Pentre Colliery

Overview

A Rhondda steam-coal colliery first opened in 1857 and taken over by the Cory Brothers, who worked it as one of their principal pits for seventy years. Production trebled in the twenty years from 1874 and it employed well over a thousand men at its height. An explosion on the night shift in February 1871 killed thirty-eight, two of them rescuers. It closed in 1929.

History

Curteis, Greenhill and Ware first opened the colliery in 1857, and by 1864 shafts had been sunk to the steam-coal seams. From 1861 it was in the hands of the Pentre and Church Colliery Company, formed by the Cory Brothers.

At about half past nine on the night of 24 February 1871 an explosion killed thirty-eight men and boys. The blast damaged the headgear so badly that only one side of the pit could be worked, and a rescue party of five who went down were overcome by afterdamp as soon as the cage reached the pit bottom; two of them died and are counted among the dead (see Disasters, below). The blast left twenty widows and seventy orphaned children, and was the first explosion recorded in the Two Feet Nine seam in either the Rhondda or the Aberdare valley.

In the twenty years from 1874 production trebled to 159,000 tons a year. The Inspector of Mines' list for 1896 gives the Pentre Upper and Lower pits as owned by Cory Brothers and Company Ltd, employing 1,125 men; there were 1,190 in 1908 and 795 by 1918. A 1923 return gives 838 employed, working the Upper and Lower Five Feet, Yard and Bute seams. The colliery closed in 1929.

Geology

The colliery worked the steam coals of the Rhondda — the Five Feet, Yard and Bute seams of the Middle Coal Measures that made the valley's reputation and its fortune. The pit was begun on the shallower measures in 1857 and only reached the steam coals proper when shafts were sunk to them by 1864, which is the pattern across the Rhondda: a level or shallow working first, then the deep sinking that paid.

Workings

Begun in 1857, with shafts sunk to the steam-coal seams by 1864 and worked as the Pentre Upper and Lower pits. By 1923 the colliery was producing from the Upper and Lower Five Feet, Yard and Bute seams.

Closure

The colliery closed in 1929.

What remains

The colliery site has been cleared. Nothing is recorded of surviving structures.

Related mines

• Tynybedw Colliery — Both Cory Brothers pits in the upper Rhondda; Pentre was the colliery the firm bought in 1868, and it was from its profits that they came into Tynybedw.

Disasters & major incidents

• Pentre Colliery Explosion, 1871
  24 February 1871 · Explosion · 38 fatalities
  An explosion on the night shift at Pentre Colliery in the Rhondda on 24 February 1871 killed thirty-eight men and boys. The blast wrecked one side of the headgear, and a rescue party of five was overcome by afterdamp the moment its cage reached the pit bottom; two of the five died and are counted among the dead.
• Pentre Colliery runaway journey, 1894
  31 August 1894 · Haulage / Transport · 2 fatalities
  A train of trams broke loose in a drift at Pentre Colliery, Rhondda, on 31 August 1894, killing a shackler and fatally injuring a door boy of 13.

What's uncertain

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

• Curteis, Greenhill and Ware first opened the colliery in 1857, and by 1864 shafts had been sunk to the steam-coal seams. (uncertain) ¹
• From 1861 the colliery was in the hands of the Pentre and Church Colliery Company, formed by the Cory Brothers; the Inspector of Mines' list for 1896 gives the Pentre Upper and Lower pits as owned by Cory Brothers and Co. Ltd, employing 1,125 men. (uncertain) ¹
• In the twenty years from 1874 production trebled to 159,000 tons a year. (uncertain) ¹
• The colliery employed 1,125 men in 1896, 1,190 in 1908, 795 in 1918 and 838 in 1923. (uncertain) ¹
• A 1923 return gives 838 employed producing from the Upper and Lower Five Feet, Yard and Bute seams. The colliery closed in 1929. (uncertain) ¹
• The explosion of 24 February 1871 is listed among the Welsh mining accidents of five or more fatalities, at Pentre in the Rhondda, with 38 killed. (uncertain) ^2,1

Recorded claims

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

• Curteis, Greenhill and Ware first opened the colliery in 1857, and by 1864 shafts had been sunk to the steam-coal seams. (uncertain) ¹
• From 1861 the colliery was in the hands of the Pentre and Church Colliery Company, formed by the Cory Brothers; the Inspector of Mines' list for 1896 gives the Pentre Upper and Lower pits as owned by Cory Brothers and Co. Ltd, employing 1,125 men. (uncertain) ¹
• In the twenty years from 1874 production trebled to 159,000 tons a year. (uncertain) ¹
• The colliery employed 1,125 men in 1896, 1,190 in 1908, 795 in 1918 and 838 in 1923. (uncertain) ¹
• A 1923 return gives 838 employed producing from the Upper and Lower Five Feet, Yard and Bute seams. The colliery closed in 1929. (uncertain) ¹
• The explosion of 24 February 1871 is listed among the Welsh mining accidents of five or more fatalities, at Pentre in the Rhondda, with 38 killed. (uncertain) ^2,1
• The Mining Remediation Authority's abandonment plans catalogue Pentre Nos 1 and 2 with Gelli, Nebo, Abergorki and Bodringallt on the Pentre seam at six inches to the mile (SWR838), and with Gelli and Bodringallt on SWR840. ³
• The explosion of 24 February 1871 left twenty widows and seventy orphaned children, and was the first recorded in the Two Feet Nine seam in either the Rhondda or the Aberdare valley. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Pentre Colliery, Rhondda — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) Welsh mining disasters: list of accidents with five or more fatalities — Welsh Coal Mines
3. (primary) Gelli, Nebo, Abergorki, Bodringallt and Pentre Nos 1 and 2 abandonment plans SWR838 (BGS mine plans catalogue) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
4. (secondary) Pentre, Rhondda (Wikipedia) — Wikipedia

Record created: 3 September 2026 · Last researched: 24 September 2026