Everything about Tower Colliery totally explained
Tower Colliery was the oldest continuously worked deep-
coal mine in the
United Kingdom, and possibly the world, and the only mine of its kind remaining in the
South Wales Valleys. It is located near the village of
Rhigos, north of the town of
Aberdare in the
Cynon Valley south
Wales.
Colliery Buy-Out by Workers
The colliery was worked from
1805 until the late
1990s, when the Conservative government sought to close it down. In
1994, the
constituency MP,
Ann Clwyd staged a
sit-in in the mine to protest its closure. She was accompanied by the late Glyndwr 'Glyn' Roberts (Senior) of
Penywaun.
Later that year many of the original mineworkers banded together to purchase the colliery, led by local
NUM Branch Secretary
Tyrone O'Sullivan.
Philip Weekes, the renowned Welsh mining engineer, was a key advisor to the buy-out team and became (unpaid) Chairman of Goitre Tower Anthracite, the new company formed to run Tower Colliery. The mine remained financially viable and continued to provide employment to the workers, in spite of the government's coal mining policy, which had forced the closure of the mine for reasons of economics. The colliery was until its closure, one of the largest employers in the
Cynon Valley.
Closure
There has been talk of using machinery and manpower from Tower to boost production at the nearby
Aberpergwm Colliery, a smaller mine closed by the
National Coal Board in 1985 but reopened by a private concern in the mid 1990s.
The
Aberdare branch of the
Merthyr line continues north from
Aberdare railway station to the colliery. While passenger services terminate in
Aberdare, a freight services operates, several times a day, along this stretch of line, owned by the colliery.
Due to dwindling coal seams, the colliery was last worked on
January 18 2008 and the official closure of the colliery occurred on
January 25.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Tower Colliery'.
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