Sir Robert Price Sir Robert Price took over leases around Tondu Farm previously granted to William Bryant, the liquidator of John Bedford's business. Sir Robert had ambitions as an ironmaster and began to develop an ironworks alongside the Dyffryn Llynvi and Porthcawl Railway at Tondu in the late 1830s. He traded as the Glamorgan Coal and Iron Company. Progress was initially slow due to a trade recession in the early 1840s, but there was a revival in 1843 and the first furnace at Tondu was blown-in in 1844. The year 1843 was significant for the Tondu district as extensive reserves of black-band
ironstone were discovered six miles (10 km) to the north in the Maesteg area during that year. The discovery, and an unprecedented period of growth in the iron trade during the mid-1840s, prompted Sir Robert to develop his works at Tondu and open-up the Tywith coal and ironstone mine near present-day Nantyffyllon, Maesteg. Typically for the iron trade, prices fell sharply after the short-lived boom period and, as a result, the Tondu Works struggled to survive through the early 1850s and Sir Robert Price faced bankruptcy. However, because of the progress made during the years 1843–1847, the Tondu Ironworks and associated mines formed a significant pocket of production in mid-Glamorgan with some potential. That potential was recognised by the Lancashire firm of
John Brogden and Sons who bought the Tondu property in 1854. .
Brogdens In February 1854 John Brogden sent his fourth son James, aged 22, to revive and run the business. In July 1854, John Brogden signed a new 99-year lease with Jane Nicholl. James rapidly reorganised and expanded the works.
Disastrous explosion On the day of the annual
St. Mary Hill Fair, 26 August 1892, a huge
explosion shook the
Parc Slip Colliery; 112 men and boys died with just 39 survivors: some remained trapped underground for a week before being rescued. Sixty women were widowed and 153 children left fatherless. The mine closed in 1904. A
memorial to the disaster still stands consisting of 112 stones - one for every death. Much later, the coal seams were re-worked as part of the Parc Slip
opencast coal mine.
New manager Also in 1892, John Boyd-Harvey was appointed General Manager and managing director. Boyd-Harvey was a Cornishman who had studied gas production in
Swansea – under the circumstances a very useful thing. He had followed his elder brother Robert to
South America. Robert had gone into partnership with
Colonel North there and John also joined the business, managing the
Iquique Gas Company on the border of
Chile and
Peru. He retired in 1913, at the early age of 52. After that North's Navigation continued until the
Nationalisation of Coal in 1947, although the iron works was closed.
The Old Pit Pony Hospital On site is an old
pit pony hospital where all the local pit ponies came for treatment and rest during their lives in the local pits. It was the only pit pony hospital in Mid Glamorgan. ==Governance==