Penydarren Colliery

Overview

The Dowlais Iron Company's Penydarren pits at Dowlais, sunk by Guest and Company in 1835 to feed the ironworks. They raised 118,872 tons in 1889 but stopped winding in the 1890s and were kept for pumping until they closed in May 1924.

History

Guest and Company, owners of the Dowlais Iron Works, opened Penydarren Colliery in 1835, sinking the Nos. 1 and 2 pits to the Six-Feet seam at 732 feet 3 inches; the cages ran on flat ropes. The Isaac Morgan Pit, about 1,100 yards to the north, was sunk to the Upper-Four-Feet at 339 feet. By 1869 the Dowlais Iron Company held it, supplying fuel to its furnaces, and the Black Vein Drift at Trecatti, opened in the mid 1870s, was worked with it.

Accidents were frequent. The research society's list has two men killed by an explosion of firedamp in July 1853, which Ian Winstanley's list places at the Penydarren Iron Company's Forsyfan pit, and an explosion on 2 May 1870 that killed three, which contemporary papers report at the Dowlais Company's No. 2 Vochriw pit. In 1870 a roof fall killed a boy of 14, and on 3 June two sinkers were killed when the rope slipped off the winch at a new pit the company was sinking near Cwm Bargoed (see Disasters, below). In March 1879 an explosion in a Penydarren pit killed one man and burnt eight others (see Disasters, below).

The colliery produced 118,872 tons in 1889. Welsh Coal Mines has it closed in January 1893, or ceasing production in 1895, and kept for pumping; in 1896 just five men were employed, and in 1907-08 eight on pumping. It closed in May 1924. At 1947 the No. 1 pit, 882 feet deep, was closed and abandoned, the elliptical No. 2 was used for ventilation and the No. 3, 240 yards deep, for pumping.

The name was also used by a small Penydarren level of the Penydarren Brick and Coal Company, recorded from 1917 to 1950 with up to sixteen men.

Geology

Steam-coal measures: the Two-Feet-Nine (38 inches), Upper-Four-Feet (40, extensively worked), Six-Feet (8 feet 11 inches), Nine-Feet (64), Bute, Seven-Feet and Five-Feet/Gellideg (8 feet 1 inch) seams, and probably the Hafod; types 202 and 203 coking steam coals used for foundry and blast-furnace coke.

Workings

The Nos. 1 and 2 pits (with No. 3 later used for pumping) and the Isaac Morgan Pit to the north; cages wound on flat ropes. The Black Vein Drift at Trecatti was worked in conjunction.

Closure

Coal winding stopped in the 1890s (January 1893 or 1895 by Welsh Coal Mines' two accounts) and the pits were kept for pumping, with eight men in 1907-08; closed in May 1924. In 1947 No. 1 was abandoned, No. 2 used for ventilation and No. 3 for pumping.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Disasters & major incidents

• Penydarren Colliery sinking accident, 1870
  3 June 1870 · Winding / Shaft Accident · 2 fatalities
  On Friday 3 June 1870 five sinkers being lowered down the shaft of a new pit the Dowlais Iron Company was sinking near Cwm Bargoed fell to the bottom when the rope slipped off the drum of the hand winch. Owen Williams and John Jenkins were killed and the other three badly injured.
• Penydarren Colliery explosion, 1879
  23 March 1879 · Explosion · 1 fatality
  An explosion of gas in a Dowlais Iron Company pit at Penydarren at about two in the morning of Sunday 23 March 1879 killed the haulier Matthew Rees and burnt the rest of a ten-man repairing shift but one.

What's uncertain

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

• On 2 May 1870 D. Hughes, R. Jones and T. Jones were killed in an explosion. (disputed) ^1,2
• It ceased production in 1895 but was kept for pumping. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

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

• Guest and Company, owners of the Dowlais Iron Works, sank the two-shaft colliery in 1835. ^1,2
• It produced 118,872 tons of coal in 1889. ^1,2
• On 2 May 1870 D. Hughes, R. Jones and T. Jones were killed in an explosion. (disputed) ^1,2
• It ceased production in 1895 but was kept for pumping. (disputed) ²
• It was closed in May 1924. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) NMRS: Penydarren Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Welsh Coal Mines: Pen-y-darren and Black Vein Drift — Welsh Coal Mines
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: WERNLAS LEVEL / NO 1 GRAIG / PENYDARREN NO 1 & NO 2 (Two Feet Nine) — British Geological Survey
4. (secondary) Welsh coal mine fatalities, 1879 — Welsh Coal Mines

Record created: 11 October 2026 · Last researched: 11 October 2026