The Rhondda Valleys
..............we know the price of coal
Rhondda Valleys Information and History
High Resolution Photographs of Wattstown in the Rhondda Valleys, Glamorgan. South Wales.
Wattstown was named after the owner of the colliery (coal mine) - Edmund (Hanney) Watts 1830-1902. The colliery was built on the site of a farm named 'Pont Rhyd y Cwtch'. Two shafts were sunk in 1881, 1350 foot deep. Six years later a massive explosion ripped through the mine killing 39 miners.
Worse was to come, and on a fateful day in 1905, just before noon, a thunderous explosion shook the surrounding areas as it tore through the mine - ultimately leaving 119 men and boys dead. The story goes that on the day of the funerals the cortege was so long that as the first carriage arrived at Trealaw cemetery - several miles away - the last had yet to leave Wattstown.
As a fifteen year old lad, this author worked down this mine, unaware at that time that my Great Grandfather - John Harris - had been brought from the mine almost decapitated in December 1913. His body was taken to my Great Grandmother's house at 19, Gynor Place, Ynyshir and laid out on her kitchen table. Five children were orphaned that day. I remember descending the shaft at the colliery and the experienced miners pointing out on the way down where old shafts had been sealed following disasters - I was led to believe that many of the bodies remained sealed in some of those shafts.
Click on any image to see in high resolution.
Wattstown Colliery 1905 |
Wattstown Colliery & Gen View 1910 |
Wattstown July 1905 |
Wattstown Colliery Memorial Aug 2005 - in Ynyshir ? |
National Colliery Memorial Aug 2005 |
Glamorgan, Rhondda, Wattstown, Viewed from Penrhys Hill |
Rhondda Valleys, Wattstown, National Colliery 1965 |
Glamorgan, Rhondda Valleys, Wattstown, 1952 Coronation Street Party |
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There is an excellent new website with high resolution old photos of
the United Kingdom (including the Rhondda Valleys) at
www.oldukphotos.com
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the towns and villages please scan them in at least 1280 pixels width
and email them here.
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