NewsgalleryOvergrown, vandalised and yet unmistakably the same: Tower Colliery a decade onWe were given a tour around Wales' last deep coal mine nearly 10 years after the doors closed for the final timeBookmarkShareNewsBy walesonline.co.uk17:15, 3 SEP 2017Updated18:08, 27 MAR 2018In some ways, it has hardly changed. In other ways it is unrecognisable. This is Tower Colliery, Hirwaun, nearly a decade after Wales' last deep coal mine finally closed its doors. We were given access to the site as officials consider ways of turning the huge 253-hectare site into something useful for the community (Image: Richard Swingler)1 of 37This picture taken in 2008 in the same spot gives a striking sense of what has changed. It was taken as the miners prepared for their final shift underground - bringing to a close around 200 years of deep pit coal mining in Wales2 of 37Some parts of the site appear almost unchanged by time - as if they have lived in a timeless state of rusted permanence throughout the decades3 of 37Before you enter the buildings, where miners defied economic gravity and the might of the government to buy and run their own pit, some parts appear almost unchanged bar a few weeds (Image: Richard Swingler)4 of 37But it was the people who gave Tower Colliery its life; the men and women who fought against extraordinary odds to give deep coal mining one final chapter - one final thumb in the eye to the powers that be. They were pictured here in a protest before the colliery shut in 2008. (Image: James Davies)5 of 37Today, the miners are no longer here. The 'unviable' pit they kept going for 13 years after the Coal Board said it was no longer economic to run, lies silent.6 of 37It is inside the offices of Tower Colliery that the changes are the most striking. This was miner's hero Tyrone O'Sullivan's office after he had led the buyout by the 239 redundant miners, who had all pooled £8,000 from their payoffs to buy it back. (Image: Richard Swingler)7 of 37The room is now ankle deep with books, debris and broken glass, with its windows completely smashed to pieces. (Image: Richard Swingler)8 of 37It is only 11 years ago that this picture of Tyrone O'Sullivan in the same office, surrounded by photographs, was taken. (Image: Patrick Olner)9 of 37Outside notices to the miners still sit on the walls, peeling and grey, but still a reminder of the dangers that faced the miners every day of their working lives10 of 37This was once the board room of Tower Colliery. It still has its table, a picture of Mr O’Sullivan and an old map, as well as documents all over the floor – one on top of the piles is a statement of shifts worked, dated 1948 (Image: Richard Swingler)11 of 37The framed picture of Tyrone O'Sullivan in the board room (Image: Richard Swingler)12 of 37Papers left as they were inside the board room (Image: Richard Swingler)13 of 37There has been a colliery at the site at the very top of the Cynon Vallery, past Llwydcoed and Hirwaun, and with stunning views out over the Brecon Beacons, ever since 1864. This picture was taken in 1939.14 of 37The Boiler Room area (Image: Richard Swingler)15 of 37Pictured here is Tony Shott, the general of the pit and neighbouring opencast mine who began working there as an apprentice surveyor in 1969. This was once the control room of the pit.16 of 37The dad of three left the site in the 80s to take a degree in geology but returned and joined the buyout in 1994 and has been involved ever since (Image: Richard Swingler)17 of 37He showed us the old lamp room off the main corridor, where lights would have been given out and collected from workers before and after their shifts (Image: Richard Swingler)18 of 37This copy of the Western Mail is still lying on the floor of the lamp room, remembering the triumphant day the miners returned to the pit19 of 37Tony explained: “There were 1,000 people working here and we had to give one in 13 a lamp to those going down the mines. That’s what the canopies are for that go all around the building – to cover workers queuing for lamps from the rain. Coming up out of the mines they would do exactly the opposite.” (Image: Richard Swingler)20 of 37Here is a miner passing through the lamp room before the site closed in 200821 of 37Stepping into the shower block really does feel like going back in time22 of 37Tony explained: “We’d go into the dirty locker room, through into the showers and then out into the clean locker room area. “We used to line up to wash each other’s backs. It was a hell of a job getting all of it off you. You would need to put so much soap on your face and it would always go into your eyes – sometimes soap wasn’t enough, you’d need Vaseline, then baby oil.”23 of 37Tower Colliery’s committee is trying to recreate what the site once was, and a huge clear-up operation will soon be under way. Tony said: “It is in a bit of a mess. We are trying to get it back to how it used to look. “What’s the phrase they use? It’s a work in progress. We want to take everything back to how it was originally built in the mid-1940s. We are aiming to make it look as close as possible to before.” (Image: Richard Swingler)24 of 37For the Tower group, there are “several various options” for what could happen to the site next, and the decision will be determined by feasibility studies, before going to council planners. But as far as Tony is concerned, a new museum or informational site, which had been previously earmarked, is not an option. (Image: Richard Swingler)25 of 37“It’s just not on the cards because you have got to be responsible,” Tony explained. “If you make a tourist attraction like that up here, you’ve already got Big Pit (the National Coal Museum), Hopkinstown in Pontypridd and Cefn Coed Colliery Museum (near Neath). “Whatever we do here will have an element of it, but it will not be the focus. “It’s difficult because whatever you do has to be financially sustainable. The building with the baths in it at the top is huge. The opportunities up there are unbelievable. This place could be accommodation, a spa, something to do with zip wires – it’s got it all up here. “But you couldn’t give it in this state to anyone or use it for anything until it’s all stripped out and brought up to modern standards.”26 of 37For Tony, his nostalgia relates to the people rather than the buildings, and so he does not feel much affinity with the derelict rooms, although he is angered by the spate of recent vandalism. “I don’t have the same feeling for the pit and its buildings that some people get. “I would put a bulldozer through all of these buildings – mining is all about the people, and they are all an absolutely tremendous bunch." (Image: Richard Swingler)27 of 37“I don’t have a great deal of nostalgia. It’s not the events that happened, it’s not the buildings, it’s the people. “Mining was the best job of all. They never did ill-discipline because mining is dangerous – everyone knew that and had that job. “But there was also flexibility – everybody had a degree of independence. “Someone would always come along and help you if you needed. It was phenomenal.” (Image: Richard Swingler)28 of 37 (Image: Richard Swingler)29 of 3730 of 37He’s not afraid of the task ahead of clearing up and transforming the building, however. “Daunting? This is certainly not daunting. “Daunting is when you are woken up in the middle of the mines and someone has had an accident. This is easy compared to that.”31 of 37The Pay Room, where miners would queue outside at the hatches. (Image: Richard Swingler)32 of 37The main block, comprising the showers, boiler room and the offices33 of 37Carl Philpotts, Director on the Tower Colliery Board.34 of 3735 of 3736 of 37A smashed framed picture of the Tower Colliery on the floor in the Board Room (Image: Richard Swingler)37 of 37More OnCynon ValleyAberdareHirwaunPolitics