Merthyr Dare Colliery

Overview

A Cwmdare colliery sunk before 1851, closed and largely demolished by 1900, then surprisingly resuscitated around 1906 with a new winder house before finally closing for good in the late 1940s.

History

Merthyr Dare Colliery was sunk at Cwmdare, some 2km west of Aberdare, before 1851. Early ownership passed through Rhys and Richards (by 1867), Rhys and Company (by 1870), and the Bwllfa and Merthyr Dare Colliery Company Limited (by 1878) -- the same combined concern that took over the neighbouring Bwllfa Colliery from 1876. The colliery closed in 1884, and most of its buildings had already been demolished by the time of the 1900 Ordnance Survey 25-inch map. Unusually, the site was resuscitated around 1906, with a new winder house built, and by 1917 was owned by the Bwllfa and Merthyr Dare Steam Collieries (1891) Limited; the 1919 OS map shows it back in operation. By 1948 the mine was again recorded as disused, and the whole site was finally demolished and landscaped in the early 1970s, forming part of what is now Dare Valley Country Park.

Geology

Coal of the South Wales field in the Dare valley; the seams worked are not recorded.

Workings

Nothing is recorded of the colliery's own specific underground workings, beyond the construction of a new winder house during its c.1906 resuscitation.

Closure

Closed in 1884, largely demolished by 1900, then resuscitated around 1906 and operating again by 1919; disused again by 1948, with the site finally demolished and landscaped in the early 1970s into Dare Valley Country Park.

What remains

Demolished and landscaped in the early 1970s; the site now forms part of Dare Valley Country Park.

No original colliery structures survive; the site is now parkland.

Related mines

• Bwllfa Dare Colliery — Worked by the same Bwllfa and Merthyr Dare companies from 1876.
• Nantmelyn Colliery — Catalogued on the same abandonment plans and owned by the same Bwllfa and Merthyr Dare companies.

Recorded claims

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

• Merthyr Dare Colliery was sunk before 1851; early owners included Rhys and Richards (by 1867), Rhys and Company (by 1870) and the Bwllfa and Merthyr Dare Colliery Company Limited (by 1878). ¹
• The colliery closed in 1884 and was largely demolished by 1900, but was resuscitated around 1906 with a new winder house, operating again by 1919 before final closure and demolition in the early 1970s into Dare Valley Country Park. ²
• The Royal Commission's record places the colliery at SN 9812 0259 and describes the winder house of about 1906 as T-shaped in plan with king-strut roof trusses and semicircular-headed cast-iron window frames, recorded for the Council for British Archaeology in July 1965 and by the Commission in January 2009. ³
• The Bwllfa and Merthyr Dare Coal Company Limited was created in 1876, and the Bwllfa and Merthyr Dare Steam Collieries (1891) Ltd was formed in 1891. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Merthyr Dare Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Dare Valley Country Park — Wikipedia
3. (primary) Merthyr Dare Colliery, Cwmdare, NPRN 85004 (Coflein) — Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales
4. (secondary) Bwllfa Colliery (Welsh Coal Mines) — welshcoalmines.co.uk

Record created: 1 September 2026 · Last researched: 24 September 2026