Llanover Colliery

Argoed, Sirhowy Valley

This colliery was located on the east side of the Sirhowy River with the Abernant Colliery roughly opposite on the west bank of the river. Markham Colliery was approximately one mile to the north, with Oakdale Navigation Colliery just over a mile to the south. One shaft fifteen feet in diameter was sunk to a depth of 551 feet around 1888 by Christopher Pond. It was sunk to the Brithdir seam which it worked at an average section of 1.5 metres.

In 1906 it was purchased by the Bargoed Coal Company, whose managing director and commercial manager was T.C. Kirk of Cardiff, and linked to the neighbouring Abernant Colliery. The Bargoed Coal Company was a member of the Monmouthshire and South Wales Coal Owners Association.

In 1912 the rope taking the cage down the pit snapped and the cage plunged 140 yards to the pit bottom killing both George Jones aged 58 and George Burge aged 48 years.

Llanover Colliery employed 57 men in 1913 when it was managed by E. Rosser and 310 men in 1915. It was still managed by Mr. Rosser in 1916 when it employed 360 men. It employed 390 men underground and 86 men on the surface in 1918 when managed by R. O’Connor, who was still there in 1919 when it employed 500 men. In 1923 it employed 472 men, and along with Abernant produced 250,000 tons of coal. G.P. Williams was the manager in 1927 when this pit employed 500 men.

It was closed as a production unit c1929. It was then bought by the Markham Steam Coal Company (a subsidiary of the Tredegar Iron and Coal Company) to serve as a pumping station to protect both Markham and Oakdale Collieries. The two original pumps were of the horizontal cylinder types were operated by steam and were capable of pumping 60,000 and 120,000 gallons of water each hour respectively. They had great difficulty in dealing with the amount of water and frequently broke down. As a result of these breakdowns, the water rose approximately 80 feet up the shaft and the amount of water pumped at Oakdale increased. The company employed a diver to carry out pump repairs at the pit bottom. Electric Sulzer-type pumps were installed in February 1932; they were the largest deep well pumps of their type in the World and were capable of pumping 150,000 gallons per pump per hour. A specially constructed gantry was installed over the shaft to take their weight.

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