- Current section: Introduction
- Learning outcomes
- 1 Aberdulais Falls
- 1.1 Background
- 1.2 Aberdulais Falls and the National Trust
- 1.3 Stages of development
- 1.4 The economics of maintaining a heritage site
- 1.5 Water power
- 1.6 Visitor numbers
- 1.7 Evaluation
- 1.8 Conflict and tension
- 1.9 Aberdulais Falls and the local community
- 1.10 Other considerations
- 1.11 Facilities and the visitor experience
- 1.12 Conclusion
- Acknowledgements
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Aberdulais Falls: A case study in Welsh heritage
This unit looks at the Aberulais Falls in Wales, and considers...
This unit looks at the Aberulais Falls in Wales, and considers the key issues affecting the decision-making of the bodies which are responsible for looking after our heritage. We examine the heritage debates: who decides what should be preserved from the past as our heritage, who is this heritage for, and how should it be presented and explained?
On completion of this unit you should be able to:
- understand some of the issues surrounding natural heritage;
- understand some of the issues surrounding industrial heritage;
- understand why tensions often arise between conservation and the demands of modern tourism.
- Duration: 2 hours
- Published on: Tuesday 21st June 2011
- Level: Introductory
- Posted under: Heritage
Contents
Aberdulais Falls: A case study in Welsh heritage
Introduction

This case study looks at Aberdulais Falls near Neath, South Wales. This is a place of great natural beauty, but also an important industrial heritage site. The course considers the key issues affecting the decision-making of the bodies which are responsible for looking after our heritage. For example, who decides what should be preserved from the past as our heritage, who is this heritage for, and how should it be presented and explained? In this case study, we examine the heritage debates around what to do with places, buildings, things and the memories attached to them in the context of a specific Welsh heritage site.
This material is from our archive and is an adapted extract from Heritage, whose heritage? (A180) which is no longer taught by The Open University. If you want to study formally with us, you may wish to explore other courses we offer in this subject area [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .
Archive content
This is an extract from an Open University course which is no longer available to new students. If you found this interesting you could explore more free Heritage course units or view the range of currently available OU Heritage courses.
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- Creative-Commons: The Open University is proud to release this free course under a Creative Commons licence. However, any third-party materials featured within it are used with permission and are not ours to give away. These materials are not subject to the Creative Commons licence. See terms and conditions. Full details can be found in the Acknowledgements section.
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