Blaenclydach Colliery

Overview

A Clydach Vale drift mine known locally as the Gorci, worked from the 1860s and latterly by Powell Duffryn. On a November morning in 1941 its man-riding train ran away down the drift with ninety men aboard and killed seven of them, two aged fifteen.

History

Frank James opened levels in the area in the early 1860s to the No. 3 Rhondda seam, and William Berch and R. H. Miers were the owners by 1869. Another colliery was opened by Bush and Company in 1875 and was in the hands of the Forest Iron and Steel Company Limited by 1880. The Inspector of Mines list for 1896 gives only 35 men employed, producing house and manufacturing coal, and in 1897 the property came to the Blaenclydach Colliery Company. In 1912 another drift was opened, also called the Gorky, while the old Blaenclydach passed to the Brookvale House Coal Company and was renamed Brookvale. The workforce was 408 by 1918. In 1923 there were 606 men at the Blaenclydach New Drift, producing house coal from the Pentre seam. The Powell Duffryn Company took it over during the 1930s, employing 576 in 1938 and 414 in 1945. On the morning of 25 November 1941, at about seven o'clock, the last load of men was going underground on the five-hundred-yard Abergorchy drift. About ninety men and boys were riding the spake — a journey of flat-bottomed drams fitted with seats, used only for workmen. The spake ran wild for two hundred yards before it was stopped. Some men jumped clear, some clung on and escaped, and some who jumped were thrown back under the trolley by the narrowness of the drift. Seven were killed and twenty-five injured. Two of the dead, Kenneth Francis and William Gregory, were fifteen years old.

Geology

The colliery worked the Rhondda seams at the head of the Clydach valley: the No. 3 Rhondda in the levels of the 1860s and the Pentre seam at the New Drift by 1923.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (well documented example)

Workings

Drifts rather than shafts. The original Blaenclydach drift was known as the Gorci; a second, called the Gorky, was opened in 1912, and the old workings passed to another company as Brookvale. Men were taken in and out on the five-hundred-yard Abergorchy drift by spake, a train of flat-bottomed drams fitted with seats and used only for carrying workmen.

Closure

No closure date was established. The colliery was still returning employment figures in 1947, when it produced 50,000 tons with 315 people employed.

What remains

No account of the site as it is now was found. The Clydach Vale Country Park occupies the reclaimed ground of the Cambrian Colliery further up the valley, which is a different site.

No account of surviving remains was found in the sources read.

Redevelopment

Not established.

Nearby mines

• Cambrian Colliery — 1.0 km W
• Glamorgan Colliery — 1.9 km NE
• Naval Colliery — 2.2 km SE
• Pentre Colliery — 3.6 km N
• National Colliery — 3.8 km NE

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• Frank James opened levels in the area during the early 1860s to the No. 3 Rhondda seam; William Berch and R. H. Miers were the owners in 1869, and another colliery opened by Bush and Company in 1875 was in the hands of the Forest Iron and Steel Company Limited by 1880. ¹
• Blaenclydach was a drift mine known as The Gorci. In 1897 it came to the Blaenclydach Colliery Company; in 1912 another drift was opened, also called the Gorky, while the Old Blaenclydach came under the Brookvale House Coal Company and was renamed Brookvale. ¹
• The Inspector of Mines list for 1896 gives 35 men employed on house and manufacturing coal; the workforce was 408 by 1918 and 606 at the New Drift in 1923 on the Pentre seam. Powell Duffryn took the colliery over during the 1930s, employing 576 in 1938 and 414 in 1945. The Lists of Mines give 645 employed in 1910, 661 in 1933 and 315 in 1947, when the colliery produced 50,000 tons. ^1,2
• On 25 November 1941 the man-rider train, known locally as the spake, ran out of control down the steep drift, killing seven and injuring twenty-five. The accident happened at about seven in the morning on the five-hundred-yard Abergorchy drift as the last load of men were being taken underground, about ninety of them riding a journey of flat-bottomed drams fitted with seats and used solely for workmen; the spake ran wild for two hundred yards before it was stopped. Some men jumped off safely and others clung on and escaped injury. ^1,2

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Blaenclydach — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) Blaenclydach Colliery — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 10 September 2026 · Last researched: 10 September 2026