Garw/Ffaldau Colliery

The Garw/Ffaldau Colliery was a colliery formed in 1975 in Pontycymer, Wales. It was formed from the joining together of the Garw Colliery and the Ffaldau Colliery.[1][2] The Ffaldau Colliery had 1,100 workers in 1927, though this had declined by half by the mid 1930s.[3]

The pit closed in November 1985; a total of 630 miners lost their jobs. A potential buy out of the pit by workers had been mooted, but this was deemed to have been prohibitively expensive after the National Coal Board cut the ropes on the caged lift and 200,000 tonnes of hardcore were poured down the mine shaft. A reunion was held of former mine workers in 2015.[4]

The Garw Colliery (also known as the Ocean Colliery) was one of six pits in the Garw valley.[5] Following the merger of the two pits workers entering at Blaengarw had a 1–2 mile walk underground due to the closure of the access shaft at Pontycymer.[4]

References
  1. Cornwell, 2001 pg. 121
  2. Ben Curtis (15 May 2013). The South Wales Miners: 1964-1985. University of Wales Press. p. 106. ISBN 978-1-78316-555-1.
  3. Alan Campbell; Nina Fishman (5 December 2016). Miners, Unions and Politics, 1910–1947. Taylor & Francis. p. 106. ISBN 978-1-351-91738-4.
  4. Abby Bolter (4 November 2015). "Ex miners plan one last reunion three decades after closure of the last Garw pit". Wales Online. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  5. "Garw Valley Collieries". Digging Up the Past. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  • Cornwell, John. (2001) Collieries of South Wales: 1, Landmark Publishing. ISBN 9781843060154

51.6122°N 3.5851°W / 51.6122; -3.5851

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