven Sisters, Onllwyn, Banwen and Dyffryn Cellwen. Communities in the valley developed around coal mining and metalworking in the 19th and 20th centuries, and traces of that history remain in pit head foundations, terraced housing and spoil heaps. The River Dulais has carved a narrow corridor through the surrounding upland and provides the route for local footways and lanes that link the settlements and farmed slopes.

At Aberdulais the River Dulais drops where it meets the River Neath and a 19th‑century waterwheel and tinplate works stand beside the falls, with the wheel turning when flows allow and interpretation on site. Old colliery tracks and rights of way are used by walkers and by community groups that tend reclaimed land, woodlands and playing fields on former industrial ground. Local clubs, memorials to mining, and small businesses are centred in the valley villages, reflecting continuing community life built around the river and former works.