Windsor Colliery was a coal mine in the village of

Abertridwr, Caerphilly Abertridwr (; Welsh language, Welsh: ''the mouth of the three waters'') is a village in Caerphilly County Borough, Wales, situated about north-west of Caerphilly town. The "three waters" or "three streams" are Nant Cwm-parc, Nant Cwmceffyl and N ...

. Opened in 1895, it amalgamated with the Nantgarw Colliery in 1974, and closed in 1986. Ty'n y Parc (

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...

for "house on the park")

housing estate A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex, housing development, subdivision (land), subdivision or community) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to count ...

now occupies the site.

Development

The sinking of two shafts of the Windsor Colliery commenced in 1895 by the Windsor Colliery Co. Ltd, to a depth of around 2,018 feet. The first coal was raised in 1902, with the workings connected underground to the

Universal Colliery Universal Colliery was a coal mine located in Senghenydd in the Aber Valley, roughly four miles north-west of the town of Caerphilly. It was in the county borough of Caerphilly, traditionally in the county of Glamorgan, Wales. Started in 1891, it ...

Senghenydd Senghenydd (, ) is a former mining village in the community of Aber Valley in South Wales, approximately four miles northwest of the town of Caerphilly. Historically within the county of Glamorgan, it is now situated in the county borough of Cae ...

for

ventilation Ventilation may refer to: * Ventilation (physiology), the movement of air between the environment and the lungs via inhalation and exhalation ** Mechanical ventilation, in medicine, using artificial methods to assist breathing *** Respirator, a ma ...

purposes. The mine was serviced by the Senghenydd

branch line A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located ...

of the

Rhymney Railway The Rhymney Railway (RR) was a railway company in South Wales, founded to transport minerals and materials to and from Colliery, collieries and ironworks in the Rhymney Valley of South Wales, and to docks in Cardiff. It opened a main line in 18 ...

Accident

On 1 June 1902, a platform collapsed in the mine, tipping nine men into 25 feet of water, which had gathered in the

sump Sump may refer to: * An infiltration basin used to manage surface runoff water and recharge underground aquifers * Sump (cave), a permanently flooded section of a cave, where an underground flow of water exits the cave into the earth such that t ...

. Three managed to escape

drowning Drowning is a type of Asphyxia, suffocation induced by the submersion of the mouth and nose in a liquid. Submersion injury refers to both drowning and near-miss incidents. Most instances of fatal drowning occur alone or in situations where othe ...

by clinging onto floating debris, but the other six lost their lives. On the 8th April 1910 Thomas Isaac a Haulier at the mine was suffocated - Death certificate says Suffocation due to fall of rubble. The UK, Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths Index, 1878-1951 explains the death as follows - Fall of Roof on Horse Road Along Which He Was Passing With A Horse and Train. Several Settings of Timber Were Discharged By the Fall.

Operations

The colliery suffered from the 1920s economic downturn, as manpower slipped from 2,550 men in 1925 (the same year as maximum output of 2,550 tons of coal) to 860 ten years later. As a result, the colliery was taken over in the early 1930s by

Powell Duffryn Powell may refer to: People * Powell (surname) * Powell (given name) * Powell baronets, several baronetcies * Colonel Powell (disambiguation), several military officers * General Powell (disambiguation), several military leaders * Governor Powel ...

Steam Coal Company. Ownership passed to 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 "ve ...

in 1946. During 1976, it became linked underground to the Nantgarw Colliery, and both collieries were worked as one unit, with coal winding and processing via Nantgarw. The majority of the Windsor work force transferred to Nantgarw on the last shift before the miners' summer holidays in 1976, but coal was still being raised in Windsor until the Christmas holiday. Production was later concentrated at Nantgarw, with Windsor kept open for ventilation,

methane 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 abundance of methane on Earth makes ...

extraction and an emergency way out.

Closure

The whole Nantgarw/Windsor unit closed 6 November 1986.

References

{{coord, 51.6004, -3.2736, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Collieries in South Wales Buildings and structures in Caerphilly County Borough Underground mines in Wales