Fan and Compressor House is a Grade II listed building in the Torfaen local planning authority area, Wales. First listed on 9 February 1995. House. 1 related planning application.

Fan and Compressor House

WRENN ID
small-rotunda-peregrine
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Torfaen
Constituency
Torfaen MP: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Lab)
Country
Wales
Date first listed
9 February 1995
Type
House
Address
Fan and Compressor House, Big Pit Mining Museum, Blaenavon, NP4 9XP
OS grid reference
SO 237 087
Coordinates
51.77203, -3.10691
Source
Cadw listing

Also on this page: related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Fan and Compressor House is a single-storey, rectangular building constructed of red brick with a dressed stone plinth. It features three bays on both the side elevation and the gable end. There are extensions to the south-east, south-west, and north-east, as well as a low structure to the north-west. On the south gable, there are two identical arched doorways with wooden double doors, while a third, taller, central arch is blocked. The roof is pitched and covered with slate, featuring a tiled ridge and a large square chimney base on the south-west pitch.

The north-east elevation includes two semi-circular brick arched windows, with a metal duct protruding from the east window. A brick extension at the western end has a corrugated iron cat slide roof. The south-west elevation has two windows: one with a semi-circular brick arch and the other with a segmental brick arch. There is also a brick extension at the west end that has two large iron ducts leading from it. The ground to the north-west is partly built up around a long, low brick structure with a dressed stone base.

Inside the main building, two compressors remain along with the base of a third. Some areas of the floor still retain their original tiles, and the roof trusses are made of iron. The telephonist's room in the north-west extension contains remnants of the communication system. The fan housing itself was not accessible as of Autumn 1993.

Local climate

Fan and Compressor House sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,040 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 83% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 75% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 48 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 89% of listed buildings. Of these, 24 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  • No EPC on record for this property
  • No sale records on file
  • Related listed building consents — 1 application
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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  2. Powder House, Big Pit Mining Museum Grade II 110 m
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  10. Pit Head Building, Headframe and Tram Circuit Grade II* 173 m