Ferndale Colliery

Last updated November 23, 2019

Ferndale Colliery was a series of nine coal mines, located close to the village of Ferndale, Rhondda Cynon Taf in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales.

Ferndale is a small town located in the Rhondda Valley in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Neighbouring villages are Blaenllechau, Maerdy and Tylorstown. Ferndale was industrialised in the mid-19th century. The first coal mine shaft was sunk in 1857 and was the first community to be intensively industrialised in the Rhondda Valley.

South Wales is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south. It has a population of around 2.2 million, almost three-quarters of the whole of Wales, including 400,000 in Cardiff, 250,000 in Swansea and 150,000 in Newport. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, South Wales extends westwards to include Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire. In the western extent, from Swansea westwards, local people would probably recognise that they lived in both south Wales and west Wales. The Brecon Beacons National Park covers about a third of South Wales, containing Pen y Fan, the highest British mountain south of Cadair Idris in Snowdonia.

History

The first development was by David Davis of Blaengwawr from 1857, in accessing the high quality steam coal and at a greater depth, he spurred others into tapping into the "Black Gold". Over the following 50 years, eight further pits were created.

Ferndale No.1 was developed on the land of the farm at Blaenllechau, within the borough of Ferndale. The following four pits were also within the village borough of Ferndale, while the last four were within the boundaries of neighbouring village Tylorstown. These later pits were also referred to as Tylorstown No.6 through No.9. However, later consolidation within the areas mining and pit complex eventually connected all nine of the mines. Hence the whole development was called Ferndale Colliery, from the completion of No.9 in 1907 by D. Davis & Sons Ltd. onwards. This allowed the complex to work the coal and ironstone of the: Two Feet Nine; Four Feet; Five Feet; Bute; Gellideg; Red; and Yard seams.

Blaenllechau is a small village located in the Rhondda Fach valley, Rhondda Cynon Taf. Neighbouring villages are Ferndale, Maerdy and Tylorstown. The population of Blaenllechau is less than 1000.

Tylorstown is a village and community located in the Rhondda valley, in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. It is neighboured by the villages of Blaenllechau, Ferndale, Penrhys, Pontygwaith and Stanleytown.

Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron compound from which iron can be smelted commercially. This term is customarily restricted to hard coarsely banded, nonbanded, and noncherty sedimentary rocks of post-Precambrian age. The Precambrian deposits, which have a different origin, are generally known as banded iron formations. The iron minerals comprising ironstones can consist either of oxides, i.e. limonite, hematite, and magnetite; carbonates, i.e. siderite; silicates, i.e. chamosite; or some combination of these minerals.

By the 1930s, when most of the complex was within the ownership of Powell Duffryn, the accessible coal reserves had been exhausted from the shallower shafts. Resultantly, their pit head workings were closed on economic grounds, although the workable underground coal faces were consolidated into the remaining shafts.

By the time of World War II and the Bevin Boys, only three of the original pits were still worked. These continued operation successfully under nationalisation from 1947, until the entire complex was finally closed by the National Coal Board in 1959.

World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from more than 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 70 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.

Bevin Boys were young British men conscripted to work in the coal mines of the United Kingdom, between December 1943 and March 1948. Chosen by lot as ten percent of all male conscripts aged 18–25, plus some volunteering as an alternative to military conscription, nearly 48,000 Bevin Boys performed vital and dangerous, but largely unrecognised civil conscription service in coal mines. Many of them were not released from service until well over two years after the Second World War ended.

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 "vesting day", 1 January 1947. In 1987, the NCB was renamed the British Coal Corporation, and its assets were subsequently privatised.

Disasters

Two large colliery disasters occurred in Ferndale during the 19th century.^[1]

A mining accident is an accident that occurs during the process of mining minerals. Thousands of miners die from mining accidents each year, especially from underground coal mining, although hard rock mining is not immune from accidents. Coal mining is considered much more hazardous than hard rock mining due to flat-lying rock strata, generally incompetent rock, the presence of methane gas, and coal dust. Most of the deaths these days occur in developing countries, and rural parts of developed countries.

On Friday 8 November 1867, the whole district was shaken by two consecutive explosions at Ferndale No.1. Rescuers were hampered by roof falls, and with the air so foul, with some trepidation the furnace which powered the ventilation was relit. It took a month to recover the remains of the 178 men and boys, with most bodies showing signs of severe burning, and many so badly disfigured it made identification impossible. At the subsequent enquiry, the lamp keeper stated that safety locks had been tampered with, and incidents regularly occurred that breached the company's rules. Although reported to the mine manager, these breaches were ignored. The jury concluded:^[2]

“

We believe the explosion took place, first: in consequence of a great accumulation of gas in certain workings of the colliery. This accumulation we attribute to the neglect of Mr. Williams the manager and his subordinate officers. Second: by this gas being fired by one or more of the colliers carelessly taking off the tops of their lamps and working with naked lights

”

Just 17 months later, on 10 June 1869, another explosion occurred killing 53 men and boys. The resultant inquest criticised the managers of the pit for not implementing all the recommendations made after the 1867 explosion. Further they criticised the pits ventilation system, which they concluded did not manage to properly distribute air throughout all the pit.^[2]

On 13 February 1908, 55-year-old former Private Thomas Chester, who 29 years earlier had been one of the defenders during the Battle of Rorke's Drift by thousands of Zulu warriors, was killed in the railway sidings of the coal washery at No.5 pit. Working as a coal trimmer, after allowing two wagons to pass, he stepped onto the railway tracks to break up a lump of coal which had fallen onto the empty road leading to No.1 pit screens. He was knocked down and killed by a wagon, which was being lowered towards the screens, not aware that others wagons were to follow.^[2]^[3]

On January 26, 1911, 22 year old Leonard Henry Rees, was killed at Ferndale No. 1 from a fall of roof stone at working face. He left behind a young wife, Ada, and 4 month old daughter, Irene.

Ferndale pits

Collieries in Ferndale
Number	Name	Date sunk	Date closed	Shaft Depth	Employment 1908	Employment 1923	Employment 1945	Notes
1	Blaenllechau	1857	1959	200 yards (180 m)	999	1,198	768*	First pit sunk in the Rhondda to work steam coal. After sinking of No.5, was extended to same depth
2		1870	1936	225 yards (206 m)^[4]	112	1,032*	Closed	1,540 yards North of No.1, located next to No.4. Closed before the outbreak of World War II
3	Bodringallt	1864	1936	238 yards (218 m)^[4]	653		Closed	Sunk in 1864 by Warner Simpson and Company. Bought by David Davies in 1890. Sold to Cory Brothers before 1923. Closed from 1936, used as a ventilation shaft for No.1 & No.5^[5]
4		1876	1936	300 yards (270 m)^[4]	632	1,032*	???	1,540 yards North of No.1, located next to No.2. Closed before the outbreak of World War II
5		1889	1959	358 yards (327 m)^[4]	1,096	1,089	768*	40 yards North from No.1
6Tylorstown	Pendyrys No.1	1876	1936	464 yards (424 m)	2,912**	567	Closed	1.5 miles (2.4 km) south of No.1, developed by Alfred Tylor’s Colliery Company
7Tylorstown	Pendyrys No.2	1876	1936	464 yards (424 m)	2,912**		Closed	1.5 miles (2.4 km) south of No.1, developed by Alfred Tylor’s Colliery Company
8Tylorstown	Cynllwyn Du	1858	1936	606 yards (554 m)	2,912**	1,167	Closed	Sunk by Thomas Wayne as Pont y Gwaith in 1858, it was renamed Cynllwyn Du. Closed, it was reopened by David Davies in 1892 to access the Gellideg seam. Extended to a depth of 606 yards, it was the deepest mine in the Rhondda^[6]
9Tylorstown		1907	1960	550 yards (500 m)	2,912**	765

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References

↑ The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales. John Davies, Nigel Jenkins, Menna Baines and Peredur Lynch (2008) pg280 ISBN 978-0-7083-1953-6
1 2 3 "Ferndale". Welsh Coalmines. Retrieved 2010-12-23.
↑ "Ferndale Collieries". BBC Wales . Retrieved 16 September 2011.
1 2 3 4 Enoch Rees. "The History of Brynamman: Depths of our Coal Pits". Ivor Griffiths. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
↑ "Bodringallt". welshcoalmines.co.uk. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
↑ "Tylorstown". welshcoalmines.co.uk. Retrieved 16 September 2011.

External links

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[1] The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales. John Davies, Nigel Jenkins, Menna Baines and Peredur Lynch (2008) pg280 ISBN 978-0-7083-1953-6

[WCM-2] 1 2 3 "Ferndale". Welsh Coalmines. Retrieved 2010-12-23.

[3] "Ferndale Collieries". BBC Wales . Retrieved 16 September 2011.

[tytwp-4] 1 2 3 4 Enoch Rees. "The History of Brynamman: Depths of our Coal Pits". Ivor Griffiths. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 16 September 2011.

[5] "Bodringallt". welshcoalmines.co.uk. Retrieved 16 September 2011.

[6] "Tylorstown". welshcoalmines.co.uk. Retrieved 16 September 2011.