Could Aberdulais be showing us a new way to save our heritage – by making it a place for everyone?
Tucked into the Neath Valley in South Wales, Aberdulais Tinworks and Waterfall has almost 400 years of stories to tell. Its dramatic waterfall powered generations of industry, from copper smelting and iron forging to tinplate manufacturing, before the site went on to embrace renewable energy and environmental conservation.
But today, something equally interesting is happening at Aberdulais: people who might never have imagined that heritage was “for them” are helping to protect and bring this remarkable place to life.
Since 2024, St Giles has been working in partnership with National Trust Cymru to create the Aberdulais Community Heritage & Wellbeing Hub – a new approach to heritage that combines volunteering, skills, employment, wellbeing and lived experience. This year, we were lucky to secure a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to further boost this work.
The partnership began in response to a very practical problem. Following the pandemic, Aberdulais had lost 63% of its volunteers, visitor numbers had fallen and its volunteer workforce was ageing. Rather than simply trying to replace the volunteers who had been lost, the partners asked a different question:
What if we opened heritage up to people who have traditionally been excluded from it?
The answer has already brought 28 new volunteers into Aberdulais, helping with everything from heritage interpretation and guiding to events, conservation and community activities. Since reopening, the site has welcomed more than 7,600 visitors.
Among the people getting involved are those who have experienced poverty, social isolation, barriers to employment, the criminal justice system, trauma or exploitation – people who may previously have felt that heritage sites were not places where they belonged.
St Giles brings more than 60 years’ experience of supporting people facing adversity, with a particular focus on the power of lived experience. At Aberdulais, that means participants aren’t simply being given opportunities to visit a heritage site; they are becoming guides, volunteers, mentors, community champions and future heritage workers.
With further support, the partners now want to build on the work, recruiting 30 more non-traditional volunteers over the next 18 months and engaging at least 400 people in heritage, nature and community activities.
Watch this space!
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