The sole surviving house, in a former mining village razed to the ground due to fears over a ‘moving mountain’, created a storm of interest when posted for sale at auction.
The severely fire-damaged, two-bedroom house, in the once thriving now cleared Gwent community of Troedrhiwfuwch, known locally as Troedy, witnessed its people being shifted out almost fifty years ago over the mountain landslip safety fears.
Now one of just two remaining properties, in the village known locally as Troedy, the other being the former post office building, sold at auction.
The village and almost all of its houses were condemned and abandoned due to fear of geological slippage causing a catastrophic landslip.
Sean Roper, of Paul Fosh Auctions, said: “The sale of this house really grabbed the imagination and following of a large number of people ahead of the sale attracting huge media interest both at home and abroad.
“And this enthusiasm was then reflected in the enormous number of bids lodged during the online sale.
“The fire-damaged lot, which had a reduced guide price of just £1, attracted no less 13 individual bidders who collectively lodged a phenomenal 230 bids until the property eventually sold for £49,050, a great result.
Sean said: “It’s a vastly overused word but this was a truly unique sale for all manner of reasons the main one being that the house offers a real-life connection to a now vanished community where a population of more than 600 men, women and children and their pets, once thrived.
“The lone house, at number 2, Lawrence Terrace, in the now vanished once thriving mining village of Troedrhiwfuwch, near New Tredegar, in Gwent’s Rhymney Valley, is a curious link to another long-gone age.
“Why this otherwise ordinary three-bedroom house survived in some form while all the others didn’t, remains a bit of a mystery but it may be a story a new owner of the property can unravel.”
Sean said: “Whatever the circumstances this sale offered an unrepeatable opportunity for someone to acquire a property with a wonderfully amazing history.
“It’s a house that was once at the centre of a bustling and busy mining village of more than 100 houses with in excess of 600 men women and children which by the 1980s had seen leave the place that was their home for generations.
“The property, surrounded by wonderful country and steep mountainside vistas, has stunning views to the front and rear. It would appear to present an ideal opportunity for either an investor or homeowner.
“Where there were once vibrant chapels and churches, busy shops, pubs, a school and row upon row of tightly- packed terraced houses now is just emptiness, bar for the two properties and the memorial.
“The council feared that a landslide could engulf the village without warning. The residents were moved out. In 1985 Troedrhiwfuwch was demolished.”
The next Paul Fosh Auctions sale, when this property and some 100 other varied lots will be on offer for sale online, starts at 12 noon on Tuesday, July 28 and ends 5pm on Thursday, July 30.
