The first mine shaft was sunk at Coedely in 1901 by The Welsh Navigation Steam Coal Co. Ltd. The colliery employed around 200 people by 1908 and over 1,700 at its peak.
Sunk about 100 yards north of Coed Ely Farm (situated to the front of the second photo), the farm’s stables were used for the horses who worked at the mine – over 120 in the 1920’s. The last horse left the colliery in 1965.
Each mine shaft was over 700 yards deep – more than 7 times the height of the masts on the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.
Coed Ely Colliery was equipped with coke ovens which were able to produce 103,000 tons of coke per year and a by-product plant which turned the waste gases into sulphate of ammonia and crude benzol.
Coed Ely Colliery closed in November 1986, 18 months the Miner’s Strike of 1984-85.
This project was made possible by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Cadw and the Welsh Government.
All images reproduced by kind permission of Rhondda-Cynon-Taf Libraries.
