Operations in Bargoed Colliery started in 1897 when the Powell Duffryn Steam Coal Company started to sink what became the north shaft. In 1901, the Ras Las nine-foot seam was discovered at a depth of 625 yards. The north and south shafts were completed in November 1903. By 1910 the pit was employing 1,943 miners and was the largest coalmine in the Rhymney Valley, with three shafts. It continued to grow in size and production and by 1947 included a large power station and eighty-six coke ovens on the site. Aberbargoed had the largest man-made colliery waste tip in Europe.

There were by-product coke ovens producing gas which was sold for public supply, which were built c1920. It had 100 Koppers Regenerative and 50 Simplex by-product coke ovens. Sulphur was removed to produced sulphuric acid, tar was also extracted and processed in the works tar distillery. The site also had an electricity generating plant. 

Bargoed Colliery closed on 4 June 1977; the site has since been cleared and landscaped and the tip developed into a nature park.
Source: Bargoed Town Council.
B.A.Malaws, RCAHMW, 27 September 2012.