Dan-Y-Deri - Merthyr Vale Continued
It was in the late 1860’s that this part of the valley first attracted the
attention of John Nixon. A mining engineer from Northumberland, Nixon had
come to the Taff Valley in the 1840’s and had been much impressed by the
quality of the coal found in this area. Nixon had already been involved with
coal mine undertakings at Bwllfa and Dyffryn in the Cynon Valley and these
ventures had not been without their difficulties. The pits sunk on the flood
plain of the River Taff at Ynysowen were however to be his greatest
achievement.
The logbook kept by the sinkers of the shafts at Merthyr Vale tells of the
difficulties encountered. For six years the men had to contend with the
hardships and dangers of digging through a succession of strata that held
massive amounts of water and fine, running sand. Accidents were regular but
perseverance and innovation eventually resulted in the winning of a number
of seams that contained some of the best quality coal in the coalfield.
The mining of this coal gave employment to thousands of men and boys during
the collieries lifetime and brought an element of prosperity to the valley.
It is however, the event of October 1966 that remains a blot on the history
of the colliery. Although no coal tips remain the path the massive slide
took is still discernable, if only because the vegetation, over forty years
afterwards, grows sparse and grudgingly.
The course of the tramroad crosses the road near Merthyr Vale railway
station and heads south to where a newly constructed bridge takes it over
the railway at Mount Pleasant. At this point stood Black Lion Signal Box and
the colliery sidings where coal wagons filled with the best steam coal from
Merthyr Vale Colliery were marshaled into trains. Some of these went south
along the Taff Vale Railway towards Cardiff while others crossed the viaduct
of the Great Western Railway and Rhymney Railway Joint line. This line
followed the western bank of the Taff as far as Cefn Glas before crossing
back to the High Level station at Quakers’ Yard.
<< Previous