Penallta Colliery was closed by British Coal on 1st November 1991. with the last shift led out by a brass band, Penallta pit was the last working deep mine in the Rhymney Valley, Welsh Coal Field, South Wales.
The two pit head, winding frames, are the iconic symbol of any colliery or deep mine. The headgear, wheels, & winding house, are British listed & protected monuments.
These structures in their prime years, brought a millions of tons of anthracite coal from thousands of feet underground, to be exported all over the World.
A News story in The South Wales Argus has the Headline "Historic South Wales colliery buildings could be converted into luxury apartments after sale at auction" Text Source: (
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A separate news story that contains an embedded Video of an aerial view of 3 South Wales Colliery's includes Penallta Colliery. (
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"The remains of this abandoned mine are the two pit head winding wheels, and the winding house, the pit head shower & admin block also survived but are deralict. However one buiding has survived a 250 feet long block which has been refurbished & now used for workshops for small engineering companies.
Situated near Hengoed, in 1905 Powell Duffryn began the sinking of Penallta colliery, and had employed 291 men by 1908. The two shafts Nos.1 (downcast 2,349 feet (716 m)) and 2 (upcast 2,250 feet yards (690 m)), and at the time were the deepest in the South Wales Coalfield. The first coal was raised in 1909, with the railway served by the Cylla branch which connected it to both the Rhymney Railway from the Ystrad Mynach north junction, and the Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway. By 1923 there were 2,395 men employed, producing from the Six Feet seam, and at peak production during the 1930s, there were in excess of 3,200 men employed. In 1930 it produced 975,603 tons, and in 1935 it held the European record for coal winding.
In 1947, the mine was nationalised as part of the governments post-World War II regeneration scheme, and became owned by the National Coal Board. Investment was made, and in the late 1940s a Meco-Moore Cutter Loader was installed, one of the first power loaders to be used in British mines, and as a result the Minister of Fuel and Power Hugh Gaitskell made a visit in December 1949. In 1954 produced 500,000 tonnes of coal. During 1960 the shafts were extended to reach 800 yards as part of a scheme, which also included electrification of the shaft winding engines.
But access to coal was becoming more difficult, and by the 1970s only 700 men were producing 210,000 tons yearly from the Lower Nine Feet and Seven Feet seams - The colliery survived the 1984-1985 miners strike, and made impressive gains in production after the return to work. It was closed by British Coal on November 1, 1991 with the last shift led out by a brass band, the last deep mine working in the Rhymney Valley." Text Source: (
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Featured News report from the South Wales Argus in full:
"Unique pithead colliery buildings near Blackwood, which were once at the epicentre of the South Wales colliery industry, could be converted to luxury apartments.
The two Grade II listed buildings and a parcel of development land make up part of the former Penallta Colliery, Hengoed.
The Power Hall is for auction with a guide price of £325,000+, the Bath House has a guide price of £125,000+ and the 3.7 acres of land to the rear of the Power Hall has a guide price of £225,000+.
Keri Harding-Jones, of Paul Fosh Auctions, which is selling the property, said: “The properties we have for sale represent unique examples of fragments of the industrial heritage of South Wales and its coal mining history.
The three individual lots on offer for sale present a range of different opportunities for developers and we have already had quite a bit of interest in the properties and the land.
“The Power Hall, which was constructed in 1906 of pennant sandstone and red brick dressing, covers an area of some 4.2 acres. The building benefits from planning permission for conversion to 42, two-bedroom apartments and six, one-bedroom flats.
“Forming part of the pithead complex at Penallta Colliery, The Bath House was built in 1938 and is a rare example of the International Modernist style of architecture to be found in Wales. The building has planning permission for conversion to 33 apartments including six penthouses and five, three-bed, terraced houses.”
The Bath House building includes a semi-circular, single storey side wing, together with a central light well.
The 3.7 acres of development land to the rear of The Power Hall has planning permission for the construction of 36 properties.
The site is close to the Cwm Calon housing development, just outside Ystrad Mynach and close to Penallta Parc.
Penallta Colliery, which dates from 1905 when the first shaft was sunk by industry giant Powell Duffryn, employed some 3,200 men at its height in the 1930s and was one of the most productive mines in the world.
Penallta was at the vanguard of mining development and the colliery held the record in Europe in 1935 for the amount of coal wound (mined) in 24 hours.
In 1930 alone Penallta Colliery produced 975,603 tons of coal. The colliery, which was nationalised by the UK Labour Government in 1947 and subsequently owned by the National Coal Board, was closed in 1991 after 86 years of coal production.
The auction, when the colliery properties and land and some 50 other properties will be on offer, is on Thursday, October 29, at The Park Inn Hotel, Llanedeyrn, Cardiff, starting at 5pm. For more details visit www.paulfoshauctions.com." text Source: (
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