Boundary Level

Overview

A short-lived 19th-century Pontardawe drift near the Llwyndu Brick Works, possibly another undertaking of the Graigola-district partnership of Bevan and Bowen.

History

Boundary Level was a 19th-century drift mine opened near the Llwyndu Brick Works, working the Graigola Five-Feet seam at a thickness of 70 inches until it was abandoned in July 1891. NMRS's own roundup entry names no operator. A local historian with detailed knowledge of the district's old Ordnance Survey mapping has independently identified it as "another Bevan and Bowen enterprise" — the same partnership that owned the neighbouring Upper Graigola Colliery from at least 1908 to 1918 — though that ownership is documented roughly two decades after Boundary Level's own 1891 abandonment, so the connection is recorded here without being treated as settled.

Nearby mines

• Cwmceiros Colliery — 0.2 km SE
• Cwmnantllwyd Colliery — 0.4 km SW
• Gwyn's Colliery — 0.5 km N
• Graigola Colliery — 0.6 km SW
• Primrose Colliery — 1.7 km SE

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

Recorded claims

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

• A 19th-century drift mine opened near the Llwyndu Brick Works, working the Graigola Five-Feet seam at a thickness of 70 inches until abandoned in July 1891. ¹
• A local historian familiar with the district's old Ordnance Survey mapping has identified Boundary Level as "another Bevan and Bowen enterprise" — the same partnership documented as owning the neighbouring Upper Graigola Colliery between 1908 and 1918 — though no source gives a specific date for Bevan and Bowen's ownership of Boundary Level itself, roughly two decades before its 1891 abandonment. (uncertain) ²
• The Graigola Five-Feet seam it worked, at 70 inches thick, was one of the more substantial coal seams recorded among the small Pontardawe-area levels in the same NMRS survey. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Small collieries in the Pontardawe area — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Graigola Colliery - Glais (forum thread) — Welsh Coal Mines forum

Record created: 15 September 2026 · Last researched: 15 September 2026