Abernant No. 9 Pit

Overview

A steam-coal pit and level between Cwmbach and Abernant, Aberdare, sunk in 1840 by R. Fothergill and Company and wound by water balance; it raised over 160,000 tons a year in the 1890s and closed in 1910.

History

No. 9 Pit stood between Cwmbach and Abernant, east of Aberdare. It was sunk in 1840 by R. Fothergill and Company and consisted of two shafts and a level; the shafts reached the Five Feet seam at 129 yards, and the pit was wound by water balance and ventilated by a furnace. Three men died in an explosion on 10 August 1864. It passed to the Aberdare and Plymouth Company in 1875 and by 1882 to the Aberdare Works and Collieries Company, whose mines and ironworks were known together as the Aberdare Works.

In 1889 the pit and level produced 160,054 tons and in 1894 161,153 tons, working the Six Feet, Bute, Seven Feet and Nine Feet seams on the longwall method with safety lamps. The downcast shaft measured 18 feet by 11 feet 9 inches and was 360 feet deep; the upcast was 10 feet 3 inches across and 390 feet deep. An explosion killed a ripper and a haulier on 16 May 1890, and falls of roof most of the other men who died there. The pit employed 525 men in 1896. The Marquis of Bute's company took it over in 1899, and it employed 335 in 1908 and 457 by one count in 1905. A photograph of the period shows men and women, two of the women in the traditional dress of Welsh colliery women, in front of its wooden headframe. It closed in 1910, and its coal was then worked from River Level Colliery.

Geology

South Wales Coalfield: the Five Feet, Six Feet, Bute, Seven Feet and Nine Feet seams.

Workings

Two shafts and a level: the downcast 18 ft by 11 ft 9 in and 360 ft deep, the upcast 10 ft 3 in across and 390 ft deep; water-balance winding, furnace ventilation, longwall working with safety lamps.

Closure

Closed in 1910; its reserves were then worked from River Level Colliery.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• River Level Colliery, Aberdare — Aberdare Works pits at Abernant; No. 9's coal was worked from River Level after 1910.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• Sunk in 1840 by R. Fothergill and Co., with two shafts to the Five Feet at 129 yards, water-balance winding and furnace ventilation. ¹
• Worked in the 1860s by Fothergill and Company; in 1889 owned by the Aberdare Works and Collieries Company. ^1,2
• The No. 9 Pit and Level produced 160,054 tons in 1889 and 161,153 tons in 1894. ²
• The downcast was 18 ft by 11 ft 9 in and 360 ft deep, the upcast 10 ft 3 in in diameter and 390 ft deep. ²
• Closed in 1910; its reserves were worked from River Level Colliery. ^1,3
• A photograph shows men and women in front of the No. 9 Pit headframe, two women in the traditional dress of Welsh colliery women. ³

Sources

1. (secondary) Abernant (No. 9 Pit and De Winton) — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) No 9 Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (secondary) Abernant Colliery, photograph (87.108I/21) — Amgueddfa Cymru - Museum Wales

Record created: 17 October 2026 · Last researched: 17 October 2026