Rhondda Main Colliery

Overview

A colliery at Ogmore Vale opened by Lewis Merthyr Consolidated Collieries, whose Catherine and Anne pits, named after Sir William Thomas Lewis's daughters, were sunk from 1909 and raised coal from 1914. It employed about a thousand men in 1923, was abandoned in November 1924 after a strike, and was closed for good by Cory Brothers in 1935.

History

A Rhondda Main Colliery was working at Ogmore Vale in 1878, but the colliery of that name was a new one. Lewis Merthyr Consolidated Collieries cut the first sod on 25 August 1909, to work a take from Blackmill to Tynewydd, and is said to have spent £1.25 million on it. Two pits 120 yards apart were named after Sir William Thomas Lewis's daughters: the Catherine, sunk to 817 feet, and the Anne, to 1,134 feet, both meeting the No. 2 Rhondda seam at around 750 to 780 feet. On 15 August 1910 two sinkers were killed when the bowk overturned at the top of the shaft (see Disasters, below).

Coal was first wound in 1914. The colliery employed 234 in 1913 and about a thousand in 1923, the year the No. 3 Rhondda seam was struck, on 10 April, and a third shaft, the Mary Pit, was begun and abandoned at 60 feet. A strike began on 25 March 1924, notices were given to 900 men that July, and on 8 November 1924 the colliery was abandoned.

It was listed as temporarily closed in 1930, when Cory Brothers bought it, and they closed it in 1935; it had its own washery by then. The site later took the central washery for the Wyndham, Western, Garw and Ffaldau collieries.

Geology

The No. 2 and No. 3 Rhondda seams of the South Wales Coalfield.

Workings

The Catherine and Anne pits, 120 yards apart, and the Mary Pit, abandoned at 60 feet in 1923; later a central coal washery on the site.

Closure

Abandoned on 8 November 1924 after a strike and the dismissal of 900 men; bought by Cory Brothers in 1930 and closed by them in 1935.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

The site was used for a central coal washery serving the Wyndham, Western, Garw and Ffaldau collieries.

Disasters & major incidents

• Rhondda Main Colliery shaft accident, 1910
  15 August 1910 · Winding / Shaft Accident · 2 fatalities
  Two sinkers at the new Rhondda Main Colliery, Ogmore Vale, were thrown back down the shaft on 15 August 1910 when a faulty throttle let the bowk run up into the platform.

What's uncertain

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

• Sinking began in 1910 and continued until 1912. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

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

• The first sod was cut on 25 August 1909 and the first coal wound in 1914. ¹
• Sinking began in 1910 and continued until 1912. (disputed) ²
• The Catherine Pit was sunk to 817 feet 7 inches and the Anne Pit to 1,134 feet 10 inches, both named after daughters of Sir William Thomas Lewis. ^1,3
• The colliery was opened by Lewis Merthyr Consolidated Collieries to work the take from Blackmill to Tynewydd. ^2,1
• In 1923 it employed 1,017 men working the No. 2 Rhondda seam. ²
• A strike began on 25 March 1924, and on 8 November 1924 the colliery was abandoned. ^2,3
• In 1930 it was bought by Cory Brothers, who closed it in 1935. ¹
• Rhondda Main was sunk in 1914 and closed in 1924. ⁴
• The plans of the Anne, Catherine and Mary pits in the No. 2 and No. 3 Rhondda seams were closed in 1924. ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Rhondda Main Colliery, Ogmore Vale — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Rhondda Main, Ogmore Vale — Welsh Coal Mines
3. (secondary) Rhondda Main Colliery Sinkers (Ogmore Valley Local History Society) — People's Collection Wales
4. (secondary) Ogmore Valley collieries — Digging Up the Past
5. (primary) RHONDDA MAIN, ANNE, CATHERINE, MARY, No 2 and No 3 Rhondda: abandonment plan catalogue entry (1924) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 8 October 2026 · Last researched: 8 October 2026