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Tomennydd Glo yn Ne Cymru: Risg Newydd neu Hen Wastraff? / BEN WALKLING

Swansea University Author: BEN WALKLING

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DOI (Published version): 10.23889/SUThesis.72044

Abstract

There are 2,573 Coal Tips in Wales, with 360 classified currently as high risk (Llywodraeth Cymru, 2025a). Coal tips reemerged as an issue in Wales following a tip landslide in Tylorstown (Rhondda Valley) due to heavy rain fall in February 2020.This study researches the varied ways that coal tips ha...

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Published: Swansea 2026
Institution: Swansea University
Degree level: Doctoral
Degree name: Ph.D
Supervisor: Closs Stephens, A., and Meara, R. H.
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa72044
first_indexed 2026-06-10T12:21:08Z
last_indexed 2026-06-12T09:28:46Z
id cronfa72044
recordtype RisThesis
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spelling 2026-06-10T13:25:01.7300862 v2 72044 2026-06-10 Tomennydd Glo yn Ne Cymru: Risg Newydd neu Hen Wastraff? b8c0803097fa18acdffac11d5887885a BEN WALKLING BEN WALKLING true false 2026-06-10 There are 2,573 Coal Tips in Wales, with 360 classified currently as high risk (Llywodraeth Cymru, 2025a). Coal tips reemerged as an issue in Wales following a tip landslide in Tylorstown (Rhondda Valley) due to heavy rain fall in February 2020.This study researches the varied ways that coal tips have been viewed across time and locations as risky features (especially following the Aberfan Disaster 1966), piles of waste, post-industrial landscape scars, good places for biodiversity and leisure, and things that spark memories.This research uses a qualitative mixed methods approach to explore coal tips and their present consequences. The findings draw from an online survey (73 respondents) conducted in the Summer 2022 and follow-on semi-structured interviews (19 participants) in Spring 2023. Autoethnographic site visits to several coal tips as well as to the village of Aberfan were conducted to locate the tips within their geographic setting and to experience the memorial locations of the Aberfan Disaster.This study contributes to human geography literature which currently has a lack of understanding of coal tips and their current consequences. These consequences are discussed through exploring the role of risk in a landscape feature viewed as risky, looking at a waste product that is not treated as such currently, and aspects of memory that are intertwined with a landscape feature in a post-industrial and heritage context. The study also moves the debates around coal tips in Wales from only viewing the tips as risky, by also demonstrating that they are products of waste, memory, and heritage as well. This demonstrates the ambivalence surrounding the coal tips at the moment. E-Thesis Swansea Coal Tips, South Wales, Risk, Waste, Memory, Heritage 6 2 2026 2026-02-06 10.23889/SUThesis.72044 10/06/26 RL - Record created. No embargo, CC-BY-NC-ND license. ORCID: 0009-0003-9945-1046 COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University Closs Stephens, A., and Meara, R. H. Doctoral Ph.D Ysgoloriaeth Ymchwil y Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol and School Of Biosciences, Geography And Physics Bursaries Ysgoloriaeth Ymchwil y Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol and School Of Biosciences, Geography And Physics Bursaries 2026-06-10T13:25:01.7300862 2026-06-10T13:15:29.4328258 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Geography BEN WALKLING 1 72044__36917__6c518e3d015e4f3199016aa6c6e6b5ac.pdf 2026_Walkling_B.final.72044.pdf 2026-06-10T13:20:19.6293025 Output 18152971 application/pdf E-Thesis – open access true Hawlfraint: Yr Awdur, Ben T. Walkling, 2025. CC BY-NC-ND - Distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
title Tomennydd Glo yn Ne Cymru: Risg Newydd neu Hen Wastraff?
spellingShingle Tomennydd Glo yn Ne Cymru: Risg Newydd neu Hen Wastraff?
BEN WALKLING
title_short Tomennydd Glo yn Ne Cymru: Risg Newydd neu Hen Wastraff?
title_full Tomennydd Glo yn Ne Cymru: Risg Newydd neu Hen Wastraff?
title_fullStr Tomennydd Glo yn Ne Cymru: Risg Newydd neu Hen Wastraff?
title_full_unstemmed Tomennydd Glo yn Ne Cymru: Risg Newydd neu Hen Wastraff?
title_sort Tomennydd Glo yn Ne Cymru: Risg Newydd neu Hen Wastraff?
author_id_str_mv b8c0803097fa18acdffac11d5887885a
author_id_fullname_str_mv b8c0803097fa18acdffac11d5887885a_***_BEN WALKLING
author BEN WALKLING
author2 BEN WALKLING
format E-Thesis
publishDate 2026
institution Swansea University
doi_str_mv 10.23889/SUThesis.72044
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Geography{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Geography
document_store_str 1
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description There are 2,573 Coal Tips in Wales, with 360 classified currently as high risk (Llywodraeth Cymru, 2025a). Coal tips reemerged as an issue in Wales following a tip landslide in Tylorstown (Rhondda Valley) due to heavy rain fall in February 2020.This study researches the varied ways that coal tips have been viewed across time and locations as risky features (especially following the Aberfan Disaster 1966), piles of waste, post-industrial landscape scars, good places for biodiversity and leisure, and things that spark memories.This research uses a qualitative mixed methods approach to explore coal tips and their present consequences. The findings draw from an online survey (73 respondents) conducted in the Summer 2022 and follow-on semi-structured interviews (19 participants) in Spring 2023. Autoethnographic site visits to several coal tips as well as to the village of Aberfan were conducted to locate the tips within their geographic setting and to experience the memorial locations of the Aberfan Disaster.This study contributes to human geography literature which currently has a lack of understanding of coal tips and their current consequences. These consequences are discussed through exploring the role of risk in a landscape feature viewed as risky, looking at a waste product that is not treated as such currently, and aspects of memory that are intertwined with a landscape feature in a post-industrial and heritage context. The study also moves the debates around coal tips in Wales from only viewing the tips as risky, by also demonstrating that they are products of waste, memory, and heritage as well. This demonstrates the ambivalence surrounding the coal tips at the moment.
published_date 2026-02-06T14:21:34Z
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score 11.10865