Nantgarw, Taff Vale (11968573)

Nantgarw Colliery was sunk in a hollow of the Taff Valley near the base of the Caerphilly Syncline, the coal seams of the Lower and Middle Coal Measures dip steeply in this area of the southern outcrop of the South Wales Coalfield making mining operations extremely difficult. The bituminous coals of the southern outcrop are soft and friable and have a high proportion of voluble matter (20 to 40%), making them good house and coking coals. These coals consist of 88% carbon, 6% hydrogen, 6% oxygen.

The two shafts of this colliery were sunk between May 1910 and l9l5 to the Bute seam which they found at a depth of 856 yards, making them the deepest pits to be sunk in the South Wales Coalfield up to that time. They were 19 feet in diameter. On the 8th of December 1911, William Thomas, aged 50 years, and one of the sinkers, was crushed to death under the bowk in the sinking pit.

On the 11th of December 1913, The Times newspaper reported that:

The Nantgarw Colliery Company yesterday discovered the Rhondda 6ft. seam of coal. Nantgarw is six miles south of the southern extremity of the Rhondda Valley, and the seam extends under a couple of mountains before it reaches that place. It was at a depth of 804 yards that the seam was found, and its thickness was 5ft. Some 2,000 men are expected to be employed shortly in the new colliery workings.

The Four-Feet seam was reached in August 1914 with the first coal being raised in December 1914. The manager in 1913/5 was D. Jones, 1916 it was L. Watkins and in 1918/19 W.H. Davies. In 1923 the manager was S.W. Richards. Nantgarw Colliery was sunk by Thomas Taylor and originally called Taylor’s Navigation Colliery. Taylor’s Navigation Steam Coal Company Limited of Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff, which was not a member of the Monmouthshire and South Wales Coal Owners Association was formed as a subsidiary company of Baldwins Limited in May 1919. This company failed to overcome the difficult geological conditions that the mine presented and in 1924 Nantgarw Colliery was sold to the Taff Rhondda Navigation Steam Coal Company Limited who renamed it Taff Rhondda. However, after three years of trying to work it, they abandoned it on the 31st of October 1927. The manager at that time was Isaac Rees. It then lay idle until 1928 when it was bought by the Powell Duffryn Steam Coal Company Limited. Powell Duffryn started to devise new systems of mining the Nantgarw take, and were in the process of introducing horizon type mining systems when firstly, the Second World War, and then nationalisation stopped the full development of these systems.

The Ministry of Fuel and Power Survey published in 1946 indicated that there were reserves in South Wales, despite its long history of coal production, which were sufficient to last up to another 200 years:

To work these reserves effectively large-scale developments along new lines and applying the most modern methods were called for. Already the South Wales Coalfield has given a lead to the country by introducing the new system of horizon mining at Llanharan Colliery. There was also the £5,000,000 colliery, coke oven and by-product project at Nantgarw which has been in the process of development for more than a year. In both these cases, the Board was fortunate in being able to implement plans prepared in the first place by Powell Duffryn Limited.

On Nationalisation in 1947, Nantgarw Colliery was placed in the National Coal Board’s, South Western Division’s, Area No.5, with at that time only 4 men underground and 12 men on the surface of the pit providing maintenance services. The manager was D. Simpson. The NCB decided to take up the challenge of working in this difficult area and invested £5,000,000 into the colliery, making it the first major project of the NCB in the South Wales Coalfield. The NCB implemented modern surface constructions and modern mining methods. The winding headgear was brought from the old Llantrisant Colliery. The winding levels were set at 647 metres for the No.1 Pit and 605 metres for the No.2 Pit. It was intended to work the east lateral for 4,000 yards in the Caerphilly direction and the west lateral for 5,000 yards in the direction of Pentyrch.

It was expected that this colliery would produce 750,000 tons of coal every year out of an anticipated 176 million tons of coking coal reserves. Underground development work commenced on the 1st of July 1948 with the first tram of coal to come to the surface on the 17th of January 1950. There were nine seams that were to be worked in descending order and it was hoped to mine 19,000,000 tons in the first twenty-five years from the estimated 99,000,000 tons of coal to the south of the South Pit. It was to begin at 500 tons per day and then double that figure in a year and in five years it was supposed to produce 3,250 tons of coal per day. The south shaft was capable of winding six tons of coal per wind in two tubs, one on each deck or 26 men while the north shaft was used for men and materials.

In December 1953 a pumpsman called Sam Evans retired at the age of 75 years – he had served 60 years in the mining industry.

By 1954 the colliery was developing the Nos.2 and 22 seams (due to the twists and turns of the geology in this area the seams were sometimes identified by numbers and not correlated with the rest of the Coalfield) and employed 200 men on the surface and 820 men underground with the manager now being D.L. Richards. It had its own coal preparation plant (washery) capable of handling 350 tonnes of coal each hour. Seventy-two coke ovens and a coal-selling depot.

A couple of strange accidents occurred in May 1955 when two ‘flashes’ occurred within seven hours of each other injuring seven men. The men were withdrawn on the Monday when the first flash occurred, then again on the Tuesday when the second one happened. It was believed that faulty electrical apparatus was involved. On the 9th of May 1955 at 5.30pm an ignition of firedamp injured four miners, eight hours later, and at the same spot, another ignition of gas injured another three miners. In 1955 out of the total colliery manpower of 872 men, 439 of them worked at the coalfaces. This coalface figure remained the same in 1956, dropped to 351 men working at the coalfaces in 1957, and rose slightly in 1958 to 396 men working at the coalfaces.

Old Mother Earth still refused to yield to the new mining methods and by 1958 the pit was losing 22/8d per ton of coal produced, with the saleable yield being 55%. Output of coal was way below the expected ¾ million tons at 180,000 tons, with out of the thirty coal seams that were intersected, only nine were found to be workable. Due to the poor working conditions at Nantgarw Colliery, and a severe industrial relations problem, the pit had a vast turnover of manpower. In 1958 the loss of manpower was 223 men and between 1959 and 1962 over 1,000 men left the colliery, the NCB attempted to replace them by partial or full closure of older pits and transferring their manpower to Nantgarw, a tactic vigorously opposed by the NUM. The position at the colliery was so bad that in December 1961 the NCB announced that unless it showed a marked improvement within six months it would close. The NCB stated that a failure to attract manpower meant that the colliery was 150 men short of ideal manning. To compound the problem absence at the colliery was running at 40% when the area average was 20%. The problem continued in other ways and in 1967 absence from work was a staggering 30 to 50% on Mondays which caused this pit to lose £4,000 per week. By April 1968 absenteeism by coalface workers was the worst of any mine in the United Kingdom at 48% but attempts by both the management and men reduced this figure to 23% and the losses to a 55p per ton profit.

In 1961 Nantgarw Colliery was in the No.3 Rhondda Area’s, No.5 Group, along with New Rockwood Colliery. The total manpower for this Group was 778 men, while total coal production for that year was 164,815 tons. In 1969/70 the manager was J.H. Dole, in 1971/72 it was J.L. Johnstone and in 1975 it was D.J. Jenkins.

The following are extracts from the minutes of the South Wales Area of the National Union of Mineworkers’ Executive Council Meeting which was held on Tuesday, 21st of April 1959 and concerns the situation prevailing at Nantgarw at that time.

The officials explained that a stay-down strike occurred at this colliery last week over the attitude adopted by colliery management towards the workmen. The President had attended at the mine and had gone below ground to persuade the men to return to the surface. This he was able to do, but he gave an undertaking that if the lodge desired an inquiry into the situation at the colliery, then he was certain that the Executive Council would permit the same to be conducted. A deputation of six members of the lodge was outside and the Officials had agreed that they should be met by the Executive Council in these trying circumstances. The Executive Council agreed to meet the deputation. Members of the deputation then stated that the Nantgarw Lodge membership had decided to urge the Executive Council to conduct a very thorough investigation into:

  1. The safety standard is set at the mine.
  2. The mining practice operative at the colliery.
  3. The relationships which are obtained between management and workmen.

They appreciated that the lodge had been in rather bad odour with the organisation in recent years due to the number of walk-outs and strikes which had taken place at the colliery. However, in recent months, only one walk-out has taken place. The lodge committee had been able to command the full support of the lodge to its policy. They had made every endeavour to keep the men at work and to traverse the Conciliation Machinery in resolving disputes at the colliery. However, since the decision to proceed in this way, the management had taken heart and had been extremely provocative, knowing that the lodge committee would do their best to keep the men at work whatever the difficulties. In recent months, however, the management has been sending men out of the mine on the slightest pretext. In certain instances, men have been sent out of the mine and have recovered their bonus payment thereafter on account of the fact that the management recognised that the instructions given to the men at the mine could not be justified. They also contended that the management was not paying due attention to the safety and health of the men at the mine. They cited many instances in which cavities were left with no protection cover for the workmen; other instances in which gas was found; and one instance where a training face had been opened in what is alleged by the lodge committee to be entirely unsafe conditions. The Chairman of the lodge stated that he would not allow his child to be trained at that face in any circumstances. Instances were cited in which a great deal of equipment was being buried and no attempt at all made at its salvage.

Further, districts in the pit had been closed in the past as they were deemed to be unworkable by previous management. This manager, however, is re-opening these districts and the lodge felt that they would never succeed in working these panels of coal and it was a sheer waste of time and money to undertake this work. On many of the conveyor’s faces, thick clod was coming down and this was extremely dangerous in the heavily inclined seams at the colliery. Management had given instructions to the men to hold up the clod and work the seam with the clod as roof. However, they expected of the men the same output in their initial endeavours to hold up the clod as they were producing previously. This was a very serious source of irritation at the colliery as men were being sent out of the mine because it was alleged that they were not working normally in these circumstances. They further stated that there was an extreme shortage of material to work at the coalface and that these shortages meant a substantial reduction in output.

They appreciated that the colliery was in a very bad way and that it was sustaining heavy losses. However, the lodge committee was of the view that these losses could not be attributed to the workmen. The method of work, the utter incompetence of the management, and their wastefulness with equipment and material accounted very largely for these losses. They therefore urged the Executive Council to agree to conduct an inquiry forthwith into this situation. They suggested, however, that the inquiry should not be a joint one at first, and they urged the Executive Council to send members into the colliery to stay there until such time as their investigations had been completed.

A number of questions were put to the delegation to clarify the position, after which the Executive Council decided:

To ask the Safety Department to appoint one of their full-time inspectors to attend at the colliery to report on:

  1. The physical conditions obtained in the seam such as inclination; the section of coal; the section of clod; the nature of the roof, etc.,
  2. The standard of equipment for the winding and conveying of coal from the coal faces.
  3. The method of work at the colliery.
  4. The standard of supervision in respect of safety and health questions.
  5. The actual standard of safety and health achieved at the colliery.

In addition, it was decided to appoint Mr. Ben Morris, the Miners Agent, and Mr. Thomas Evans, Executive Council member, to attend on the lodge committee to formulate the indictment made against the NCB’s representatives at the colliery.

It was further resolved to present the reports of the full-time inspector, and Messrs. B. Morris and T. Evans, to a future meeting of the Executive Council for consideration, after which the Area Executive Council would seek a meeting with the NCB’s representatives at the Area level with a view to correcting the situation obtaining at this colliery.”

The results of the investigation were presented to the Area Executive Council Meeting held on Tuesday, 9th June 1959, and were as follows:

The President stated that following the last Executive Council meeting, the officials had, along with the men involved in reports on this colliery and with lodge representatives, met to consider this position. He gave a brief resume of the circumstances leading up to this situation in which he cited the differences which had obtained between lodge members and the Committee which had resulted in the downgrading of certain men; the joint investigations that had been conducted by a representative of the NCB and himself, an investigation which had been conducted by three Executive Council members; and now the reports which had been presented by Messrs. L.R. James and Tom McGee, members of the Safety Department, on the physical conditions obtaining at the colliery; and a verbal report presented by Messrs. Tom Evans, EC member and Ben Morris, Agent.

In 1958, there was a total of 65 stoppages, go-slows or walkouts resulting in a loss of 30,658 tons of coal, in59 for the first quarter, 13 similar acts have already meant a loss of 9,700 tons. The total manpower at present is 875, but already this year 65 men have left the pit (an average of 8 per week). In three years over 1,000 men have left the colliery If the present position does not improve, then the NCB stated that they would have no alternative but to close the colliery and import the coal to feed the by-product. In this way, the NCB would improve substantially the financial position of Area 3. To “break even” the 120 colliers at Nantgarw must produce an output of from 12 to 1,400 tons daily. Saleable coal is only 55%, of the total product. They expressed the opinion that the major cause of the low OMS was the pooling system on the coal faces. Some of the best colliers had left the colliery because of this; its effect was to reduce work quanta to those of the poorest colliers in the pit, the NCB desired a change to individual yardage. In September 1958, the No.16 Conveyor had worked for one week on the yardage system, and their wages were: highest, £21.13/7d; lowest £17. 13/2d. They emphasised that they wanted the yardage system introduced throughout the pit, and not piecemeal.

The workmen’s side stated that they did not intend to answer the NCB’s case point by point at this meeting, as Mr. L.R. James and Mr. Tom Evans were investigating the colliery on behalf of the NUM. Mr. James to provide a technical appreciation and Mr. Evans to report upon the relationships obtained between management and workmen. However, it was necessary to state that there was a change, in as much as the Lodge Committee had agreed that where the majority of the colliers on any face would agree to accept individual yardage, then the system could operate. But no decision was possible yet to introduce yardage throughout the pit. The opinion was expressed that it was better to introduce yardage piecemeal than to force the system upon men unwilling to accept it. Some further discussion ensued on the value of the yardage price lists offered by the NCB, and it was then agreed to adjourn the meeting. It was also stated that the officials, along with the Miners’ Agent, EC member and Mr. Tom McGee, had met the colliers at Nantgarw on Sunday last.

It was a very well attended meeting and possibly one of the best from the standpoint of numbers which had been held in Nantgarw for some time. They had placed before the members the full facts in this situation and had advised them to accept payment on the individual yardage system in preference to the system obtaining at present, namely, yardage pooling, so as to dispel a reason or an excuse that the NCB representatives have put forward to account for the heavy losses obtaining at the colliery. The officials were of the view that acceptance of the principle of individual yardage payment would not resolve the difficulties at Nantgarw. In fact, they doubted very much as to whether the colliery could ever be made a profitable unit. The physical conditions inside the colliery, plus the layout in its development, almost precluded such a result. The officials were, therefore, anxious for the EC to endorse the steps which had already been taken by them in an endeavour to improve the situation at this colliery and to decide whether the men should be advised to accept the individual yardage payment as no decision was possible at the meeting on Sunday night as it was not a full lodge meeting.

Many members of the EC participated in the discussion on this question after which it was agreed:

  • To endorse the steps taken by the officials in an endeavour to resolve the difficulties at this colliery.
  • To advise the full body of workmen at the colliery to accept the individual yardage principle of payment for colliers; and
  • That the meeting of the parties which met on the 29th May should be convened again to discuss the matter more fully.”

 

THE MERGER WITH WINDSOR

By the early 1970’s the Coalfield couldn’t keep up with the demand for coking coal so a major investment plan was set into motion. The NCB announced that:

Windsor has large reserves of prime coking coal, but inadequate underground and surface facilities. Nantgarw has a modern well-equipped surface, adequate shaft capacity and pit bottom facilities together with a modern coal preparation plant feeding directly into the coal products coking plant. The working of the steep seams at Nantgarw has failed and coal winding ceased. The scheme requires the driving of a 1,600 yard 1 in 5 drift from the Nantgarw pit bottom to the Windsor Six-Feet workings. This drift will be equipped with a cable belt for coal transport and a direct rope haulage system for transporting materials and men. All men and materials will be wound at Nantgarw with the Windsor shafts being retained for ventilation purposes only.

Output of the combine was estimated to be 290,000 tons of coal a year with an output per manshift of almost 2 tonnes.

Nantgarw Colliery was linked to Windsor Colliery in 1974, with Windsor’s coal reserves being transferred to Nantgarw in an attempt to get away from the difficult geology at Nantgarw. The surface buildings at Windsor Colliery were then dismantled. £1.75 million was expended on this project with it being estimated that the new combine had reserves of workable coal amounting to nine million tons. A manriding train transported the men from the Nantgarw shafts 0.75 of a mile to the Windsor coalfaces past a new 200-tonne bunker at the bottom of the link-up drift. In 1974 the last coalface at Nantgarw was stopped and the men transferred to the Windsor underground area of the mine. This re-organisation was successful and following years of heavy financial losses, the colliery started to make money.

This was all done during a period of optimism within the Coalfield, the market for coking coal was expanding from 4.6 million tonnes the previous year to an estimated 5.5 to 6.3 million tonnes by 1980. The report stated that:

The coking coal market is the largest and most secure that is available to the coalfield. The expanding plants of the British Steel Corporation in Wales, at Llanwern and Margam, and the National Smokeless Fuel plants at Nantgarw and Cwm/Coedely can take all the coking coal that we produce.” The proposals for this colliery were;“Windsor has large reserves of prime coking coal, but inadequate underground and surface facilities. Nantgarw has a modern well-equipped surface, adequate shaft capacity and pitbottom facilities, along with a modern coal preparation plant feeding directly into the coal products coking plant. The working of the steep seams at Nantgarw has failed and coal winding ceased. The scheme requires the driving of a 1,600 yard, 1 in 5 drift from the Nantgarw pit-bottom to the Windsor Six-Feet workings. This drift will be equipped with a cable belt for coal transport and a direct rope haulage system for transporting men and materials. All men and materials will be wound at Nantgarw with the Windsor shafts being retained for ventilation purposes.

This was expected to cost £1 million (optimistic in the end) and give an output per manshift of 1.95 tonnes and an annual output of 290,000 tonnes.

In 1976/79 the manager of Nantgarw/Windsor was N. Mainwaring while in 1980 the manager was T. Thomas. The National Union of Mineworkers Lodge Secretary in 1964 was C.H. Williams, while in 1977 and 1981 it was J. Pugsley.

In 1978 an NCB press release stated:

Nantgarw/Windsor is one of the Coalfield’spremier collieries, linked by a £1.75 million project. The colliery will exploit over nine million tonnes of coking coal, which will keep the mine in business well into the next century.

By 1978 the combine was making £40,000 per month with the F44 coalface producing, in a record for the colliery, of 334 hundredweights per manshift on the coalface. In 1978 the combine was working both the Six-Feet and Meadow Vein seams from three coalfaces which gave an output per manshift of 5.7 tonnes at the coalfaces and 1.2 tonnes overall for the colliery. There were 15 miles of underground roadways in use including 3 miles of conveyors. In 1979 the F44 coalface was the best-performing coalface in the over 209 cms seam thickness category in the South Wales Coalfield. It produced 789 tonnes per day. In 1981 Nantgarw/Windsor Colliery was working the Six-Feet seam at a thickness of between 1.6 and 1.8 metres, and the Seven-Feet seam at a thickness of 1.45 metres. Coalface length varied from between 144 metres to 200 metres with the coal cutting being done by ranging drum shearers. Coalface roof supports were of the self-advancing types. The coalfaces in the Six-Feet seam were prefixed with the letter F with the F48 expected to advance 1.2 metres per day on single shift coaling giving an output of 300 tonnes per day. It was expected to close in January 1982. The F50 was expected to replace it and would advance at a rate of 1.8 metres per day on two coaling shifts. This would give a daily coal output of 500 tonnes. It was expected to travel 550 metres. The F47 and F52 were both expected to advance at 1.8 metres per day on two coaling shifts which would give a daily tonnage from each of 500 tonnes. The F47 had a life of 419 metres and would be replaced by the F52 which had a run of 1,094 metres. The coalfaces in the Seven-Feet were prefixed by an M with the M8 expected to advance at a rate of 1.2 metres on a single coaling shift which would give an output of 300 tonnes per day. It had a run of 360 metres. The expected output per manshift on the coalface was 5.88 tonnes of coal, and overall for the colliery, it was expected to be 1.49 tonnes of coal. The yield of saleable coal was 62% of total production. Manpower distribution was; deployed on developing new coalfaces 142, working at the coalfaces 131, deployed on other work underground 197 working at the surface of the mine 101 men. The manager T. Thomas was very concerned about the shortage of manpower at the colliery. At that time the NCB had generally banned recruitment in south Wales. In 1983 this colliery was losing £29.10 for every tonne of coal produced, the seventh worst figures in the South Wales Coalfield.

In the January of the 1984/85 miner’s strike, the Colliery Guardian reported:

The floor lift occurring on the F47 face will require attention before the AFC and chocks can be advanced. Some repairs are needed in the supply road in order to get supply vehicles through. Weighting on the M8 face has resulted in a reduced section together with a floor lift. Repairs are needed along the F50 roads.

Nantgarw/Windsor Colliery made a good recovery following the 1984/85 miners’ strike but overall losses of £5 million for 1985, and a loss of £4 million in the first six months of 1986, ensured that it failed to survive the massive closure programme of that era and it closed on the 7th of November 1986.

Some statistics:

  • 1910: Manpower: 113 sinking.
  • 1912: Manpower: 182.
  • 1915: Manpower: 250.
  • 1916: Manpower: 500.
  • 1918: Manpower: 319.
  • 1920: Manpower: 500.
  • 1923: Manpower: 866.
  • 1924: Manpower: 637.
  • 1925: Manpower: 800.
  • 1927: Manpower: 516.
  • 1938: Manpower: 65.
  • 1947: Manpower: 16.
  • 1950: Manpower: 265.
  • 1953: Manpower: 647. Output: 3,000 tons.
  • 1954: Output: 193,000 tons.
  • 1955: Manpower: 872. Output: 224,501 tons.
  • 1956: Manpower: 972. Output: 244,876 tons.
  • 1957: Manpower: 901. Output: 208,138 tons.
  • 1958: Manpower: 952. Output: 174,850 tons.
  • 1960: Manpower: 596. Output: 101,626 tons.
  • 1961: Manpower: 493. Output: 91,332 tons.
  • 1969: Manpower: 449.
  • 1970: Manpower: 424.
  • 1971: Manpower: 385.
  • 1972: Manpower: 354.
  • 1974: Manpower: 354.
  • 1976: Manpower: 566.
  • 1978: Manpower: 613. Output: 244,000 tons.
  • 1979: Manpower: 650.
  • 1980: Manpower: 637. Output:243,943 tons.
  • 1981: Manpower: 571.
  • 1984: Manpower: 638.
  • 1986: Manpower: 622.

 

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

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