Headframe and pithead at Tower Colliery

Cadw's description

Location

Tower Colliery stands in the bowl of Mynydd Beili-glas, W of the A4061 Hirwaun to Treherbert Road. The headframe is to the S of the complex.

History

Tower Colliery was established by the Marquis of Bute in about 1870, on the northern outcrop of the South Wales coalfield. It has always been one of the highest collieries in Wales in altitude, and is in an impressive location below Craig y Llyn. The Tower No. 4 shaft was sunk in 1941 and opened in 1944 by the Powell Duffryn Steam Coal Company, and was further expanded by the National Coal Board from the 1950s. The headframe dates from the 1930s and was brought from Bwllfa Colliery in Cwmdare. It is of the steel lattice girder type, which currently survives at only 2 other sites in South Wales, although they were commonplace from the late C19 onwards and were classic symbols of the region’s coal industry.

Exterior

The head frame comprises 4 splayed supports, with two shear legs towards the winder linked to the verticals by two horizontal and two right-angle struts. There are steps up the S shear leg to a platform at the top giving access to the 2 sheaves. The headframe is boxed-in internally with steel plates to prevent air being drawn into the shaft, as this is the upcast shaft for the colliery. The pit top itself is enclosed by an irregular single-storey brick building between the legs of the frame. This has air lock doors to give access for materials and men to the shaft top, and tall multi-pane metal framed windows.

Reason for designation

Listed for its rarity as a surviving colliery headgear in South Wales, and as a landscape feature in this impressive setting.