Gilfach Colliery

Overview

A Rhymney Iron Company colliery near Bargoed, sunk through heavy water to the Brithdir seam between 1887 and 1891; twenty-four men escaped the 1909 Darran explosion up its shaft, and it ended as a two-man pumping station keeping the water off Bargoed's Brithdir Pit.

History

Gilfach Colliery stood near Bargoed, in the Rhymney valley. The Rhymney Iron Company sank it to the Brithdir seam between 1887 and 1891, and the sinking was a hard one: springs threw a great influx of water into the shaft and a powerful pump had to be put in to hold it. First coal came in 1893. The shaft's most consequential day was one on which it was not winding coal. On 27 May 1909 an explosion at the Darran Colliery at Deri, 4,120 yards to the north, killed twenty-seven men. Twenty-four men working at Darran at the time got out through the Gilfach shaft; rescuers then went down at Gilfach to try to reach the others, and three of those explorers died in the attempt. The Brithdir seam in those workings was about three feet six inches thick with a good roof of strong shale or sandstone. Older workings carried the same name. The first edition Ordnance Survey of 1878 shows a 'Cilfach Colliery' at Gilfach: a tramway-served level with a cluster of buildings and spoil tips, the tramway dropping east down a double-tracked incline worked by a drum house, under the Rhymney Railway to coal drops and exchange sidings joining the Brecon and Merthyr line south of Bargoed. The second edition of 1900 names it Gilfach Colliery and shows the incline singled; a second working, Gilfach Colliery (West), had appeared by then some four hundred metres to the south-west and was probably linked underground to it, the eastern site having almost no room left to tip. On the third edition of 1919 both are shown disused, their railways and buildings gone. The sunk colliery closed in 1931, when the company went into voluntary liquidation. At nationalisation in 1947 it was still there, but only as a pumping station holding the water off Bargoed's Brithdir Pit, and it employed two men.

Geology

Worked the Brithdir seam of the Rhymney valley, reached by a sinking between 1887 and 1891 that had to fight heavy water from springs. In the workings adjoining Darran the Brithdir was about three feet six inches thick with a good roof of strong shale or sandstone.

Workings

A shaft sunk to the Brithdir between 1887 and 1891, kept clear by a powerful pump against the water that came in during the sinking, and standing 4,120 yards south of the Darran Colliery shaft. Older levels of the same name worked the ground from before 1878, served by a tramway and a drum-worked double incline down to coal drops on the Rhymney Railway; a western level, probably connected underground, was used for spoil removal.

Closure

The colliery closed in 1931 when the Rhymney Iron Company went into voluntary liquidation. At nationalisation in 1947 it was kept on only as a pumping station protecting Bargoed's Brithdir Pit, employing two men. The older levels of the same name were shown disused on the 1919 Ordnance Survey.

What remains

The site of Gilfach (East) was cleared of its railways and buildings by 1919.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Darran Colliery — Gilfach Colliery was connected underground to the Darran Colliery at Deri.
• Rhymney Merthyr Colliery — Both worked by the Rhymney Iron Company in the Rhymney Valley.

Nearby mines

• Darran Colliery — 0.4 km NW
• Bargoed Colliery — 1.1 km NE
• Groesfaen Colliery — 1.4 km NW
• Britannia Colliery, Pengam — 2.1 km SE
• Nantwen Colliery — 2.8 km W, Merthyr Tydfil

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

Recorded claims

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

• Owned by the Rhymney Iron Company, Gilfach was sunk between 1887 and 1891 to the Brithdir seam, with great difficulty owing to springs and a large influx of water. ¹
• The first coal from the Brithdir seam was raised in July 1893, and output in 1894 was 38,458 tons. ¹
• By nationalisation in 1947 the colliery was kept only as a pumping station protecting the Brithdir pit at Bargoed, employing two men. ¹
• 'Cilfach Colliery' is shown on the 1878 Ordnance Survey map and as disused by 1919, its railways and buildings then removed. ²
• Twenty-four men working at Darran Colliery at the time of the 1909 explosion escaped through the Gilfach shaft, 4,120 yards to the south. Rescue attempts were then made from that shaft, and three of the explorers died in them. ³
• The Brithdir seam in the workings adjoining Darran was about three feet six inches thick, with a good roof of strong shale or sandstone. ³
• A tramway-served level called Cilfach Colliery is shown at Gilfach on the first edition Ordnance Survey of 1878, its incline dropping to coal drops on the Rhymney Railway; by the second edition of 1900 it is named Gilfach Colliery, and a second working, Gilfach Colliery (West), had appeared about four hundred metres to the south-west, probably linked underground and used for spoil removal because the eastern site had no room left to tip. Both are shown disused on the third edition of 1919. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Gilfach Colliery (Welsh Coal Mines) — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (primary) Cilfach / Gilfach Colliery (East), Bargoed — Coflein (Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales)
3. (secondary) Darran Colliery Explosion, Deri, 1909 — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) Gilfach Colliery (West), Gilfach, Bargoed — Coflein (RCAHMW)

Record created: 23 September 2026 · Last researched: 23 September 2026