Maritime Colliery

Overview

A Pontypridd colliery with an unlucky history. It was sunk in 1841 by John Edmunds as a water balance pit, reaching the No. 3 Rhondda seam at only 60 yards, and was called the Pontypridd Colliery before 1880. It sat where the seams are very faulty, and three or four successive proprietaries lost heavily trying to work it; a winding-up order came in 1893 and the pit lay idle for a year. The Great Western Colliery Company bought it in 1894 — not to work the shaft, but to extend its own workings into the ground. Powell Duffryn took it in 1930, an underground link to Cwm opened in 1932, and the National Coal Board closed it in June 1961.

History

Situated at Maesycoed near Pontypridd, the colliery was originally a water balance pit, sunk in 1841 by John Edmunds to the No. 3 Rhondda seam at a depth of 60 yards. The oval shaft was divided into two sections for upcast and downcast, and ventilation was by furnace. Before 1880 it was called the Pontypridd Colliery, and in the newspapers of the period it also appears as the Marine Rhondda Colliery and as Fowler’s Pit.

In November 1878 the Monmouthshire Merlin reported a great find of coal at the mine: a seam struck at 310 yards, supposed to be the celebrated four-foot vein worked for so many years at Aberdare, six feet thick and steam coal.

It never made its owners rich. The Pontypridd Chronicle, reporting the sale of the pit in 1893, wrote that "the Maritime property has had a singularly unfortunate history, being situated at a point where the coal seams are very faulty and three or four successive proprietaries have lost heavily in their attempt to work the coal". A winding-up order was issued for the Maritime Coal Company in March 1893 and the pit lay idle for nearly a year until the Great Western Colliery Company bought it in 1894, adding about 500 acres. The Great Western did not work the Maritime pit itself but extended its own workings into the ground to reach the best of the minerals, including a large quantity of No. 3 Rhondda.

The colliery employed 466 men in the year of the sale, 956 by 1918 and 1,286 in 1923, when it was working the Four Feet seam. Powell Duffryn became the owners in 1930, and on 1 April 1932 an underground link to Cwm Colliery was completed — a drivage of 1,086 yards — after which much of the Maritime’s coal was raised through Cwm. Employment was 661 in 1938 and 393 in 1945.

Geology

The South Wales coalfield at Pontypridd, on notably faulty ground. The No. 3 Rhondda seam was reached at 60 yards in 1841; a four-foot steam coal six feet thick was struck at 310 yards in 1878. At closure the colliery was working two coking coal seams, the Six Feet and the Upper Four Feet.

Workings

Originally a water balance pit with an oval shaft divided into upcast and downcast sections, ventilated by furnace. From 1 April 1932 an underground drivage of 1,086 yards connected the workings to Cwm Colliery, and much of the coal was thereafter raised at Cwm.

Closure

The National Coal Board closed the colliery in June 1961, when it was producing around 150,000 tons a year with a workforce of about 400 from the Six Feet and Upper Four Feet seams. Pumping continued at the site for many years afterwards. The closure probably coincided with the completion of the £9 million reconstruction of 1952-60 that linked Cwm and Coedely and built a new coal preparation plant at Cwm; the same two seams were worked at Cwm.

What remains

No structure is known to survive.

Related mines

• Cwm Colliery — Joined underground from 1932: a 1,086-yard drivage completed on 1 April that year linked the Maritime with Cwm, and much of the Maritime’s coal was raised through Cwm thereafter. Its closure in 1961 probably coincided with the £9 million Cwm-Coedely reconstruction, which worked the same Six Feet and Upper Four Feet seams.
• Great Western Colliery — Bought but deliberately not worked: the Great Western Colliery Company purchased the Maritime in 1894, adding some 500 acres, and rather than reopening the Maritime pit extended its own workings into the ground to reach the best of the coal.

Disasters & major incidents

• Marine Rhondda Colliery Fall
  20 April 1883 · Collapse / Roof Fall · 3 fatalities
  On 20 April 1883 three colliers were buried and suffocated by a fall of roof at the Rhondda Marine Colliery, Pontypridd; their bodies were recovered the following Saturday.
• Maritime Colliery cage accident, 1899
  17 April 1899 · Winding / Shaft Accident · 2 fatalities
  Two colliers fell about two hundred yards to their deaths on 17 April 1899 when the cage bringing men up the Maritime Colliery's upcast shaft, in use because the downcast rope had failed, caught and tilted.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• The BGS mine-plans catalogue holds a Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'Maritime' (catalogue SWA767, Six Feet (Four Feet)., dated 1958); the catalogue gives no location and the plan's details do not clearly tie it to this working, so it may belong to another of the same name. (uncertain) ²

Recorded claims

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

• Originally a water balance pit, the colliery was sunk in 1841 by John Edmunds to the No. 3 Rhondda seam at a depth of 60 yards. The oval shaft was divided into two sections for the upcast and downcast, and ventilation was by furnace. ¹
• Prior to 1880 the colliery was called the Pontypridd Colliery; contemporary newspapers also refer to it as the Marine Rhondda Colliery and as Fowler’s Pit. ¹
• The Monmouthshire Merlin of 29 November 1878 reported a great find of coal at the mine: a seam struck at 310 yards from the surface, supposed to be the celebrated four-foot vein worked for many years at Aberdare, six feet thick and steam coal. ¹
• The Pontypridd Chronicle of 2 June 1893 reported that "the Maritime property has had a singularly unfortunate history, being situated at a point where the coal seams are very faulty and three or four successive proprietaries have lost heavily in their attempt to work the coal". ¹
• The Great Western Colliery Company purchased the Maritime in 1894 after it had lain idle for nearly twelve months, adding about 500 acres. It was understood that the company would not work the Maritime pit itself but would extend its own workings into the Maritime area to reach the best of the minerals, including a large quantity of No. 3 Rhondda. ¹
• Powell Duffryn became the owners in 1930, and an underground link to Cwm Colliery was opened on 1 April 1932 when a 1,086-yard drivage was completed. Much of the Maritime’s coal was thereafter raised through Cwm. ¹
• The National Coal Board closed the colliery in June 1961, when it produced around 150,000 tons a year with a workforce of about 400, working the Six Feet and Upper Four Feet coking coal seams. Pumping continued there for many years afterwards. ¹
• The BGS mine-plans catalogue holds a Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'Maritime' (catalogue SWA767, Six Feet (Four Feet)., dated 1958); the catalogue gives no location and the plan's details do not clearly tie it to this working, so it may belong to another of the same name. (uncertain) ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Maritime Colliery — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans: MARITIME — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
3. (secondary) Great Western Colliery — Wikipedia

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