Glamorgan Colliery

Overview

A Rhondda Valley colliery at Llwynypia, known locally as the Scotch Colliery after its Scottish founder, sunk in 1862 and worked until 1945; its 1905 engine house is one of the few substantial colliery buildings still standing anywhere in the Rhondda.

History

The Scottish mining engineer Archibald Hood formed the Glamorgan Coal Company and sank the colliery's first two pits at Llwynypia in 1861-62 under his agent, Mr Begg -- earning it the local nickname the 'Scotch Colliery'. A further four shafts followed by 1873, giving a six-shaft complex in which Nos. 2 and 3 handled winding and No. 1 served as the upcast. The colliery worked the Rhondda Nos. 2 and 3 seams and, later, the district's full sequence of steam-coal measures -- the Two Feet Nine, Four Feet, New Six Feet, Five Feet, Lower Five Feet, Bute and Pentre seams by 1923 -- producing both steam coal and, from its own coking plant, the well-regarded 'Hoods Coke'. Employment peaked at 3,907 in 1913, up from 2,331 in 1896, before falling to 560 by 1938 as the colliery's working life wound down. The Glamorgan Coal Company was absorbed into the Cambrian Combine in 1908, and the Cambrian group's 1929 liquidation folded it into the newly formed Welsh Associated Collieries Limited. On 25 January 1932 a gas explosion in the Pentre seam killed eleven men (see Disasters, below). Coal winding ended in August 1945, though the colliery was kept open for pumping until 1966.

Workings

A six-shaft complex: Nos. 2 and 3 handled winding, No. 1 served as the upcast, and three further shafts were added for pumping and ventilation; worked by longwall faces, some mechanised with conveyors, and others as traditional stalls.

Closure

Coal winding ended in August 1945 following Welsh Associated Collieries' ownership; the site was retained for pumping until 1966, after which it was cleared.

What remains

The colliery's large 1905 engine house survives as a rare example of a substantial standing colliery building in the Rhondda -- a two-storey, eight-bay yellow and red brick structure with stone and concrete dressings, now Grade II listed.

The 1905 engine house (Grade II listed).

Abandoned workings can be dangerous — unstable ground, uncapped shafts, flooding and bad air are common even where a site looks safe from the surface. This entry describes history and general location only; it is not an access guide.

Disasters & major incidents

• Glamorgan Colliery explosion, 1932
  25 January 1932 · Explosion · 11 fatalities
  A gas explosion in the Pentre seam at Glamorgan Colliery, Llwynypia, killed eleven men, including two members of the rescue party.

Recorded claims

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

• Employment rose from 2,331 in 1896 to a peak of 3,907 in 1913, before falling to 560 by 1938. ¹
• The colliery's 1905 engine house -- a two-storey, eight-bay building in yellow and red brick with stone and concrete dressings -- survives as a Grade II listed building, a rare surviving example in the Rhondda. ²
• By 1923 the colliery worked the Two Feet Nine, Four Feet, New Six Feet, Five Feet, Lower Five Feet, Bute and Pentre seams, producing both steam coal and coke branded 'Hoods Coke' from its own coking plant. ¹

Photographs & further reading

This page doesn't try to reproduce everything — these are the best original sources found for this mine.

Images

Sources

1. (secondary) Glamorgan Colliery Llwynpia — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) Llwynypia — Wikipedia

Record created: 31 August 2026 · Last researched: 31 August 2026