In 1909 the Bedwas Colliery Company leased 1,475 acres of land, on the slopes of Mynydd y Grug just outside the village of Trethomas. As the best and easiest mineral rights had already been taken, Bedwas was forced to go deep, and called on the proven continental experience of Austrian Edmund L. Hann (cousin of meteorologist Julius von Hann), to design the colliery, having previously designed Penallta Colliery. To sink the shaft the company used the same experience formula, engaging mining contractor Fred Piggott from Caerphilly (the former owner of a mansion that was The Caerphilly District Miners Hospital), to be responsible for the entire sinking.