Away from the wooded area, the remainder of the site is the former location of a number of deep, drift and opencast coalmines. 

An initial small scale investigation into the general history of the site was undertaken by Cambria Archaeology where sites and monuments records proved to find three named collieries on or around the site, namely Blaenhirwaun Colliery, Hirwaun-Oleu coal mine, and Llechyfedach Colliery; a post medieval cottage site and two railway lines, one reputably the oldest passenger carrying line in the world. 

There are 11 seams of coal at "shallow" to 500m deep, with the last date of working being 1975.  Within 20m of the site, there are 15 mine entries.  Since this initial investigation, Cambria Archaeology have gone on to produce a morre detailed document on the history of the site and the surrounding parishes. 

This forms the basis of themed interpretation material.

Basic site relamation schemes were carried out during the early 1990's and previous coal tips and eyesores were removed. 

A substantial tarmacademed road is continuous for over half the site linked to a good level forest track for the remainder in a circuitous fashion. 

The majority fo the remainder of the site is made up of open grassland or dense areas of scrub.