Caradog Vale Colliery

Overview

A small house-coal level near Gilfach Goch, opened about 1890 and worked by several owners with a few dozen men. In 1906 it flooded from old workings, drowning four colliers and trapping two for six days.

History

Caradog Vale was a level near Gilfach Goch, opened around 1890 by the Groeswen and Caradoc Colliery Company. By 1893 the Ogmore Fach Colliery Company of Blackmill held it, with 17 men underground, and it was worked by pillar and stall with naked lights. In 1899 the Caradog Vale Colliery Company employed 38 men there under the manager W. H. Davies. It was listed as discontinued in 1901, reopened in 1902, and by 1905 belonged to South Wales United Collieries Ltd, a French-owned company, with 25 men.

On 26 June 1906 the workings broke through into old flooded workings. Four men drowned and two were rescued after six days (see Disasters, below). The colliery worked on afterwards and employed 54 men in 1907 and 70 in 1909, under the manager H. G. J. Barrow.

Geology

South Wales Coal Measures: the Lower Glynogwr seam, here 22 inches of coal, 2 of dirt and 12 of coal, and the Ty Du seam.

Workings

A level worked by pillar and stall with naked lights, approaching old flooded workings that broke in on it in 1906.

Closure

Last recorded in 1909, with 70 men. The plan of the Ty Du seam workings was deposited as abandoned in 1904. The closure date and reason are unknown.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Glynogwr Colliery — Workings planned together with Glynogwr and the Ty Du level.

Disasters & major incidents

• Caradog Vale Colliery inundation, 1906
  26 June 1906 · Flooding / Inundation · 4 fatalities
  On the afternoon of Tuesday 26 June 1906 the face of a stall at Caradog Vale Colliery, a small level near Gilfach Goch, broke through into flooded old workings. Four colliers drowned, and two more survived six days trapped in the dark before rescuers reached them. The agent and manager were tried for manslaughter and acquitted.

Recorded claims

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

• Opened around 1890 by the Groeswen and Caradoc Colliery Company. ¹
• Employed 38 men in 1899 under the Caradog Vale Colliery Company and 70 in 1909. ¹
• Owned in 1906 by South Wales United Collieries Ltd, whose agent and manager were tried for manslaughter after the inundation. ^1,2
• The Ty Du seam workings were deposited as abandoned in 1904. ³
• In June 1906 the level flooded from old workings, drowning four men. ^1,4

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Etna Colliery, Glynogwr Colliery - Welsh Coal Mines — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (primary) Mr Quinton found not guilty (The Cardiff Times, 4 August 1906) — Welsh Newspapers (National Library of Wales)
3. (primary) Mine plan: Caradog Vale, Ty Du (abandoned 1904) — British Geological Survey
4. (primary) Caradog Vale Disaster: three of the bodies recovered (Evening Express, 30 June 1906) — Welsh Newspapers (National Library of Wales)

Record created: 2 October 2026 · Last researched: 2 October 2026