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Bwllfa No.1 Pit, c. 1880.
Situated at the head of the Dare Valley at Cwmdare, sink started in 1853 by Sam Thomas and Joseph, production commenced in 1856, by S. Thomas and Ebenezer Lewis.
The two shafts were 200 yard deep and were operated by water balance winding, ventilation was by furnace.
In 1857 Ebenezer Lewis was the sole owner.
By 1864 Bwllfa Colliery Company Ltd. were the owners
A new shaft was sunk in 1867 at 150 yards deep and ventilated by Guibal fan. This same year Five miners were killed on the 27th of December by smoke from a shaft fire. They were Benjamin Lloyd, Thomas Wood, Benj Thomas, Thomas Owen and John Daniel
Brogden and Sons took over the colliery in 1873.
The Bwlfa and Merthyr Dare Coal Company Limited was created in 1876.
Another accident in 1878 claims three lives.
In 1891 the Bwllfa and Merthyr Dare Steam Collieries (1891) Ltd. was formed and the Gorllwyn level opened.
From the Inspector of Mines list 1896, there were 1,128 men employed at the Bwllfa Dare pit and 231 at Bwllfa No.2 pit (formerly Nantmelyn opened by Mortecai Jones in the early 1860's).
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Nantmelyn (Bwllfa No.2)
During 1907 the old Powell's pit, c.1850 was reopened as Bwllfa No.3.
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Powell's Pit (Bwllfa No.3).
By 1908 there was 1,052 men working at the Bwllfa Dare, 657 at Bwllfa No.2 and 77 at Bwllfa No.3.
In 1918 the employment Nos. were:- 1,054 at Bwllfa Dare, 423 at Bwllfa No.3 and 931 at the combined Bwllfa No.2 the New drift No. 4 and the Gorllwyn level.
The first electric powered coal cutting machines to be used in South Wales were installed at Bwllfa No.3 in 1922.
In 1923 the Bwllfa No. 1 employed 1,166 men producing Ironstone
and Steam coal from the Gorllwyn, Two Feet Nine, Four, Six and Nine
Feet, Four Feet Upper and Lower, Yard and Seven Feet seams.
The Bwllfa No.2 worked the Yard, Gellideg and the New seams with an
underground workforce of 388.
Bwllfa No. 3 produced from Seven Feet, Lower Yard, Gellideg and the
New seams, employing 690 men.
At the Bwllfa No.4 New drift and the Gorllwyn level there were 202
working the Nine Feet and 139 men working the Gorllwyn underground
respectively, with 147 employed on the surface, which was shared
with Bwllfa No. 2.
In 1928 the Bwllfa and Cwmaman Coal Co. took charge, but by 1935 it was in hands of the Powell Duffryn Steam Coal Company.
Bwllfa No.3 ceased production in 1936.
In 1945 Bwllfa Nos.1 & 3 open only for ventilation and pumping, Bwllfa No.2 and New Drift No.4 employing a workforce of 572.
After coal production ceased at the Bwllfa in 1957, the colliery was used for ventilation with the coal being brought to the surface on the other side of the mountain at Maerdy.