Nixon's Navigation Colliery

Overview

The Mountain Ash colliery of John Nixon, the County Durham pitman who taught France to burn Welsh steam coal and then spent the proceeds proving it at home. Sinking began in 1855, took seven years and £113,772, and nearly ruined him; when it came into production in 1860 its shaft to the Four Feet seam at 365 yards was the deepest in the coalfield.

History

John Nixon was born in 1815 at Barlow in County Durham and went into mining as a workman on the Durham coalfield, working his way up. He first came to the South Wales coalfield to carry out mineral surveys around Merthyr Tydfil for the Marquis of Bute, spent a spell in a French coalfield, and then returned to south Wales to sell its coal to the French. The money he made marketing Welsh steam coal in France let him lease the mineral rights of the Mountain Ash area from the Marquis of Bute. He began sinking the Navigation Colliery in 1855. It nearly ruined him: seven years to reach the Four Feet seam and £113,772 spent. The first coal was raised in 1860, from a single south shaft to the Four Feet at 365 yards, at that time the deepest colliery in the coalfield. During the late 1880s the shaft was deepened to the Nine Feet seam, the one shaft then winding from both seams using two winding engines. By the Inspector of Mines list of 1896 the owners were Nixon's Navigation Coal Co. Ltd, employing 1,558 men; the Nixon group's output that year was around 1,250,000 tons. The workforce had grown to 1,825 by 1908. By 1918 the colliery had been integrated with the neighbouring Deep Duffryn colliery, the combined unit then employing 2,684 men. In 1935 it employed 65 men on the surface and 850 underground and produced 300,000 tons of steam coal. Production ceased in 1940.

Geology

The colliery was sunk to the Four Feet seam at 365 yards, and in the late 1880s deepened to the Nine Feet — the South Wales steam coals that Nixon had built his reputation selling. The depth was the point: at 365 yards this was the deepest colliery in the coalfield when it started, and reaching that coal is what took seven years and very nearly bankrupted him.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (well documented example)

Workings

A single south shaft sunk to the Four Feet seam at 365 yards from 1855, in production from 1860. After the late-1880s deepening to the Nine Feet, the one shaft wound from both seams using two separate winding engines — an unusual arrangement forced by having only the single shaft.

Closure

Production ceased in 1940. The colliery had by then long been worked as part of a combined unit with the neighbouring Deep Duffryn colliery, with which it was integrated by 1918.

What remains

The colliery site has been cleared. A Waddle fan associated with the works survived into the 1980s and was photographed in 1982, by which time the ground was in use as Deep Duffryn colliery.

None recorded in the sources read beyond a Waddle ventilating fan photographed on the site in 1982.

Recorded claims

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

• John Nixon was born in 1815 at Barlow, County Durham, entered mining as a workman on the Durham coalfield, surveyed the Merthyr Tydfil area for the Marquis of Bute, and financed the lease of the Mountain Ash mineral rights with money made selling Welsh steam coal in France. ¹
• Nixon began sinking in 1855; the work took seven years to reach the Four Feet seam, cost £113,772 and nearly ruined him. First coal was raised in 1860. ^2,1
• The single south shaft was sunk to the Four Feet seam at 365 yards, at that time the deepest colliery in the coalfield; it was deepened to the Nine Feet seam during the late 1880s, the one shaft then winding from both seams with two winding engines. ²
• The Inspector of Mines list of 1896 records Nixon's Navigation Coal Co. Ltd employing 1,558 men; by 1908 the workforce was 1,825, and in 1935 the colliery employed 65 on the surface and 850 underground, producing 300,000 tons of steam coal. ^2,1
• By 1918 the colliery had become integrated with the Deep Duffryn colliery, the combined unit then employing 2,684 men. ²
• Production ceased in 1940. ²

Photographs & further reading

Images

Sources

1. (secondary) John Nixon (mining engineer) — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Nixon's Navigation Colliery, Mountain Ash — Welsh Coal Mines

Record created: 3 September 2026 · Last researched: 3 September 2026