The Rhondda Valleys
..............we know the price of coal
Rhondda Valleys Information and History
Dinas in the Rhondda Valley.Dinas has the distinct 'honour' of being the place where the first deep mine was sunk in the Rhondda Valleys in 1812. In 1806 at Dinas - just a short distance away from Porth - Walter Coffin leased the rights to minerals under several farms. His venture was successful, and he soon built a roadway from Dinas to Gyfeillion (Hopkinstown). From there the coal was taken on to Treforest where it was hauled to its destination by canal.
After that more coal mines in the Rhondda Valleys were opening at the rate of several a year. it was almost inevitable then that disaster would evetually strike, and in 1856 at nearby Cymmer Colliery the earth trembled thunderously as the first major explosion took place in a local Colliery (Coal Mine). 114 men and boys lost their lives that day. It was the first major disaster at a Rhondda Colliery, leaving widows and mothers weeping the length and breadth of the Valleys. It would not be the last.
Dinas Middle Colliery 1879 |
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www.oldukphotos.com
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