• Source: Great Western Mine

Great Western Mine, also known as Hetty Pit, was a coal mine, at Hopkinstown, near Pontypridd, Glamorgan in South Wales.




History


The mine, originally called, "Gyfeillon Pit", was begun by John Calvert, an engineer from Yorkshire, in August 1851. Funding came from Calvert's profits from his earlier, and successful, Newbridge Colliery. The mine was ultimately sold to the Great Western Colliery Company. The company sank six shafts at what became known as the Great Western Collieries. The colliery initially had three shafts: Hetty Pit (downcast, later upcast), Pit No. 2 and Pit No. 3 (downcast).




1893 Disaster


On Tuesday 11 April 1893 a fire in the colliery led to the deaths of 63 men and boys. The ages of the dead ranged from 14 to 61. A total of 200 were reported as trapped but 150 were rescued. By 14 April 53 bodies had been recovered.




Later activity


The Inspector of Mines list for 1896 recorded a total of 475 men working at the Great Western No. 2 pit and 604 men at Tymawr. By 1918 there were 3,162 men employed at the Great Western. By 1923, Hetty No. 2 employed 683 men, working the Nine Feet and Red seams. Hetty No. 3 worked the Fforest Fach seam with 324 men. There were 1,143 men working at Tymawr, producing from the Five Feet, Four Feet, Lower Four Feet and Nine Feet seams.
In 1928 the colliery came under the ownership of the Powell Dyffryn Coal Company and remained so until the mines were nationalised in 1947. In 1958 the Lewis Merthyr Colliery, a mile or two northwest of the former Great Western Collieries amalgamated with the Great Western and joined underground. At this time coal production stopped at the former and materials stopped going down at Tymawr. In 1969 combined collieries were officially named the "Tymawr and Lewis Merthyr Colliery". The last coal was raised at the Tymawr colliery on 21 June 1983 and the colliery was demolished soon after.
The Hetty Pit is a scheduled monument, the head frame and winding engine house are Grade I listed buildings and the Fan House is Grade II* listed. It was originally intended to incorporate the site into the Rhondda Heritage Park, but its future is now unclear. The Hetty winding house and engine are now being renovated by volunteers under supervision of Mr Brian Davies of the Pontypridd Museum.




References



"The Hetty Winding Engine". Archive. No. 95. September 2017. pp. 2–37. ISSN 1352-7991.

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