What?    When?    Where?    and How?

Risca Industrial History Museum houses one of the best collections of artifacts relating to the industrial heritage of the South Wales valleys.

The museum is open every Saturday from 10.00am to 12.30pm, admission is free, parking is adjacent and local experts will be available to answer questions.

You will find the museum at the Risca Colliers Institute, Grove Road, Risca, NP11 6GN. Click here to find us

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Latest Information

OPEN DOORS - Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd September 2024

Once again some of Risca's most important and historic buildings will be be open, free of charge, from 10.00am to 4pm each day.

Risca Museum

The Museum is on the ground floor of the old Risca Collieries Workman's Institute which was built in 1916 for the local miners. After the colliery closed in 1967 it was used as the local benefits office for many years and, after that relocated, the vacant building was used as the Islwyn Labour Party campaign office during the 1995 by-election. That same year it was purchased by Islwyn Borough Council using European Heritage money, putting the Museum on the ground floor and additional classrooms for the Oxford House Adult Education Centre on the first floor. Caerphilly CBC disposed of the building in 2016 resulting in a 7-fold rent increase for the Museum which is run by volunteers from the Oxford House Industrial History Society and receives no official financial support. It is a Grade 2 listed building.

This year, throughout both days, members of the South Wales Branch of the British Printing Society will be demonstrating the operation of three letterpress printing machines from yesteryear. Visitors will be able to see how lead types are brought together to make up a page, placed on a ‘proof press’ to check for errors and then ‘locked-up’ in a steel frame to be installed on a printing press. Those who would like to will be encouraged to try their hand at setting type, pulling a proof and operating a desktop printer of a different kind.

Although the Museum is open from 10.30am to 12.30pm every Saturday, for Open Doors it will be open from 10.00am to 4.00pm on both days. As well as the Edwardian Chemist shop and the 1832 printing press from the Starling Press, on display will be many items not usually available including artefacts, photographs & maps.

On the upper floor of the building, the Western Valley Model Railway Club will be operating four separate track layouts with authentic scale models. This will be a rare opportunity for the general public to view this collection.

WE ARE OPEN EVERY SATURDAY !!

Our enforced lockdowns have given us the opportunity to pay some much needed attention to the Museum itself. Painters, scrapers, plumbers, electricians and plasterers have all been very busy.
The re-vamp is complete and we are delighted that the whole Museum, along with the outside exhibits and porch area, is once again open to the public between 10.00am and 12.30pm every Saturday. We look forward to welcoming you over the coming weeks. Members of the British Printing Association have got our 1832 Columbian Printing Press up and running and demonstrate it in action once a month.

Our Friday evening walks and talks are also in full swing with a great programme of events, so have a look at our 'Programme' page to see what's going on.

See our 1832 Columbian Printing Press at work.

We were very lucky to have rescued an 1832 'Columbian' printing press from 'Starling Press' of Risca. With the dedicated help of members of the British Printing Society, the press is back in regular working order. This years working dates are on these Saturdays :-
21 - 22 September 2024 (Open doors weekend)
19 October 2024
16 November 2024
14 December 2024.

Risca Industrial History Museum

What's inside the Collier's Institute?

The museum displays an extensive collection of artefacts, memorabilia and photographs illustrating some of the industrial history of the area: coal mining, the iron industry, tram roads, railways, canals etc. The collection has been built up over many years by members of the Oxford House Industrial History Society along with donations by some very generous people. The museum is run entirely by volunteers from the Society.

Before local boundary changes extinguished Islwyn Borough Council, one of their last acts was to acquire the Risca Colliers Institute by means of a European development grant, to house the museum and extend the facilities of Oxford House Adult Education Centre. The Institute was built in 1916 and is now a Grade II listed building..

Risca Colliers Institute

Risca Colliery NUM banner

Our chemists shop

Some of our artifacts

Our Industrial Heritage - Iron and Coal

Iron, steel and tinplate Coal

The large ironworks at Rogerstone, Pontymister and Abercarn were the very visible presence of heavy industry in the valley with smaller forges and foundries making their own contribution to Industrial Risca.

Coal, clay and lead mines.

With deep mines at Blackvein, North Risca and Abercarn plus dozens of small levels on both sides of the valley, Risca's mining industry also played an essential part in the local economy.

Our Industrial Heritage - Commercial

Printing and other commercial activities

We were lucky to rescue one of the printing presses from 'Starling Press' of Risca which is back in regular working order. A good selection of other commercial equipment helps to set the scene.

Our Industrial Heritage - Transport

Railways, Tramroads, Canals and Buses

A veritable spider's web of transport systems wound its' way up and down the valley from the early canal and associated tramroads to today's modern bypass. Relics of these systems are still to be found in odd corners and we've assembled some pieces to remind us of their importance.

W H Thomas - The Edwardian Chemists shop

'Next patient, please'

One of our prime exhibits is the Edwardian chemist's shop of W. H. Thomas, re-erected from James Street in Cardiff using the original shop fittings and contents.

Our previous museum

Pontymister Upper School

This society had been collecting artefacts from the earliest days and in 1979 the late Wynford Vaughan Thomas opened our Risca Industrial History Museum in the old Pontymister Upper School. Pictured here is the coal dram recovered from the Blaendare level in the former museum.

In December 1979 the museum was flooded to a depth of 3 feet by the River Ebbw. Following the sale of the old school buildings and their eventual demolition, the museum was put into temporary storage, courtesy of what was then Islwyn Borough Council, until our new home was found.

A coal dram recovered from the Blaendare level

The Pontymister Floods