Primrose Colliery

Overview

A colliery on the Cilybebyll estate close to the village of Rhos, developed from the mid-1800s and the scene in October 1858 of one of the more unusual disasters in the South Wales coalfield: the fumes of an engine boiler suffocated fourteen men and boys and seven horses underground. It was rebuilt afterwards as the New Primrose Colliery, closed in the early 1900s, and spent its last decades as a pumping station for the neighbouring Tarenni Colliery.

History

The Primrose Colliery was developed from the mid-1800s on what had originally been part of the Cilybebyll estate, close to the village of Rhos. The first mine is recorded as sunk by John Parsons in 1840. The workings formed part of the Primrose Concern, owned by John Morgan and Griffith Lewis, and it was under their ownership that the disaster of 13 October 1858 occurred (see Disasters, below). After the disaster the colliery was redeveloped as the New Primrose Colliery under Sir Ralph Howard, employing 307 by 1896. In 1869 the South Wales Primrose Coal Co. Ltd had been established, which owned the New Primrose Colliery at Rhos along with several others in the area. A new mine opened in 1895. The colliery closed in the early 1900s — the New Primrose by 1908 — but from 1908 it was revived in a different role, as a pumping station for the Tarenni Colliery. The older Primrose workings were finally disused by 1942.

Geology

The colliery worked the coals of the western South Wales coalfield above the Swansea valley, on ground that had been part of the Cilybebyll estate. No detail of the individual seams is given in the sources read.

Workings

A group of workings rather than a single pit — the original mine of 1840, the New Primrose Colliery built after the 1858 disaster, and a further mine opened in 1895. Machinery underground included the engine whose boiler fumes caused the disaster. From 1908 the site's role changed entirely: it was kept in use to pump water for the neighbouring Tarenni Colliery.

Closure

The New Primrose Colliery, opened in 1895, had to be closed by 1908. From that year the site was revived as a pumping station serving the Tarenni Colliery, and the older Primrose workings were finally disused by 1942.

What remains

Nothing of the colliery survives at Rhos. A bench in the village stands as a memorial to the 1858 disaster and the fourteen miners, men and boys, who died in it.

None; a memorial bench in Rhos commemorates the 1858 disaster.

Related mines

• Tarenni Colliery — Two independent connections. From 1908, after the New Primrose Colliery closed, the Primrose site was revived and kept in use specifically as a pumping station for Tarenni Colliery — a direct operational dependency, Tarenni relying on the older workings to keep its own water down. They also shared an owner: the South Wales Primrose Coal Co. Ltd, established in 1869, held both.

Disasters & major incidents

• Primrose Colliery Disaster, 1858
  13 October 1858 · Gas / Asphyxiation · 14 fatalities
  On 13 October 1858 the fumes of an engine boiler suffocated fourteen men and boys, and seven horses, underground at the Primrose Colliery near Rhos. The colliery was then owned by Morgan and Lewis, and was afterwards redeveloped as the New Primrose Colliery.

Recorded claims

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

• The Primrose Colliery was developed from the mid-1800s on what was originally part of the Cilybebyll estate close to Rhos; the first mine is recorded as sunk by John Parsons in 1840. ^1,2
• The workings formed part of the Primrose Concern owned by John Morgan and Griffith Lewis; the South Wales Primrose Coal Co. Ltd was established in 1869 and owned the New Primrose Colliery along with several others in the area. ²
• Following the 1858 disaster the colliery was redeveloped as the New Primrose Colliery under Sir Ralph Howard, and by 1896 employed 307. ¹
• The colliery closed in the early 1900s — the New Primrose by 1908 — but from 1908 was revived as a pumping station for the Tarenni Colliery; the older Primrose workings were disused by 1942. ^1,2

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Rhos, Neath Port Talbot — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Primrose Lane Colliery and other surrounding mines — Rhos Primary School local history project

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