Rhondda Heritage Park

Visitors can experience the life of the coal miners on a guided tour through one of the mine shafts of the Lewis Merthyr colliery.

Subsequently, Walter Coffin opened and sunk the first pits paving the way for the discovery of rich and prosperous steam coal seams with many more lines to follow.

[1] In the mid-1870s William Thomas Lewis (later Lord Merthyr) purchased and reopened the two pits, mining the upper bituminous (household) coal seams, until Hafod closed around 1893 and Coed Cae in the 1930s.

In 1905 the company acquired Universal Colliery at Senghenydd,[7] which was later to suffer the worst ever mining disaster in British history.

According to the plaque on the monument it was erected "as a memorial to all those who through accident, disaster or disease, lost their lives or otherwise suffered as a result of the mining industry of the South Wales coalfield".

Founded in or before 1855, the band has been highly successful, winning numerous contest accolades, and continues to perform across Wales and wider.