Meiros Colliery

Overview

Llanharan's first deep mine, sunk in 1880 on the steep, broken southern edge of the coalfield, which raised gas and coking coals, employed 700 men around 1920, and suffered two explosions in the 1890s.

History

Meiros Colliery lay at Llanharan, on the southern outcrop of the South Wales coalfield, where the seams are severely fractured and in places vertical. A Meiros drift had been opened in 1826, and two elliptical shafts, 18 ft 6 in by 11 feet, were sunk in 1880, probably by the Gas Coal Collieries company; the No. 3 Rhondda seam, four feet of coal, was struck in March 1886, and the shafts were taken to 332 yards at the Six Feet. In November 1887 the colliery was sold at auction in Cardiff to a coal merchant, Mr Nance, for £9,600, and in 1890 the Meiros Colliery Company's proprietor was declared bankrupt. It was first ventilated by a furnace.

Explosions of firedamp killed three in 1891 and three more in 1896 (see Disasters, below). The colliery employed 314 that year, producing house and gas coal. Meiros Collieries Ltd took it over in 1913, driving a new drift into the Lower Pentre seam that reached some 800 yards by 1923; the workforce reached 622 in 1918 and about 700 in 1920-22, working coals used for gas making, coke ovens and coking blends from the Rhondda, Hafod, Pentre, Two-Feet-Nine and Six Feet seams. Its Four Feet and Six Feet were abandoned in 1931, and it is not listed in 1932. The Coalite Company bought it in 1937 and modernised it, and Welsh Coal Mines gives its closure as about 1938. Later attempts by the National Coal Board to work the Meiros take from Llanharan Colliery failed.

Geology

South Wales coalfield, southern outcrop: severely fractured and in places vertical seams; the No. 2 and No. 3 Rhondda, Hafod, Pentre, Two-Feet-Nine and Six Feet, high-volatile coals for gas making and coking.

Workings

Two elliptical shafts (1880) to 332 yards, an earlier drift of 1826, and a drift into the Lower Pentre from 1913.

Closure

The Four Feet and Six Feet were abandoned in 1931; bought by the Coalite Company in 1937 and closed about 1938.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Llanharan Colliery — Neighbouring takes at Llanharan; the National Coal Board later tried and failed to work the Meiros take from Llanharan Colliery.

Disasters & major incidents

• Meiros Colliery explosion, 1891
  11 November 1891 · Explosion · 3 fatalities
  An explosion of firedamp at Meiros Colliery, Llanharan, on the morning of 11 November 1891 killed two colliers and a boy as they reached their stall.
• Meiros Colliery explosion, 1896
  28 March 1896 · Explosion · 3 fatalities
  An explosion in the Brooks heading at Meiros Colliery, Llanharan, at about eight on the morning of Saturday 28 March 1896 killed three men and seriously burnt eight or nine others.

What's uncertain

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

• Meiros Colliery closed around 1938. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

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

• The two shafts of Meiros Colliery were sunk in 1880. ^1,2
• The colliery was sunk to the Six Feet seam at 332 yards (996 ft 5 in). ^1,2
• Meiros Collieries Ltd took over the colliery in 1913, and it employed 622 men in 1918. ^1,2
• The Four Feet and Six Feet seams of Meiros Nos. 1 and 2 were abandoned in 1931. ³
• Meiros Colliery closed around 1938. (disputed) ²
• Meiros worked near the southern outcrop, where the seams are severely fractured and in places vertical. ¹
• The No. 2 Rhondda workings of Meiros No. 2 were abandoned in 1914. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Merios Collery [Meiros Colliery] (Northern Mine Research Society) — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Meiros Colliery (Welsh Coal Mines) — Welsh Coal Mines
3. (primary) BGS mine plan: Meiros Nos. 1, 2, Four Feet, 1931 — British Geological Survey
4. (primary) BGS mine plan: Meiros No 2, No. 2 Rhondda, 1914 — British Geological Survey

Record created: 6 October 2026 · Last researched: 6 October 2026