The Abertillery Rubbish Destructor

The Abertillery Rubbish Destructor.
In the late 19th century to the early 1900’s during the time when the population of Abertillery was rapidly increasing, the disposal of rubbish was becoming a problem. The established rubbish tips in the valley were overflowing, infested by rats and flies, often catching fire and posing serious health problems. The landowners were reluctant to sell land to the council for the purpose of dumping and as the town was expanding the need for rubbish disposal was at the forefront of the council’s future planning.

The Abertillery District Council proposed the method of “rubbish destruction” as early as the mid-1890’s a councillor first brought up the idea at a council meeting in October 1894, though it was deferred until a later date.

In April 1900 a councillor put to the board a number of complaints from the residents of Cwmnant-y-Groes at Six Bells of the nuisance of the fire, rats, flies and smells at the tip, and also the dumping of offal and fish etc from the many butchers and fish hawkers in the area. The council decided they had to build a rubbish destructor plant but were reluctant to do so at first because of the cost, also they could not get land, or a place that was centrally accessible.

In December 1901 the council were in negotiations with Messrs Hughes and Sterling to erect an Horsfall Rubbish Destructor on a possible site at (Cwmnant-y-Groes, Six Bells) though Messrs Webb’s, the landowners later refused to sell this land under the circumstances, though offered a field higher up in the valley, this offer was declined as of the problem with access.

Between 1901 and 1911 the council applied to purchase land from various owners and estates in the area to build a rubbish destructor – originally with the capability to also generate electricity as well as burn rubbish. There was a rumour of the idea of constructing an Electric Railless Trolley Bus service from Crumlin to Brynmawr in the 1900’s and it was seen that there could be an income from any surplus electricity generated by the rubbish destructor being put back into the South Wales Power Company grid.

The Land Site Proposals.
The land sites being considered at this time were – Land opposite the White House in Six Bells, again the owners refused. Land in the Abertillery Gas Works grounds, refused. Land inside the Abertillery Tin Works area was being negotiated with the Glan Ebbw Tin Plate Company though they were asking £100 per annum lease. With the prospect of mounting costs, land leases, transportation costs of the many ash carts from various places in the district (at this time there were four tips in the area, eleven carts and horses with sixteen men working on a constant basis to scavenge and dump the rubbish) and possible percentage rates to the power company it was once again put on hold.   

Smaller sites were being considered to erect just a rubbish destructor plant, these sites were Gelli-Crug, the Glebe Land, Duffryn Row at £12. per annum and Green Meadow. The Powell’s Tillery Co refused the Gelli Crug site or access to the Duffryn Row area. The council opted to go for the Green Meadow land, though prominent members of the council were living in that area and along with the residents they strongly objected to the plan and planning for a rubbish destructor was again dropped.

The Site Accepted for the Destructor.
In April 1911 the Abertillery District Council approached the Hanbury Estate, Pontypool to purchase land on Aberbeeg Road (as seen in the background on the main featured image above). The Hanbury Estate accepted the proposal at a cost of 2d. per square yard on a ninety-nine-year lease. The construction of the Abertillery Rubbish Destructor went ahead.

The Completion of the Rubbish Destructor.
On Friday 20th of June 1913, the Abertillery Rubbish Destructor was completed at a cost of £4,512 it was a Horsfall’s Rubbish Destructor. It was the first of its kind to be constructed in the county of Monmouthshire.

The Contractor and Architect.
The contractors were Messrs Hughes & Sterling of Liverpool. The work was completed under the supervision of Mr Lionel D. Lewis of Abertillery District Council. 

The Official Opening Ceremony.
At the opening ceremony Mr Carter chairman of the Abertillery District Council was presented with a gold matchbox inscribed with an inscription of the occasion, with which he used to light the furnaces. Mr Downes of the council started the Clinker Crusher and Mortar Mill.

The Horsfall Destructor. 
The Horsfall Destructor had four furnaces in two-cell units, each had a grate area of 25′ feet capable of burning sixty tons of rubbish to a hard clinker in 24 hours without any objectionable smoke, smell or dust. The combustion chambers had doors for the admission of carcasses or infected bedding etc. The gases were cremated before entering the flues of which are fed by air-vents all throughout the building so as to cool the housing.

The main bin hopper was housed inside the main building so when carts entered to empty the refuse no dust escaped into the atmosphere. The chimney was 100 foot high and lined with firebricks. A main feature of this destructor was that it re-used the clinker as a by-product. The destructor had a mortar mill and clinker crusher, crushing clinkers into different sizes for various uses.  It also had a tar-Macadam mixing house incorporated where the heat from the by-pass flues heated the tar which mixed with small clinker to make paving and footpaths. All the machinery was powered by steam generated from the boilers.

The rubbish destructor and by-product machinery were housed in a building of red brick, with a tile roof, the roof joists and battens were steel for fireproof purposes. There was a mess room, shower rooms and lavatories for the workers, a weighbridge and offices on the entrance of Aberbeeg Road with all the necessary lighting generated by a steam driven dynamo.

The Sale of the By-Products.
Notices went up in the area to advertise mortar for sale from the site at 6s. 6d. per ton, along with tarred clinker for paving and paths.

Workers’ Wages.
The stokers’ wages in 1921 were 5s. 8d. and 6s. per shift.

The By-Product Uses.
In August 1921 it was reported that the rubbish destructor plant had produced more than 600 tons of clinker, 650 tons of mortar and was also producing building blocks, fence posts and concrete kerbing.

Abertillery Tennis Courts.
In June 1922 the new tennis courts at Abertillery Park were opened, it was reported that they were laid with clinker asphalt that had been produced by the destructor plant at Six Bells. In this year the destructor plant was shown to have made a profit of £1,570.00 after all expenses paid.

The Electrical Conversion.
In 1924 local councillors proposed that the destructor plant be converted to generate an electric current to augment the future electricity supply.

The Rubbish Destructor Losses.
In January 1925 the council stated that the rubbish destructor was at a loss of £2,684. 

Damage to the Plant.
In July 1925 the rubbish destructor building was becoming seriously damaged by subsidence and had been increasingly congested by unused clinker, it was proposed by the council to demolish the site and rebuild the plant at Aberbeeg or Llanhilleth close to the electrical generating undertaking down the valley.

The Rubbish Destructor Losses.
In November 1927 council admitted that the losses on the destructor were as follows – The destructor £2,000 and the clinker plant was £1,000. The plant was closed for repairs and the workers were laid off.

The Rose Heyworth Rubbish Tip.
In December 1927, after the closure of the rubbish destructor the tipping of rubbish was resumed along Rose Heyworth Road with land being utilised south of the current tip.

By December 1928 over 12,000 tons of refuse had been dumped at the Rose Heyworth and this was a yearly projected figure.

The Llanhilleth Rubbish Destructor Project.
In 1929 the Ministry turned down the Llanhilleth Rubbish Destructor project has they say these destructors were becoming things of the past.

The Closure of the Rubbish Destructor
In 1931 the council was faced with a bill of over a £1,000 to repair the damaged rubbish destructor and to get it started again. The building was also stripped bare of its contents as theft was rife and the council said everything that can be carried has been stolen from there. The council decided to sell the plant.

The Crematorium at Abertillery.
In this same year the council were discussing having a crematorium built at Brynithel Cemetery to ease people’s burial costs, though owing to the lack of space at Brynithel the old rubbish destructor site was proposed in connection with having the crematorium built there and the proposal was being considered, although nothing was further debated on that subject.

The Demolition of the Rubbish Destructor.
In February 1935 the site was eventually demolished and cleared, Messrs T. Sullivan, of Nelson cleared the site for £90 and Messrs John Cashmore Ltd purchased the plant for £70.

The Later Years.
After later negotiations with the Hanbury Estate, Pontypool, the land was re-let, though in 1937 the residents of Six Bells were in talks to acquire the land as a children’s playground. All the necessary work involved would be done by them voluntarily.

The Children’s Playground.
On Friday 27th of July 1962, the South Wales Gazette reported that Councillor J. J. Owen stated that a children’s playground was being made on the site of the old destructor.

Later a builder’s yard and outbuildings were also erected on the site.

After all these years, the site, park and area on Aberbeeg Road is still locally known as the destructor! The access road off the main road is still there, though blocked off by two bollards.

 

Points of Interest – The main featured image above shows the rubbish destructor plant in the background with its access road coming down from the top right. The photographer was taking a photo of a haulier and his horse working at the Vivian Colliery positioned on the dram line, which is on a higher elevation than that of the main G.W.R. railway track, which is slightly below and behind the haulier. The houses of Upper Arrail Street and Griffin Street can be seen behind the pit pony.