page_title: Pontypridd
section_title: Coal
hierarchical_section_title: Pontypridd / History / Coal
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of horses during one of the coal strikes between 1910 and 1915. photograph taken opposite Tonypandy railway station.
context_page_description: Pontypridd is both the county town of Rhondda Cynon Taf in Wales and a community. Often colloquially known as "Ponty", it is 12 miles north of Cardiff.
context_section_description: The history of Pontypridd is closely tied to the coal and iron industries; prior to the developments of these, Pontypridd was largely a rural backwater comprising a few farmsteads, with Treforest initially becoming the main urban settlement in the area.  Sited as it is at the junction of the three valleys, it became an important location for the transportation of coal from the Rhondda and iron from Merthyr Tydfil, first via the Glamorganshire Canal, and later via the Taff Vale Railway, to the ports at Cardiff, Barry, and to Newport.  Because of its role in transporting coal cargo, its railway platform is thought to have once been the longest in the world during its heyday.  Pontypridd was, in the second half of the 19th century, a hive of industry, and was once nicknamed the ‘Wild West’.  There were several collieries within the Pontypridd area itself, including:
  Albion Colliery, Cilfynydd
  Bodwenarth Colliery, Pontsionnorton
  Daren Ddu Colliery, Graigwen & Glyncoch
  Dynea Colliery, Rhydyfelen
  Gelli-whion Colliery, Graig
  Great Western/Gyfeillion Colliery, Hopkinstown
  Lan Colliery, Hopkinstown
  Newbridge Colliery, Graig
  Pen-y-rhiw Colliery, Graig
  Pontypridd/Maritime Collieries, Graig & Maesycoed
  Pwllgwaun Colliery/'Dan's Muck Hole', Pwllgwaun
  Red Ash Colliery, Cilfynydd
  Ty-Mawr Colliery, Hopkinstown & Pantygraigwen
  Typica Colliery, Hopkinstown & Pantygraigwen and
  Victoria Colliery, Maesycoed
  As well as the deep-mined collieries, there were many coal levels and trial shafts dug into the hillsides overlooking the town from Cilfynydd, Graig, Graigwen, and Hafod. The Albion Colliery in the village of Cilfynydd in 1894 was the site of one of the worst explosions within the South Wales coalfield, with the death of 290 colliers (see Keir Hardie).
caption: Tonypandy & Trealaw railway station during an early 1910s coal strike
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