We did and it plunged us into the deepest, most absolute darkness I'd ever experienced; darkness so dark you couldn't see anything, even your hand held up right in front of your eyes.
It was in this pitch black that the youngest children of Welsh coalminers at Big Pit worked, up to as long as twelve hours a day, as Trappers, opening and closing the wooden doors that regulated the flow of fresh air into the mine.
Our guide once worked at Big Pit. His first job - taking care of the pit ponies. It was also his job to bring the ponies up into the sunshine for two weeks out of the year during the festive season. And it was also his job to bring them back down.
"They weren't stupid. They didn't want to go back."
Pit ponies spent 50 out of 52 weeks deep down underground.
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