Oakdale Colliery
Encyclopedia
Oakdale Colliery was a coal mine located in the Sirhowy Valley
, one of the valleys
of South Wales
.
In the early years of the twentieth century the need for coal was growing both in America and Europe, and local business men in Wales were looking for new opportunities to fill the demand.
Among these were a group known as the Tredegar Iron and Coal Company, made up of wealthy industrialists from the Maclaren, Markham, Pochin, Whitworth and Wyllie families. They decided to create a group of collieries in the Sirhowy Valley, which explorations had told them contained rich seams of " black gold." One of these was at the small rural hamlet of Rhiw Syr Dafydd.
Work began clearing the site for the new colliery at Ty Mellyn, Oakdale
, with the sinking of the pit in 1907. Waterloo shaft followed in 1911.
The shafts, North (upcast), and South, were 626 and 650 yards deep respectively, and were the largest diameter shafts in South Wales at the time.
Opened in 1911, the colliery was owned by the Oakdale Navigation Collieries Ltd, a subsidiary of the Tredegar Iron Company. At its peak in 1938 it employed a workforce of 2,235, when production reached one million tons per year.
Oakdale was linked to Markham
colliery and the Celynen North colliery in Newbridge in the late 1970s and early 1980s, making it the largest colliery in Gwent
.
The pit closed in 1989 and the tips have now been landscaped and converted into platforms for industrial development.
Sirhowy Valley
The Sirhowy Valley is an industrialised valley in the eastern part of the Valleys region of South Wales. It is named from the Sirhowy River which runs through it. Its upper reaches are occupied by the town of Tredegar within the unitary area of Blaenau Gwent...
, one of the valleys
South Wales Valleys
The South Wales Valleys are a number of industrialised valleys in South Wales, stretching from eastern Carmarthenshire in the west to western Monmouthshire in the east and from the Heads of the Valleys in the north to the lower-lying, pastoral country of the Vale of Glamorgan and the coastal plain...
of South Wales
South Wales
South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...
.
In the early years of the twentieth century the need for coal was growing both in America and Europe, and local business men in Wales were looking for new opportunities to fill the demand.
Among these were a group known as the Tredegar Iron and Coal Company, made up of wealthy industrialists from the Maclaren, Markham, Pochin, Whitworth and Wyllie families. They decided to create a group of collieries in the Sirhowy Valley, which explorations had told them contained rich seams of " black gold." One of these was at the small rural hamlet of Rhiw Syr Dafydd.
Work began clearing the site for the new colliery at Ty Mellyn, Oakdale
Oakdale, Caerphilly
Oakdale is a large village in Caerphilly county borough, Wales, 9½ miles north of Caerphilly itself, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire...
, with the sinking of the pit in 1907. Waterloo shaft followed in 1911.
The shafts, North (upcast), and South, were 626 and 650 yards deep respectively, and were the largest diameter shafts in South Wales at the time.
Opened in 1911, the colliery was owned by the Oakdale Navigation Collieries Ltd, a subsidiary of the Tredegar Iron Company. At its peak in 1938 it employed a workforce of 2,235, when production reached one million tons per year.
Oakdale was linked to Markham
Markham, Wales
Markham is a small village in the South Wales Valleys in Caerphilly County Borough, close to Blackwood.The village has a primary school, Markham Primary School, which is a feeder school of Pontllanfraith Comprehensive School, although some pupils move on to Blackwood Comprehensive School.Markham...
colliery and the Celynen North colliery in Newbridge in the late 1970s and early 1980s, making it the largest colliery in Gwent
Gwent (county)
Gwent is a preserved county and a former local government county in south-east Wales. It was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, and was named after the ancient Kingdom of Gwent....
.
The pit closed in 1989 and the tips have now been landscaped and converted into platforms for industrial development.
External links
- Welsh Coal Mines - check out the history of this pit.
- Oakdale Village