South Wales Coalfield
Encyclopedia
The South Wales Coalfield (Welsh
: Maes glo De Cymru) is a large region of south Wales
that is rich with coal
deposits, especially the South Wales Valleys
.
The South Wales Coalfield extends across parts of the unitary authorities of Pembrokeshire
, Carmarthenshire
, Swansea
, Neath Port Talbot
, Bridgend
, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Vale of Glamorgan
, Merthyr Tydfil
, Cardiff
, Caerphilly
, Blaenau Gwent
, Torfaen
and Powys
.
It comprises a fully exposed synclinorium with a varying thickness of "coal measures" (Upper Carboniferous
/ Pennsylvanian) deposits with thick, workable seams in the lower parts and generally thinner and sparser seams in the upper parts, together with a development of sandstone
s (Pennant Sandstone). See also the Geology of South Wales
. These sandstones have been much used in building construction (including the characteristic terraces of former miners' houses) and give rise to bleak uplands rising 300-600 metres above sea level between the steep-sided valleys in which most deep mines were developed.
The coal generally increases in grade or "rank" from east to west, with bituminous coals in the east, and anthracite in the west. The Rhondda Valley
was particularly known for steam coals which fuelled steamships of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
such as Newport Docks
, Cardiff Docks
and Barry Docks. Early activity was mainly by levels or adit
s driven into coal seams from outcrops in the valley sides. Development of the coalfield proceeded very actively from about 1850, when deep mining become significant in the previously entirely rural Rhondda Valley. Tramway-fed canal
s such as the Swansea Canal
and Glamorganshire Canal
were supplemented, and then superseded, by the development of numerous competing railway branches which fed docks principally at Swansea
, Cardiff
, Newport
, Llanelli
and Barry. These towns grew dramatically as a result. Later colliery shafts were sunk as deep as 800 metres (760 yards) in order to reach the thicker, better quality seams.
The coal industry engendered many serious mining accident
s, which included Britain's worst at Senghenydd
, claiming 439 lives, and others at Abercarn
, Risca
, in the Rhondda
Valleys, in the Cynon Valley
, Tondu
and Aberbeeg
, culminating in the Aberfan disaster. Some collieries, e.g., Morfa Colliery, near Port Talbot
, Glamorgan, and Black Vein Colliery, Risca
, Monmouthshire, suffered three disasters before their closure on safety grounds. The main problem was firedamp
explosion
s, often followed by ignition of coal dust
.
Iron ore was also extracted from the coal measures, principally from the north crop area (including Merthyr Tydfil
and Blaenavon
. The availability of coal and nearby limestone
(as a flux) gave rise to a substantial local iron
and steel
industry which was perpetuated in the 20th century by the location of modern steelworks at Ebbw Vale
, Newport and Cardiff (all now closed) and Port Talbot
. These used imported iron ore.
ships was increasingly challenged from 1904 when strategists including Admiral "Jacky" Fisher and, later, Winston Churchill
successfully argued for oil-firing of the steam engines in new ships. This trend, which was later extended to railway locomotives, was a factor in the economic hardship which struck the coalfield after the First World War. Coal workings were over-expanded in the late nineteenth century, but the Welsh coal owners had failed to invest in mechanisation. By the inter-war period the South Wales Coalfield had the lowest productivity, highest costs and smallest profits in Britain. Hardship continued through the 1926 general strike
, the great depression
of the 1930s, World War II
and thereafter. The 1937 novel The Citadel
and the 1939 novel How Green Was My Valley
(later filmed, with an inaccurately represented "colliery village") describe such hardship, as do the poems of Idris Davies
the miner, teacher and poet of Rhymney
.
New collieries, particularly in the western part of the coalfield where anthracite is found, were developed into the 1960s by the National Coal Board
(for instance, Cynheidre Colliery
No 1 shaft, at 798 yards (729.7 m) deep was sunk in 1954/6). Following the general collapse of the UK coal industry, most pits closed during the 1980s and the last deep mine, at Tower Colliery
on the north crop, ceased mining in January 2008. However, a few small licensed mines continue to work seams, mostly from outcrop, on the hillsides. Although some areas of the coalfield are effectively worked out, considerable reserves remain. However, geological difficulties make the cost of significant further extraction high. The coalfield experienced a late-stage development when opencast mining was commenced on a large scale, mostly on the gently-dipping north crop. Most of the old sites have been filled and landscaped, but new operations continue.
Following the Aberfan disaster
of 1966, when a coal-tip slurry flow buried a school, mine-waste tips, which had been piled precariously on hilltops in many cases, were extensively regraded and reclaimed. This work continues. Landslipping of the steep valley slopes, and subsidence caused by the coal extraction, have also posed problems.
and West Virginia
coalfields), Energybuild plc works a drift mine near the old Tower Colliery, the Aberpergwm
Colliery. The mine produces high quality anthracite, and is sold primarily to Aberthaw power station
and Port Talbot Steel works and into the wholesale and retail sized coal markets. Energybuild also operates the Nant y Mynydd opencast
coal site nearby. The company is now (as of April, 2011) a subsidiary of Walter Energy
Inc, a large US coal producer based in Alabama
which took over Western Coal.
, when a sudden ingress of water filled the passage in which they were working. Three miners were immediately able to escape to the surface. Despite extensive efforts to rescue the remaining miners, on 16 September South Wales Police
confirmed that all four had died. They have been named as Charles Breslin, 62; David Powell, 50; Garry Jenkins, 39; and Phillip Hill, 45.
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
: Maes glo De Cymru) is a large region of south Wales
South Wales
South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...
that is rich with coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
deposits, especially the South Wales Valleys
South Wales Valleys
The South Wales Valleys are a number of industrialised valleys in South Wales, stretching from eastern Carmarthenshire in the west to western Monmouthshire in the east and from the Heads of the Valleys in the north to the lower-lying, pastoral country of the Vale of Glamorgan and the coastal plain...
.
The coalfield area
Pembrokeshire
Pembrokeshire is a county in the south west of Wales. It borders Carmarthenshire to the east and Ceredigion to the north east. The county town is Haverfordwest where Pembrokeshire County Council is headquartered....
, Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire is a unitary authority in the south west of Wales and one of thirteen historic counties. It is the 3rd largest in Wales. Its three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford...
, Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
, Neath Port Talbot
Neath Port Talbot
Neath Port Talbot is a county borough and one of the unitary authority areas of Wales. Neath Port Talbot is the 8th most populous county in Wales and the third most populous county borough....
, Bridgend
Bridgend (county borough)
Bridgend is a county borough in the historic county of Glamorgan, south Wales. The county borough has a total population of 130,000 people, and contains the settlements of Bridgend, after which it is named, Maesteg, and the seaside town of Porthcawl...
, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Vale of Glamorgan
Vale of Glamorgan
The Vale of Glamorgan is a county borough in Wales; an exceptionally rich agricultural area, it lies in the southern part of Glamorgan, South Wales...
, Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil is a town in Wales, with a population of about 30,000. Although once the largest town in Wales, it is now ranked as the 15th largest urban area in Wales. It also gives its name to a county borough, which has a population of around 55,000. It is located in the historic county of...
, Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, Caerphilly
Caerphilly (county borough)
Caerphilly is a county borough in southern Wales, straddling the ancient county boundary between Glamorgan and Monmouthshire.Its main town is Caerphilly, and also the largest...
, Blaenau Gwent
Blaenau Gwent
Blaenau Gwent is a county borough in South Wales, sharing its name with a parliamentary constituency. It borders the unitary authority areas of Monmouthshire and Torfaen to the east, Caerphilly to the west and Powys to the north. Its main towns are Abertillery, Brynmawr, Ebbw Vale and...
, Torfaen
Torfaen
Torfaen is a county borough in Wales within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. It was originally formed in 1974 as a district of the county of Gwent and in 1996 it was reconstituted as a unitary authority.-Education:...
and Powys
Powys
Powys is a local-government county and preserved county in Wales.-Geography:Powys covers the historic counties of Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire, most of Brecknockshire , and a small part of Denbighshire — an area of 5,179 km², making it the largest county in Wales by land area.It is...
.
It comprises a fully exposed synclinorium with a varying thickness of "coal measures" (Upper Carboniferous
Carboniferous
The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Permian Period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Mya . The name is derived from the Latin word for coal, carbo. Carboniferous means "coal-bearing"...
/ Pennsylvanian) deposits with thick, workable seams in the lower parts and generally thinner and sparser seams in the upper parts, together with a development of sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
s (Pennant Sandstone). See also the Geology of South Wales
Geology of South Wales
South Wales is an area with many features of outstanding interest to geologists, who have for long used the area for University field trips.This varied and accessible region has provided a written record of geological interest going back to the 1100s when Giraldus Cambrensis noted pyritous shales...
. These sandstones have been much used in building construction (including the characteristic terraces of former miners' houses) and give rise to bleak uplands rising 300-600 metres above sea level between the steep-sided valleys in which most deep mines were developed.
The coal generally increases in grade or "rank" from east to west, with bituminous coals in the east, and anthracite in the west. The Rhondda Valley
Rhondda
Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley , is a former coal mining valley in Wales, formerly a local government district, consisting of 16 communities built around the River Rhondda. The valley is made up of two valleys, the larger Rhondda Fawr valley and the smaller Rhondda Fach valley...
was particularly known for steam coals which fuelled steamships of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Exploitation of the coalfield
Communications along the valley floors provided the main routeways for exporting coal south to ports and docksDock (maritime)
A dock is a human-made structure or group of structures involved in the handling of boats or ships, usually on or close to a shore.However, the exact meaning varies among different variants of the English language...
such as Newport Docks
Newport Docks
Newport Docks is the collective name for a series of docks in the city of Newport, South Wales.-Background:Newport was a small fishing port and market town until the coming of the industrial age at the beginning of the 19th century...
, Cardiff Docks
Cardiff Docks
Cardiff Docks is a port in south Cardiff, Wales. At its peak, the port was one of the largest dock systems in the world with a total quayage of almost...
and Barry Docks. Early activity was mainly by levels or adit
Adit
An adit is an entrance to an underground mine which is horizontal or nearly horizontal, by which the mine can be entered, drained of water, and ventilated.-Construction:...
s driven into coal seams from outcrops in the valley sides. Development of the coalfield proceeded very actively from about 1850, when deep mining become significant in the previously entirely rural Rhondda Valley. Tramway-fed canal
Canal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
s such as the Swansea Canal
Swansea Canal
The Swansea Canal was a canal constructed by the Swansea Canal Navigation Company between 1794 and 1798, running for some from Swansea to Hen Neuadd, Abercraf in South Wales. It was steeply graded, and 36 locks were needed to enable it to rise over its length...
and Glamorganshire Canal
Glamorganshire Canal
The Glamorganshire Canal was a canal in south Wales, UK, running from Merthyr Tydfil to Cardiff. Construction started in 1790, and the 25 miles of canal was fully opened by 1794. Its primary purpose was to enable the Merthyr iron industries to transport their goods, and it later served the coal...
were supplemented, and then superseded, by the development of numerous competing railway branches which fed docks principally at Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
, Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, Newport
Newport
Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...
, Llanelli
Llanelli
Llanelli , the largest town in both the county of Carmarthenshire and the preserved county of Dyfed , Wales, sits on the Loughor estuary on the West Wales coast, approximately west-north-west of Swansea and south-east of the county town, Carmarthen. The town is famous for its proud rugby...
and Barry. These towns grew dramatically as a result. Later colliery shafts were sunk as deep as 800 metres (760 yards) in order to reach the thicker, better quality seams.
The coal industry engendered many serious mining accident
Mining accident
A mining accident is an accident that occurs during the process of mining minerals.Thousands of miners die from mining accidents each year, especially in the processes of coal mining and hard rock mining...
s, which included Britain's worst at Senghenydd
Senghenydd
Senghenydd is a town in the Aber Valley, roughly four miles north-west of the town of Caerphilly and is within the county borough of Caerphilly, Wales. It is traditionally within the county of Glamorgan...
, claiming 439 lives, and others at Abercarn
Abercarn
Abercarn is a small town community in Caerphilly county borough, Wales, 10 miles north-west of Newport on the A467 between Cwmcarn and Newbridge, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire.-History:...
, Risca
Risca
Risca is a town of approximately 11,500 people in South Wales, within the Caerphilly County Borough and the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. It is today part of the Newport conurbation , though it is not a Ward of Newport City Council...
, in the Rhondda
Rhondda
Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley , is a former coal mining valley in Wales, formerly a local government district, consisting of 16 communities built around the River Rhondda. The valley is made up of two valleys, the larger Rhondda Fawr valley and the smaller Rhondda Fach valley...
Valleys, in the Cynon Valley
Cynon Valley
The Cynon Valley , is a famous former coal mining valley within the South Wales Valleys of Wales. The Cynon Valley lies between the other mining Valley of Rhondda and the iron industrial Valley of the Merthyr Valley. Its main towns are Aberdare located North of the Valley and Mountain Ash located...
, Tondu
Tondu
Tondu is a village in Bridgend County Borough, Wales, located about north of the town of Bridgend.Tondu lies on the A4063 from Bridgend to Maesteg, and was established in the late 18th century as a coal mining village servicing the Parc Slip Colliery...
and Aberbeeg
Aberbeeg
The small village of Aberbeeg lies in the county borough of Blaenau Gwent in Wales, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire.Nearby are the villages of Llanhilleth and Six Bells, where the former colliery allowed the whole community to thrive as part of the South Wales coalfield...
, culminating in the Aberfan disaster. Some collieries, e.g., Morfa Colliery, near Port Talbot
Port Talbot
Port Talbot is a town in Neath Port Talbot, Wales. It had a population of 35,633 in 2001.-History:Port Talbot grew out of the original small port and market town of Aberafan , which belonged to the medieval Lords of Afan. The area of the parish of Margam lying on the west bank of the lower Afan...
, Glamorgan, and Black Vein Colliery, Risca
Risca
Risca is a town of approximately 11,500 people in South Wales, within the Caerphilly County Borough and the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. It is today part of the Newport conurbation , though it is not a Ward of Newport City Council...
, Monmouthshire, suffered three disasters before their closure on safety grounds. The main problem was firedamp
Firedamp
Firedamp is a flammable gas found in coal mines. It is the name given to a number of flammable gases, especially methane. It is particularly commonly found in areas where the coal is bituminous...
explosion
Explosion
An explosion is a rapid increase in volume and release of energy in an extreme manner, usually with the generation of high temperatures and the release of gases. An explosion creates a shock wave. If the shock wave is a supersonic detonation, then the source of the blast is called a "high explosive"...
s, often followed by ignition of coal dust
Coal dust
Coal dust is a fine powdered form of coal, which is created by the crushing, grinding, or pulverizing of coal. Because of the brittle nature of coal, coal dust can be created during mining, transportation, or by mechanically handling coal.-Explosions:...
.
Iron ore was also extracted from the coal measures, principally from the north crop area (including Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil is a town in Wales, with a population of about 30,000. Although once the largest town in Wales, it is now ranked as the 15th largest urban area in Wales. It also gives its name to a county borough, which has a population of around 55,000. It is located in the historic county of...
and Blaenavon
Blaenavon
Blaenavon is a town and World Heritage Site in south eastern Wales, lying at the source of the Afon Lwyd north of Pontypool, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. The town lies high on a hillside and has a population of 6,349 people...
. The availability of coal and nearby limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
(as a flux) gave rise to a substantial local iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
and steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
industry which was perpetuated in the 20th century by the location of modern steelworks at Ebbw Vale
Ebbw Vale
Ebbw Vale is a town at the head of the valley formed by the Ebbw Fawr tributary of the Ebbw River, south Wales. It is the largest town and the administrative centre of Blaenau Gwent county borough...
, Newport and Cardiff (all now closed) and Port Talbot
Port Talbot
Port Talbot is a town in Neath Port Talbot, Wales. It had a population of 35,633 in 2001.-History:Port Talbot grew out of the original small port and market town of Aberafan , which belonged to the medieval Lords of Afan. The area of the parish of Margam lying on the west bank of the lower Afan...
. These used imported iron ore.
Decline
Coal fuelling of Royal NavyRoyal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
ships was increasingly challenged from 1904 when strategists including Admiral "Jacky" Fisher and, later, Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
successfully argued for oil-firing of the steam engines in new ships. This trend, which was later extended to railway locomotives, was a factor in the economic hardship which struck the coalfield after the First World War. Coal workings were over-expanded in the late nineteenth century, but the Welsh coal owners had failed to invest in mechanisation. By the inter-war period the South Wales Coalfield had the lowest productivity, highest costs and smallest profits in Britain. Hardship continued through the 1926 general strike
1926 United Kingdom general strike
The 1926 general strike in the United Kingdom was a general strike that lasted nine days, from 4 May 1926 to 13 May 1926. It was called by the general council of the Trades Union Congress in an unsuccessful attempt to force the British government to act to prevent wage reduction and worsening...
, the great depression
Great Depression in the United Kingdom
The Great Depression in the United Kingdom, also known as the Great Slump, was a period of national economic downturn in the 1930s, which had its origins in the global Great Depression...
of the 1930s, World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and thereafter. The 1937 novel The Citadel
The Citadel (novel)
The Citadel is a novel by A. J. Cronin, first published in 1937, which was groundbreaking with its treatment of the contentious theme of medical ethics. It is credited with laying the foundation in Great Britain for the introduction of the NHS a decade later...
and the 1939 novel How Green Was My Valley
How Green Was My Valley
How Green Was My Valley is a 1939 novel by Richard Llewellyn, telling the story through narration of the main character, of his Welsh family and the mining community in which they live. The author had claimed to have based the book on his own knowledge of the Gilfach Goch area, but this was proven...
(later filmed, with an inaccurately represented "colliery village") describe such hardship, as do the poems of Idris Davies
Idris Davies
Idris Davies was a Welsh poet. He was born in Rhymney, near Caerphilly in South Wales, the Welsh-speaking son of colliery chief winderman Evan Davies and his wife Elizabeth Ann. Davies became a poet, originally writing in Welsh, but later writing exclusively in English...
the miner, teacher and poet of Rhymney
Rhymney
Rhymney is a town and a community located in the county borough of Caerphilly in south-east Wales, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. Along with the villages of Pontlottyn, Fochriw, Abertysswg, Deri and New Tredegar, Rhymney is designated as the 'Upper Rhymney Valley' by the local...
.
New collieries, particularly in the western part of the coalfield where anthracite is found, were developed into the 1960s by the National Coal Board
National Coal Board
The National Coal Board was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the mines on "vesting day", 1 January 1947...
(for instance, Cynheidre Colliery
Cynheidre Colliery
Cynheidre Colliery was a coal mine located in the Gwendraeth valley, in Carmarthenshire, South Wales. Opened in 1954, it closed in 1989.Cynheidre was a new "super-pit" developed post-World War II by the newly nationalised National Coal Board...
No 1 shaft, at 798 yards (729.7 m) deep was sunk in 1954/6). Following the general collapse of the UK coal industry, most pits closed during the 1980s and the last deep mine, at Tower Colliery
Tower Colliery
Tower Colliery is the oldest continuously working deep-coal mine in the United Kingdom, and possibly the world, and the last mine of its kind to remain in the South Wales Valleys...
on the north crop, ceased mining in January 2008. However, a few small licensed mines continue to work seams, mostly from outcrop, on the hillsides. Although some areas of the coalfield are effectively worked out, considerable reserves remain. However, geological difficulties make the cost of significant further extraction high. The coalfield experienced a late-stage development when opencast mining was commenced on a large scale, mostly on the gently-dipping north crop. Most of the old sites have been filled and landscaped, but new operations continue.
Aberfan
The Aberfan disaster was a catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil tip that occurred in the Welsh village of Aberfan on Friday 21 October 1966, killing 116 children and 28 adults.-Mining debris:...
of 1966, when a coal-tip slurry flow buried a school, mine-waste tips, which had been piled precariously on hilltops in many cases, were extensively regraded and reclaimed. This work continues. Landslipping of the steep valley slopes, and subsidence caused by the coal extraction, have also posed problems.
Revival
A subsidiary of Western Coal (which mainly operates in the British ColumbiaBritish Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
and West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
coalfields), Energybuild plc works a drift mine near the old Tower Colliery, the Aberpergwm
Aberpergwm
Aberpergwm is the site of a colliery in the Vale of Neath near Glynneath in south Wales.The drift mine was reopened in 1996 after being closed by British Coal in 1985. It is owned and worked by Energybuild, a private company now wholly owned by Walter Energy of the USA...
Colliery. The mine produces high quality anthracite, and is sold primarily to Aberthaw power station
Aberthaw Power Station
Aberthaw Power Station refers to a series of two coal-fired power stations situated on the coast of South Wales, near Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan. It is actually located on the waterfront of the nearby villages of Gileston and West Aberthaw on Limpert Bay...
and Port Talbot Steel works and into the wholesale and retail sized coal markets. Energybuild also operates the Nant y Mynydd opencast
Opencast
Opencast is a term to describe audio and video content, primarily in an academic context. It combines the terms "Open" for Open Source and/or Open Access and "Broadcast"...
coal site nearby. The company is now (as of April, 2011) a subsidiary of Walter Energy
Walter Energy
Walter Energy, Inc. , with its U.S. headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama and its Canadian & U.K. headquarters in Vancouver, British Columbia, is the world’s leading, publicly traded “pure play” metallurgical coal producer for the global steel industry. The Company also produces steam coal and...
Inc, a large US coal producer based in Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
which took over Western Coal.
Gleision Colliery tragedy
On 15 September 2011, seven miners were working a narrow seam at the Gleision Colliery drift mine in the Tawe Valley, near SwanseaSwansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
, when a sudden ingress of water filled the passage in which they were working. Three miners were immediately able to escape to the surface. Despite extensive efforts to rescue the remaining miners, on 16 September South Wales Police
South Wales Police
South Wales Police is one of the four territorial police forces in Wales. Its headquarters are based in Bridgend.Covering Wales' capital city, Cardiff, as well as Bridgend, Merthyr Tydfil, Swansea, and the western South Wales Valleys, it is the largest police force in Wales in terms of population,...
confirmed that all four had died. They have been named as Charles Breslin, 62; David Powell, 50; Garry Jenkins, 39; and Phillip Hill, 45.
See also
- Coal miningCoal miningThe goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
- History of coal miningHistory of coal miningDue to its abundance, coal has been mined in various parts of the world throughout history and continues to be an important economic activity today. Compared to wood fuels, coal yields a higher amount of energy per mass and could be obtained in areas where wood is not readily available...
- 1926 United Kingdom general strike1926 United Kingdom general strikeThe 1926 general strike in the United Kingdom was a general strike that lasted nine days, from 4 May 1926 to 13 May 1926. It was called by the general council of the Trades Union Congress in an unsuccessful attempt to force the British government to act to prevent wage reduction and worsening...
- UK miners' strike (1984-1985)
- Miners' instituteMiners' instituteMiners' institutes, sometimes known as Workingmen's institute, Mine Workers' institute, or Miners' Welfare Hall are large institutional buildings that were typically built during the height of the industrial period as a meeting and educational venue...
- Geology of South WalesGeology of South WalesSouth Wales is an area with many features of outstanding interest to geologists, who have for long used the area for University field trips.This varied and accessible region has provided a written record of geological interest going back to the 1100s when Giraldus Cambrensis noted pyritous shales...