Dinas Main Colliery

Overview

The Evans family's pit at Evanstown, Gilfach Goch, opened about 1865 on the No. 3 Rhondda seam, where an explosion killed seven in 1907; the pit closed that year but its levels worked on under Britannic Merthyr.

History

Dinas Main Colliery stood at Evanstown, Gilfach Goch, in the Ogmore Fach valley. It was opened about 1865 by Evan Evans and his son Christmas Evans, with a single shaft 18 feet across, divided for ventilation, sunk 237 feet to the No. 3 Rhondda seam and linked to the Dinas Main levels. The Evanses formed the Ogmore Colliery Company in 1871; it became the Dinas Main Coal Company in 1875, then the Dinas Main Coal and Coke Company, and the Dinas Main Coal Company again in 1885. The pit was also known as Gilfach or Gilfach Goch Colliery.

In 1893 the company announced two new pits to the steam coals, the Britannic pits, which raised their first coal in 1895, and by the end of the decade it had become the Britannic Merthyr Coal Company. The Dinas Main pit employed 286 men in 1896 under Robert Snape and 264 in 1903.

On the pay Saturday of 14 December 1907 an explosion killed seven of the twelve men working underground (see Disasters, below). The pit closed that year and was merged into Britannic. The Dinas Main levels went on under the Britannic Merthyr Coal Company, employing 289 men in 1923 and 190 in 1926.

Geology

South Wales Coal Measures. The shaft was sunk to the No. 3 Rhondda seam; abandonment plans of the No. 2 and No. 3 Rhondda are catalogued.

Workings

One shaft, 18 feet in diameter and divided for ventilation, sunk to the No. 3 Rhondda at 237 feet, linked to the Dinas Main levels (Nos. 2 and 3 levels by 1878).

Closure

The pit closed in 1907 and was merged into the Britannic Colliery; the Dinas Main levels were still working in 1926 under the Britannic Merthyr Coal Company.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Britannic Colliery — Sunk by the Dinas Main Coal Company, which became the Britannic Merthyr Coal Company; the Dinas Main pit was merged into Britannic in 1907.

Disasters & major incidents

• Dinas Main Colliery explosion, 1907
  14 December 1907 · Explosion · 7 fatalities
  At about a quarter past two on the pay Saturday of 14 December 1907 an explosion at Dinas Main Colliery, Gilfach Goch, killed seven of the twelve men underground; the fireman David Meyrick led the other four out through old workings.

Recorded claims

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

• The pit was opened about 1865 by Evan Evans and his son Christmas Evans, with one shaft sunk to the No. 3 Rhondda seam at a depth of 237 feet, 18 feet in diameter and split for ventilation. ¹
• The Ogmore Colliery Company of 1871 became the Dinas Main Coal Company in 1875, the Dinas Main Coal and Coke Company, and the Dinas Main Coal Company again in 1885. ¹
• In 1907 the pit employed 151 men and the level 56; the pit closed that year and was merged into Britannic Colliery. ¹
• On 14 December 1907 Richard Evans, Watkin Evans, John Jenkins, William David, David John Miles, Nicholas White and his son William were killed by an explosion at Dinas Main Colliery, Gilfach Goch. ^1,2
• The explosion came at about a quarter past two on a pay Saturday, when about 150 workmen were lined up outside the pay office and only twelve men had gone back down for repairs and general work. ³
• Abandonment plans are catalogued for Dinas Main (No. 3 Rhondda) and for Dinas Main with Britannic and Glamorgan (No. 2 Rhondda). ^4,5

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Dinas Main Colliery - Northern Mine Research Society — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Mining fatalities, 1907 - Welsh Coal Mines — Welsh Coal Mines
3. (primary) Colliery explosion at Gilfach Goch: seven victims - Weekly Mail, 21 December 1907 — Welsh Newspapers (National Library of Wales)
4. (primary) BGS mine plans: Dinas Main (No. 3 Rhondda) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
5. (primary) BGS mine plans: Dinas Main, Britannic, Glamorgan (No. 2 Rhondda) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

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