Location:

Cwmtillery, Ebbw Fach Vale

Sunk:

1864

Closed:

1985

Cwntillery Colliery was opened by John Russell in 1864 and bought by the South Wales Coliery Company. By 1913 Cwmtillery Collieries employed 2,985 men making it one of the largest collieries in the South Wales Coalfield and produced house and steam coal. The colliery employed 1,580 men in 1935 and produced 400,000 tons of coal. In 1977, the longest underground manriding system in the South Wales Coalfield was installed here and transported men and materials a distance of 3,000 metres. The Cwmtillery section of the mine was closed in 1982 and the Roseheyworth section in 1985. Thirteen men died in an underground explosion on 27 May 1857 whilst another explosion occurred here in 1866 and a further six lives were lost. A further disastrous explosion occurred on 18 December 1876 when 16 men and boys were killed instantly and two others died of their injuries two days later.