Limited Edition of 195

 

"In 1853 the Pembrokeshire Iron and Coal Company began sinking a pit at Grove to reach the Kilgetty anthracite Vein which was finally reached in 1858 at a depth of 182 metres and at a cost of £30000. Coal from Grove was carried both to the Saundersfoot Railwasy via Stepaside and to a self-acting incline supplying the Ironworks below. This building once housed a 274 horsepower Cornish Beam Pumping Engine. Coal extracted from the pit created steam to pivot a massize metre cylinder inside the building with pump rods in the shaft, thus raising water into a drainage channel and keeping the mine from flooding. In 1878 the Grove Colliery was later connected to Kilgetty Colliery via an underground tunnel some 795 metres long. Grove Colliery had its' own Smithy, Carpenters' shop, Stores and Stables which housed the pit ponies. By 1884 winding had ceased at Grove but the Cornish Engine house was retained for pumping water until its' closure in 1900."