Six Bells Colliery

The colliery was originally opened as Arael Griffin on the site of an earlier balance shaft which had been sunk in 1863 by Thomas Phillips Price at Hafod Van.

In 1892 John Lancaster and Co. began sinking two 352 yards (322 m) shafts on the opposite side of the Ebbw Fach River.

[3] On 28 June 1960, at approximately 10:45, an explosion took place in the West District of the Old Coal Seam, caused by an ignition of firedamp.

The Inspector of Mines reported that the probable cause of the explosion was firedamp ignited by a spark from a stone falling onto a steel girder.

[4] As part of the National Coal Board's strategic move to super-pits in the 1970s, Six Bells was integrated with Marine Colliery at Cwm.

[5] In 2010 a 20-metre (66 ft) high statue called the Guardian was erected near the site of the old colliery to commemorate the 1960 disaster.

The statue was unveiled by The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams on 28 June 2010 and has been described as "a Welsh answer to Antony Gormley's Angel of the North".