The Tarenni Colliery ( cy, Gloddfa Tarenni) and its associated workings, are a series of
coal mine
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron fro ...
s and pits located between the villages of
Godre'r Graig
Godre'r Graig is a village and an electoral ward of Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales.
The village developed alongside the coal workings at the Tarenni Colliery, which closed in 1949.
In 2008 the community came together at a public meetin ...
and
Cilybebyll
Cilybebyll is both a village and a community in the Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. It includes the villages of Alltwen, Fforest Gôch, Gellinudd and Rhos. The village is located east of Pontardawe, north of Neath and northeas ...
located in the valley of the
River Tawe
The River Tawe (; cy, Afon Tawe ) is a long river in South Wales. Its headwaters flow initially east from its source below Llyn y Fan Fawr south of Moel Feity in the Black Mountains, the westernmost range of the Brecon Beacons National P ...
, in
Neath Port Talbot
Neath Port Talbot ( cy, Castell-nedd Port Talbot) is a county borough in the south-west of Wales. Its principal towns are Neath, Port Talbot, Briton Ferry and Pontardawe. The county borough borders Bridgend County Borough and Rhondda Cynon Ta ...
county borough
County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent t ...
,
South Wales
South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...
.
Primrose Colliery
Primrose Colliery was developed from the mid-1800s, close to the village of
Rhos. After the disaster of 1853, it was redeveloped as the New Primrose Colliery, owned by
Sir Ralph Howard, and by 1896 employed 307.
It closed in the early 1900s, but from 1908 was revived as a pumping station for the Tarenni Colliery.
Tirbach Slants
The major coal seams are located close beneath the valley floor, but mean accessing steeply declining seams which run in high geological fault structures, running directly under the River Tawe. This makes the coal easily accessible, but also dangerous to extract.
[
The first ]drift mine
Drift mining is either the mining of an ore deposit by underground methods, or the working of coal seams accessed by adits driven into the surface outcrop of the coal bed. A drift mine is an underground mine in which the entry or access is above ...
workings occurred in the late 1800s, at a site referred to at the time as the Tirbach Slants. The Pwllbach Colliery Company started development in 1898 of two slants, main and reverse, and after a series of lease changes which reverted the lease to the Pwllbach Colliery Company, production started in 1905. After the company collapsed into administration in 1924, the lease was taken over by the Pwllbach, Tirbach & Brynamman Anthracite Collieries Ltd, which in 1938 became Henderson's Welsh Anthracite Collieries Ltd.[
These companies all worked the same seams: Big (abandoned 1939); Peacock (or Brass); Middle and Lower seams. The workings employed 651 in 1936, the height of its production. The site was closed from February 1940 due to geological difficulties, with 500 men given notice in January 1940. At this time during ]World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, labour was expensive, so it is likely that economics also played a large part in the decision to close. The mine reopened in May of that year, but had been completely abandoned by December 1940.[
The site then became a disposal centre for extract from the main Tarenni Colliery, and after nationalisation, the ]National Coal Board
The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "v ...
used it as a training site.[
]
Opened in 1903 by the South Wales Primrose Coal Co Ltd, pit No.1 called Tarenni () was sunk to work the Red vein under Ynys Wil Hernyn Farm. A sister pit further north, Gleision (Tarenni No.2, ), was sunk deeper to work the Big and Peacock veins, but faults made it difficult to work. There was a steep cross measure drift developed to connect the two shafts.[ Coal was distributed through access to either the ]Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 mill ...
via the Neath and Brecon Railway
The Dulas Valley Mineral Railway was incorporated in 1862 to bring coal from the Onllwyn area north-east of Neath to the quays there, and in the following year was reconstituted as the Neath and Brecon Railway. The line was opened as far as Onllw ...
, or the Midland Railway
The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...
via the Swansea Vale Railway
The Swansea Vale Railway (SVR) was a railway line connecting the port of Swansea in South Wales to industries and coalfields along the River Tawe on the northern margin of Swansea, by taking over a tramroad in 1846. It was extended to Brynamman ...
.
By 1908, Tarenni employed 427 men producing anthracite
Anthracite, also known as hard coal, and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic luster. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the hig ...
, which had grown to 803 by 1918, and 947 by 1923. By 1933, the mine was producing 140,000 tonnes per annum of anthracite. From 1937, the company started development workings to check the Big vein south, sinking the No.1 shaft to . But development work stopped due to World War 2, and by 1938, there were a total of 522 men working the complex, with over two thirds deployed on No.1 shaft.[
The Red vein workings in No.1 were abandoned in 1941, with a further reduction of 100 men achieved by reducing workings on the Big vein to one shift. The development work on No.1 shaft continued after the war, approved for an investment of £150,157 by the Ministry of Fuel and Power to access the Lower Peacock seam in a more stable area.][ Further investment was made by the purchase and refurbishment of a new 0-4-0WT shunting locomotive, formerly of the ]Great North of Scotland Railway
The Great North of Scotland Railway (GNSR) was one of the two smallest of the five major Scottish railway companies prior to the 1923 Grouping, operating in the north-east of the country. Formed in 1845, it carried its first passengers the fr ...
.
But on nationalisation, the NCB concluded that the mine was uneconomic, and it was closed in February 1949 with the loss of 320 jobs.
Gleision Colliery
Today, only the small Gleision Colliery drift mine exists, one of three privately owned coal mines still surviving in the South Wales Coalfield
The South Wales Coalfield ( cy, Maes glo De Cymru) extends across Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Bridgend, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Merthyr Tydfil, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen. It is rich in coal deposits, ...
.
Working the same area as the Tirbach Slants, National Union of Mineworkers records suggest the development was active from 1962.[ The current workings of two drifts has been active from 1980, accessing the Ynisarwed seam, with miners working the face by kneeling or lying down. The main drift of provides access from a conveyor for a gauge railway, on which up to six drams at a time are moved to two surface tipplers, from which the local council have authorised access for lorries of up to 15 tonnes in laden weight. The second drift does not have rail access, and provides air circulation and emergency ingress only.][
Privatised in 1993, by 2001 seven men including the mine owner were working the drift, producing 200 tonnes/week. However, geological problems had resulted in the development of a deep and extensive sump system to remove water ingress, and frequent problems with gas.]
Disaster history
On 13 October 1858, when the Primrose Colliery was owned by Morgan and Lewis, fumes of an engine boiler suffocated 14 men and boys, and 7 horses.[
According to ]HM Inspectorate of Mines and Quarries
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is a UK government agency responsible for the encouragement, regulation and enforcement of workplace health, safety and welfare, and for research into occupational risks in Great Britain. It is a non-depar ...
data, outside the Gwendraeth valley
The River Gwendraeth ( cy, Afon Gwendraeth) is a river in Carmarthenshire in West Wales.
It has two almost equal branches that have their confluence in their joint estuary at Carmarthen Bay. The Gwendraeth Fawr (''large Gwendraeth'' in Engl ...
, Tarenni Colliery had the highest set of recorded incidents for coal damp
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
and methane gas
Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Ear ...
explosions. In total during its production lifetime, there were six outbursts in which three men lost their lives: one on 12 December 1914; two on 17 February 1941.[
On 1 November 1909, water from the abandoned Ynysgeinon pit caused the death of five miners at Tarenni No.2.][
]
2011 disaster
On 15 September 2011, workings at the Gleision Colliery suffered a large ingress of water at 09:21. Three miners escaped to the surface, with one taken to Morriston Hospital
Morriston Hospital ( cy, Ysbyty Treforys) is a 750-bed hospital located in Cwmrhydyceirw near Morriston in Swansea, Wales. It is managed by Swansea Bay University Health Board. Alongside its role as a district general hospital, Morriston is a ...
. Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service
The Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service ( cy, Gwasanaeth Tân ac Achub Canolbarth a Gorllewin Cymru) is the Fire service in the United Kingdom, fire and rescue service covering the Wales, Welsh Subdivisions of Wales, principal areas of Ca ...
called Mines Rescue units in from across the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, to rescue four miners located at a depth of below the surface. On the afternoon of 16 September, South Wales Police
South Wales Police ( cy, Heddlu De Cymru) is one of the four territorial police forces in Wales. It is headquartered in Bridgend.
The force was formed as South Wales Constabulary on 1 June 1969, by the amalgamation of the former Glamorgan Cons ...
confirmed the death of all four miners.
References
External links
Tarenni Colliery
at the Durham Mining Museum
{{Authority control
Buildings and structures in Neath Port Talbot
Collieries in South Wales
Underground mines in Wales
Coal mining disasters in Wales