Colliery Shafts

Each of the three shafts had to be filled and capped.

Many tons of fill was dropped into the shafts.

Every time it settled another load was dropped in.

Eventually all the shafts were filled and then capped with concrete

These are pictures of the shafts after they were capped

Here is the

"North Shaft"

The pipe in the middle is a release for any gas that may occur.

All the shafts have these pipes and they can be located on the site under manhole covers.

Below is the

"Brithdir Shaft" or as we all knew it the "House Coal"

When they dug out the surrounding area around the shaft flooding occurred and took many weeks to pump clear. This underground water now has a direct route into the river Rhymney as does that from the North Shaft and if you look closely in the river you can see the iron stone and litchen stains where these shafts are still disgorging water into the river.

Photos taken in March 2007 to show the water outlet mentioned above.

The river is low due to the recent dry weather

Here is the

"South Shaft"

Another view of the "North Shaft"

Bargoed Colliery Site Cleared

After the site had been cleared one of the last things to go was the old foot bridge

which you can see in the distance

Pit Head Baths

Before the baths were opened colliers had to wash at home usually in an old tin bath that his wife or mother had prepared ready for him at the end of his shift.

The Bargoed miners had the luxury of hot showers before many others in the valley

Also in this photo you can see the foot bridge over the colliery railway.

Prior to this bridge being built residents who wanted to go between Bargoed and Aberbargoed crossed the railway yard (unofficially) which was very dangerous.

As kids we would stomp over the bridge then pass the baths and up the long steps to Bargoed.

demolishing of the much praised baths when the colliery closed

Bargoed Colliery "Buckets"

This photo shows (centre right) the buckets that I mentioned earlier in the blog. It only shows two going through the coal yard but there were many others that traveled right over the main road reminiscent of a Swiss Alp ski lift.

The photos below are after the colliery site reclamation scheme got under way but are here to show the distance that the buckets traveled from the colliery to the "new" tip