A former police station in the Rhondda Valley, where people arrested during the Tonypandy riots were held, has been put up for sale. The two-storey building on Dunraven Street, Tonypandy, dates back to 1876 and was sold off by South Wales Police. It was sold two years ago for £98,000 and is now back on the market with a guide price of £99,000.
History of the Tonypandy riots
The Tonypandy riots in 1910 saw local police officers, reinforcement officers from across south Wales and Bristol, and military personnel summoned by the then UK Home Secretary Winston Churchill, to confront miners engaged in a pay dispute over low pay at the Ely Pit in Penygraig. Miners argued the new Bute seam was more difficult and dangerous. Churchill's decision to send in the military has remained notorious in Wales ever since. The most serious confrontation happened on November 8 when one miner, Samuel Rhys, died from head injuries and hundreds of police officers and civilians were injured.
Features of the building
The building contains former offices, kitchens, a mess room and holding cells with barred windows and steel-reinforced doors. James Hollingsworth, of Paul Fosh Auctions, said: "The property, which we have listed for what could well be regarded as a bit of a steal at £99,000-plus, consists of an imposing, two storey former police station constructed of stone walls under a pitched slate covered roof with an fascinating and distinctive past."
Hollingsworth added: "Internally, the building provides a mixture of offices, mess room, kitchens and other ancillary areas as to be expected within a police station including, intriguing seemingly impregnable holding cells, all of which are configured over the two floors. Access to the building is elevated above Dunraven Street to the front and via a stone stairway."
Condition and auction details
The building has not been an active station for some time. The front desk was closed to the public around 2007, and although officers were still based there in 2013, it has been empty for many years. Hollingsworth said: "There are rooms where fittings have been removed in readiness for the renovation, ripped up carpets, and the remains of a kitchen and a number of toilets. But surely the most iconic features of the vacant building must be the former cells with their solid walls, barred windows and steel-braced, bolt-fitted doors."
He added: "One can only wonder at the history of the building and in particular the former inmates who would have been accommodated in this historic building over the years." The station is being sold with vacant possession. The police station is going to online auction with a guide price of £99,000, but could potentially sell for more, with Paul Fosh Auctions starting at noon on Tuesday, September 1 and ending from 5pm on Thursday, September 3.
