Our Dining Booths
Elliot Colliery was sunk and thereafter operated by the Powell Duffryn Steam Coal Company, the largest coal mining company in south Wales and also the UK as a whole. At its peak, the company owned over seventy collieries in south Wales (including many in the Rhymney Valley), and accounted for about one-third of the coalfield’s output.
The colliery was named after Sir George Elliot (1815-1893), a founder of the Powell Duffryn Company.
Elliot’s west shaft was sunk between 1883 and 1886, and its east shaft sunk between 1888 and 1891. The colliery subsequently started production in 1891.
In 1893 a Humboldt washery was installed at Elliot, capable of processing 650 tons of coal a day. It was probably the first of its kind operated in south Wales,and was also said to be the first in the English and Welsh coalfields.
By 1912 over 2,800 men were employed at Elliot Colliery, producing over one million tons of coal a year.
Four men were killed at Elliot’s East Pit on 30 December 1915, when they were buried under a large rock fall in an underground roadway while repairing a previous, smaller fall. They were:
· William Chilcott (better known as William Bishop) (45), ripper, single, Station Row
· Walter Davies (52), timberman, married, Railway Terrace
· David Jones (31), fireman, married, Graig-y-fedw
· Lewis Williams (39), assistant timberman, married ,Duffryn Terrace.
In 1918, there were 2,171 men employed at Elliot. In 1923, there were 1,237 working in the East Pit and 1,036 in the West Pit, with 318 working on the colliery surface. The East Pit produced coal from the Red, Rhas Las, New, and Lower Four Foot seams; the West Pit mined the Big Vein, Yard, Red, and Rhas Las seams.
Elliot Colliery always had significant problems with water. From the outset, powerful pumps had to be used continually to prevent the mine from flooding.
In 1945 there were 1,270 men working at Elliot. Like every other British colliery, Elliot was nationalised in 1947. Thereafter, it was owned and operated by the National Coal Board (NCB).
Despite still producing more than half a million tons of coal a year, Elliot was closed in 1967.
Nowadays, the Winding House Museum stands on the former colliery site, at Elliots Town in New Tredegar. As part of the museum it is possible to see the colliery’s original impressive Thornewill and Warham steam winding engine, which has been restored to full working order.
Our Dining Booths
