Right: Dinas Ishaf Farm
An example of a long house, i.e. a single, long, low, oblong building which housed both family and cattle. Renovated in the 19th century, this example has a fire place beam dated 1638, but is itself possibly earlier in date

The village of Dinas has a very special place in any history of the Rhondda for it is here that the birth of the coal industry in the valley, and hence the birth of industrial Rhondda itself, can truly be said to have taken place. This development began when Walter Coffin, a businessman from Bridgend, bought Dinas farm in the early 1800's, followed subsequently by the mineral rights to Gwaun Ddu and Gwaun Adda Farms, with the intention of prospecting the area for coal. The early days of mining in Dinas were beset by problems as the science of geology was at that time in its infancy, and the extent of the coal measures on the land unproved. Also the Rhondda at that time was bereft of manpower with experience of the mining industry, meaning skilled labour had to be imported and housed in the area.
Additionally at the beginning of the venture Dr.Griffith's tramroad terminated three miles below Dinas, making the transportation of any coal produced extremely problematical. However Coffin eventually overcame these problems and by 1841 the Dinas pits owned by Coffin employed 301 men and 113 boys, making them the largest colliery not connected to an ironworks in North Glamorgan.

The early development of Dinas can be seen on the 1847 tithe map of the area. This shows a clear contrast to the majority of the Rhondda at that time, which mainly consisted of scattered farmhouses and the odd cottage, chapel or church. Dinas however shows the beginning of the Rhondda's first ‘true' mining community, with the first rows of cottages built by and owned by Coffin to house his workers, as well as cottages owned by David Griffiths, also housing Coffin's workers. Additionally the map shows a chapel with a graveyard and house attached, Dinas' first chapel ‘Ebenezer' was built in 1830.
At first the number of immigrants into the area was small, and mainly consisted of the colliery officials who came with Coffin from Bridgend, the specialist sinkers of the pit from Llansamlet and the first batch of miners from districts such as Penderyn, Llantrisant and Llanharan.

By the 1930's these early workers were supplemented by a number of agricultural labourers from the Vale of Glamorgan. Although the extent of Coffin's mining operations were small by later standards, it was his pioneering vision that was to provide the catalyst for the later wholesale coal mining of the area that was to change the face of the Rhondda for ever.
The first recorded colliery explosion in the Rhondda occurred at Dinas on New Years Day 1844, which tragically killed twelve men and boys.
Dinas since 1912 has a dedicated mines rescue station , originally opened on the 22nd June that year by King George V.

Despite the decline of coal mining in the Rhondda in the twentieth century Dinas Rescue Station continued to thrive. It served as a base station to the other rescue stations in South Wales, and as other stations began to close it expanded its coverage to other areas. In its first seventy-five years of operation the Dinas Mines rescue Station trained some 2,000-rescue men and attended over 200 emergency calls in the process saving countless miners lives.

Right: The Rescue Station - Dinas