Ffaldau Colliery

Pontycymmer, Garw Valley
(National Grid reference 90369157)

This mine was opened about nine miles north of Bridgend in 1878 by the Ffaldau Steam Coal Company Limited to produce house and steam coals. The manager in 1884 was Edward Laurence. Its mineral take was called “Oriental “and stretched from Pontrhyl in the south to Blaengarw to the north.

The Western Mail newspaper of the 9th of January 1884, reported that the colliery had been purchased by Messrs. Pyman, Watson and Co., of Cardiff. They had considerably developed it and output had materially increased. The newspaper continued to state that measures had been taken to sink other shafts. In 1888this company became the Ffaldau Collieries Company Limited which was a member of the Monmouthshire and South Wales Coal Owners Association. The Sales Agents for this company were Pyman, Watson and Company of Exchange Buildings, Cardiff.

The Downcast ventilation pit was sunk to just below the Lower-Six-Feet seam to a depth of 663 feet 7 inches, the Upcast ventilation pit was sunk to just below the Upper-Five-Feet seam to a depth of 995 feet. These two shafts were thirty yards apart and 14 feet in diameter. The winding engines were built by J.D. Leigh of Patricroft and had two 30-inch diameter horizontal cylinders with a five-feet stroke. The winding drum was 14 feet in diameter. The Victoria or Braich-y-Cymmer Pit was approximately 220 yards northwest away from the other shafts and was sunk to the Lower-Five-Feet seam at a depth of 1,104 feet 11 inches. It was 16 feet in diameter. Originally ventilation for the colliery was by a steam-driven Schiele fan 13 feet 9 inches in diameter. steam-driven main haulages were provided in both the Two-Feet-Nine and Nine-Feet seams. The steam was piped down in five inch pipes from the surface. Bothhaulages had 16 inch diameter cylinders with a 3 feet stroke and both had four five feet diameter drums.

The men at Ffaldau Colliery were not shy about fighting for their rights and were out on strike for four weeks in August/September 1893 over inequities with the sliding scale agreement. This agreement sounded a great idea for settling wage disputes in that wages went up with the price of coal and down when coal was sold cheaper. The only problem was that the owners would pay the increases well over a month after they had gone up, but immediately when the price went down. This system was abandoned with the formation of the South Wales Miners Federation in 1898.

In 1893 this pit was producing 800/900 tons of coal a day. A very unusual dispute arose in March 1984, the men paid for a club doctor through their wages every week. It was their choice who was the doctor in the scheme, and they had been happy with a Doctor Parry for a number of years. Management then suggested that they have another doctor who lived outside of the village, the men disagreed and walked out of work without giving the legal amount of notice. A ballot of the men was then held and over 75% voted to retain Dr. Parry. So the management suggested that they have two doctors, this the men refused. The men went back to work believing that the issue had been settled until they drew their following week’s wages and noticed that no deduction had been made for a doctor. Out they went again. After ten days of the strike, 78 men and officials returned to work, and all hell broke loose. They were accompanied by a strong police detachment and were subjected to jeers, taunts and abuse. When they returned from work in the evening there were only 50 of them left, and they were assailed by the women and boys of the village with clods and such thrown at them. There was a huge demonstration in the village by the strikers on the Wednesday with windows being smashed at the under manager’s and others’ home. They returned to work on the Friday with Doctor Parry reinstated.

As an example of the very dangerous conditions that miners worked under, take for example 1901 in this colliery:

• 8th January Fred Pearch died in a haulage rope accident.
• 15th January William Jarret aged 43 years died under a roof fall.
• 13th February, Richard Thomas aged 26 years died under a roof fall.
• 23rd March, Ben Thomas aged 34 years died under a fall of roof.
• 24th July, Hugh Jones aged 44 years died under a roof fall.
• 1st September Mark Perry aged 20 years and a shackler was run over by trams.

The manager in 1896 and 1908 was William Johnson and the colliery employed 580 men in 1913 when the manager was still William Johnson. Mr. Johnson was still there in 1916 but by 1919 W. Heppell was the manager. The colliery now hit a purple patch with regards to production and in 1908, during the summer holidays a larger headgear was constructed on the downcast pit to provide for the increase in output. When the Seven-Feet-Seam was struck in 1908 it was decided to work it from the upcast shaft with cages installed in the shaft and a new winder and engine house constructed. New screens were installed in June 1914. But it wasn’t all sunshine and roses, on the 14th of August 1914 the men returned to work followed a six week long strike. There was another major stoppage at the colliery in October 1920, the Sankey Commission had awarded the hauliers a pay rise but the company refused to pay. When the hauliers turned up for work their lamps were stopped until they signed on the owners terms which was a wage of 16 shillings and 8 pence a week. All the men employed at Ffaldau walked out and stayed out for a week, when at a mass meeting of all the Garw Valley miners it was decided to go out in support. This woke the Coal Controller up and he persuaded the owners to offer 17 shillings and 3 pence which was accepted.

The trade recessions of the 1920s and 1930s coupled with the resultant downturn in revenue for the owners inevitably seen them try to pass this on to their workers, which in turn brought about firstly heroic resistance but inevitable defeat for the miners, and almost two decades of mass unemployment, emigration from the Valleys and abject poverty. In early 1921 the Coalfield was still under state control, and due to the 1920 agreement which gave an output bonus of 17.5 pence per shift, wages were running at their highest in the history of the Coalfield. In February of 1921, there was a worldwide trade recession which caused 80,000 miners to be laid off, and to the surprise of everyone the government announced that it was bringing the date of de-controlling the mines forward to March 1921.

In August 1927 notices were issued to all the workmen at Ffaldau Colliery that the pit was to close, it is unclear when it restarted but by May 1928 it was working with manpower being dropped from 1,400 pre-1926 to 600. It perked up a bit in October of that year when 50 men were signed on.

With the decreasing demand for coal from South Wales the layoffs and closures started in earnest, with 335 men laid off from Ffaldau on the 26th of May 1928.

Ffaldau Colliery was in the front of the fights against non-unionism and went out on strike in February 1934 over this issue. Fifty men were non-unionists at the colliery out of 900. 40 went to work with a police escort amidst the hatred of their fellow colliers. In October of 1935, some of the men at Nine Mile Point Colliery had had enough of this “bosses” or “scab” union and staged a stay-down strike in protest, this was quickly followed by stay-down strikes at Risca, Dare, Garw and Fernhill Collieries, and walk-outs throughout the Coalfield. Luckily these protests had coincided with a revival of trade and a partial victory by the men resulted in the SWMIU being contained at Bedwas and Taff Merthyr Collieries. Following a concerted campaign by the SWMF Bedwas Colliery rejoined in 1936, but Taff Merthyr Colliery remained the only bastion of the SWMIU until it was finally merged into the SWMF in June 1939.

On the 4th of August 1933, the men were issued their notices and the colliery closed. In 1934it was re-opened by the Cory Brothers, 250 men were employed on the surface of this mine and 1,000 men worked underground in the Two-Feet-Nine, Six-Feet and Nine-Feet seams.The manager was now J. Prosser. At this time the colliery had its own coal preparation plant (washery) and coke ovens. In 1938 the 100 men working in the Coronation District were laid off. Cory Brothers retained control until 1942 when they sold it to Powell Duffryn. There was a curious article in The Times dated Tuesday, 12th April 1938, which stated that a ‘milk bar’ had been opened at this colliery. In 1943 this pit employed 457 men working underground in the Two-Feet-Nine, Yard, Six-Feet and Upper Nine-Feet seams and 138 men working on the surface of the mine. When V.C. Jones was the manager in 1945 it employed 600 men producing 450 tons of coal a day.

It was in February 1945 that the then owners of this colliery, Powell Duffryn, decided to lay off every man over 65 years of age. The men protested and took their case to the Ministry of Labour and won. One was 74 years of age and still working on the coalface, and the 70-year-old stated that he could work for another 50 years.

In October 1945 a huge storm hit South Wales, at Ffaldau Colliery it destroyed the ropeway and some of the surface buildings. Powell Duffryn shut the colliery to reconstruct it at a cost of £305,000. It reopened in November 1948. During that time, and in 1946 Powell Duffryn announced that they had found the Five-Feet seam at this pit following many months of drilling. It was expected to yield 10,000,000 tons of coal suitable for both industrial and domestic use. In November 1948 the men at this pit gave the NCB a fortnight’s notice that they intended to strike due to their wives complaining that there was too much small in the house coal.

On Nationalisation in 1947 this colliery was placed in the National Coal Board’s, South Western Division’s, No.2 Area, Garw Group, and at that time incorporated the Braich-y-Cymmer. They employed 137 men on the surface and 258 men underground working the Yard, Nine-Feet and Gellideg seams. The manager was still V.C. Jones. He was still there in 1949.

In 1949, 150 men were transferred to this pit from International Colliery which at the time was under threat of closure, and in 1950/2 there was extensive re-organisation at this pit which resulted in output increasing from 580 tons a day in 1949 to 920 tons a day in 1950. The three shafts were repaired and re-equipped and a new pit bottom was made at the Gellideg level at 342 yards in the Braich-y-Cymmer pit to receive the output from the Gellideg, Nine-Feet and Seven-Feet seams. This shaft was the main winding shaft and was 16 feet in diameter and 365 yards deep. It had double-decked carriages and the pit bottom could stock 225 trams of 1.5 tonnes each. The result was that Colliery recorded its best day’s output; Ffaldau Colliery, Pontycymmer. had the highest output for any single day in Its history last week when on the Tuesday 1,240 tons of clean coal was brought to the surface. The colliery has been undergoing reorganisation since 1946. and the aim is when the pit is completely modernised. to raise 2.000 tons a day. At present, there are 625 employed at the colliery, which is one of the deepest in Wales, and of these, only 100 men are actually engaged at the coal face. Under a recent contract, coal dug from the new Gellidg Seam will be supplied to the Margam Strip Mills. The National Coal Board are spending £70.000 on pit-head baths and other amenities now in the course of construction.

A report in the May 1953 edition of the Coal News stated that nine brothers were working at this pit, they were: Aneurin, Lee, Phillip, Trevor, Verdun, John, Oliver, Glyndwr and Ninian Stewart, another brother, Gwyn, worked at International Colliery. The same seams were being worked in 1954, but manpower had more than doubled to 133 on the surface and 559 underground. In 1955 355 men were working at the coalfaces in this colliery, in 1956 this figure was 393 men on the coalfaces and in 1958, 370 men worked at the coalfaces in this colliery. The colliery was now the site of a central workshop.

In 1961 this colliery was still in the No.2 Area, Garw Group along with Garw and International collieries. At that time this Group employed 1,905 men and produced 446.898 tons of coal for that year. The Group Manager was V.C. Jones, and the Area Manager was W.B. Cleaver. In 1964 the NUM Lodge Secretary at this colliery was B. Howells. In 1969/70 the manager was W.N. Burton, in 1971/75 it was J. Smith. In 1972 during the miner’s strike for wages, the Lodge at this colliery withdrew the safety workers against the wishes of the Area and National NUM. – The 1972 strike was the first total strike of all miners since 1926. Miners’ wages had slipped from nearly the top of the industrial wages league to fourteenth place. To redress this slide a resolution was passed in the NUM Conference of July 1971 demanding a wage of £26 for surface workers, £28 for underground workers and£35 for coalface workers. An overtime ban commenced on the 31st of October with in December a ballot voting 145,482 to 101,910 for a strike. 65.5% of the South Wales miners who voted supported the strike call. On the first of January the strike commenced and by February industry had been placed on a three-day week On the 28th of February the miners returned to work victorious.

1974 – Again the miners found themselves sliding down the wages league. 93.5% of the South Wales miners who voted supported strike action over the claim for a wage of £35 for surface workers, £40 for underground workers and £45 for coalface workers. The trusted procedure of an overtime ban from the 1st of November led to an all out strike from the 9th of February which lasted for four weeks. Again a state of emergency was called by the Conservative Government, a three-day week implemented, and finally, a General Election was called for the 28th of February which the Labour Party won and settled with the miners.

Against this background, the NCB in South Wales optimistically announced their plan for coal through to the 1980s and 1990s. The coking coal market was the largest and most lucrative one available to the mines of South Wales, with Llanwern and Port Talbot steel works, and the National Solid Fuel plants at Nantgarw and Cwm/Coedely using all that the coalfield could produce, and even then there was a substantial shortfall. To address these ambitions, plans were made for many of the coking coal collieries.

The coal board decided that due to the Garw and Ffaldau collieries working adjacent to each other it would be more economical if they merged. This involved an underground roadway of 500 yards in length being driven to connect the collieries and all coal winding, manriding and supplies to go down the Garw shaft while the Ffaldau would be kept open for ventilation only. Garw Colliery was merged with Ffaldau Colliery in 1975 at a cost of £86,000, with Ffaldau’s output of coal brought up the Garw’s shafts.

Some of those who died at this mine;

• 5/7/1883, Frederick Merchant, aged 20, collier, roof fall.
• 12/5/1884, Thomas Griffiths, aged 47, collier, roof fall.
• 18/6/1884, Richard Price, aged 19, collier, roof fall.
• 18/3/1886, Isaac Jenkins, aged 52, collier, roof fall.
• 24/5/1887, Thomas Powell aged, 35, collier, roof fall.
• 5/1/1888, Thomas Lewis, aged 14, collier, roof fall.
• 2/7/1889, William Lewis, aged 72, labourer, roof fall.
• 11/7/1889, George Robbins, aged 20, labourer, shaft incident.
• 12/21890, William Neckriw, aged 27, haulier, roof fall.
• 9/1/1891, David Davies, aged 47, haulier, roof fall.
• 5/12/1891, Llewellyn Harris, aged 17, haulier, roof fall.
• 9/2/1892, William Jenkins, aged 21, assistant hitcher, crushed by shaft cage.
• 11/4/1893, John Fox, aged 20, haulier, roof fall.
• 17/2/1894, Caleb Edwards, aged 24, collier, roof fall.
• 20/2/1894, John Mizen, aged 23, collier, roof fall.
• 14/8/1895, Charles O. Davies, aged 26, collier, roof fall.
• 8/10/1896, Henry Parry, aged 23, labourer, roof fall.
• 27/8/1897. Lewis Williams. Aged 65, labourer, roof fall.
• 12/11/1897, Stephen Walters, aged 16, collier, roof fall.
• 23/11/1910, James Thomas, aged 28, collier, roof fall.
• 29/3/1911, Edwin C. Cope, aged 48, painter, suffocated in small coal.
• 7/9/1911, Robert John, aged 38, rider, crushed by trams.
• 14/9/1911, Thomas William Jones, aged 17, collier, roof fall.
• 4/11/1911, John Jones, aged 26, haulier, crushed by trams.
• 12/7/1912, James Wescott, aged 24, machine man, roof fall.
• 1/2/1926, Joseph Phillips, aged 71, labourer, crushed by trams.
• 6/5/1927, L.K. Allen, aged 15, collier boy, roof fall.

Some Statistics:

• 1889: Output: 104,395 tons. Victoria Pit: Output: 31,736 tons.
• 1896: Manpower: 247.
• 1899: Manpower: 300.
• 1900: Manpower: 328.
• 1901: Manpower: 470.
• 1902: Manpower: 339.
• 1903: Manpower: 332.
• 1905: Manpower: 339.
• 1907: Manpower: 327.
• 1908: Manpower: 638.
• 1909: Manpower: 330.
• 1910: Manpower: 504.
• 1911: Manpower: 430.
• 1912: Manpower: 458 underground only.
• 1913: Manpower: 550.
• 1916: Manpower: 350.
• 1919: Manpower: 350.
• 1920: Manpower: 350.
• 1922: Manpower: 150.
• 1923: Manpower: 191.
• 1924 Manpower:230.
• 1927: Manpower: 553.
• 1932: Manpower: 250.
• 1933: Manpower: 15, idle.
• 1935: Manpower: 1,250. Output: 300,000 tons.
• 1937: Manpower: 809 with Braich-y-Cymmer.
• 1938: Manpower: 521.
• 1940: Manpower: 600.
• 1941: Manpower: 700.
• 1942: Manpower: 600.
• 1944: Manpower: 637.
• 1945: Manpower: 595.
• 1947: Manpower: 395.
• 1948: Manpower: 407. Output: 18,000 tons.
• 1949: Manpower: 509. Output: 180,000 tons.
• 1950: Manpower: 672.
• 1953: Manpower: 751. Output: 280,000 tons.
• 1954: Manpower: 692. Output: 269,154 tons.
• 1955: Manpower: 775. Output: 258,467 tons.
• 1956: Manpower: 793. Output: 262,963 tons.
• 1957: Manpower: 800. Output: 274,876 tons.
• 1958: Manpower: 779. Output: 244,641 tons.
• 1960: Manpower: 887. Output: 240,813 tons.
• 1961: Manpower: 950. Output: 277,844 tons.
• 1964: Manpower: 964.
• 1969: Manpower: 821.
• 1970: Manpower: 771.1971: Manpower: 765.
• 1972: Manpower: 784.

This information was supplied by Ray Lawrence and is used here with his permission.