Ynyshir Colliery

Overview

A Rhondda Fach steam-coal colliery sunk from 1875, renamed the Standard in 1887 and worked until 1968. Electrical shot-firing was tried successfully here in 1886, one of the earliest such trials in the coalfield.

History

James Thomas of the Ynyshir Steam Coal Company began sinking No. 1 pit in 1875 and No. 2 in 1876, reaching the Rhondda Four Foot steam seam in 1877 and 1878. No. 1 was the upcast at 408 yards and No. 2 the downcast at 526.

It was called Ynyshir Colliery at first and became the Ynyshir Standard in 1887, by which time it was producing over 185,000 tons a year. Successful shot-firing trials using electrical detonators took place here in 1886.

On 12 October 1889 three men died under a fall of roof (see Disasters, below).

The Inspector of Mines list for 1896 gives a workforce of 740, and by 1908 it had grown to 1,454. In 1912 the company amalgamated with the Wattstown National colliery to form the United National Collieries, annual output rising to 365,000 tons with 1,350 employed. The two Ynyshir Standard pits employed 1,107 in 1918. A list of 1923 shows how far the work had shifted between them: thirty-two men at No. 1 on the Two Feet Nine, and 1,180 at No. 2 on the Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 seams, the No. 2 Rhondda and the Six Feet.

By 1938 Wattstown National and Ynyshir Standard worked as a single unit of 879 people. The colliery later came under the Ocean United National Company, employed 762 in 1945 and closed in 1968.

Geology

The colliery worked the steam coals of the Rhondda Fach, reaching the Rhondda Four Foot in 1877 and 1878 and later working the Two Feet Nine, the Nos. 1 to 4 seams, the No. 2 Rhondda and the Six Feet.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (well documented example)

Workings

Two pits: No. 1 the upcast at 408 yards, sunk from 1875, and No. 2 the downcast at 526 yards, sunk from 1876. By 1923 almost all the work was at No. 2, No. 1 keeping only thirty-two men on the Two Feet Nine.

Closure

Closed in 1968.

Related mines

• Ynyshir House Colliery — The two Ynyshir pits: the 1845 colliery and the Standard pits sunk from 1875, which grew the village between them.

Disasters & major incidents

• Ynyshir Colliery roof fall, 1889
  12 October 1889 · Collapse / Roof Fall · 3 fatalities

  On 12 October 1889 three men died under a fall of roof at the Standard Colliery, Ynyshir, in the Rhondda: David Jones, 39, Joseph Jones, 16, and Thomas Griffiths, 37.

  David Jones, aged 39, Joseph Jones, aged 16, and Thomas Griffiths, aged 37, were killed together under a fall of roof.

• Ynyshir Colliery boiler explosion, 1892
  1 November 1892 · Machinery · 3 fatalities

  A steam boiler exploded at Ynyshir Colliery in the Rhondda Fach at half past noon on 1 November 1892, fatally injuring two stokers and the ashman.

  At half past twelve on 1 November 1892, seven hours into the shift, a steam boiler exploded at the Ynyshir Steam Coal Company's colliery in the Rhondda Fach. The three men tending the boilers were fatally injured: the stokers Oliver Colville and William Thomas and the ashman, Christmas Jenkins.

• Ynyshir Colliery roof fall, 1897
  3 or 4 August 1897 · Collapse / Roof Fall · 2 fatalities

  A collier and his twelve-year-old son were killed by a fall of fireclay roof on the Barry road at the Ynyshir Standard Colliery in August 1897.

  In early August 1897 a mass of fireclay roof about eight feet long fell over the timbered Barry road at the Ynyshir Standard Colliery, in the Rhondda, killing the collier John Rees Jones, 33, and his son Rees Jones, a collier's boy of 12. One list dates the accident to 3 August and another to the 4th.

What's uncertain

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

• The BGS mine-plans catalogue holds a Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'Ynyshir' (catalogue SWR2403, No 2 Rhondda, undated in the catalogue); the catalogue gives no location and the plan's details do not clearly tie it to this working, so it may belong to another of the same name. (uncertain) ³

Recorded claims

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

• James Thomas of the Ynyshir Steam Coal Company began sinking No. 1 pit in 1875 and No. 2 in 1876, eventually reaching the Rhondda Four Foot steam seam in 1877 and 1878; No. 1 was the upcast at 408 yards and No. 2 the downcast at 526 yards. ¹
• Originally called Ynyshir colliery, it became the Ynyshir Standard in 1887, by which time it was producing over 185,000 tons of coal a year. ¹
• Successful shot firing trials using electrical detonators took place at this colliery in 1886. ¹
• In 1912 the company amalgamated with the Wattstown National colliery to form the United National Collieries; the annual output rose to 365,000 tons with a workforce of 1,350, and by 1938 Wattstown National and Ynyshir Standard worked as a single unit of 879 men. ¹
• The Inspector of Mines list for 1896 gives 740 employed and by 1908 the workforce had grown to 1,454; the two Ynyshir Standard pits employed 1,107 in 1918. A list of 1923 gives thirty-two men at No. 1 on the Two Feet Nine seam and 1,180 at No. 2 on the Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 seams, the No. 2 Rhondda and the Six Feet. There were 762 employed in 1945 under the Ocean United National Company, and the colliery closed in 1968. ^2,1
• The BGS mine-plans catalogue holds a Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'Ynyshir' (catalogue SWR2403, No 2 Rhondda, undated in the catalogue); the catalogue gives no location and the plan's details do not clearly tie it to this working, so it may belong to another of the same name. (uncertain) ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Ynyshir Standard Colliery — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (primary) Ynyshir Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans: YNYSHIR — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 10 September 2026 · Last researched: 10 September 2026