Blaenserchan Colliery

Overview

A Pontypool-area colliery sunk in 1890, whose 95 years of production ended not with its own closure but by being quietly absorbed into a neighbour's underground network in 1969, decades before its final closure in 1985 as the last deep mine to work the Afan Lwyd Valley.

History

Blaenserchan Colliery was sunk with a single shaft in 1890 by Partridge, Jones & Co Ltd, initially reaching the Tillery seam at a depth of 113 yards and using the neighbouring Llanerch Colliery as its ventilation (downcast) shaft. The shaft was deepened to 362 yards in 1899 to reach the Steam Coal seams, and a second shaft, around 354-363 yards deep, was sunk in the early-to-mid 1910s. The colliery worked house coal from the Tillery seam at first, later extending to the Brithdir, Five-Feet/Gellideg, Four-Feet, Nine-Feet, Meadow Vein and Black Vein seams, and eventually the thin but crucial Garw seam — only 2ft 9in to 3ft thick, but holding some 3.5 million tons of reserves that proved vital to the colliery's later operations. Employment grew steadily — 398-436 underground workers in 1896, a combined 2,060 with Llanerch by 1918, around 1,105 by 1923 — before falling to 720 at the industry's 1947 nationalisation. In 1969, Blaenserchan stopped winding coal to its own surface altogether: production was instead routed underground through the neighbouring Tirpentwys Colliery and on to Hafodyrynys for processing, with Blaenserchan itself continuing purely as an underground working. That arrangement changed again in 1977, when coal began reaching the surface via a drift at the Abertillery New Mine instead. Blaenserchan finally closed on 28 August 1985, the last deep mine to have worked the Afan Lwyd Valley, with 424 men employed at the end; its surface buildings were demolished between March and May 1988.

Geology

Worked the Upper and Middle Coal Measures of the eastern South Wales Coalfield's Blaenavon/Pontypool district, through numerous seams from the Tillery down to the thin but valuable Garw seam.

Workings

A deep shaft colliery, its original 1890 shaft eventually deepened to 362 yards and supplemented by a second shaft from the early-to-mid 1910s; from 1969 it was worked purely as underground production routed through neighbouring collieries rather than wound to its own surface.

Closure

Closed on 28 August 1985 after 95 years of production, the last deep mine to have worked the Afan Lwyd Valley; surface buildings were demolished between March and May 1988.

What remains

The colliery washery and other surface remains, including the site of the pithead baths steps, survive in ruined form; an underground roadway has also been documented by explorers.

Ruined washery buildings and other surface remains survive at the site, part of a wider post-industrial landscape in the Blaenserchan valley.

Abandoned workings can be dangerous — unstable ground, uncapped shafts, flooding and bad air are common even where a site looks safe from the surface. This entry describes history and general location only; it is not an access guide.

Recorded claims

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

• Blaenserchan Colliery was sunk in 1890 by Partridge, Jones & Co Ltd, reaching the Tillery seam at 113 yards, and deepened to 362 yards in 1899; a second shaft followed in the early-to-mid 1910s. ^1,2
• Employment grew from around 400 underground workers in 1896 to a combined 2,060 with Llanerch by 1918, working seams including Tillery, Brithdir, Four-Feet, Nine-Feet, Meadow Vein, Black Vein and the thin but reserve-rich Garw seam. ²
• From 1969 Blaenserchan's coal was wound to the surface via the neighbouring Tirpentwys Colliery rather than its own shafts, a routing that changed again in 1977; the colliery finally closed on 28 August 1985 as the last deep mine in the Afan Lwyd Valley. ^1,2

Images

Sources

1. (secondary) Blaenserchan Colliery, Pontypool — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) Blaenserchan Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society

Record created: 27 August 2026 · Last researched: 27 August 2026