Old Castle Colliery (Tonna)

Overview

A small level on the mountain above Tonna, below the Ivy Tower, worked for nearly fifty years by a handful of men, where on 26 August 1913 two colliers were found dead in the return airway, gassed by the fumes of a petrol pumping engine, and three parties of rescuers were overcome in turn getting them out.

History

Old Castle Colliery was a small level on the hillside above Tonna and Aberdulais, near Neath, below the Ivy Tower folly that overlooks both villages; a later account places it in a quarry behind Henfaes Terrace. In 1913 the newspaper said it had been worked for nearly fifty years and employed ten men, and the official account six, with a level 100 yards long. The owner is given as G. R. Lewis, or Griff Lewis.

On Tuesday 26 August 1913 four men were below, three colliers and the fireman. The fireman David Rees John and John Thomas saw William Henry Rees and David Kemp at eleven in the morning, and at half past two found them lying face down in the return airway, where they had gone to see whether repairs were needed. The gas was too strong to move them. Colliers coming home from the Bush Colliery joined a rescue party of twelve, and three parties in turn went in; several men, among them the Bush manager Herbert Griffiths and Rees's brother Jenkin, a farmer, were overcome and carried out, and Dr Prell brought them round. After three hours and the sawing through of posts the bodies were recovered. A petrol engine had been pumping nearby, and the fireman noticed a smell of petrol travelling with the fresh air; the doctor gave the cause as carbon monoxide poisoning and put the deaths two hours before the men were found. The rescuers had broken down the brattice in their haste and filled the workings with foul air. Rees was 35 or 38, of Llantwit Cottages, a native of Aberdulais and a well-known footballer; Kemp, or Kent, was 28 or 42 and lodging at the Canal Bank. Both were buried at Llantwit. Nothing more of the level's history is recorded.

Geology

Unknown.

Workings

A single level about 100 yards long with a return airway, worked by six to ten men, with a petrol engine pumping in 1913.

Closure

Unknown.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

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 mine employed six men and was worked by a level 100 yards long. (disputed) ²
• The newspaper gave Rees as 35 and Kent as 28; the fatality list gives Rees as 38 and Kemp as 42. (disputed) ^2,1
• The level lay on the mountain above Tonna, below the Ivy Tower, in a quarry behind Henfaes Terrace. (uncertain) ⁴

Recorded claims

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

• Old Castle Colliery was a small level employing ten men on the hill above Tonna and Aberdulais, in the shadow of the Ivy Tower. ¹
• The mine employed six men and was worked by a level 100 yards long. (disputed) ²
• The owner in 1913 was G. R. Lewis. ³
• On 26 August 1913 the colliers David Kemp and William Henry Rees were found dead in the return airway, asphyxiated. ^2,1,3
• A petrol engine pumping nearby had sent its fumes into the return airway, and the doctor gave the cause of death as carbon monoxide poisoning. ^2,4
• Three parties of rescuers, including the manager of the Bush Colliery, were overcome in turn, and the bodies were recovered after three hours when posts had been sawn through. ^2,1
• The newspaper gave Rees as 35 and Kent as 28; the fatality list gives Rees as 38 and Kemp as 42. (disputed) ^2,1
• The level lay on the mountain above Tonna, below the Ivy Tower, in a quarry behind Henfaes Terrace. (uncertain) ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Gassed! Tonna colliery disaster (Cambria Daily Leader, 27 August 1913) — Welsh Newspapers Online
2. (secondary) Welsh coal mining fatalities, 1913 — Welsh Coal Mines
3. (secondary) NMRS deaths database: David Kemp, Old Castle, Tonna, 1913 — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (secondary) Tonna Colliery 1913 (Welsh Coal Mines forum) — Welsh Coal Mines
5. (observational) Ivy Tower, near Tonna (photograph, 2020) — Geograph

Record created: 20 October 2026 · Last researched: 21 October 2026