IVY TOWER, Gnoll Estate, Neath Port Talbot 2019
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Notes on IVY TOWER, Gnoll Estate, Neath Port Talbot 2019
I had not parked far from the Ivy Tower, only a few hundred yards but planned beforehand to walk a few miles into the uplands above Clyne to visit a ruined property called Blaencwmbach.
Alas, the farmhouse although not finished has been re-roofed with a metal roof, gable ends re-built, new windows and doors put in place. It was not ready to be lived in but neither was it dilapidated enough to be called a ruin.
I did not even bother peering through the new but dirty window panes.
Before I had even left my home on this morning I had written in the map to turn around, and not to walk on, there was another ruin I had intended to visit, Ystrad Owen. To walk there meant an added two miles, at least, to my journey. I had walked only two miles to Blaencwmbach but my backpack and tripod were heavy, 12kg's, and I had not walked recently (or indeed done any exercise). I was feeling the strain! On the way back I stopped at the Ivy Tower. There is no public access to the site. The footpath that seems to head in its direction does not allow access – as a sign proclaimed – so I did not bother. Instead I took a longer route and found the tower easily. Large rocks and old knurled hardwood lay on the hillside on the way up. The tower itself is in a poor state, laid empty since a fire in 1910 and beyond repair. I feel the ruins could be consolidated and the overgrowth cleared, perhaps evening allowing proper access. A few exposures were made, not wholly satisfying but at least a photograph was taken on an otherwise hard but fruitless mornings walk.
I had not parked far from the Ivy Tower, only a few hundred yards but planned beforehand to walk a few miles into the uplands above Clyne to visit a ruined property called Blaencwmbach.
Alas, the farmhouse although not finished has been re-roofed with a metal roof, gable ends re-built, new windows and doors put in place. It was not ready to be lived in but neither was it dilapidated enough to be called a ruin.
I did not even bother peering through the new but dirty window panes.
Before I had even left my home on this morning I had written in the map to turn around, and not to walk on, there was another ruin I had intended to visit, Ystrad Owen. To walk there meant an added two miles, at least, to my journey. I had walked only two miles to Blaencwmbach but my backpack and tripod were heavy, 12kg's, and I had not walked recently (or indeed done any exercise). I was feeling the strain! On the way back I stopped at the Ivy Tower. There is no public access to the site. The footpath that seems to head in its direction does not allow access – as a sign proclaimed – so I did not bother. Instead I took a longer route and found the tower easily. Large rocks and old knurled hardwood lay on the hillside on the way up. The tower itself is in a poor state, laid empty since a fire in 1910 and beyond repair. I feel the ruins could be consolidated and the overgrowth cleared, perhaps evening allowing proper access. A few exposures were made, not wholly satisfying but at least a photograph was taken on an otherwise hard but fruitless mornings walk.
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Return to: THE GLAMORGANS (Including Neath Port Talbot, Gower, Vale of Glamorgan) or RUINS THROUGHOUT WALES or Galleries