Lets start with some history....
Tower Colliery was the oldest continuously working deep-coal min in the United kingdom and possibly the world until its closure in 2008.
It is the last mine of its kind to remain in the South Wales Valleys.
With coal located so close to the surface it was known by locals to be possible to drift mine coal from Hiwaun.
This activity increased from 1805 until 1864 the first drift named Tower was started named after the nearby Crawshays Tower, a folly built in 1848. In 1941 the new shaft was sunk to a depth of 160 meters. From 1943 until closure, this sharft was used as the main "return" ventilation shaft and for the transport of men, in 1958 Tower No. 3 was driven to meet the No. 4 colliery workings, and was used as the main "intake" airways; conveying coal to the sureface and transporting materials into the mine working ares.
The Aberdare Branch of Merthyr line continued north from Aberdare railway station to the colliery. While passenger services terminate in Aberdare , freight services operated several times a day along this stretch of line, directly owned by the colliery.
This place was a GEM!!! We parked up and walked right on site it did say there was CCTV but it did not look to be working so we took our chances and the first building we came to was the medical building. This place was amazing lots to see hardly anything was broken so really untouched. We must have been there for 2 hours before we bumped into two other explorer's. We gave each other a fright stood and had a quick chat then went our own ways. The next building was as good as the first one. There was still mains water running also. This was a great way to end day one in South Wales.
Some Photos and a Video excuse Dan's Giggling he was loving the place and the fact it was untouched.
I have under 200 photos but Flickr only unloaded a few i think we had a power out as i left it uploading over night so have had to start the upload again.
The VIDEO....
Please Enjoy......... Amazing place.
Tower Colliery was the oldest continuously working deep-coal min in the United kingdom and possibly the world until its closure in 2008.
It is the last mine of its kind to remain in the South Wales Valleys.
With coal located so close to the surface it was known by locals to be possible to drift mine coal from Hiwaun.
This activity increased from 1805 until 1864 the first drift named Tower was started named after the nearby Crawshays Tower, a folly built in 1848. In 1941 the new shaft was sunk to a depth of 160 meters. From 1943 until closure, this sharft was used as the main "return" ventilation shaft and for the transport of men, in 1958 Tower No. 3 was driven to meet the No. 4 colliery workings, and was used as the main "intake" airways; conveying coal to the sureface and transporting materials into the mine working ares.
The Aberdare Branch of Merthyr line continued north from Aberdare railway station to the colliery. While passenger services terminate in Aberdare , freight services operated several times a day along this stretch of line, directly owned by the colliery.
This place was a GEM!!! We parked up and walked right on site it did say there was CCTV but it did not look to be working so we took our chances and the first building we came to was the medical building. This place was amazing lots to see hardly anything was broken so really untouched. We must have been there for 2 hours before we bumped into two other explorer's. We gave each other a fright stood and had a quick chat then went our own ways. The next building was as good as the first one. There was still mains water running also. This was a great way to end day one in South Wales.
Some Photos and a Video excuse Dan's Giggling he was loving the place and the fact it was untouched.
I have under 200 photos but Flickr only unloaded a few i think we had a power out as i left it uploading over night so have had to start the upload again.
The VIDEO....
Please Enjoy......... Amazing place.
