Windsor Colliery

Abertridwr, Aber Valley (national grid reference 11768977)

This colliery was named after the landowner of this area, Lord Windsor the Earl of Plymouth. The Windsor Steam Coal Company Limited was formed on the 6th of August 1896 and consisted of 10,000 shares worth £10 each. The main shareholders were the coal merchants and colliery owners J.W. and G.F. Instone and their colleague W.H. Lewis who had 1,700 each. The mineral lease was for 99 years.

The sinking of the North (downcast ventilation) shaft started in 1897 with the sinking of the South (upcast) shaft commencing in January 1898. The shafts were 19 feet in diameter and 2,018 feet deep.

On the 3rd of June 1902, six sinkers drowned in the North Pit when the platform they were standing on tipped over and they fell into 25 feet of water at the bottom of the shaft. Those who died were:

• Edgar Brace
• William Davies
• Thomas Davies
• Samuel Matthews
• William Richards
• Griffith Woods

Messrs. J. Jenkins contractors were employed to sink the shafts for the first 100 feet when the main contractor Thomas Rees and Sons of Llantrisant took over on the 3rd of January 1898. The cost of sinking was worked out at £19 per yard plus £1 per yard for 18 inches of walling. The contractors encountered serious delays due to water inrushes and the company took over the sinking operations in the North Pit in September 1898 and in the South Pit in August 1898. Landings were made in both shafts at 325 yards to accommodate pumps. One hundred men were employed during the sinking of the pits and 250 men during the development period. The first coal was wound commercially in 1903. The Colliery had the mineral rights for 2,650 acres.

Once the steam coals had been proved more money was required to develop the colliery a new company called the Windsor Steam Coal (1901) Limited was floated.

To give you an idea of the carnage in the South Wales Coalfield I have listed some of the early fatal accidents at this colliery;

• 4/1/1910 W.H. Merryweather aged 43 years, labourer, died under a roof fall,
• 7/1/1910 George Thomas aged 43 years, collier, died under a roof fall,
• 14/1/1910 Albert King aged 21 years, collier, also died under a fall of roof.
• 3/2/1910 H. Manley aged 33 years, labourer, was run over and killed by trams,
• 5/2/1910 both Thomas Jenkins aged 44 years, repairer, and Owen Williams aged 23 years, haulier, died under a fall of the roof.
• 4/4/1910 Thomas Isaac aged 48 years, collier, fall of the roof
• 3/7/1910 Edward Woodward aged 46 years, repairer, died when a horse kicked him.
• 15/8/1910 Richard Brewster aged 15 years, collier, was run over and killed by trams,
• 12/4/1911 Lesley Lewis aged 16 years, colliers’ boy, crushed by trams
• 10/11/1910 David Evans aged 48 years, collier, died under a roof fall.
• 17/11/1911 John Jones, repairer, fall of roof
• 12/1/1911 John Evans aged 47 years, timberman, fall of the roof
• 3/4/1911 John Warren, aged 37 years, shackler, crushed by trams
• 4/7/1911 Theophilus Evans aged 28 years, wireman, crushed by trams
• 30/1/1911 Daniel Humphreys aged 56 years, labourer, fall of the roof
• 4/9/1911 John Jones aged 33 years, haulier, crushed by trams
• 18/11/1911 William Jones aged 29 years, haulier, crushed by trams
• 8/2/1912 Thomas Jones aged 22 years, assistant repairer, crushed by trams
• 15/2/1912 David Hughes aged 38 years, master haulier, crushed by trams
• 15/5/1912 Edward Plumbly aged 23 years, door attendant, crushed by trams
• 20/6/1912 Gilbert Hawketts aged 18 years, colliers helper, fall of the roof
• 3/7/1912 William Simons aged 21 years, haulier, crushed by trams
• 16/12/1912 James Davies , colliers assistant, crushed by trams
• 4/1/1913 Gwilym Harper aged 33 years, master haulier, crushed by trams
• 1/1/1914 William Ind aged 23 years, assistant collier, fall of the roof
• 18/2/1914 Owen Thomas aged 46 years, haulier, fall of the roof
• 25/3/1914 Samuel Llewellyn aged 37 years, haulier, crushed by trams
• 14/10/1914 Reginald Ainsbury aged 19 years, haulier, crushed by trams

In 1908 the manager was Walter B Jones. In 1913 this colliery was managed by E.A. Creed and employed 2,246 men, and in 1918 it was managed by G. Morgan. This company was a member of the Monmouthshire and South Wales Coal Owners Association and was dominated by the Insole family. In 1915 the Business Statistics Company, in its book; ‘South Wales Coal and Iron Companies’ reported that the Windsor Steam Coal Co, (1901) Ltd, had an annual coal output of about 500,000 tons, the share capital was £424,930 and the value of the colliery was £408,307. In 1912 it had a loss of £8,135, in 1913 it made a profit of £36,362 and in 1914 it made a profit of £20,493. The board of directors consisted of; George F. Insole, Chairman, W.H. Mathias, Thomas Griffiths, W. North Lewis and Eric R. Insole.

In 1925 Windsor Colliery was sold to the Powell Duffryn Steam Coal Company for £250,000 who showed their ‘gentle’ approach to industrial relations by placing all the leading activists of the South Wales Miners Federation on the afternoon shift, and then a little later stopping that shift. All the afternoon shift men were then re-employed except for about twenty or thirty ‘hardliners’. The manager in 1927 was T. Bailey.

In 1934 the company was based at 1, Great Tower Street, London with the directors being; Edmund Lawrence Hann, Sir Leonard Brassey, Charles Bridger Orme Clarke, William Reginald Hann, Norman Edward Holden, Lord Hyndley, Sir Stephenson Hamilton Kent, Sir Francis Kennedy McClean and Evan Williams. The company secretary was Alfred Read. At that time it employed 15,260 men working in sixteen collieries who produced 4,780,000 tons of coal. The late 1920s and the early 1930s also seen a collapse of the manning levels at this colliery, from a position of 2,550 men in 1925, by 1935 there were only 130 men employed working on the surface of the mine and 730 men working underground. The manager was H.S. Jayne (he was the manager in 1930). In 1938 the manager was W.J. Badger. In 1943 this colliery was managed by P.D. Harman and employed 662 men underground working the Four-feet, Two-Feet-Nine and Six-Feet seams and 188 men working at the surface of the mine.

On Nationalisation in 1947, Windsor Colliery was placed in the National Coal Board’s, South Western Division’s, No.5 (Rhymney) Area, Group No.4, and at that time employed 162 men working on the surface and 701 men underground working the Four-Feet, Two-Feet-Nine and Six-Feet seams. The colliery had its own coal preparation plant (washery). The manager at that time was J.H. Jenkins.

By 1954 working in the Two-Feet-Nine seam had stopped, with the colliery now employing 173 men working on the surface and 900 men working underground. The manager was still J.H. Jenkins. In 1955 out of the total colliery manpower of 1,059 men, 493 of them worked at the coalfaces, but by 1961 out of the colliery manpower of 799 men, 303 of them worked at the coalfaces.

In January 1969 this colliery was working the Four-Feet seam through one double and one single panel face in the F25 District which was giving 1,500 tons of coal per day with a weekly advance of ten to fifteen yards. The problem with this district was that the floor of the seam was soft fireclay and only 150 yards behind the ‘face it would lift up to a height of 7 feet 6 inches in the 14 feet road making it impossible to get supplies into the ‘face. To solve this problem a machine called an Eimco 623H side loader was used, it was one of the first to be used in the Coalfield and with it, one man and one boy, on two shifts could advance fifty yards per week filling 360 trams of clay from the floor and keep the coalface working.

Some statistics:

• 1894: Output: 63,402 tons.
• 1899: Manpower: 200.
• 1900: Manpower: 151.
• 1901: Manpower: 182.
• 1902: Manpower: 167.
• 1905: Manpower: 850.
• 1907: Manpower: 1,625.
• 1908: Manpower: 1,649. Output: 368,000 tons.
• 1910: Manpower: 2,207.
• 1911: Manpower: 1,748.
• 1912: Manpower: 2,284.
• 1913: Manpower: 2,246.
• 1915: Manpower: 2,246.
• 1916: Manpower: 1,667.
• 1918: Manpower: 1,923.
• 1923: Manpower: 2,239. Output: 350,000 tons.
• 1924: Manpower: 2,222.
• 1925: Manpower 1,664.
• 1927: Manpower: 1,278.
• 1928: Manpower: 1,368.
• 1930: Manpower: 1,320. Output: 350,000 tons.
• 1931: Manpower: 1,401.
• 1932: Manpower: 789.
• 1933: Manpower: 860.
• 1934: Manpower: 948.
• 1935: Manpower 860. Output: 300,000 tons.
• 1937: Manpower: 1,053.
• 1938: Manpower: 1,072.
• 1940: Manpower: 974.
• 1941: Manpower: 966.
• 1942: Manpower: 935.
• 1944: Manpower: 837.
• 1945: Manpower: 850.
• 1947: Manpower: 863.
• 1948: Manpower: 862. Output: 251,374 tons.
• 1949: Manpower: 884. Output: 251,374 tons.
• 1950: Manpower: 956.
• 1953: Manpower: 1,020. Output: 348,000 tons.
• 1954: Manpower: 1,073. Output: 299,000 tons.
• 1955: Manpower: 1,059. Output: 294,859 tons.
• 1956: Manpower: 1,067. Output: 288,568 tons.
• 1957: Manpower: 1,033. Output: 245,085 tons.
• 1958: Manpower: 970. Output: 206,892 tons.
• 1960: Manpower: 828. Output: 172,425 tons.
• 1961: Manpower: 799.
• 1962: Manpower: 905.
• 1964: Manpower: 804.
• 1967: Manpower: 662. Output: 176,310 tons.
• 1968: Manpower: 712. Output: 195,935 tons.
• 1969: Manpower: 641. Output: 101,652 tons.
• 1970: Manpower: 598. Output: 132,753 tons.
• 1971: Manpower: 556. Output: 113,257 tons.
• 1972: Manpower: 485. Output: 134,453 tons.
• 1974: Manpower: 566.

Information supplied by Ray Lawrence and used here with his permission.