CARNO COLLIERY
Dowlais 091084

This level was worked by the Dowlais Iron Company to provide both ironstone and coal for its works. It was abandoned in May 1924. Also please see the listing on Dowlais Collieries.

The licensed mine of this name was opened in 1947 by I. Smith and abandoned the Rhas Las seam in 1951.

EBENEZER
Dowlais 080078

This was a licensed mine that was worked by E.J. & D.I. Evans and W.J. Thomas between 1953 and 1954. It produced 24 tons of coal.

FFOS Y FRAN
Dowlais 068065

There were old balance pits called Ffosyfran that were worked between 1846 and 1855 by the Penydarren Iron Company.

The Ffos y fran level was worked by A.C. Marshallsea in 1955 and 1956. It produced 407 tons of coal in 1956.

INCLINE TOP MINES
Merthyr Tydfil

This was originally a level worked by the Penydarren Iron Works for both iron ore and coal. In 1991 it became an open-cast mining site as part of the East Merthyr Reclamation Scheme. The contract start date was September 1991, with coal production starting in January 1992 and finishing in May 1993, the site completion date was September 1993. An area of 36 hectares was mined, producing 260,097 tonnes of coal at an average weekly output of 3,000 tonnes with 30 men employed. The Little and Lower-Four-Feet seams were extracted and the coal sent to the Cwmbargoed washery to be prepared for industrial uses.

LONGTOWN
Dowlais 075073

This was a licensed mine that was worked by R. Roberts between 1957 and 1959 and by T.H. Davies until November 1959 when it was abandoned.
It employed 3 men and produced 571 tons of coal in 1957.

MEADOW COLLIERY
Merthyr Tydfil

This was one of the numerous levels worked by the Dowlais Iron Company to feed their works. It appears to have been abandoned before 1878. There was a small level of that name that worked under license from the National Coal Board in 1955 by P.J. Jenkins. Altogether in 1958, there were 270 small levels working under license in the South Wales Coalfield employing 2,000 men.

MOUNTAIN HARE COLLIERY
Dowlais, 072055

Another of the myriad of levels that abounded in this area in the early 19th Century. This one was owned by the Plymouth Iron Company. There was also a small level worked under license from the National Coal Board that abandoned the Soap Vein in 1955. It was opened by Harry Evans in 1953 and passed to the J. Currie Mines Limited in 1954 who abandoned it in May 1955. It produced 278 tons of coal in 1954.

SALEM COLLIERY
Dowlias 078076

This small level was worked under license from the National Coal Board in 1954 by E.J. and D.J. Evans and W. Thomas of Dowlais. In 1958/60 by R.G. Rowe and in the 1960s and 1970s it was owned by C.J. James of Pontsarn. It worked the Upper Four-Feet Rider and was closed in 1974.

This level caused consternation within the National Union of Mineworkers in 1958 when it fell into arrears of 38 weeks in paying the union contributions that had already been deducted from the men’s wages.

TYLADU COLLIERY
Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil 119054

The earliest listing that I can find for this colliery is in 1924 when it was worked by the Dowlais Collieries Limited and employed 10 men with J. Bevan as the manager, in 1927 it employed 16 men and in 1928 it employed 28 men. In 1930 it employed 30 men working underground and 3 men at the surface with John Bevan still the manager. It was working in 1932 but is missing from the 1935 listings, but then reappears again in 1945 when it employed four men working underground and three men working at the surface of the mine. In 1947 it was a small level working under license from the National Coal Board under the ownership of Smith and Son while in 1948 it was owned by the Tyladu Colliery Company and employed 15 men. In 1950 it employed 7 men, in 1953 it was owned by J. & B. Smith and in 1955 it was owned by Levi Williams and in 1957 and the 1960s/70s by the Tyladu Coal Company Limited of Fochriw. In 1957 it employed 10 men working the Tyladu seam and 1 man at the surface of the mine. It abandoned the Brithdir Rider seam in 1967.

 

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

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