Bwllfa Dare Colliery

Overview

A Cwmdare colliery sunk in 1853 by Sam and Joseph Thomas, worked through six operator changes over more than a century, and retained as an escape shaft for the neighbouring Mardy Colliery for over a decade after its own 1977 closure.

History

Bwllfa Colliery, also recorded as Bwllfa Dare or Bwllfa No. 1, was sunk at the head of Cwmdare in 1853 by Sam and Joseph Thomas, a remote farming community at the top of the Dare Valley at the time. Two shafts were sunk to a depth of some 200 yards (180 metres), initially worked with water-balance winding and ventilated by a furnace. Production began in 1856, and by 1857 Ebenezer Lewis, Thomas's business partner, had become sole owner. Brogden and Sons took over in 1873; in 1876 the colliery was merged, under combined ownership, with the neighbouring Merthyr Dare pit as the Bwlfa and Merthyr Dare Coal Company, though the two remained physically separate workings. Powell Duffryn bought the company in 1935, and the colliery closed in the late 1930s, though it is believed to have been retained afterwards for ventilation purposes; by 1948 the surface site was recorded as disused and largely demolished. The colliery nonetheless continued in some capacity until 1977, when it finally ceased working, and was then retained as an escape shaft for the nearby Mardy Colliery until 1989. By 1991 the site had been demolished and landscaped, forming part of today's Dare Valley Country Park.

Workings

Two shafts around 200 yards deep, originally worked with water-balance winding and furnace ventilation; merged operationally with the neighbouring Merthyr Dare pit from 1876 as the Bwlfa and Merthyr Dare Coal Company, though the workings themselves remained separate.

Closure

Closed as a working colliery in the late 1930s, though retained afterwards for ventilation; continued in some capacity until finally ceasing in 1977, after which it served as an escape shaft for Mardy Colliery until 1989.

What remains

Demolished and landscaped by 1991, the site now forms part of Dare Valley Country Park.

No original colliery structures survive; the site is now parkland.

Abandoned workings can be dangerous — unstable ground, uncapped shafts, flooding and bad air are common even where a site looks safe from the surface. This entry describes history and general location only; it is not an access guide.

Disasters & major incidents

• Bwllfa Colliery Fire (1867)
  27 December 1867 · Fire · 5 fatalities
  A ventilation-system fire at Bwllfa Colliery filled an underground drift with smoke during a shift change on 27 December 1867, killing five of the eleven men working there.

Recorded claims

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

• Bwllfa Colliery was sunk in 1853 by Sam and Joseph Thomas; ownership passed to Ebenezer Lewis (1857), Brogden and Sons (1873), the combined Bwlfa and Merthyr Dare Coal Company (1876) and Powell Duffryn (1935). ¹
• The colliery closed in the late 1930s but was retained for ventilation; it continued in some capacity until 1977, after which it served as an escape shaft for Mardy Colliery until 1989, before demolition and landscaping into Dare Valley Country Park by 1991. ²

Photographs & further reading

This page doesn't try to reproduce everything — these are the best original sources found for this mine.

Images

Sources

1. (secondary) Bwllfa Colliery — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Bwllfa Dare Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society

Record created: 1 September 2026 · Last researched: 1 September 2026