Coal Dram stands proud outside Tower Colliery's Sales Office

Coordinates: 51°43′37″N 3°33′18″W / 51.727, -3.555 Tower Colliery was the oldest continuously worked deep-coal mine in the United Kingdom, and possibly the world, and the only mine of its kind remaining in the South Wales Valleys. A geographic coordinate system enables every location on the Earth to be specified in three coordinates using mainly a spherical coordinate system. Coal mining is the extraction or removal of Coal from the Earth by Mining. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The South Wales Valleys (Cymoedd De Cymru are a number of industrialised valleys in South Wales, stretching from eastern Carmarthenshire in the west to western It is located near the village of Rhigos, north of the town of Aberdare in the Cynon Valley south Wales. Rhigos is a Village in the north of the Cynon Valley, in the County borough of Rhondda Cynon Taff, Wales. Aberdare (Aberdâr is an industrial Town in the County borough of Rhondda Cynon Taff, Wales, situated (as the name implies at the Cynon Valley is an ex- mining area near Rhondda in Wales, in the South Wales Valleys area

Colliery Buy-Out by Workers

The colliery was worked from 1805 until the late 1990s, when the Conservative government sought to close it down. Year 1805 ( MDCCCV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or The 1990s collectively refers to the years between and including 1990 and 1999 In 1994, the constituency MP, Ann Clwyd staged a sit-in in the mine to protest its closure. Year 1994 ( MCMXCIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar) Cynon Valley is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a Parliament. Ann Clwyd Roberts (born 21 March 1937 Denbigh) is a British Labour MP. A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more persons nonviolently occupying an area for a Protest, often to promote political social She was accompanied by the late Glyndwr 'Glyn' Roberts (Senior) of Penywaun. Penywaun is a Village situated between Aberdare and Hirwaun, in the County borough of Rhondda Cynon Taff, Wales.

Later that year many of the original mineworkers banded together to purchase the colliery, led by local NUM Branch Secretary Tyrone O'Sullivan. See also the National Union of Mineworkers (South Africa. Template talkInfobox Union Tyrone O’Sullivan OBE (born 1945 in Wales) is a Welsh former National Union of Mineworkers Branch Secretary and current Chairman Philip Weekes, the renowned Welsh mining engineer, was a key advisor to the buy-out team and became (unpaid) Chairman of Goitre Tower Anthracite, the new company formed to run Tower Colliery. Philip Weekes (born Philip Gordon Weekes in the village of Nantybwch Monmouthshire, Wales 12 June 1920 - died Penarth, Glamorgan ^[1] The mine remained financially viable and continued to provide employment to the workers, in spite of the government's coal mining policy, which had forced the closure of the mine for reasons of economics. The colliery was until its closure, one of the largest employers in the Cynon Valley. Cynon Valley is an ex- mining area near Rhondda in Wales, in the South Wales Valleys area

Closure

There has been talk of using machinery and manpower from Tower to boost production at the nearby Aberpergwm Colliery, a smaller mine closed by the National Coal Board in 1985 but reopened by a private concern in the mid 1990s. The National Coal Board (NCB was the Statutory Corporation created to run the nationalised Coal mining industry in Britain. ^[2]

The Aberdare branch of the Merthyr line continues north from Aberdare railway station to the colliery. Aberdare (Aberdâr is an industrial Town in the County borough of Rhondda Cynon Taff, Wales, situated (as the name implies at the Aberdare railway station (Aberdâr is a Railway station serving the town of Aberdare in Rhondda Cynon Taff, Wales. While passenger services terminate in Aberdare, a freight services operates, several times a day, along this stretch of line, owned by the colliery. Aberdare (Aberdâr is an industrial Town in the County borough of Rhondda Cynon Taff, Wales, situated (as the name implies at the

Due to dwindling coal seams, the colliery was last worked on January 18, 2008 and the official closure of the colliery occurred on January 25. Events 350 - Generallus Magnentius deposes Roman Emperor Constans and proclaims himself Emperor 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 41 - After a night of negotiation Claudius is accepted as Roman Emperor by the Senate ^[3]

References

External links

• out-dated (1999?) Tower Colliery website with a good history
• newer Tower Colliery website
• BBC News: Miner-owned pit faces closure