This has been in the works for a while, as Rhigos Mountain absolutely hates me, and has scuppered my plans to climb/drone the Headframe four times. But I persevered and managed to do everything except the Pit Head Baths, as that remains well sealed, and drone shots STILL.
It has of course been covered many times, but the most recent report I found is from 2017, so it seemed appropriate to do a report as a bit of an update, considering I do have an obsession with Headframes after all...
The History
Tower Colliery was the oldest continuously worked coal mine in the UK, with drift mines working from Hirwuan Common as early as the late C18th. The first significant workings were begun in the late 1860s by the Marquis of Bute.
The remains of Tower Colliery today are centred around the No.3 Drift Mine/No.4 Shaft, work on which began in 1920. The workings continued to be developed by the Powell Duffryn Steam Coal Company (who were the largest coal combine in South Wales) until nationalisation.
The Headframe is of a lattice girder design and is situated over the shaft for Tower No.4, with work beginning to sink the 495 feet to the workings in 1941 and finishing in 1944. It was used for the winding of man power only. In 1958, the No.3 drift was extended to reach the No.4 shaft workings, and became the primary means of moving coal and material.
The Engine House on site dates from the 1930s and follows the typical Powell Duffryn design from 1906, albeit on a much smaller scale. It contains the Winding Engine, two Compressor Engines, the electrical switchgear, and a single inlet Sirocco Ventilation Fan which was capable of moving 180,000 cubic feet of air per minute.
On the 12th April 1962, the mine suffered a fatal explosion which killed nine and injured a further nine men. It was believed to have been caused by a build up of Firedamp in the MC3 heading after the auxiliary fan venting the area had been switched off when the Power had been cut to rectify a fault with the coal loader. The gas was measured at a concentration of 2% by the roof 6 yards back from the face, so all but the essential staff were moved back.
The electrical repairs had not been tested prior to power being restored to the heading. When the power was switched back on, the electricians were expecting to see the Ammeter read the load of the ventilation fan, but instead the Firedamp was ignited.
Lot more detail (Here) if anyone is interested.
The Colliery was linked underground to Mardy Colliery in 1986, with all coal being raised at Tower. Mardy closed in 1990, with Tower being closed on 22nd April 1994 as scheduled by British Coal. The colliery was saved by the 239 miners pooling their redundancy and buying out the mine at a cost of £8,000 each, with this being facilitated by the chairman of the Tower Lodge of NUM. The newly named Goitre Tower Anthracite colliery reopened on 2nd January 1995.
It remained active until the 25th January 2008, when it closed due to its workable reserves becoming exhausted. Large reserves remain underground, but cannot easily be extracted with the current mine layout due to geological issues. It was the last operating deep mine in Wales.
An Opencast operation was proposed on the 253 hectare site next to the Tower railway line. This was due to there being an estimated 6 million tonnes of workable Anthracite near the surface. This was a joint venture between Tower Colliery Ltd and Hargreaves Services PLC to extract coal for seven years from 2012 to provide coal for Aberthaw Power Station. Unfortunately, due to concerns around high Nitrogen Oxide emissions from the power station, the Tower Surface Mine ceased production early, ending the operation in March 2017.
The Explore
First attempt to properly explore here was on Christmas Day last year, although it ended up being more of a recce.
Came across the massive boilers and some electrical switchgear, but no joy for access to the rest of the complex unfortunately. I also forgot a bloody torch, so was a bitch to get anything remotely useable.
Boilers -
Made my way around to the Powerhouse. Found an access point but didn't bother on this occasion as it was an awkward tight squeeze, and the lovely Rhigos weather had left it extremely slippery, and I was solo, didn't fancy breaking my leg for it (had I realised that everything was still in situ though, I'd have been more inclined to go for it).
Worked my way around the Headframe, finding a couple of open doors, which unfortunately didn't lead anywhere of consequence.
Found some old equipment rusting away between the Headframe and other building (not sure what it was for) along with some coal.
Saw a viable way to get inside, but again didn't bother due to being solo, the weather (which was probably for the best, as I'll explain below) and was running low on time, so called it a day.
Second attempt was in the middle of July, in far worse weather conditions, was soaked through 2 minutes after getting out of the car from that lovely horizontal type of rain. Had company this time though, and we were determined!
Checked the Bath House for access, again no joy, and couldn't be arsed redoing the Boilers, as the Powerhouse was the main objective, and we wanted to get inside ASAP due to the aforementioned weather.
Headed for the Powerhouse and I noticed an open door that was sealed shut on my first visit. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm assuming this is part of the Sirocco ventilation system. It looks pretty similar to the pair at Penallta, but the opposite side I think 🤔
We then proceeded to squeezed our way into the main section, and I was not expecting to find so much inside! I would have thought Zip World would have stripped whatever they could and flogged it after purchasing the site, especially as they have apparently condemned all the colliery buildings. I'd imagine a few museums would be interested in taking the salvageable equipment off their hands.
We arrived a couple of hours later than planned, so we ran out of daylight very quickly, so lighting is far from ideal (bit of a theme with this report). Lots of lovely little details to be found, so I was very pleased.
Winding Cable Drum -
Compressor -
Battery chargers, what were these batteries used for? The Lamp Room is in the Bath House building, so I doubt they're for those.
Of course there are detail shots of various gauges etc -
Few bits of old paperwork scattered around including a schematic of what I'm presuming was the electrical layout of the colliery.
Finding the Winding Engine Operator's controls in relatively good condition was brilliant, I'm assuming these are a rarity at this point if you don't include museum pieces. This is the only abandoned one I've ever come across, although I believe the one in Barnsley Main still remains, albeit inaccessible.
I would assume Hatfield and Clipstone may possibly retain there's as well, but access for those is most certainly questionable at best currently. Haig and Chatterley perhaps too, but they've had lives as museums, so have been a little more protected.
Gauges and Indicators -
Winding Rules and Test Procedures-
The most important lever -
Does anyone know where Worthington refers to? -
Banksman Signals -
It was pitch black outside by the time we moved on to the Headframe. My friend wasn't keen for the climb in the conditions, so he stayed below which was ideal, as I had to climb on his shoulders to get back down afterwards!
I got onto the first section of roof easily enough, but unfortunately couldn't haul my bulk up any higher. It turns out that the paint finish on the brickwork is like bloody ice when it's wet, I couldn't get any purchase whatsoever. Tried looking for another way, but no joy, there was a smaller jump, but I decided against it due to the same issue, and there wasn't any degree of safety for that one, so if I lost balance, I was going to fall through the flimsy roof into the room below, so fuck that. Time to admit defeat, head back to the car and escape the rain...
Cont. below
It has of course been covered many times, but the most recent report I found is from 2017, so it seemed appropriate to do a report as a bit of an update, considering I do have an obsession with Headframes after all...
The History
Tower Colliery was the oldest continuously worked coal mine in the UK, with drift mines working from Hirwuan Common as early as the late C18th. The first significant workings were begun in the late 1860s by the Marquis of Bute.
The remains of Tower Colliery today are centred around the No.3 Drift Mine/No.4 Shaft, work on which began in 1920. The workings continued to be developed by the Powell Duffryn Steam Coal Company (who were the largest coal combine in South Wales) until nationalisation.
The Headframe is of a lattice girder design and is situated over the shaft for Tower No.4, with work beginning to sink the 495 feet to the workings in 1941 and finishing in 1944. It was used for the winding of man power only. In 1958, the No.3 drift was extended to reach the No.4 shaft workings, and became the primary means of moving coal and material.
The Engine House on site dates from the 1930s and follows the typical Powell Duffryn design from 1906, albeit on a much smaller scale. It contains the Winding Engine, two Compressor Engines, the electrical switchgear, and a single inlet Sirocco Ventilation Fan which was capable of moving 180,000 cubic feet of air per minute.
On the 12th April 1962, the mine suffered a fatal explosion which killed nine and injured a further nine men. It was believed to have been caused by a build up of Firedamp in the MC3 heading after the auxiliary fan venting the area had been switched off when the Power had been cut to rectify a fault with the coal loader. The gas was measured at a concentration of 2% by the roof 6 yards back from the face, so all but the essential staff were moved back.
The electrical repairs had not been tested prior to power being restored to the heading. When the power was switched back on, the electricians were expecting to see the Ammeter read the load of the ventilation fan, but instead the Firedamp was ignited.
Lot more detail (Here) if anyone is interested.
The Colliery was linked underground to Mardy Colliery in 1986, with all coal being raised at Tower. Mardy closed in 1990, with Tower being closed on 22nd April 1994 as scheduled by British Coal. The colliery was saved by the 239 miners pooling their redundancy and buying out the mine at a cost of £8,000 each, with this being facilitated by the chairman of the Tower Lodge of NUM. The newly named Goitre Tower Anthracite colliery reopened on 2nd January 1995.
It remained active until the 25th January 2008, when it closed due to its workable reserves becoming exhausted. Large reserves remain underground, but cannot easily be extracted with the current mine layout due to geological issues. It was the last operating deep mine in Wales.
An Opencast operation was proposed on the 253 hectare site next to the Tower railway line. This was due to there being an estimated 6 million tonnes of workable Anthracite near the surface. This was a joint venture between Tower Colliery Ltd and Hargreaves Services PLC to extract coal for seven years from 2012 to provide coal for Aberthaw Power Station. Unfortunately, due to concerns around high Nitrogen Oxide emissions from the power station, the Tower Surface Mine ceased production early, ending the operation in March 2017.
The Explore
First attempt to properly explore here was on Christmas Day last year, although it ended up being more of a recce.
Came across the massive boilers and some electrical switchgear, but no joy for access to the rest of the complex unfortunately. I also forgot a bloody torch, so was a bitch to get anything remotely useable.
Boilers -
Made my way around to the Powerhouse. Found an access point but didn't bother on this occasion as it was an awkward tight squeeze, and the lovely Rhigos weather had left it extremely slippery, and I was solo, didn't fancy breaking my leg for it (had I realised that everything was still in situ though, I'd have been more inclined to go for it).
Worked my way around the Headframe, finding a couple of open doors, which unfortunately didn't lead anywhere of consequence.
Found some old equipment rusting away between the Headframe and other building (not sure what it was for) along with some coal.
Saw a viable way to get inside, but again didn't bother due to being solo, the weather (which was probably for the best, as I'll explain below) and was running low on time, so called it a day.
Second attempt was in the middle of July, in far worse weather conditions, was soaked through 2 minutes after getting out of the car from that lovely horizontal type of rain. Had company this time though, and we were determined!
Checked the Bath House for access, again no joy, and couldn't be arsed redoing the Boilers, as the Powerhouse was the main objective, and we wanted to get inside ASAP due to the aforementioned weather.
Headed for the Powerhouse and I noticed an open door that was sealed shut on my first visit. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm assuming this is part of the Sirocco ventilation system. It looks pretty similar to the pair at Penallta, but the opposite side I think 🤔
We then proceeded to squeezed our way into the main section, and I was not expecting to find so much inside! I would have thought Zip World would have stripped whatever they could and flogged it after purchasing the site, especially as they have apparently condemned all the colliery buildings. I'd imagine a few museums would be interested in taking the salvageable equipment off their hands.
We arrived a couple of hours later than planned, so we ran out of daylight very quickly, so lighting is far from ideal (bit of a theme with this report). Lots of lovely little details to be found, so I was very pleased.
Winding Cable Drum -
Compressor -
Battery chargers, what were these batteries used for? The Lamp Room is in the Bath House building, so I doubt they're for those.
Of course there are detail shots of various gauges etc -
Few bits of old paperwork scattered around including a schematic of what I'm presuming was the electrical layout of the colliery.
Finding the Winding Engine Operator's controls in relatively good condition was brilliant, I'm assuming these are a rarity at this point if you don't include museum pieces. This is the only abandoned one I've ever come across, although I believe the one in Barnsley Main still remains, albeit inaccessible.
I would assume Hatfield and Clipstone may possibly retain there's as well, but access for those is most certainly questionable at best currently. Haig and Chatterley perhaps too, but they've had lives as museums, so have been a little more protected.
Gauges and Indicators -
The most important lever -
Does anyone know where Worthington refers to? -
Banksman Signals -
It was pitch black outside by the time we moved on to the Headframe. My friend wasn't keen for the climb in the conditions, so he stayed below which was ideal, as I had to climb on his shoulders to get back down afterwards!
I got onto the first section of roof easily enough, but unfortunately couldn't haul my bulk up any higher. It turns out that the paint finish on the brickwork is like bloody ice when it's wet, I couldn't get any purchase whatsoever. Tried looking for another way, but no joy, there was a smaller jump, but I decided against it due to the same issue, and there wasn't any degree of safety for that one, so if I lost balance, I was going to fall through the flimsy roof into the room below, so fuck that. Time to admit defeat, head back to the car and escape the rain...
Cont. below
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