Cwmbargoed Colliery

Overview

The Dowlais Iron Company's water-balance pits at Cwmbargoed, near Fochriw, sunk from 1839 to 154 yards: the Long Work Pit and Big Coal Pit raised steam coal for the Dowlais furnaces, and Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds worked them until the Long Work Pit's coal ran out in 1924.

History

The Cwmbargoed pits lay at the head of the Taff Bargoed valley, near Fochriw, and were sunk by the Dowlais Iron Company from 1839 to feed its ironworks; Coflein dates their completion to 1842. There were three shafts, 154 yards deep: the Long Work (or Longwall) Pit and the Big Coal Pit raised coal, and the third disposed of the water from the seams. All were wound by water balance, which needed a steady supply from small reservoirs: in June 1866 the Merthyr Express reported the balance pits in jeopardy from drought.

In 1861 a nineteen-year-old collier, Ben Davies, was killed by a fall after searching his district in vain for timber to prop the coal roof of his stall; the inquest jury returned a verdict of manslaughter against the night overman, John Davies, who was found guilty at the Assizes of negligence and bound over in £100. In August 1862 an ostler in his sixties was killed by an explosion when he broke through a barrier marking firedamp to take a short cut through old workings with a naked candle. In the hauliers' strike of 1893, when strikers gathered to stop the pit at Fochriw, the working men of Cwmbargoed crossed the hill and routed them.

The Long Work Pit's workings were joined to those of South Tunnel, and in 1894 a Waddle fan was being arranged to ventilate both, presumably replacing a furnace. The pits employed 327 men in 1896. Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds took over the Dowlais company in 1902 and kept Cwmbargoed; seams were abandoned from 1909 to 1917, and in 1918 South Tunnel and the Long Work Pit together employed 565, and 563 in 1923 in the Little Vein and Four Feet. A London and North Western Railway mineral branch ran to the pits from 1881 to 1937. The Long Work Pit, one of the company's oldest, was given notice in July 1924 when its coal was worked out, and closed that year; Powell Duffryn did not take the pits when it acquired GKN's South Wales collieries in 1924.

Geology

South Wales Coalfield: the Black, Six Feet (Big), Nine Feet, Red, Seven Feet, Little Vein and Four Feet seams.

Workings

Three water-balance shafts of 154 yards, the Long Work Pit, the Big Coal Pit and a water pit; the Long Work workings were joined to South Tunnel and ventilated by a Waddle fan from about 1894.

Closure

Seams were abandoned between 1909 and 1917; the Long Work Pit was given notice in July 1924 when its coal was worked out.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Fochriw Colliery — Neighbouring Dowlais Iron Company pits in the Taff Bargoed valley; Cwmbargoed men routed strikers at Fochriw in 1893.

Recorded claims

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

• Coal pits sunk by the Dowlais Iron Company in 1839, completed in 1842: the Long Work Pit and Big Coal Pit. ^1,2
• Three 154-yard water-balance pits were sunk, two raising coal and the third disposing of the water; in 1866 drought threatened the balance pits. ^3,1
• In 1861 an inquest jury returned manslaughter against the night overman after a collier was killed for want of pit wood; he was found guilty at the Assizes and bound over in £100. ¹
• In 1918 South Tunnel and the Long Work Pit employed 565 men, and 563 in 1923. ³
• An LNWR mineral branch ran from Cwmbargoed Junction to the Cwmbargoed Pits, opened in 1881 and closed in 1937. ⁴
• The Long Work Pit closed in 1924 when its coal was worked out. ³
• The Black seam was abandoned in 1909, the Six Feet in 1914 and the Nine Feet, Red and Seven Feet in 1917. ¹

Sources

1. (secondary) Cwmbargoed Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Cwm-Bargoed Pits (NPRN 85538) — Coflein (RCAHMW)
3. (secondary) Cwm Bargoed and Long Work Pit — Welsh Coal Mines
4. (secondary) Historic Landscape Characterisation, Merthyr Tydfil 039 — Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust

Record created: 17 October 2026 · Last researched: 17 October 2026