Bedwas Navigation Colliery was just one of what were hundreds of collieries comprising the South Wales Coal Mining Industry at its peak in the early 20th Century. Bedwas, perhaps more than most collieries epitomised the rise and fall of the industry. Its construction was completed at the peak of the industry output in 1913 and was for its time a state-of-the-art feat of civil engineering. We follow its story through to the demise of the industry. Its workforce played its part in some of the bitter industrial struggles which not only defined the industry itself, but which also left behind it the distinct culture which is South Wales today.

In the late 18th century there were pits in Bedwas at Cwm-y-Glo, Bryn Gwyn , Old Bedwas, and Diamond Llantwit, but large-scale mining only developed with the sinking of the Navigation Colliery on the slopes of Mynydd y Grug. The Colliery was designed by Edmund L.Hann of the Hann family dynasty (designers of the similar collieries at Penallta and later Britannia) and was sunk in 1909. The whole of the sinking was carried out by Mr Fred Piggott, mining contractor of Caerphilly.1

The Hann's introduced continental know-how into the construction of the colliery. The Engine House was one of the first of its kind in housing all the engines for haulage and ventilation under one single span roof ( and virtually identical to that constructed at Penallta) and at the pit bottom was another novel feature - a huge vault allowing double-deck loading of coal wagons into the lifts.

The two pits, North Pit (upcast) and South Pit (downcast) were each 854 yards (approx. half a mile) deep (about three times as deep as Canary Wharf is tall !) and 21 feet in diameter. Throughout their lives, these shafts were among the deepest in South Wales. They were ventilated by a Sirocco fan moving 240,000 cubic feet of air per minute out of the upcast shaft.

The seams mined were in descending order Rock Vein, Big Vein, Black Vein, Meadow Vein and Lower Black Vein.The Bedwas colliers referred to North Pit as the 'Rock' and South Pit as the 'Black' reflecting the primary seams worked from each. The Big and Meadow veins were developed post-War.

The owner of Bedwas Colliery was Sir Samuel Instone, the controlling shareholder of Bedwas Navigation Colliery (1921) Ltd.

The colliery produced both steam coal and house coal. However, mining at the pit was not easy and throughout its history there were geological problems in accessing the seams. This became a catalyst which ignited confrontation between the workers and owners. Losses at the pit resulted in the men refusing wage cuts of 20% to 30% in 1928 and the closure of the colliery for two months. Following the reopening of the pit 'scab' (non-union) labour was introduced and the South Wales Miners' Federation (the main Trade Union) banned. Further confrontations in the early 1930's including riots in the village, the attacking of the police station and an underground strike resulted in the recognition of the SWMF.

On 1st January 1947, vesting day, along with all other working collieries, Bedwas Navigation Colliery was Nationalised and then remained under the control of the National Coal Board.

On 27th March 1912 the sparks from an electric bell caused an explosion underground which killed 3 miners and seriously injured 9 others. A further explosion of firedamp underground on 10th October, 1952 in the Lower Black Vein seam, resulted in the death of one collier and injuries to 19 others.

In 1939 1,850 men raised 675,000 tons of coal, the record for the pit. By 1961 408 miners (workforce: 1130) were producing 315,051 tons.

In its final years of production most of the coal was transported by rail along the remains of the Brecon and Merthyr Railway to Llanwern Steelworks and also to the coke plant at Nantgarw in the Taff Valley. Final production was from the Meadow Vein underneath Machen (M 46 on the plan below) and Big Vein (B 102), respectively from South Pit and North Pit. Further development at B 103 was stopped for geological reasons.

The pit site was shared with British Benzol and Coal Distillation Co. Ltd who had a substantial coal by-products plant adjacent to the pit.

In the brochure on this site, produced in the 1970's the estimated reserves of the Colliery were given as 40 to 60 years!

The colliery closed along with others in South Wales for the duration of the Miners' Strike of 1984/85. It was not reopened, reportedly for geological reasons. 'The Times' on 23rd March 1985 announced that the Bedwas Colliers had voted for closure due to damage caused to two coal faces during the strike. There was much controversy over this, as the pit had not been entered into the colliery review procedure which applied to all pits proposed for closure. The Bedwas colliers were instead offered either a transfer to another pit or voluntary redundancy. With the reopening of the pit not an option, the shafts were filled up thereby ending, for the time being at least, coal mining at Bedwas.

Why Bedwas Navigation Colliery?

Many collieries in South Wales had names which had naval connections. This was an early form of advertising for collieries which produced, like Bedwas, steam coal. The Royal and Merchant navies were huge customers of Welsh steam coal (the Rhos Las seam was especially highly-rated) and to distinguish their product from anthracite and other coal, the steam coal-producing collieries often adopted a naval name. In Bedwas the name 'Navigation' was chosen and Navigation Street in Trethomas ran to and was named after the Colliery. Later, the naval connection became less important and the Colliery was known simply as Bedwas Colliery by the time of its closure.

Notes.

1. Fred Piggott lived at The Beeches, a mansion at the Western end of St. Martin's Road, Caerphilly. This house was later sold to the Miners and became (and still is) Caerphilly and District Miners' Hospital. The hospital was founded by miners' subscriptions and the Wards are still named after the colieries in the District - 'Windsor', 'Llanbradach', 'Bedwas', 'Penallta' and so on.