Bettws Llantwit Colliery

Overview

A group of drifts near Tondu, north of Bridgend, opened in 1828 and floated as a £60,000 company in 1873 on the promise of 500 tons a day; worked in a succession of drifts until 1911, with a last two-man development in 1933 to 1935.

History

Bettws Llantwit Colliery began as an old drift opened in 1828 by Nash Edwards-Vaughn, at around SS 892 875 near Tondu. It was owned in 1858 to 1860 by H. Cossham and Company and in 1869 to 1870 by Thomas Hopkins. On 31 March 1873 the Bettws Llantwit Company Limited was formed with a capital of £60,000 in £10 shares, its directors including Sir Wilfred Bratt, a director of the Chelsea Waterworks, and the colliery owner William Boyle. The prospectus described workings in the Middle Bettws seam, 54 inches thick and reached by a level; output would soon reach 120 tons a day, and 500 tons once shafts had been sunk to the Nine-Feet seam, the Big Bettws, which would take a year. A £10 share certificate of the company, numbered 1409 and dated 25 June 1873, is in the collection of Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales.

Henry Storry, a 23-year-old collier, was killed by a fall of roof in 1875. In 1884 the Bettws Llantwit Coal Company still owned the mine, with J. Williams as manager, and in November 1886 the workings broke into old workings and flooded, seriously injuring two men. Drifts were worked in succession: one from 1854 to 1893, another from 1880 to 1896, another from 1907 to 1911 and a last from 1933 to 1935. East Bettws employed 18 men in 1901 and, under the Bettws Llantwit Colliery Company of Cardiff, 15 underground in the Bettws Four-Feet seam and 3 on the surface in 1908 to 1911; it was abandoned in 1911, and in 1933 two men were developing it again.

Geology

Coal Measures of the South Wales coalfield: the Middle Bettws seam, the Nine-Feet (Big Bettws) seam, the Bettws Four-Feet seam, and the No. 3 Llantwit seam.

Workings

A succession of drifts and levels: 1854-93, 1880-96, 1907-11 and 1933-35, with East Bettws worked to 1911.

Closure

East Bettws was abandoned in 1911; the last drift was worked from 1933 and its No. 3 Llantwit seam abandoned in 1935.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Recorded claims

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

• An old drift opened in 1828 by Nash Edwards-Vaughn. ¹
• The Bettws Llantwit Company Limited was formed on 31 March 1873 with a capital of £60,000 in £10 shares. ^1,2
• A £10 share certificate of the Bettws Llantwit Colliery Limited, numbered 1409, is dated 25 June 1873. ²
• The 1873 prospectus described the Middle Bettws seam, 54 inches thick, worked by a level, with 500 tons a day expected once shafts reached the Nine-Feet seam. ¹
• The mine broke into old workings and flooded in November 1886, seriously injuring two men. ¹
• Abandonment plans are dated 1911 (Maesteg Bettws seam) and 1935 (No. 3 Llantwit seam). ^3,4

Sources

1. (secondary) Bettws Llantwit Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (primary) Bettws Llantwit Colliery Limited share certificate (84.43I/2) — Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales
3. (primary) BGS mine plan: Bettws Llantwit, Maesteg Bettws seam (abandoned 1911) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
4. (primary) BGS mine plan: Bettws Llantwit, No. 3 Llantwit seam (abandoned 1935) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 16 October 2026 · Last researched: 17 October 2026