Iron awe

By Katherine MacColl

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Would you�put�a rundown industrial landscape in the same category as�India's Taj Mahal,�Egypt's pyramids or Australia's Great Barrier Reef �

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Former Welsh mining town Blaenavon, nestling in the slagheaps of the Gwent Valley, has just become a member of this esteemed group of tourist attractions.�The town, 20 miles from the Welsh capital Cardiff, has�been given World Heritage Site status. It's to become globally renowned as the cradle of the industrial revolution.

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��Press Association

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Testimony to this are the remains of early ironworks, waterways, mines, quarries, terraced back-to-back workers' houses and the Working Men's Hall.

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The area played a key role in the development of socialist ideas, including the trade union movement and the welfare state.

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Today the town trades on its past. You can relive the days of the Blaenavon iron industry and the now defunct coal trade at The Big Pit Colliery museum.

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The collery closed a century after its 1880s opening, but has been�reopened as a�museum where visitors�can experience some�of the hardships faced�by miners. After donning a lamp and helmet you descend 300ft and are taken on a tour into a labyrinth of shafts and coalfaces. (Open March- November 9.30am�- 5.30pm, daily).

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If your planning a trip to Blaenavon�make�the nearby Georgian town of Brecon, dwarfed by the majestic Brecon Beacons, your base. Stay at the Wellington Hotel (01874 6255253), the Llwyn-y-Celyn Youth Hostel near Libanus (01874 624261) or Cwmgredi Farm (01874 622034).

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Does Blaenavon deserve its new honour What�other places in the�UK played�a part in forming today's Britain and should they be recognised too Click here to have your say.