Tirherbert Colliery

Overview

A level driven in 1914 by D. R. Llewellyn and Sons into the Gorllwyn seam at Hirwaun, about 1,000 yards west of Tower Colliery. It employed over 400 men in the 1950s and closed on 24 December 1958.

History

Tirherbert Colliery was a level driven in 1914 by D. R. Llewellyn and Sons Ltd of Aberdare into the Gorllwyn seam at Hirwaun, about 1,000 yards west of Tower Colliery. It began small, with 50 men in 1916, and grew to 145 in 1922 and 270 in 1932; in 1934 it employed 300 underground and 48 on the surface, producing steam coal, and had its own washery. That year D. R. Llewellyn and Sons, based at Bwllfa Colliery, controlled four collieries with 925 men.

At nationalisation in 1947 Tirherbert joined the National Coal Board's Aberdare Area. In 1950 the coalfaces were changed from stall working with horses to longwall faces with haulage engines, raising output per manshift from 19 to 24 hundredweight; attempts to cut coal with Meco-Moore cutter-loaders were abandoned because of the friable roof. In 1954 it employed 320 men underground and 89 on the surface. The number at the faces fell from 211 in 1955 to 92 in 1957, and the colliery closed on 24 December 1958. The ruins of its fan house, with its evasé and fan chamber, were recorded in RCAHMW's upland survey of Hirwaun Common in 2009.

Geology

South Wales coalfield: the Gorllwyn seam, with the Graig and Gorllwyn Fach and Fawr in the neighbouring levels; steam coal.

Workings

A level into the Gorllwyn seam (1914); stall working with horses until 1950, then longwall faces with haulage engines; its own washery and a fan house.

Closure

Closed on 24 December 1958; its Gorllwyn workings were abandoned on 24 November 1958.

What remains

The remains of the fan house, with its evasé and fan chamber, were photographed in 2009.

Fan house remains.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Recorded claims

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

• Tirherbert was a level driven in 1914 by D. R. Llewellyn and Sons Ltd into the Gorllwyn seam, about 1,000 yards west of Tower Colliery. ¹
• In 1934 it employed 300 men underground and 48 on the surface producing steam coal, and had its own washery. ¹
• In 1950 stall working with horses gave way to longwall faces, and output per manshift rose from 19 to 24 cwt. ¹
• Tirherbert Colliery closed on 24 December 1958. ^2,1
• Its Gorllwyn workings were abandoned on 24 November 1958. ³
• RCAHMW's 2009 upland survey photographed the evasé and fan chamber of Tirherbert Colliery's fan house. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Tir Herbert Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) NCB Collieries - Wales — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) BGS mine plan: Tirherbert, Gorllwyn, abandoned 24 November 1958 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans
4. (secondary) Tirherbert Colliery, Fan House (HCR2009_250) — Coflein (RCAHMW)

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