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Prince of Wales, Abercarn.

Prince of Wales, Abercarn, late 1890's

Another view showing 3 sets of headgear.

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Organised coal mining operations began at Abercarn in 1836 by the Monmouthshire Iron and Coal Company (also known as the Victoria Company as their Ironworks at Ebbw Vale). They intended to sink six coal pits in the Abercarn district, but only two were completed; No. 1 and No. 6 or Cwmcarn pit (not to be confused with the Cwmcarn colliery) No.6 was a shallow pit at 63 yards to the Rock vein seam. The coal being taken by tramroad to the Monmouthshire canal at a point near Pontywaun Bridge

A cutting from the Monmouthshire Merlin 6-6-1846. "Ifor Hael" (Generous Ifor).

A cutting from the Monmouthshire Merlin 27-6-1846. 

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During the early 1840's the Abercarn colliery was taken over by Messrs. Allfrey of Newport, but later in the decade it was in the hands of the Abercarn and Gwithen Company. The chairman of this company was Sir Benjamin Hall M. P., after whom the famous Big Ben (the bell that chimes the clock at Westminster) was named. He was also the husband of Lady Llanover, a great promoter and lover of the Welsh language, a most unusual virtue for a member of the English aristocracy. Although in her later life her religious beliefs led her to purchase many of the public houses in the area, which she then converted to Temperance establishments.

At these collieries a social scheme was set up, which was financed by a small compulsory deduction from wages. This fund provided excellent amenities and welfare facilities including, schools, reading rooms, sickness benefit, and more attention was paid to the workmen's housing. This resulted in improved labour relations, with a more contented and an educated workforce and at no cost to the employer.

See bottom of page for Contemporary Report of the Abercarne Works.

Darby Brown and Company were the owners by 1859.

The Ebbw Vale Co Ltd. took over the colliery in 1862 and they added another shaft (No 2 pit) to the rich Blackvein seam.

Shafts Nos.1 and 2, were 310 yards and 352 yards deep respectively.

On February 8th 1867, in a twelve-hour day the colliers raised 1,369 tons of coal, after which the men were cheered on their way home and later treated with "home brewed" at the drill hall.

Click HERE for a 1869 report on the mine, from Geoff Palfrey.

An explosion in 1872 killed one man and badly injured several others.

Three men were killed here in another explosion in 1876.

A new shaft was sunk in 1877 some distance away at Cwmcarn to help with ventilation. This shaft was later to become part of the Cwmcarn colliery.

On the morning of September the 11th, 1878, there were 325 men and boys working underground when a massive explosion ripped through the workings, 268 of them perished in the worst colliery disaster recorded in Gwent.

Because of the ensuing raging underground fires and with the fear of further explosions, the two rescue teams, one of who had descended the Cwmcarn shaft were ordered back to the surface. The colliery manager along with government mines inspectors made the unenviable decision to flood the mine with waters from the nearby Monmouthshire Canal. It took two months and 35 million gallons of water before the engineers were satisfied that the fires had been extinguished. The water then had to be pumped out before the grim task of removing the bodies could begin. Not all the bodies were recovered many were left entombed. One skeleton was uncovered some 27 years later complete with working clothes and boots.

A first class gold Albert Medal was presented to John Harris for saving lives in this disaster. He went down the pit with a rescue team but having descended to a depth of 295 yards, the cage became stuck in the damaged shaft. Harris bravely climbed out of the cage and slid down one of the guide-ropes, remaining at the bottom for many hours until he knew that all those still alive had been rescued. Two gold and seven bronze medals were awarded for bravery after this explosion, which was considered to be Gwent's worst.

Full list of Medal recipients.

Another explosion at the neighbouring Risca colliery in 1880, killing 120 men brought the total number killed by gas explosions alone between the Prince of Wales and the Risca collieries to 591.

Abercarn didn't open again until 1882, when Abercarn Coal Company owned it.

In 1894 the United National Collieries took over Abercarn, by which time the nearby Quarry Pit, which worked the Elled Seam was included. At this time there were 1,079 employed at Abercarn producing from the Blackvein and the Five Feet seam and 239 at the Quarry Pit, shortly afterwards the Quarry Pit was listed as suspended.

The Ebbw Vale company was again in charge of the colliery in 1902.

By 1908 Quarry pit was in the hands of the Elled Coal Co. a subsidiary of the Ebbw Vale Company and at this time there were 24 men employed. While at the Prince of Wales the workforce numbered 1,154.

There were 1,308 employed in 1918.

From a report 1923, Abercarn and the Quarry pits employed a total of 1,384 men, producing from the Black Vein, Rock Vein, No. 8 and Five Feet seams.

Partridge, Jones and John Paton became the owners in 1936, by which time production was on a very small scale employing only 35 men. Later it was maintained as a pumping and ventilation pit for Cwmcarn Colliery and the pithead offices were used as the administration centre by the N.C.B. for the South Wales No. 6 area.

The shafts were filled and the site cleared in 1959.

The scene at the time of the explosion.

The Explosion, as reported in South Wales Daily News, 13th Sept., 1878.

TERRIBLE COLLIERY EXPLOSION IN MONMOUTHSHIRE

LOSS OF NEARLY 300 LIVES

GREAT CONSTERNATION IN THE DISTRICT

THE MANAGER AND ENGINEER BAFFLED

RETURN OF THE EXPLORING PARTY

270 COLLIERS ENTOMBED IN THE WORKINGS

"Abercarne, Wednesday night. Nine o'clock.......It was about five minutes to twelve when the inhabitants of the valley were startled by the reverberation of three distinct explosions, which were heard for a long distance off......A dense volume of smoke issued from the mouth of the shaft, and fierce flames were clearly distinguishable......In a remarkably short space of time the roads leading to the pit were crowded with men, women, and children - wives, mothers, brothers and sisters who were hastening forward to ascertain what had really happened......Searching parties were without delay then formed......These gentlemen entered the cage, and were carefully let down to the bottom. But what a picture was presented to their gaze!......Dead bodies lay in heaps on the roadways, dark. shapeless, charred masses, which a short time ago were moving about, animate with life. Here and there could be clearly seen the terrible results of the explosion. The brattices, of course, had been blown to pieces; overturned trams were strewed about, and by the faint light of the safety lamps could be seen, inter-mingled with the dead human bodies, those of the horses, who, along with the colliers, had met a fearful death......The first exploring party remained down a long time, and I am happy to say that in the interval a portion of the miners were enabled to make their escape. Eighty-two of the poor fellows were crowded together at the bottom of the shaft struggling with each other to get up first. Some of them severely burned, and the fearful look which hung about their faces as they were drawn up the shaft to the open air again will perhaps never be forgotten by those who were ready and willing to help them as they left the cage......But the rejoicing on the part of some of those on the bank proved to be short-lived, for, alas, several of the 82 colliers, though brought up from the fiery tomb had received a shock to the system, and the after-damp had so effectively done its work, that shortly after death released them from their sufferings......It will thus be seen that 373 men entered the pit in the morning; 23 afterwards left work, and after the explosion seven bodies were found, while 82 colliers were rescued. The number left in the pit, upon this calculation, is therefore, 262, and no hope whatever is entertained that they are alive. The disaster is, perhaps, the most terrible one that has happened in South Wales and Monmouthshire"

Click here for list of the Dead

A view of Abercarn showing the Gwyddon colliery and the Tin works in the left background.

ABERCARN AND GWYTHEN COLLIERIES.

(Abridged from the Morning Chronicle, May 1850)

The Abercarn and Gwythen Collieries are situated in the narrow and picturesque valley of the Ebbw, at a point distant a few miles from the “outcrop” of the “seams” on the south- eastern border of the great Welsh coal-field. They are the property of Sir Benjamin Hall, who owns an extensive tract, comprising farm, wood, and mountain lands, everywhere underlaid with minerals in this district. Fully alive to the enormities of “truck," and to the various other evils existing amongst the surrounding sea-coal collieries, Sir Benjamin was desirous of forming upon his property a large colliery, which might become the germ of a sounder and more humane system in this neighbourhood an establishment where the workmen should enjoy their inalienable right of being paid, at short and regular intervals, in cash-where they might have every appliance needed for the preservation of life and health-and where their domestic comfort, their intellectual improvement, and the education of their children, should be anxiously studied and liberally provided for. This wish he has seen abundantly gratified; and it must be a most pleasing reflection to him that there exists on his property, in the centre of a district where the well-being of the workman is shamefully neglected, and where “truck" is rife, a colliery having a contented, industrious, temperate, thriving, and improving population-where, but for his exertions and those of the company to whom he has leased the collieries, there would have existed the same unhappiness, discontent, embarrassment, dependence, and slavery, which I have already described as disgracing the neighbouring coal-works.

The ride from Newport to Abercarn lies through varied and interesting scenery, The distance is eleven miles. At first the ascent is steep for about a mile. Arrived at the summit of the hill, if you look back, a grand panoramic prospect lies out- spread before you. In front, at the extreme distance, rise the bold and wavy outlines of the Mendips; stretching down to the distant horizon on the right are the diminishing undulations of the Quantock hills. On the left, in swelling masses, are the heights of the Forest of Dean; and still further eastward the Graig and Blorenge, at the extremity of that magnificent chain, the Black Mountains. Running across the picture, and separating the Somersetshire from the Monmouthshire coast, lies the Bristol Channel, expanding westward in its course, and seeming to mingle with the sky beyond the rocky islands called The Flat and Steep Holmes. Numerous vessels, of, every size and denomination, bound for various destinations, up, down, and across the Channel, impart life and interest to the sea-view. Two lines of these are distinctly traceable one stretching from the mouth of the Bristol, the other from that of the Newport river. Still nearer the fore- ground is a fine breadth of cultivated land and salt-marsh, through which winds lazily the yellow Usk while at the foot of the hill stands the busy, wealthy, and rapidly-extending town of Newport, with its docks and forest of shipping, its canals, railways, bridges, and churches, and its handsome streets stretching far upwards towards the point at which you stand. In the year 1791 Newport was a mere village, containing only 750 persons, and having an insignificant trade in coal (it amounted to just 6,939 tons), carried on by means of mules. The following year saw the opening of the Monmouthshire Canal, by which the minerals could be conveyed in any quantity, with speed and facility, from the collieries to the wharfs for exportation; and from that time the town dates its prosperity. Passing over the several causes which, in the interval between that and the present year, have contributed to increase the trade of Newport, I will content myself in this place, for brevity's sake, with remarking that the population now numbers some 20,000, and that the quantity of coal sent coastwise and exported in the year 1848, as shown by a Parliamentary return, is not less than 554,102 tons.

Resuming our journey to Abercarn, after passing through the strictly preserved estate of Sir Charles Morgan, and crossing a bleak but well-cultivated tract of land, we enter upon the valley through which flows the swift-rushing and noisy Ebbw. The hill sides are precipitous, and, for the most part, agreeably clothed with wood, In the flat besides the river are some watery meadows, interspersed here and there with alders. Following the devious road along the bank of the river, you soon enter upon the coalfield. I Its boundary is recognisable by a cliff of the red sand-stone (which material always underlies the mineral) appearing through an oak wood on the right hand. The evidences of an extensive traffic are now visible on all sides. Long trains of trams, dragged by powerful locomotives, pass downwards, laden with coal - or upwards, to be refilled at the collieries - in rapid and frequent succession. The trade on the canal, though less noisy and less active, goes steadily forward, and claims its share of attention. Presently you pass some tin-works, and, I believe, some chemical works after which the road leads under a viaduct of many arches, extending across the valley and the river, the beauty of which reminds the spectator of the noble aqueducts of Italy, one of which, as I have been informed, served as its model. The extensive, collieries of Mr. Russell are now seen occupying a favourable position on the left bank of the Ebbw. Yet a few miles further, through larch groves and amidst beautiful scenery - the place of our destination is attained.

Here I met Mr. Ebenezer Rogers, the resident director of the company who work these collieries. He obligingly conducted me over the works and through the residences of the men. To this gentleman belongs the praise due to the complete and admirable arrangements everywhere visible throughout this extensive concern. Possessing a mind enlarged by liberal views, and animated with a fervent desire to improve the condition of the labourers task for which the experiences of travel through the various mineral districts of the Continent and America, with the purpose of studying their several characteristics, eminently fitted him, this gentleman has founded in Abercarn a happy, industrious, and prosperous colony. The wisdom of confiding the management of an undertaking of this magnitude to such a man, and of supplying him with ample means for carrying out his ideas, has been proved by the fact that the company, after several years trial, have been very successful. Indeed, I may say here, that, complete and liberal as are the provisions made for the well-being of the workmen and their families at these collieries, they have never entrenched upon, nor in the slightest degree endangered, the legitimate profits of capital. So far, indeed, from this having been the case, the balance, I was assured, is in favour of capital. And I can well believe that uniformly steady conduct on the part of the men, which at these collieries can with certainty be calculated upon, together with superior intelligence-a result ensured by their training here-would give the proprietors an advantage over others, having a discontented, mutinous, and dissolute set of men in their employ, more especially at seasons when a sudden and extraordinary demand for coal exists at the shipping ports - a circumstance of not infrequent occurrence.

The collieries stand on the right and left hand of the road on the south side of Abercarn. The pit to the right is on the Mynyddysllwyn or “red ash" measures, and is worked at a depth of seventy yards that to the left works the iron-stone vein in the" white ash" measures. The former yields bituminous coal for household purposes and the distillation of gas- the latter a strong and enduring coal, which gives out an intense heat, and is largely used for steam purposes. Its superiority has been officially acknowledged by its free adoption in her Majesty's steam navy.

The first circumstance which struck me at these collieries was the total absence of the noise and bustle usually characteristic of such establishments. At each colliery I entered the house in which work the powerful engines which raise the coal and pump the water from the pits. The ponderous machinery (entirely designed and erected by Mr. Rogers) was in the finest condition imaginable it worked without the slightest perceptible jar or vibration, and with all that delicate precision and gracefulness of motion which are indicative of the most perfect design and faultless workmanship. The arrangements for the prevention of accidents at the mouth of the pits were new to me they seemed quite effective for this purpose. The organisation of duties and the subdivision of labour are here so judicious that from four to five hundred tons of coal are sometimes raised daily, without hurry, noise, or confusion. All goes on quietly, orderly, yet vigorously. From the collieries the trains, as they leave the pits; pass to an inclined plane, which they descend; and, by means of machinery at the lower end, they deposit their stores of coal unbroken on the wharf, whence a single motion places them on the rail for Newport. I visited the counting-houses, the carpentery and smithery, and the “turning and model house,” where every provision had been made for executing work soundly and with celerity. Lastly, I visited the “head office," where I found engineers engaged upon designs for machinery, and in mapping the underground excavations. Beautiful sectional diagrams of the strata, and costly maps, showing with geometrical accuracy the true lines and bearing of every horse-way, cross-heading, stall, and waste in the workings below, were unrolled and spread out before me. Scattered around, in various directions, were curious specimens of fossil plants, impressed upon the shale of the coal measures, and here collected for scientific purposes. On leaving, I could not forbear expressing my gratification at the very complete arrangements I had witnessed - acknowledging that, of the various collieries I had visited in the course of this inquiry, I had seen none to compare With those of the Abercarn and Gwythen Company.

We next proceeded to the workmen's houses, which for the most part, if not indeed entirely, were built by the company, and remain their property. Mr. Rogers's first care, on commencing this new town-for such it is - was to provide an effective deep sewerage, for which the elevated situation of the ground afforded acceptable facilities. This done; the houses were erected. They are two stories high, consist of four rooms, and stand in double rows, having a wide street, properly drained, between them. They have privies and receptacles for house refuse; and each is furnished with a coal-bunker, where the week's supply is regularly delivered and stowed away. On entering the houses I found the rooms lofty, with ceilings, and having, below stairs, floors of flag-stone and convenient fire places. The windows were all furnished with ventilators. I found the houses extremely clean, and in most cases orderly; and on complimenting a woman for these virtues, she replied, “Ay, sir, there is some encouragement for work in such houses as these; they almost keep themselves clean, the floors are so good." Coal ashes and rubbish are removed daily, at the ex- pense of the company, I observed in these houses the same disposition on the part of their inhabitants to accumulate showy and good furniture, which I have described as existing amongst the workmen in the iron-works at Merthyr. The houses were literally crammed with furniture, and the walls were bedecked with a profusion of coloured prints and lithographs. From the houses, I went to the “public bakehouse," where I found a number of women making up their dough for the oven., This bakehouse is provided for the use of the workmen's families, free of charge, the company finding attendants, fuel, and every requisite. I was next led to a range of very convenient public baths and wash-houses, also provided gratuitously by the company for the use of their dependents. Public urinals and privies for the general accommodation of the town are also built and kept in order at the expense of the company. .With sanitary arrangements so complete, the reader will not be surprised to learn that the cholera, though it ravaged collieries on all sides, found no resting-place in Abercarn. I believe not a single case occurred in the neighbourhood. Having thus described the very complete arrangements generously and humanely provided for the health, comfort, and convenience of the working classes at Abercarn, I have next to specify the opportunities for intellectual gratification and improvement which the wisdom of their employers has laid open to them. And first I must notice the Abercarn “Scientific Institution." At night I visited the reading room of the institution. The curate of the parish, a proprietor of some neighbouring- tin works, and Mr. Jonathan Rogers, formed the visiting attendants on duty. I there saw some fifty workmen, well-dressed, clean, and orderly; some amusing themselves after the day's labour with the recreation of reading, and others practicing writing. I examined the copy-book of one of these adult scholars. The man informed me with a smile of pride, on my praising his performance, that he was 43 years of age, and had learned to write in the institution. On looking at the titles of the works then in request, I found one man reading a “History of India," another a book of voyages and travels, and the third a magazine.

When I saw this, and remembered a remark before made to me that Mr. Rogers exercised a discrimination in his choice of workmen, giving character its due preference (which, I am sorry to say, is not generally so much considered as it should be by masters in the collieries and iron works), I ceased to wonder at the paucity of public-houses, in proportion to inhabitants, which I had noticed in Abercarn. That craving after excitement which forms an element of the human mind, and which must be satisfied, I here found ministered to in a manner at once harmless and elevating, while the family at home were absolutely benefited by such a disposal of the workman's leisure for the man who reads good books can hardly fail to become gentler and kinder, a good husband, and a good father. If any one should object that these arrangements are not enduring - that they charm chiefly by their novelty, and are insufficient to fix permanently the liking of the workman (as I have heard some contend), the answer is, that though the system has now been in operation a long time, there is no falling off in the attendance; nor in the interest expressed by the members. The reverse is rather the case. No doubt the variety of the lectures, debates, new books, and concerts (for they have these also) which are from time to time provided, tends in no inconsiderable degree to keep alive interest, and to divert men from sensual and degrading indulgences; and, for judiciously studying their alternation of amusements, great praise is due to Mr. Jonathan Rogers and the other managing visitors, who have never allowed the succession of these intellectual exercises to suffer interruption, or even to flag.

I next visited and inspected the schools. The company's school is held in rather a small, but a thoroughly ventilated room, well furnished with maps, diagrams, and all the needful appliances for scholastic discipline. Both sexes were gathered in the same room, the girls occupying the desks and forms nearest the master, I understand that better school accommodation is in preparation. I found all the children neatly dressed clean, and well behaved. Like most Welsh children, they had fine open and intelligent countenances. The master (Mr. Jones) appeared proud of his charge; and spoke highly of their capacity for learning. The system followed is that of the Welsh normal school, with some slight alterations which the experience of the master has suggested. The number of children on the books is 65, but the attendance when I called was 45; this decrease was accounted for on the ground of the inclemency of the weather. The boys were called into class, and exercised on mental arithmetic; they astonished me by the quickness and accuracy of their calculations. The entire school then sung the “Multiplication" table, and the “Addition of Money" table, in verse after this they were marched round the school- room, and practiced in exercises of the hands and arms. Two girls then sang for me “The Death of Llewellyn," in Welsh this was followed by the beautiful song, “Hedyddlon " and the “National Anthem" closed this pleasing exhibition of the school-room.

But thanks to the beneficence of Lady Hall, the above is not the only educational establishment in Abercarn. Her ladyship has established a school in which 40 children of poor Welsh parents are received as free scholars, and provided with a sound and useful education. When I inspected this school there were 80 children upon the books. The average attendance was 60. The system adopted is one devised by her lady- ship, and comes nearer, perhaps, to Chambers “Educational Course" than any other. Children come from a considerable distance in the surrounding country to enjoy the benefits of this school; and in my subsequent excursions through some neighbouring farms to inquire into the state of the agricultural labourers, I heard in more than one place grateful allusion made to her ladyship for her beneficence and liberality in establishing and supporting this school. Those children who are not on the free list pay from 2d. to 6d. a week, according to their age and position. No distinction whatever is made between the free scholars and those who pay.

The Welsh and English languages are both taught. The children learn reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, singing, and the rudiments of geography. I was particularly struck with the specimens of writing which the master pointed out to me as the result of the day's lesson.

As late as eight in the evening I visited the singing class, where I found a large number of young people, including several married men and their wives, practicing chorus singing. They were all neatly dressed, and seemed to enjoy themselves very heartily. They were led by an elderly miner, who had a fair knowledge of music; he gave the time, whenever a change was marked, with great emphasis and accuracy, and conducted with confidence and spirit. The class sang for me Spofforth's animated old glee, “Hail Smiling Morn,” Webbe's “Glorious Apollo," and one or two others. After this I was gratified with an example of Welsh Penillion singing, with the substitution of a violin for a harp-which latter instrument was not at command. It was in Welsh, and took the form of dialogue, the contention being between a young girl and a middle-aged bachelor - the former advocating matrimony and decrying the single life, while the latter defended celibacy and attacked the married state. As may be supposed, the lady came off victorious, and the gentleman was too happy to be convinced by the united force of beauty and wit. Preparations were in progress that evening for a public concert, which was to take place in a fortnight's time.

The following day I descended into the pits, where I saw and questioned the men at their work. This appears to be the proper place to state the arrangements existing between the employers and the workmen in these collieries. In a former letter on the “Strike at Aberdare," I alluded with censure to the loose, unsatisfactory, and informal contracts made between these parties in many of the sea coal collieries of South Wales. That objection does not apply to these works. Here everything is rendered clear and definite. The workman before he enters the pit has delivered to him a printed form of the contract he makes, and the rules he must abide by. The competition that exists on all sides to obtain employment in these collieries forms the best evidence of the high estimation in which all the arrangements made by this company are regarded by the working classes in the neighbourhood. A “draw," or payment in ash, is made to the workmen every Friday evening, so that their wives may go money in hand to market every Saturday; and at the end of every month a statement of his account, with any balance that may be due upon it, is handed to each work- man, Each man is required to contribute at the rate of 6d, in the pound of his earnings to the "works fund"-of which one- half is applied to the payment of the doctor of the works, for attendance during the illness of such workman or any member of his family, and the other half is used as a" relief fund" for his support during accident or illness. The works fund is managed by a committee of workmen elected from the general body. A number of visiting inspectors, consisting also of workmen, are appointed, whose duty it is to see that the reliefs fund is properly distributed, and that none but such as are incapable shall receive its benefits, A long printed list of the rules and regulations for the management of the workmen's sick fund now lies before me. They have evidently been maturely considered, and they have proved most efficacious in practice.

This system of self-government, in the instance of the doctor's and sick fund, has been found, according to the statement of Mr. Rogers, to work most beneficially. It at once flatters and gratifies the workman to have the control of a fund, created compulsorily from his own labour, which in other places is administered by strangers. I have shown that in the iron works no account is rendered of the expenditure of this fund; a circumstance which affords an opportunity for illnatured remarks, though there can be no doubt that, in those places, the whole proceeds are honestly expended. Here the men have the distribution of the entire fund a fixed amount is set apart for the doctor, and the remainder is watched over with the most jealous care-so that skulkers and idlers have not here the chance of living, as they do in places where no such wholesome supervision exists at the expense of the honest and industrious labourer.

The first pit I descended was the "Rock Vein Pit," which has a depth of 210 feet. The “red ash" coal is there raised, I traversed the workings, which are very extensive, throughout. They were spacious, dry, and thoroughly ventilated. So clear and direct is the drift way for the passage of air through the workings from the downcast to the upcast shaft, that all necessity for artificial ventilation is unnecessary. The pit effectually purifies itself by natural means. The heat of the mine, by rarefying the air, causes a smart current of dense and cold air to enter the pit by the downcast shaft. The action, once set up, continues, and is abundantly sufficient in pits where no interruption to the flood of this ventilating current takes place, nor any break in the circuit. In this pit I recognised the leader of a singing-class I had visited over-night cutting a horse-way. He expressed himself thoroughly happy in his employment, and thankful for the benefits the company had conferred on the entire body of workmen in their employ. I found these sentiments everywhere prevalent where I made inquiry. In this pit I was gratified by an inspection of the rich fossil Flora of Mynyddyslwyn coal measures. Everywhere impressed upon the shale, with wonderful distinctness and minuteness, were splendid specimens of the vegetation of a former world. These have a brilliant jet-black surface, and relieved by the dull slate- coloured rock upon which they are flattened, they form extremely interesting objects for examination. Gigantic ferns, and broad-leafed waterflags, lepidodendra, with their curious bamboo joints, stigmaria, calamites, and a host of the tribe juncacta, were visible upon the roof of the mine in every direction. I saw also, in three or four places, what the miners term “bells." These are fossil trees, resting with their roots upon the coal, the stems remaining upright, as they grew, and encased in rock. The bark, in every instance, has been converted into coal, while the heart of the tree, by the mysterious process of fossilization, has changed to stone. These trees run from a foot to 18 inches at the base. The lower part of the trunk being something wider than the upper, and the connection with the surrounding rock cut off by the thin layer of coal which occupies the place of bark, these trees often slip down into horseways or cross-headings, and serious injury has occurred to men and animals by coming into contact with them in the darkness of the mine. To lessen the probability of these accidents, the miners when they find such a tree, generally cut away the base as far as they can reach with their" picks," which gives the hollow thus made in the roof the appearance of the inside of a bell - hence, I presume, the name.

I then descended the “White Ash" steam coal-pit, where found the same perfect arrangements for the protection of life and health, and heard the same expressions of satisfaction, and thankfulness on the part of the workmen, as in the workings I had just left. The depth of the pit is 420 feet. I must not omit to notice a plan here adopted for steadying the descent of the cage, which I believe is peculiar to these works (I have not seen it elsewhere), and which may be adopted in other collieries with the best effect. Instead of the hempen or wire rope usually employed, they use here a line of railway irons laid vertically and pinned securely to the bratticing and side of the shaft; a proper shaped groove in the cage, which is kept well greased, traverses the rail, and the effect is to impart greater smoothness and steadiness than are obtainable by the old-fashioned system.

Here I close my notice of the Abercarn and Gwythen collieries. I have called these works a “model colliery," and hope the reader will approve the title. Certainly if he had seen, as I have, the lamentable neglect of the happiness, comfort, and well-being of the workmen and their families, which is evinced in too many of the Welsh collieries, he would agree with me that a lesson may profitably be taken by their proprietors from these works.