Lewis Merthyr Colliery

The History of Lewis Merthyr Colliery

The name Rhondda is often quoted as being synonymous with that of coal, however just over a century and a half ago the Rhondda valleys were almost unknown and existed as a sparsely populated rural wilderness. For centuries the Rhondda Valleys remained in pastoral glory, with clear running streams and waterfalls, and beautiful trees and flora. The small sheep rearing community that populated the few occasionally scattered farmhouses existed as they had for centuries, as a sleepy rural community.

1855 is the date accepted as marking the change of the rural scene in Rhondda and the historic change to heavy industry, although coal was mined in the Rhondda as early as the seventeenth century for domestic purposes. By the end of the century Rhondda was one of the most important coal producing areas in the world. The coal industry at its peak in Wales employed one in every ten persons and many more relied on the industry for their livelihood. Rhondda alone at one time contained 53 working collieries, in an area only 16 miles long. It was the most intensely mined area in the world and probably one of the most densely populated. From the rural population of around 951 in 1851 mass migration meant that by 1924, the population reached 169,000 approximately 20,000 people to the built up square mile.

Trehafod village grew mainly as a result of the industrial revolution and the rich bituminous coal in the lower Rhondda and the accessibility of the Glamorgan Canal and purpose-built tram roads, the lower Rhondda saw rapid economic growth in the nineteenth century. With the supply for bituminous coal from London and Ireland, came the supply of jobs.

The great majority of the newcomers who came to the mining settlements of Dinas, Cymmer, Hafod and Ynys-Hir, were agricultural labourers taking the change from farm labourer to miner. The new villagers occupied cottages owned by the colliery companies. During the first half of the nineteenth century the district was destitute of drainage arrangements with no provision of any kind for the disposal of excrement or refuse. Besides rainwater, the only source of fresh water was the mountain springs. The new villagers were self-sufficient, owning their own allotments that could be found on either side of the valley mountains. These allotments supplemented the main source of food for the villagers and they took great pride in the fact that they provided their own living.

The number of shops that grew in the village evidently proves the self-sufficiency of the people in a rapidly expanding industrial area. on both sides of the main street the shops were built next door to each other, some trading from their front rooms. At one time there were nearly as many shops in Trehafod as in Porth or Pontypridd. Evans the Grocer, Morgan the Butcher and Thomas the Fruitier are just a few of the businesses run in the village. Everything that was needed for the people was in existence; a cobbler, cafe's, coach builders, midwife, dentist, post office bakehouse, fish shops, undertakers, choirmasters and even musicians. Company stores were also used where goods could be bought in exchange for tokens.

In 1808 Evan Morgan leased the mineral rights to his land to his brother in law, Dr Richard Griffiths, who in turn gave Jerimiah Homphrey the right to open a level under Hafod Fawr lands on the east side of the river Rhondda. This level was worked until 1813. The Hafod mining concern was started in the 1850s at Coed Cae, but due to complications the rich bituminous seams of hafod were not fully exploited until the 1870's when the Coed Cae Coal company reopened the Coed Cae Colliery, now the ground of the Heritage Park Hotel.

In the mid-1870s William Thomas Lewis, later Lord Merthyr, purchased the Hafod and Coed Cae shafts on the river Rhondda near Porth. The Coed Cae pit was reopened in the early 1870s to work the upper bituminous (household) seam coal but it closed in the 1930s. Hafod pit is thought to have worked from the 1880s until 1893, working the bituminous seams, after which date the deeper steam coal seams were worked by Powell Duffryn.

By 1880 WT Lewis had sunk the Bertie shaft, and in 1890 the Trefor shaft (both Trefor and Bertie were named after WT Lewis' sons, and remain so today at the Rhondda Heritage Park). By 1891 the Colliery was known as the Lewis Merthyr Navigation Collieries Ltd and from 1890 the five pits became the "Lewis Merthyr Consolidated Collieries Ltd" employing some 5,000 men and producing almost a million tons of coal annually.

The Bertie shaft was 4.3m in diameter and 434m in depth. The Winding Engine is unique because of the unusual design of the drum known as a differential bi-cylindro conical drum, which enabled the engine to wind to and from different depths simultaneously. There is thought to have existed only one other engine of this style. The engine was originally steam operated until it was electrified in the late 1950s.

In 1904 the company sunk the Lady Lewis colliery a mile to the North East in the Rhondda Fach and in 1905 they acquired the Universal Colliery at Senghenydd, which was later to suffer the worst ever mining disaster in British history. In 1929 the colliery became part of the Powell Dyffryn Group, and in the same year Coed Cae stopped winding coal. Hafod No 2 followed, and Hafod No 1 in 1933. The colliery was nationalised in 1947.

In 1958 Lewis Merthyr Colliery and the neighbouring Ty Mawr Colliery merged and all coal winding ceased at Lewis Merthyr, with coaling continuing via Ty Mawr and men and supplies only at Lewis Merthyr. By 1969 the Colliery had become the Ty Mawr/Lewis Merthyr Colliery. As many as thirteen seams have been worked at the Lewis Merthyr using the advanced long wall method of working using Dowty hydraulic props set under heavy section corrugated steel bars, the bars were set at 0.9m intervals (3'-0") with most of the coal being won with pneumatic picks and hand loaded onto conveyors.

The seam shown on this plan is locally known as the Two Feet Nine Seam, in accordance with the Woodland's correlation it's correct name is the Four Feet Seam. It has an aggregate thickness of seven feet and contains four dirt bands of varying thickness. The roof is good clift (Mudstone) and the floor is fireclay. The volatile content on an ash free dry basis is 18.5%.

Until the 1950s the coal industry maintained a steady level of production and employment, but since that time there has been a continuing decline in the number of miners in employment. Most of the pits, which have been closed, have still left coal to mine, but with oil and coal available more cheaply from abroad the demise of the industry has been inevitable. Nowhere has the decline of the coal industry been more dramatic than in the South Wales Coal Field. At Lewis Merthyr production came to an end on the 14 March 1983 with production continuing in the four feet seam until July when coaling ceased forever at Ty Mawr/Lewis Merthyr.

22nd November 1956 - N4 District Explosion.

At approximately 7.15am on the 22nd November 1956 an explosion occurred in the N4 District, at this time this was the only district being worked in the Two Feet Nine Seam, output at this time output was about 320 tons per day.

Traditionally the working section in this seam had been the lower four feet of the seam with a bed of coal 0.45m (1'-6") thick forming the roof, in September 1956 it had been decided to try to work the full thickness of the seam.

On the night of the 8/9th Nov 1956, an extensive fall of rock occurred in the road head of the centre road of the N4 face from the inbye permanent support practically to the face of the road head, a length of some 16 feet. One steel arch was left standing between the inbye end of the fall and the coal face. The cavity was the full width of the roadway and exposed the Three Coal Seam some 24ft above. For some time earlier a small fault had been working down the left hand face towards this road. There was no evidence of this fault in the cavity, but it was obvious that the thick bed of clift above the seam had changed to become weaker than normal and lacking in its usual cohesion. The fall was cleared and 14 feet steel arches were erected beneath the cavity. These arches were covered with wood lagging which in turn was covered with a "cushion" of rubbish some four feet thick, the top of which would thus be some eight feet from the top of the cavity. The roof and sides of the cavity above this packing were not supported in any way. The Production of coal was resumed on Monday 12th Nov 1956.

Work proceeded without untoward incident until the night of 19/20th Nov 1956, when a second fall occurred at the road head. This was an extension of the earlier fall. The cavity now extended to the coal head and was some 30ft long and 30ft high. It had also widened to about 30ft exposing a sliken-slide slant (Fault Plane) some 10 feet to the left of the fault previously mentioned, which was now crossing the middle of the centre road. There has been no earlier indication of the presence of this slant. The second fall made coal production impossible and this situation was unchanged on the 21st November. By the afternoon shift of this day, the fall had been cleared and the erection of steel arches beneath the cavity was begun. This work was being carried on by the night shift when at about 3am on the 22nd November, four of the six newly erected steel arches were displaced by a stone weighing about 3 tons which fell from the cavity. The colliery manager accompanied by the morning shift overman, arrived at the scene at about 5.30am. He decided to erect an "umbrella" of ten feet arches covered by wood lagging beneath which the gate conveyor could run. These ten-feet arches could be erected without disturbing the 14-feet arches displaced by the fall. The stone which had fallen was broken up by means of a pneumatic pick and the work of erecting the steel arches began. By this time the men employed on the morning shift had begun to reach the meeting station at the junction of the left hand supply road with the intake airway. A few of these men were brought forward to assist with the work and the remainder told to stay at the meeting station until they received further instructions.

 

By about 7.15am three of the ten-feet arches had been erected. At the time of the explosion there were 14 persons employed in the work, two workmen were standing on a staging, tightening the fishplate bolts, and four others were holding the legs of the arches, the night shift deputy had gone back in the road some 30 yards to a point where a repairer was preparing wood struts for use between the arches. The others standing, prepared to cover the arches with wood lagging, when a further fall occurred from the cavity above. The fall was of some two tons of stone, most of it in one piece. Almost coincident with the fall there was a flame.

All the persons present were enveloped in flames and suffered severe burns. Two died from their burns at the scene and the 12 others received first-aid treatment at the scene and were then conveyed to the surface Medical Centre via the Hafod Shaft. At the centre they received further treatment from doctors, before being conveyed to the East Glamorgan Hospital, two of which died within 12 hours, one was detained at this hospital and recovered. The remaining nine other casualties were transferred to the Chepstow Burns Unit, where five of the died later.

 

This plan is dedicated to their memory.

 

List of Casualties

Killed

E Howells Aged 37 Turbine Attendant

S Thomas Aged 69 Overman

Fatally Injured

A Atkins Aged 40 Colliery

T Davies Aged 38 Charge hand

A R Fox Aged 41 Manager

C Jones Aged 41 Overman

R Jones Aged 57 Repairer

JH Mills Aged 35 Repairer Profitt Aged 27 Repairer

 

Injured

H Bryant Aged 46 Charge man

W Childs Aged 43 Repairer

F Crump Aged 39 Repairer

WH Davies Aged 50 Packer

I Humphries Aged 35 Deputy

 

Done