Caerlan Colliery

Overview

A small drift mine at Tonyrefail in the Ely valley, three drifts into the No. 3 Rhondda seam beside Collena Colliery, worked by E. Hammond and later the Caerlan Colliery (1930) Company. A gas explosion killed three in 1920; the old level was abandoned in 1928 and the New Caerlan in 1935.

History

Caerlan Colliery, at Tonyrefail in the Ely valley, was three drifts into the No. 3 Rhondda seam, about a hundred yards west of Collena Colliery; it also worked the Hafod seam. The geological survey records old Caerlan driven on the crop of the No. 3 Rhondda on the steep southern limb of the Pontypridd anticline, with cross-measures roads to the Hafod. It employed 82 in 1900 and none in 1901-02, and only a dozen men in 1908-12. E. Hammond, who stayed outside the coal owners' association, owned it; Joseph Hargreaves managed it with 24 men in 1916-17, and Hammond himself in 1918, with 36.

It was a naked-light mine. On 30 August 1920 gas was found at the top hole; after the fan had been turned and the fireman's lamp went out in a second test, the overman, John Edwards, struck a match, and the explosion killed him, the fireman and a fourteen-year-old collier's boy (see Disasters, below). Missing from the coalfield map of 1921, Caerlan was back at work in 1922, gave up the No. 2 Rhondda in 1923 and still employed 24 in 1927. The level's No. 3 Rhondda and Hafod workings were abandoned in 1928.

By 1930 the Caerlan Colliery (1930) Company of Port Talbot had it, with 14 men underground. The colliery was offered at auction in August 1933 with a take of 239 acres and a drift being driven to the No. 2 Rhondda; 70 men worked a New Drift in 1934, and the New Caerlan abandoned the Hafod seam in 1935.

Geology

South Wales Coal Measures on the steep southern limb of the Pontypridd anticline: the No. 3 Rhondda seam, about 36 inches of clean coal, the Hafod seam (38 inches) and the No. 2 Rhondda.

Workings

Three surface drifts on the crop of the No. 3 Rhondda with cross-measures roads to the Hafod; a New Drift by 1934. A naked-light mine in 1920.

Closure

The old level's No. 3 Rhondda and Hafod workings were abandoned in 1928; the New Caerlan abandoned the Hafod seam in 1935.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Recorded claims

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

• Caerlan Colliery was three drifts into the No. 3 Rhondda seam, about 100 yards west of Collena Colliery, and also worked the Hafod seam. ^1,2
• On 30 August 1920 an explosion of gas at Caerlan Colliery, Tonyrefail, killed the overman John Edwards, the fireman Joseph Chivers and a fourteen-year-old boy, James Scourfield. ³
• E. Hammond owned Caerlan from the 1910s to at least 1927, managing it himself in 1918 with 36 men. ²
• In 1933 the colliery was to be auctioned, with a mineral take of 239 acres and a drift being driven to the No. 2 Rhondda. ²
• The Caerlan Level's No. 3 Rhondda workings were abandoned on 10 September 1928, and the New Caerlan abandoned the Hafod seam in 1935. ^2,4

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Geology of the South Wales Coalfield Part IV, the country around Pontypridd and Maesteg — British Geological Survey
2. (secondary) NMRS: Caerlan Colliery, Tonyrefail — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (secondary) Welsh Coal Mines fatalities, 1920 — Welsh Coal Mines
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Caerlan Level, No.3 Rhondda, abandoned 10 September 1928 — British Geological Survey

Record created: 11 October 2026 · Last researched: 16 October 2026