Deep Navigation Colliery

, from the entrance gate to the Deep Navigation Colliery. The photograph was taken during the 1984 miners' strike, in July 1984 In the early 1800s, a mineral lease was granted over of land, owned by three farms: Twyn-y Garreg; Pantanas; Cefn Forest. A group of businessmen, led by Frederick W. Harris, began negotiations for the rights to the mineral lease, which was eventually acquired in 1872. Nothing existed in the area at the time, except for the three farms and their outbuildings, plus the quiet River Taff Bargoed and a small forest on the slopes above the valley. Construction of the main shafts began in October 1872, with sinking commencing in February 1873. Due to the required depth of the shafts to access the coal seams, the operation would prove to be both expensive and dangerous, and create the lifelong operational need to continually extract water due to high levels of ingress. The 167 men of the construction crew were not paid on time on a number of occasions, with final construction costs in May 1878 running to over £300,000, and seven men having lost their lives. The two shafts were built apart: North to a depth of ; South to . Before coal could be extracted commercially, surface buildings were required to be completed. This included the installation of two John Fowler & Co. winding machines, and the forest fully cleared, with wood stored for pit props. Finally, the River Taff Bargoed was enclosed in a tunnel constructed of bricks made from the collieries quarry, enabling water ingress to the mine to be significantly reduced, and slag heaps to be placed on the resultant new land. The first commercial coal was raised at North pit from 1879, and by 1881 both shafts were raising coal. But by this point the colliery company was deep in debt. The only reason that funding had been forthcoming from the shareholders, commercial backers and banks was due to the potential high quality of the coal that could be extracted, and so it proved. The depth of the shafts and the quality of the steam coal extracted hence earned the colliery two nicknames in the South Wales coalfield: "Deep Navigation" and "Ocean Colliery". Water ingress Due to shaft depth, the major problem with the mine throughout its life was water ingress, with a reported maximum ingress during its operational life of entering the pit every minute. After the first commercial coal was extracted in 1879, the colliery started construction of Cornish Beam engine, capable of extracting over a stroke. Supplied by the Perran Foundry of Truro, water was lifted in stages to different levels, until it reached the surface and was dispersed into pit pond located north of the colliery. Later, mine engineer Castell created the famous Deep Navigation “Castle.” A man-made cavern hewn by hand from solid rock, it was built to store water for removal. Located adjacent to the North pit shaft, it was long, wide and high. Inside was installed an electric sump pump, which connected to a surface pipe that spilled into the same pit pond as the beam engine. ==Ocean Colliery: 1893–1947==

Industrialist businessman David Davies of Llandinam, became interested in the Harris mine as early as 1890. By this time, almost one million tonnes of coal had been raised, but by 1892 there was a dip in production. With debts rising, Harris allowed an inspection of the mine by Davies, whose engineers reported that were good reserves of coal in a mine that required relatively little additional investment. Davies's Ocean Coal Company took ownership of the colliery on 17 January 1893, and renamed it Ocean Colliery. There was great competition at the time between colliery owners, with most trying to prove to potential purchasers that their coal was of the best quality. At the time this was signified by being selected by the Royal Navy, and the various transatlantic ocean liners, including the Cunard Line; hence the choice of the renaming. Davies invested in the colliery, including repairing the bases of the shafts. From 1897 onwards, the colliery was producing over 590,000 tons per year with a workforce of 2,500 miners. Ocean Company invested a further £500,000 in 1900 to make the colliery's production more economic, so that by 1902, annual output was 327,000 tons by 2,000 men. The steam coal produced during this period was purchased for use by the Cunard steamers RMS Mauretania and RMS Lusitania, used in their successful attempts for the Blue Riband for the most rapid Atlantic passage. The South Wales Miners' Federation had been formed in 1894, and in 1910 and 1911 the Tonypandy riots had occurred to improve miners' incomes and working conditions. By 1913, the workforce had shrunk to 1,846 men and boys. At this time Deep Navigation had an extensive underground mine railway, with of underground railways. Over 100 pit ponies were being used at the colliery, mostly underground, but some on the surface. Pit head baths In 1913, Davies sent a party of 15 men to the continent to investigate European systems of working practice. As a result of their report, a sum of £8,000 was authorised to build new baths for the miners. The new Treharris baths were constructed by Nicholls & Nicholls of Gloucester, that could accommodate 1,824 men at a time, who were each provided with two lockers: one for clean and the other for dirty clothes. Officially opened on 1 November 1933 by Ocean Coal Company director Thomas Evans O.B.E. of Pentyrch, the baths were the first such facility in South Wales. Having constructed a new power house, which was also supplying Lady Windsor Colliery, the facility was electrically lit, and included an early electric shoe cleaner. The baths were reconstructed in 1933, by which time Ocean had provided baths at Risca, Wattstown, Lady Windsor, Garw, Nantymeol and Nine mile point collieries. After World War I After supplying the Royal Navy during World War I, by 1920 the colliery was using the “Barry of Nottingham” system of coal cutting, a forerunner of longwall mining. From a 1923 report by HM Inspectorate of Mines, there were 2,328 men employed, working the Seven Feet, Yard and Nine Feet seams. But by the time of the 1926 General Strike, industrial relations had again broken down. The village of Treharris was staunchly socialist, and was innovative in using the colliery band and local jazz music Treharris Zulus group to raise funds. But by the new year the families were running short of funds, food and fuel, and the workers quickly returned to work. By 1935, the colliery employed 363 men on the surface and 1,875 underground. At the start of World War II, Ernest Bevin introduced a new law that tied the miners to their reserved occupation. Bevin also ordered one in ten young men of eighteen years of age to be employed in the coal industry, with some of the Bevin boys coming to the Treharris area. ==Deep Navigation: 1947–1991==

By 1945 there were 1,826 men working at the complex. The last pit pony was retired in 1973, The site was cleared from 1993 onwards, but the associated coal washery stayed open for another nine months, so that a stockpile of 370,000 tonnes could be prepared for market. ==Transport==

Class 37 in charge of a Merry-go-round train group of coal hoppers, freshly loaded from Deep Navigation Colliery, April 1987 Located adjacent to Quakers Yard railway station, the colliery had access to Cardiff Docks via both the Great Western's Taff Vale Railway, and the Midland Railway's Rhymney Railway. The Rhymney Railway also gave access north to Brecon via the Brecon and Merthyr Railway, and onwards to the Midlands via the Mid-Wales Railway. Harris had a series of private owner wagons built by the Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company, which considerably reduced transport costs. In later years, British Railways Class 37 locomotives rostered from Cardiff Canton and Barry depots, were placed in charge of coal hoppers on a Merry-go-round train, to transport coal to Aberthaw power station. ==Disasters==

Due to its depth, Deep Navigation suffered various fatalities from its start of construction, with seven men dying in the six years from 1873 to 1879. On 12 December 1884, five men descended the No.2 South shaft in a bowk to replace some Safety harness|. Just after the winding engine commenced, the wide braided steel flat rope broke, sending four to their deaths at the bottom of the shaft below. Thomas John Dobbs, who had been guiding the bowk down a guide rope, managed to slowly lowered himself to within hailing distance of pit bottom, and was rescued with nothing more than cuts and bruises. Following an accident investigation by HM Inspectorate of Mines, it was found that the rope had corroded, where it had been in contact with the headframe sheave wheel. But as the rope was covered with a protective coating of tar, the corrosion had gone undetected. The sheave wheels on both the No.1 and No.2 shafts at Deep Navigation were unusual, in that they were constructed of different parts that had been riveted together, not a singular wheel that had been cast. The sheaves were not replaced at Deep Navigation until 1961 (No.2 South), and 1963 (No.1 North). On 11 November 1902, five men lost their lives and two others were injured in No.2 South pit. A water extraction pipe fell away from the shaft wall, crashing onto an ascending double-decker mine cage. Carrying 32 men at the time of the accident, the dead and injured were travelling in the upper deck of the cage. ==Today==

, for the three local collieries . Built on the site of the former Taff Merthyr and Deep Navigation collieries, works involved moving the slag heap tips that had formerly buried the Taff Bargoed river After all three collieries closed, the combined site was extensively redeveloped, with the former slag heaps removed. As a result, the brick tunnel in which the Taff Bargoed river had been redirected in 1873 was removed, and a landscaped parkland created either side of two new lakes. Opened in time for the Millennium, the park was named Parc Taff Bargoed, now home to many local rugby and football teams. ==References==