Hirwaun, Cynon Valley
This was a level that was driven in 1914 by D.R. Llewellyn and Sons Limited of Aberdare into the Gorllwyn seam. It was approximately 1,000 yards to the west of Tower Colliery and in 1927 it employed 200 men and in 1934 it employed 48 men working at the surface of the mine and 300 men working underground producing steam coal from the Gorllwyn seam.
In 1934 D.R. Llewellyn and Sons Limited was based at the Bwllfa Colliery with the following as its directors; Sir David R. Llewellyn, W.M. Llewellyn, H.H. Merrett, Sir John F. Beale, T.J. Callaghan, J.H. Jolly and D.J. Davies. The company secretary was Daniel Morgan. In that year it controlled four collieries, employing 925 men that produced 156,843 tons of coal. This colliery had its own coal preparation plant (washery).
On Nationalisation in 1947, Tir Herbert Colliery was placed in the National Coal Board’s, South Western Division’s, No.4 (Aberdare) Area, Group No.2, and by 1954 employed 89 men working on the surface of the mine and 320 men working underground, the manager at that time being I.J. Phillips. In 1949 the manager was W.H. Jones. In 1950 the coalfaces were changed from stall working with horses pulling the trams to longwall faces and haulage engines with the result that output per manshift increased from 19 cwts to 24 cwts. Attempts to mechanise coal cutting with Meco Moore loader/cutters were abandoned due to a friable roof over the coal seam.
In 1955 out of the total colliery manpower of 420 men, 211 of them worked at the coalfaces, the coalface figure dropped to 177 men in 1956, and further down to 92 men in 1957. Tirherbert Colliery was closed on the 24th of December 1958.
Some Statistics:
- 1916: Manpower: 50.
- 1918: Manpower: 53.
- 1922: Manpower: 145.
- 1923: Manpower: 128.
- 1924: Manpower: 135.
- 1927: Manpower: 62.
- 1928: Manpower: 92.
- 1929: Manpower: 166.
- 1930: Manpower: 201.
- 1931: Manpower: 220.
- 1932: Manpower: 270.
Information supplied by Ray Lawrence and used here with his permission.
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