Rockwood Colliery

Overview

Slant mines at Taffs Well opened about 1905 by the Rockwood Colliery Company, closed in the early 1930s and reopened as New Rockwood in 1937, working the Black, Wing and other veins until the National Coal Board closed it in May 1963.

History

Rockwood Colliery was a slant mine at Taffs Well, opened about 1905 by the Rockwood Colliery Company Ltd. It employed 52 men in 1908 and 179 by 1918, and another slant was added before 1923, when Rockwood Collieries Ltd had 264 men raising gas, house and manufacturing coal from the Fforch and Brass veins. Production stopped in the early 1930s.

In 1937 New Rockwood Colliery Ltd began again: a formation was made and part of the old tip removed for a railway, a screening plant was built, and an open cutting and a level cross-measures drift, the No. 3 Main Mine, were driven between the Barry and Rhymney railways to the Black vein. A higher Black Vein drift struck the seam in December 1939, and drifts in the Wing and Soap veins followed in 1940. In 1945 New Rockwood and No. 2 slant employed 186. The No. 3 drift, developed from 1947, was connected with Nantgarw Colliery for safety, and diesel locomotives hauled the coal. Seams worked included the Brass, Black, Fork, Wing, Bodwr, Big and Little Limog. Output declined through the 1950s, and the Coal Board closed the mine in May 1963.

Geology

South Wales coalfield: the Fforch, Brass, Black, Wing, Soap, Bodwr, Big and Little Limog and Red and Grey veins.

Workings

Slants of c. 1905 and before 1923; New Rockwood's No. 3 Main Mine (a level cross-measures drift), Black Vein, Wing Vein and Soap Vein drifts and No. 2 slant from 1937-44; diesel locomotive haulage; a connection to Nantgarw.

Closure

The first slants stopped in the early 1930s; New Rockwood, begun in 1937, was closed by the NCB in May 1963.

What remains

A portal dated 1937 at New Rockwood was photographed in 2006.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Nantgarw Colliery — Neighbouring Taffs Well collieries; New Rockwood's No. 3 drift was connected with Nantgarw for safety.

Recorded claims

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

• Rockwood was a slant mine at Taffs Well opened about 1905 by the Rockwood Colliery Co. Ltd; production ceased in the early 1930s. ¹
• In 1923 Rockwood Collieries Ltd employed 264 men working the Fforch and Brass veins. ¹
• A new slant was developed in 1937 as New Rockwood Colliery, which employed 52 men in 1938. ¹
• The No. 3 drift, developed from 1947, was connected with Nantgarw Colliery for safety. ¹
• New Rockwood, Nantgarw, is listed from 1937 to May 1963. ^2,1

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Rockwood Colliery — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) NCB Collieries - Wales — Northern Mine Research Society

Record created: 4 October 2026 · Last researched: 4 October 2026