Tower Colliery

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A trolley stands in front of the Tower Colliery sales point

Tower Colliery was the longest-running coal mine in Great Britain and is the last surviving mine of its kind in South Wales . Tower Colliery is located north of the city of Aberdare in the Rhondda Cynon Taf .

History of the colliery

The coal mining in Tower Colliery began in 1805 and went uninterrupted until 1994. In 1994 the colliery was closed for economic reasons by the then conservative British government.

Later in 1994 many of the former employees formed a cooperative under the direction of Tyrone O'Sullivan , who was in charge of the NUM industry , to buy up the mine. The mining engineer Philip Weekes was initially elected as a consultant to the cooperative and later also as President of Goitre Tower Anthracite , the newly founded operating company.

On January 2, 1995, the mine went back into operation. In the following years, contrary to forecasts, the cooperative made profits and hired new employees. The profits were spent on improving working conditions and social projects, among other things, and wages rose above the average wage for miners. Tower Colliery was one of the largest employers in the Cynon Valley area until it closed in 2008.

Closure and future plans

After the coal reserves were exhausted, the mine was officially closed on January 25, 2008. Part of the workforce was taken over by other collieries in South Wales; the Tower Colliery site is to be used - among other things - as a training center for miners, inspectors and similar professions.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Humane National Coal Board area manager who clashed with Ian MacGregor over the handling of the miners' strike in Wales , Times online, July 3, 2003
  2. ^ Coal mine closes with celebration BBC, January 25, 2008
  3. ^ Article on the future of the Tower Colliery colliery on Friday, December 14, 2007

Web links

Coordinates: 51 ° 43 ′ 37.8 "  N , 3 ° 33 ′ 22.1"  W.