Blaenpergwm Colliery

Overview

A small Red Vein coal mine high on Pentreclwydau mountain in the Rheola Forest, Vale of Neath, opened in 1955 by Jack Hamer and the Crugau Colliery Company and still using pit horses around 1990.

History

Blaenpergwm Colliery was a small coal mine at the top of Pentreclwydau mountain in the Rheola Forest, between Resolven and Glynneath in the Vale of Neath. In 1955 Jack Hamer and the Crugau Colliery Company opened it to work the Red Vein, a seam abandoned by the closed Brynteg Colliery. Hamer was managing director of Crugau Colliery Co. Ltd, launched in December 1952 to run the Crugau Colliery lower down in the forest. Blaenpergwm lay about 100 yards from the Graig y Fforest No. 2 (Pinetrees) drift, which also worked the Red Vein. When Graig y Fforest replaced its horses with a conveyor in 1990, a couple of them were kept on to work at Blaenpergwm. The Coal Authority holds an abandonment plan of an opencast working under the Blaenpergwm name, also in the Red Vein, dated 22 October 1988.

Geology

Worked the Red Vein seam of the South Wales Coalfield.

Workings

Worked the Red Vein, with horses used underground around 1990. An opencast working of the same name, also in the Red Vein, was abandoned in October 1988.

Closure

Unknown.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Brynteg Colliery — Blaenpergwm was opened in 1955 to work the Red Vein abandoned by the closed Brynteg Colliery (Welsh Coal Mines).
• Crugau Colliery — Both worked by the Crugau Colliery Company under Jack Hamer (Welsh Coal Mines).
• Graig y Fforest No.2 Colliery (Pinetrees) — About 100 yards apart at the top of Pentreclwydau mountain, both in the Red Vein; Graig y Fforest's horses went to work at Blaenpergwm in 1990 (Welsh Coal Mines).

Recorded claims

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

• Jack Hamer and the Crugau Colliery Company opened Blaenpergwm Colliery in 1955 to mine the Red Vein, abandoned by the closed Brynteg Colliery. ¹
• Blaenpergwm Colliery lay near Glynneath at grid reference SN 854 074. ²
• It lay about 100 yards from the Graig y Fforest No. 2 (Pinetrees) drift, at the top of Pentreclwydau mountain in the Rheola Forest. ¹
• When Graig y Fforest replaced its horses with a conveyor in 1990, a couple were kept on to work at Blaenpergwm. ¹
• An abandonment plan of the Blaenpergwm opencast working in the Red Vein is dated 22 October 1988. ³

Sources

1. (secondary) Welsh Coal Mines: Other small mines — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) Small Collieries at Resolven — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) BGS mine plans: Blaenpergwm (Opencast), Red Vein (MRA catalogue 16165) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 10 October 2026 · Last researched: 16 October 2026