Beili Glas Colliery

Overview

A small colliery at Loughor, named after the farm it was sunk on, which worked on and off from the 1880s, reached 243 men in 1929 under Wern Broadoak Collieries and was abandoned in 1932.

History

Beili Glas Colliery was sunk on farmland at Loughor and took its name from the farm. It was in existence by 1886, when it was listed as Bailey Glas, but it was not listed in 1888-91 or from 1893 to 1910. From 1914 the Beili Glas Colliery Company worked it, until it was abandoned on 11 June 1917. It restarted in 1918 with 110 men.

Wern Broadoak Collieries took it over in 1921, and as Beili Glas Wern it employed 169 men in 1923, 57 of them at the surface, working the Swansea and Four Feet seams; its Penscallen seam workings with the Wern pit had been abandoned in 1921. The workforce peaked at 243 in 1929, the year a 61-year-old collier, Charles Andrews, broke his thigh under a fall of stone while wedging lagging under the roof. B. and B. G. Collieries took it over in 1930, and it was abandoned on 30 September 1932. An aerial photograph believed to have been taken from a German reconnaissance aircraft around 1941 shows the site.

Geology

South Wales Coalfield: the Swansea, Four Feet and Penscallen seams.

Workings

Worked with the Wern pit as Beili Glas Wern from 1921.

Closure

Abandoned on 11 June 1917 and restarted in 1918; finally abandoned on 30 September 1932.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Broad Oak Colliery, Loughor — Loughor neighbours; Beili Glas was worked by Broadoak Collieries from 1921.

Recorded claims

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

• Sunk on farmland from which it took its name, it was in existence in 1886 as Bailey Glas. ¹
• Beili-Glas Colliery is a recorded coal-mine site at Llwchwr, Swansea, SS 5749 9781. ²
• The Beili Glas Colliery Company worked it from 1914 until it was abandoned on 11 June 1917; it restarted in 1918 with 110 men. ¹
• Under Broadoak Collieries, Beili Glas Wern employed 169 in 1923 and 243 at its peak in 1929. ^1,3
• The Beili Glas and Wern workings in the Penscallen seam were abandoned in 1921. ⁴
• The colliery was working in 1913. ⁵
• It was abandoned on 30 September 1932. ¹

Sources

1. (secondary) Beili Glas Wern Colliery — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (primary) Coflein: Beili-Glas Colliery (NPRN 80616) — Coflein (RCAHMW)
3. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Charles Andrews (injured), Beili Glas Wern, 1929 — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) BGS mine plan: Beili Glas / Wern, Penscallen seam (abandoned 1921) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
5. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Samuel Rees (injured), Beili Glas, 1913 — Northern Mine Research Society

Record created: 18 October 2026 · Last researched: 18 October 2026