Winding House

Image: © Mel hartshorn Taken: 21 Sep 2015

The coal boom of the 19th century hit the Rhymney Valley just as it did the rest of the South Wales Valleys, and within just a few years it had transformed the quiet hamlet of White Rose into the busy mining town of New Tredegar. The town was named after Lord Tredegar, who owned the land upon which it stood. One of the first of the modern "super pits" to be sunk in the Rhymney Valley was Elliot Colliery. The mine was owned by the Powell Duffryn Steam Coal Company Ltd and was named after George Elliot, one of the men who founded Powell Duffryn. Elliot Colliery had 2 shafts. The West shaft was approximately 402m deep (1320 feet) and work began to sink the shaft in 1883, taking 23 months. The East shaft was approximately 484m deep (1590 feet) and its sinking began in 1888, taking 15 months. By 1891, the new winding engine at the East Shaft had begun raising coal. During its peak, prior to the First World War, Elliot Colliery produced over a million tons of coal per year and employed around 2 800 people. Many experts at the time, described its coal as being of the best quality. Elliot Colliery’s surface plant and buildings included lamp rooms, explosive stores, workshops, the washery, railway sidings and in later years, a canteen and baths. Below this was a complex network of tunnels and roadways leading to and from the coalface. The colliery closed in 1967. Its buildings were demolished and machinery sold or scrapped. Fortunately the East Winding House and its Thornewill and Warham steam engine survived. The Grade II* listed winding house and Victorian winding engine form the centre-piece to the Winding House museum.

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