Mountain Ash

To Mountain Ash and Penrikyber Colliery

A 'Sprinter' at Tyntetown	Penrikyber Colliery, No 11	Penrikyber Colliery, No 18
Deep Duffryn Colliery monument	Horsehay Co works plate	Incline to Perthcelyn	Fan engine at Mountain Ash

Cwmdare

The Taff Vale Railways' Dare Valley branch

The Taff Vale Railways' Dare Valley branch ran from North of Aberdare Station to Nantmelin Colliery and Bwllfa Dare Colliery, hugging the bank of the Dare River. It had connectons to Graig Colliery and Cwmdare Colliery to the South and the short-lived Duffryn Dare Colliery (1902-1910) to the North.

Gadlys Colliery

The TVR Dare Valley branch

The TVR Dare Valley branch

Gadlys Colliery

Graig Colliery branch

The TVR Dare Valley branch

The TVR Dare Valley branch

The TVR Dare Valley branch

The TVR Dare Valley branch

Under the GWR Dare Valley viaduct

The TVR Dare Valley branch	The TVR Dare Valley branch	The TVR Dare Valley branch
The TVR Dare Valley branch	The TVR Dare Valley branch	The TVR Dare Valley branch

Duffryn Dare Colliery

The TVR Dare Valley branch

The TVR Dare Valley branch

The TVR Dare Valley branch

The TVR Dare Valley branch

Merthyr Dare and Cwmdare Collieries

The TVR Dare Valley branch

The TVR Dare Valley branch

Cwmdare Colliery tips

Cwmdare levels

Graig Colliery - SN 9950 0208

Graig Colliery appears to have been established before 1861 by the Gadlys Iron Co. It became part of 'Wayne's Merthyr Co Ltd' in 1877 and was abandoned in 1901. The quarries on Cwm Rhiw Ddu were linked to the colliery by a long incline which had closed by 1868.

Graig Colliery c1900	Graig Colliery airshaft	Graig Colliery tramway bridge	Graig Colliery site and shaft
Graig Colliery tramway	Graig Colliery pipeline	Craig Rhiw Ddu airshaft	Craig Rhiw Ddu Quarry

The Great Western Railways' Bwllfa Dare branch

The Great Western Railways' Bwllfa Dare branch started with a reversal at Dare Valley Junction on the Cwmaman branch. The Visitor Centre is built on the site of Cwmdare Colliery, the start of a tramway to the tips and levels on the hillside above. Llwynhelig Colliery was one side at SN 9892 0234 and Merthyr Dare Colliery was the other side at SN 9814 0260

Dare Valley Country Park dram	Underground loco, HC DM1314	Maerdy Colliery equipment
Llwynhelig Colliery bridge	Cwmdare branch trackbed

Nantmelyn Colliery - SN 9739 0274

Nantmelyn Colliery or Bwllfa No.2 Pit was sunk in 1860 near the head of Cwmdare; it commenced coaling in 1861 and closed in 1956/7. The site was demolished and landscaped in the early 1970s

Nantmelyn Colliery, 1878	Nantmelyn Colliery, 1914	Nantmelyn Colliery	Nantmelyn Colliery
Nantmelyn Colliery	Nantmelyn Colliery	Nantmelyn Colliery

Windber Colliery - SN 9718 0288

Winber Colliery was operated by D.R. Llewellyn between about 1900 and the 1920's. In 2014 the remains include a brick engine house, drift entrance, tramroad routes, tips and aerial ropeway stanchion (possibly for Nantmelin Colliery).

Windber Colliery and levels	Windber Colliery and levels	Windber Colliery and levels	Windber Colliery and levels
Windber headstone '1913'	Windber Colliery tips	Windber Colliery tips

Bwllfa Dare Colliery - SN 9700 0245

Bwllfa Colliery, also known as Bwllfa Dare and Bwllfa No.1, was sunk at the head of Cwmdare in 1853. The mine was closed in the late 1930s and by 1948 the site was 'disused' and largely demolished, according to the 1953 edition Ordnance Survey 6in map. it is believed that the 1930s steel-lattice headframe had been moved to Tower Colliery in 1941. However, after nationalisation of the coal industry in 1947, a scheme to link Bwllfa underground with a reconstructed Mardy Colliery included redevelopment of the Bwllfa site and accordingly most of the remaining buildings were demolished and a new concrete headframe (over the existing south shaft), electric winder house and other facilities were constructed. The old south winder house was retained but remained in a derelict condition. The colliery ceased working in 1977 but was retained as an escape shaft for Mardy Colliery until the late 1980s.

Bwllfa Dare Colliery, 1878	Bwllfa Dare Colliery, 1914	Bwllfa Dare Colliery
Bwllfa Dare shaft and headgear	Bwllfa Dare Colliery	Bwllfa Dare Colliery	Bwllfa Dare Colliery
Bwllfa Dare headgear or cage	Bwllfa Dare Colliery headgear	Bwllfa Dare Colliery headgear	Bwllfa Dare school
Bwllfa Dare glazed tiles	Bwllfa Dare Colliery	Bwllfa Dare brickworks	Bwllfa Dare
Bwllfa Dare Quarry	Bwllfa Dare Quarry	Bwllfa Dare Quarry

Aberaman and Cwmaman

The Cwmaman branch

This week it's the Cwmaman branch that the Ramblers visit, from the Visitor Centre to Forchaman. As usual, lots of interest, old shafts, quarries, tramways and bridges. And again, as usual, I've got to go up there and follow up on many things.

Foundry Town to Aberaman

Foundry Town level crossing	Foundry Town level crossing	Foundry Town trackbed	Aberaman branch trackbed
Aberaman branch trackbed	Aberaman branch trackbed	Aberaman branch trackbed	Aberaman branch trackbed
Blaengwawr Colliery loading bank	Blaengwawr Colliery loading bank	Blaengwawr Colliery loading bank	Blaengwawr Colliery bridge
Blaengwawr Colliery bridge	Blaengwawr Colliery bridge	Maes-y-Ffynnon Lane bridge	Blaengwawr trackbed
Blaengwawr footpath bridge

Blaengwawr Quarry - SN 9972 0152

From Blaengwawr Colliery an incline ran up the hillside to Blaengwawr Quarry, where tramways linked the individual quarries.

Blaengwawr Quarry	Blaengwawr Quarry	Blaengwawr Quarry	Blaengwawr Quarry tramway
Blaengwawr Quarry tramway	Blaengwawr Quarry tramway	Blaengwawr Quarry incline

Godreaman and Cwmneol

Godreaman trackbed	Cwmneol trackbed	Globe Inn, Cwmneol	Cwmneol Farm
Cwmneol trackbed	Cwmneol trackbed	Cwmneol workshop	Cwmneol Street bridge

Cwmaman and Forchwen

Cwmaman trackside building	Cwmaman trackbed	Cwmaman trackbed	Cwmaman Colliery site
Forchwen Pit site	Forchwen Pit site	Forchaman Quarry

Aberdare

Gadlys Ironworks and Aberdare Town - SO 0004 0299

Gadlys Ironworks and Aberdare Town

Gadlys Blast Engine house	Gadlys Blast Engine house	Gadlys Blast Furnaces	Gadlys Blast Furnaces
Gadlys Blast Furnaces	Gadlys Museum, the old tram shed	Gadlys Wagon Works	Gadlys Wagon Works
Vertical boiler near Gadlys	Mill Street Cottages, Aberdare	Robertstown Level Crossing

GWR Dare Valley branch - SN 9818 0495

Gamlyn Viaduct and Cemetery Road level crossing

Gamlyn Viaduct	Gamlyn Viaduct	Gamlyn Viaduct	Gamlyn Viaduct
Gamlyn Viaduct		Cemetery Road level crossing	Cemetery Road level crossing

Aberdare to Hirwaun Tramroad

The Aberdare to Hirwaun Tramroad

Aberdare Tramroad near Gadlys	Aberdare Tramroad near Gadlys	Robertstown Bridge, Aberdare	Robertstown Bridge, Aberdare
Robertstown Bridge, Aberdare	Aberdare Tramroad at Mill Street	Aberdare Tramroad at Mill Street	Tramroad at Harriet Street
Tramroad at Harriet Street	Tramroad at Gelli Isaf Lane	Aberdare Tramroad at Gelli Isaf	Aberdare Tramroad at Gelli Isaf
Gelli Isaf bridge	Gelli Isaf bridge	Gelli Isaf bridge	Gelli Isaf bridge
Gelli Isaf bridge	Gelli Isaf culvert	Aberdare Tramroad near Gelli Isaf	Aberdare Tramroad near Gelli Isaf
Tramroad at Gamlyn Colliery

Abernant

Mountain Pit - SO 0167 0513

Mountain Pit was the upcast pit for Blaen-Nant Colliery, a balance pit, dating from before 1870. It was owned by the Aberdare Iron Co and seems to have closed when AIC went bankrupt in 1873. Blaen-nant Colliery itself was later worked from c1880 to 1927 when it was abandoned. Mark Evans visited the site in 2021 and took these photos.

Mountain Pit, Blaen-nant, 1868	Blaen-nant Colliery, c1901	Mountain Pit, Blaen-nant, c1901
Mountain Pit, Blaen-nant	Mountain Pit, Blaen-nant	Mountain Pit, Blaen-nant	Mountain Pit, Blaen-nant
Mountain Pit, Blaen-nant	Mountain Pit, Blaen-nant	Mountain Pit, Blaen-nant	Mountain Pit, Blaen-nant
Mountain Pit, Blaen-nant	Mountain Pit, Blaen-nant	Mountain Pit, Blaen-nant	Mountain Pit, Blaen-nant
Mountain Pit, Blaen-nant	Mountain Pit, Blaen-nant	Mountain Pit, Blaen-nant	Mountain Pit, Blaen-nant
Mountain Pit, Blaen-nant	Mountain Pit, Blaen-nant	Mountain Pit, Blaen-nant	Mountain Pit, Blaen-nant
Mountain Pit, Blaen-nant	Mountain Pit, Blaen-nant	Mountain Pit, Blaen-nant	Mountain Pit, Blaen-nant
Mountain Pit, Blaen-nant	Mountain Pit, Blaen-nant	Mountain Pit, Blaen-nant	Mountain Pit, Blaen-nant

Hirwaun and Penderyn

Hirwaun - SN 9575 0560

Cross Street, Hirwaun, in c1890 and in 2019. The Aberdare to Hirwaun and Penderyn Tramroad makes its way towards Hirwaun Ironworks. It doesn't appear to receive much traffic any more !!

Cross Street, Hirwaun, 1897

Cross Street, Hirwaun, c1897

Cross Street, Hirwaun, c1897

Cross Street, Hirwaun, 2019

Penderyn and Tor-y-Foel Quarry - SN 9415 0900

Tor-y-Foel Quarry was the earliest quarry in Penderyn, probably used from 1757. The tramway was built in 1799 to connect to the Hirwaun tramroad, converted in 1904 to a standard gauge railway line.

RB-22 crane at Pantcefnfford	Fingerpost by St Cadwgs church	Penderyn Quarry	Penderyn Quarry
Tramway to Tor-y-Foel Quarry	Tor-y-Foel Quarry	Cadair Fawr limekiln

Acknowledgments, sources and further reading

Thanks for the use of their photographs to :- Coflein, Alan George at alangeorge.co.uk, Dare Valley Visitor Centre, Mark Evans, Alan Murray-Rust, RCT Libraries