Lady Lewis Colliery

Overview

A deep colliery at Ynyshir in the Rhondda Fach, sunk by Lewis Merthyr Consolidated Collieries from 1901 and linked underground to the company's Hafod pit for ventilation. It employed over 1,200 men in the early 1920s, stopped raising coal in the 1930s, served only for ventilation until 1950, and was demolished in the late 1960s.

History

Lewis Merthyr Consolidated Collieries began sinking Lady Lewis at Ynyshir, in the Rhondda Fach, in 1901, and coal was raised from 1904. Its single shaft, twenty feet across, went down to the Gellideg seam at 1,426 feet, and was equipped to raise 1,800 tons in a nine-hour shift; the company planned for 400,000 to 500,000 tons a year. The colliery was linked to the company's Hafod pit, about a mile away, for ventilation.

Lady Lewis mainly worked the Red Vein and the Nine Feet, which lay only two feet apart and were worked as one: the Nine Feet was undercut and taken first, then the Red Vein. Its coals went for foundry and blast-furnace coke and for steam. The workforce grew from 132 in 1905 to 884 in 1908, under the manager D. L. Bowen, and 1,228 in 1913. In 1918 it employed 1,161 under J. F. Gregory, and 1,277 in 1924, working the Two Feet Nine, Four Feet, Six Feet, Nine Feet and Red Vein.

The Four Feet was abandoned in April 1925 and the workforce fell to 750. The colliery passed to the Powell Duffryn group in the late 1920s. Production ended in the 1930s, and Lady Lewis was kept only to ventilate the workings until 1950. It stood derelict beside the Maerdy railway until it was demolished in the late 1960s.

Geology

The Red Vein, Nine Feet, Two Feet Nine, Four Feet, Six Feet and Gellideg seams of the South Wales Coalfield; the Red Vein and Nine Feet lay about two feet apart and were worked as one.

Workings

A single 20-foot shaft to the Gellideg seam, linked underground to the Hafod pit about a mile away for ventilation.

Closure

Coal production ended in the 1930s; the shaft was kept for ventilation only until 1950.

What remains

The colliery was demolished in the late 1960s.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Lewis Merthyr Colliery — Both Lewis Merthyr Consolidated collieries; Lady Lewis was linked to the Hafod pit for ventilation.

Recorded claims

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

• Lewis Merthyr Consolidated Collieries began sinking Lady Lewis in 1901, and production started in 1904. ^1,2
• The 20-foot shaft was sunk to the Gellideg seam at a depth of 1,426 feet 6 inches, or 476 yards. ^1,2
• Lady Lewis was linked to the Hafod pit, about a mile away. ^1,2
• Its main seams, the Red Vein and Nine Feet, were only 24 inches apart and were worked as one. ^1,2
• In 1908 the colliery employed 761 men underground and 123 on the surface, with D. L. Bowen as manager. ^1,2
• In 1918 it employed 1,039 men underground and 122 on the surface, managed by J. F. Gregory. ^1,2
• The colliery was taken over by the Powell Duffryn group in the late 1920s. ¹
• By nationalisation it had ceased to produce coal and was used for ventilation only until 1950. ^1,2,3
• Lady Lewis was demolished in the late 1960s after years of use for ventilation only. ³
• A plan survives of the Four Feet (Two Feet Nine) workings of Lady Lewis together with the Standard Colliery at Ynyshir. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Lady Lewis Colliery — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) Lady Lewis Colliery, near Ynishir, Rhondda Fach Valley — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (observational) Lady Lewis Colliery (derelict), Ynyshir, RCT — People's Collection Wales
4. (primary) STANDARD (YNYSHIR), LADY LEWIS, Four Feet (Two Feet Nine): abandonment plan catalogue entry — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
5. (observational) Lady Lewis pit, Ynyshir, 1911 (photograph, 1995.75/2) — Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales

Record created: 8 October 2026 · Last researched: 8 October 2026