Before the opening of the collieries and the establishment
of the village of Cwmdare in the 1850's, Cwmdare had been
an area of scattered farmhouses and holdings. A number
of these farms still survive, including Bwllfa, Nantmelin
and Tir Evan Bach Traws, now known as the Greenmeadow Riding
Centre. Others, however, were subsumed by the growth of
the coal industry; Troedrhiwllech farm was covered by waste
from Powell's Pit during the last century.
Left: Bwllfa Dare Farm, circa 1870
The opening of the collieries in the valley
inevitably led to the construction of houses for the workers.
The first housing in Cwmdare was on the South and West of
the village and close to the collieries. James Street, David
Street and Dare Road were built between 1852 and 1859. It
was also at this date that the small community of Pithead
was built on the opposite side of the valley alongside Merthyr
Dare Colliery. The rest of the village was built in the period
at the turn of the Twentieth Century. Built to the Northeast
of the existing settlement, the land used for these houses
was originally part of Hirwaun Common and would not have
been available for building when the original dwellings were
constructed. Many of these houses were built by local Building
Clubs, which were societies set up to build a set number
of houses for their members.
Cwmdare has been served by a wide range of amenities in
its history. The three main public houses were; the Collier's
Arms (1853 - 1931) on the junction between James Street and
Dare Road, The Castle Inn (1866 - 1968) on Cwmdare Square
and the Tonglwydfawr, built in 1853 and the last public house
still open in Cwmdare today. A number of shops have served
the inhabitants of Cwmdare over the years. In the 1920 Kelly's
Trade Directory there are 20 retail establishments listed
for Cwmdare. Although many of these were small operations
based in the front room of houses there were a number of
more substantial shops. Including David Edwards' Grocers
at 19 Bwllfa Road, a chemist, two butchers and two hairdressers.
In the photograph
above/right David Edwards stands proudly on the doorstep
of his store at 19 Bwllfa Road in this photograph from
the early Twentieth Century. In 1920 the store was described
as a grocer, draper & boot & shoe
warehouse. The store also contained the village Post Office
where Islwyn Edwards was the Sub-Postmaster.
The population of Cwmdare was also well served by religious
establishments. Nebo Baptist Chapel originally opened in
1858 and in 1868 a larger chapel was built on the same
site, presumably to cope with a growing congregation. This
chapel was demolished in 1977. In 1867 the Congregationalists
founded Elim Chapel. Gobaith Chapel, originally built in
1875, was rebuilt in 1907. During the Nineteenth Century,
the Church of Wales was also engaged in a building programme
throughout the Cynon Valley. St Luke's Church in Cwmdare
was opened in June 1887, the occasion being marked with
a procession consisting of the Bishop, Clergy and a choir.
The Cwmdare Mission was the last place of worship to be
constructed in Cwmdare in 1920.
Gobaith Chapel c1900
Cwmdare Coal Industry
The earliest record of large-scale coal
extraction in the Cwmdare Valley dates to 1851, although
it seems highly likely that work had began some short
time before that date. Four major collieries were sited
in the Cwmdare Valley in relatively close proximity to
one another. These collieries were:
Cwmdare Colliery:
More commonly known
as Powell's Pit, this colliery was opened by Thomas
Powell and the first coal was raised in 1856. Thomas
Powell was amongst the most successful of the early
coal owners and owned nearly 20 collieries at his
death in 1863. Following his death Powell's Pit was
bought by the Powell Duffryn Steam Coal Co. , who retained
the ownership until the Colliery was bought by Bwllfa
and Merthyr Dare Steam Collieries Co. Ltd. in 1906.
In 1935 the colliery once again came under the control
of Powell Duffryn, which by that time had become
the largest coal combine in the world. Throughout the
1920's and 1930's the colliery, like the rest of the
South Wales Coalfield, suffered from the depression
in the coal trade and periodically closed and reopened.
In May 1936 the colliery closed for good.
Merthyr Dare Colliery:
Sunk by David Williams (Alaw
Goch) before 1851 this colliery was the most short lived
of the Cwmdare Deep Collieries. David Williams sold the
colliery to a syndicate headed by Rees Hopkin Rhys in
1861, who then sold it to John Brogden of Bwllfa Colliery
in the 1870's. The colliery finally closed in 1884.
The payslip shown left dated 21st. May 1910 for was for
David Davies employed as a haulier at Bwllfa No. 2 (Nantmelin)
Colliery. The slip shows that for a two week period he
worked 8 days for 4 shillings and 1 3/4 pence per day and
with his percentage (bonus) earned a total of £2/4/2d
Nantmelin Colliery:
The last of the Cwmdare Collieries
to be opened, Mordecai Jones of Brecon started work at
the site in 1860 and the first coal was raised from the
Four Feet Seam in April 1861. After Jones' death in 1880
the Nantmelin Colliery Company formed to run the company
until in 1891 they amalgamated with the Aberdare Merthyr
Collieries Co. Ltd. In 1896 the colliery was taken over
by the expanding Bwllfa Company, the final private owners
were the Powell Duffryn Company who took over all of the
Bwllfa concerns in 1935. In 1949 the National Coal Board
began work on a scheme to link up Cwmdare with the Rhondda
Fach, which eventually lead to the closure of Nantmelin
in 1957 when all coal was worked from Maerdy.
Roll the mouse over the image above/right to view the same
scene today
Bwllfa Dare Colliery:
Bwllfa Dare or just
Bwllfa Colliery was sank at the head of the Cwmdare Valley
under the shadow of the Darren by Samuel Thomas and Thomas
Joseph in the early 1850's. Like many of the collieries,
Bwllfa Dare passed through a number of owners during its
lifetime. However, the history of Bwllfa Colliery is synonymous
with two family names; The Brogden Family and, particularly,
the Llewellyn Family. The Brogden Family connection with
Bwllfa begins in the early 1870's when John Brogden & Sons
bought the colliery from the Bwllfa Colliery Co. Ltd. The
Brogden family retained its connections with the colliery
until the death of John Brogden's youngest son G W H Brogden
in 1892.
Thereafter, it is Rees Llewellyn and his son D R Llewellyn
who rose to prominence. Rees Llewellyn had been manager at
Bwllfa since 1877 and by the beginning of the Twentieth Century
he had become Chairman of the company running the colliery.
During his leadership the colliery and its associated interests enjoyed their
greatest period of prosperity. By 1906 The Bwllfa and Merthyr Dare Steam Coal
Collieries (1891) Ltd. owned all the collieries in the Cwmdare Valley. D R Llewellyn,
after showing his acumen by making a success of the Windber Levels, took over
the Chairmanship of the company after his father's death in 1919. He retained
ownership until the company was sold to Powell Duffryn in 1935. Both Rees and
D R Llewellyn played an active part in public life in the Aberdare area, both
serving on the Aberdare Urban District Council amongst other bodies.
After nationalisation in 1947 the scheme to link Bwllfa and Maerdy collieries
necessitated a redevelopment of the Bwllfa site and a new concrete head frame
and winding house were constructed. However, in 1977 work stopped for the last
time at Bwllfa and by 1991 the site had been completely cleared.
Click the image for more information on the Dare Viaduct
The collieries in the Cwmdare Valley were served by two
railway lines operated by rival companies. The first line
to reach the collieries was the Dare and Aman Branch of the
Vale of Neath Railway, more familiarly known as the Great
Western Railway after their takeover of the Vale of Neath
in 1865, which reached Bwllfa Colliery in 1857. This railway
reached Cwmdare from Gelli Tarw Junction near Llwydcoed after
crossing the Gamlyn and Dare Viaducts, two fine examples
of timber viaducts designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The
second line to Cwmdare was built by the Taff Vale Railway
and followed a route near the River Dare from a junction
close to Aberdare. This line was opened in 1866.
The routes of both of these railways can still be traced, as they were adapted
for use as a road and path when the Cwmdare Valley was redeveloped to create
the Dare Valley Country Park.
Dare Valley Country Park
The Park was officially opened in December 1973. Work
began in 1971 to reclaim the derelict land that had been
deeply scarred by over a century of mining. The scheme involved
the leveling of coal tips, the rerouting of the River Dare
and the creation of two lakes with a cascade on the Dare
down to the lower lake. In 1985 the visitor centre was opened,
which has 15 rooms providing accommodation for guests. A
campsite and small caravan park are also located near the
visitor centre.
