Blaencuffin Level

Overview

A small level on the hillside above Llanhilleth, on the eastern side of the Ebbw valley, opened by Sir Robert Salisbury in 1801 and worked by a succession of small owners until it was abandoned in April 2001. In 1830 a new locomotive hauled coal from Thomas Protheroe's Blaencuffin Isha colliery down the tramroad to Crumlin.

History

A level was opened at Blaencuffin, on the hillside above Llanhilleth on the eastern side of the Ebbw valley, by Sir Robert Salisbury in 1801. By 1832 there were two collieries here, Blaencuffin and Blaencuffin Isha, owned by Thomas Powell and Thomas Protheroe, and in 1834 Protheroe took a 21-year lease of the coal under Llanhilleth Farm. Trams were hauled up an incline from the tramroad and Protheroe's wharf on the canal at Crumlin.

In July 1830 a new locomotive built by Price and Company was landed on Protheroe's wharf and tried on the tramroad. It hauled twenty empty trams up to his colliery, 'Blancyftin Isha', and brought twenty loaded trams back, 52 and a half tons of coal on a round trip of thirty miles in twelve hours. The Monmouthshire Merlin reckoned it would save nearly half the cost of horse haulage, since the same work took six horses two days.

The two Blaencuffin collieries in an 1869 list belonged to Thomas Jones and to the trustees of the late Thomas Protheroe. In 1880 Blaencuffin was owned by Powell Brothers and was in liquidation. Thereafter it was a family concern of the Blaencuffin farm: T. Hall in 1896, John Hall in 1908 with seven men, Thomas Price in 1918, A. Goff in 1938 and W. M. Desmond in 1945. The level was closed and abandoned in April 2001.

Geology

The Mynyddislwyn seam, top and bottom leaves.

Workings

Hillside levels into the Mynyddislwyn seam, with an incline down to the tramroad to Crumlin. Opencast workings called Blaen Cyffin took the same seam in 1977-78.

Closure

Closed and abandoned in April 2001.

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.

• Sir Robert Salisbury opened a level at Blaencuffin in 1801. ¹
• In July 1830 a locomotive hauled twenty loaded trams from Protheroe's Blaencuffin Isha colliery to his Crumlin wharf, a thirty-mile round trip, in twelve hours. ^1,2
• John Hall owned the level in 1908, when it employed seven men. ¹
• The level was closed and abandoned on 24 April 2001. ¹
• The Blaencuffin workings in the Mynyddislwyn seam were abandoned on 21 April 2001. ³
• Opencast workings called Blaen Cyffin worked the Mynyddislwyn seam in 1977-78. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Welsh Coal Mines: Blaencuffin, Llanhilleth — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (primary) 'Locomotive engine', Monmouthshire Merlin, 31 July 1830 — Welsh Newspapers Online (National Library of Wales)
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: BLAENCUFFIN (Mynyddislwyn), abandoned 21 April 2001 — British Geological Survey
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: BLAEN CYFFIN OPENCAST (Mynyddislwyn), 1977 — British Geological Survey

Record created: 10 October 2026 · Last researched: 10 October 2026