In 1864, the first drift named Tower was started on Hirwaun common, named after the nearby Crawshay's Tower, a folly built in 1848.

Following the failed miners' strike of 1984/5 the threat of closure forced miners into action.

In October 1993 the red flag was raised on Hirwaun common as a symbol of unity between workers of Tower Colliery during a march to commemorate the Merthyr Uprising in 1831 and highlight the plight of their own pit.

British Coal closed Tower Colliery on 22nd April 1994 on the grounds that it would be uneconomic to continue production.

Two million pounds was raised by 239 miners (TEBO Tower Employees Buy-Out) who pledged £8,000 each from their redundancy payouts and a buy out group was formed and successfully bid for the ownership of the colliery.

When the miners marched back to the pit on January 2nd 1995 a balloon was inflated for each worker.

On January 3rd 1995 the Colliery re-opened under the ownership of the workforce buy out company - Goitre Tower Anthracite.

The pit thrived for over a decade until it became clear that the seams were becoming exhausted.

The miners who'd fought hard to keep the colliery open finally agreed to its closure - the final shifts on 25 January 2008 were marked by a day of celebrations.

Grid Reference: SN951051

Tower Colliery Ltd
Treherbert Road
Hirwaun
CF44 9UF

More details at www.minersadvice.co.uk/tower.htm

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites