Braichycymmer Colliery

Overview

A Garw Valley name at Pontycymer shared by a series of outcrop levels under several owners and by the Braichycymmer or Victoria pit, the third shaft of Ffaldau Colliery. The pit employed over 1,300 men in 1923 and passed to the National Coal Board with Ffaldau in 1947.

History

Braichycymmer was the name of a series of levels working the outcrop on the west side of the Garw valley at Pontycymer, and of a pit, also called the Victoria, which was the third shaft of Ffaldau Colliery, sunk to the Two-Feet-Nine and Six-Feet seams. The levels worked the Pentre Rider, known locally as the Victoria seam, and the No. 3 Rhondda; the New Drift worked the Upper Yard. A Braichycymmer Colliery was listed in 1878 under the Braichycymmer Coal Company, managed by H. Harries, and in 1888 under James and Edwards.

By 1896 there were three: the No. 3 level of the Braichycymmer Collieries (94 men), the Braichycymmer Darran level of the Braichycymmer Darran Colliery Company (82) and the Ffaldau Colliery Company's Braichycymmer pit (435), managed by William Johnson. The pit employed 630 men in 1907 and 812 underground in 1918. In June 1907 two men were killed by a fall in a new drift being driven for the Braichycymmer, Garw Fechan and Darran collieries (see Disasters, below).

In 1903 the No. 3 belonged to the Garw and Braichycymmer Collieries Limited of Swansea, and in 1912 the New Braichycymmer Collieries (1910) Limited employed 72 men; W. C. Williams of Porthcawl and Cyrlas W. Davies worked small levels of the name. In 1923 the Ffaldau company's pit employed 1,176 men underground and 203 on the surface, producing 300,000 tons, and the International Coal Company had 356 men in the New Drift. In 1945 the pit employed 595, and at nationalisation in 1947 the NCB listed it with Ffaldau. In 1950-52 the Board re-equipped the shafts and made a new pit bottom at the Gellideg level, 342 yards down, in the Braichycymmer pit, which became Ffaldau's main winding shaft.

Geology

The levels worked the Pentre Rider (locally the Victoria seam, 28 to 35 inches) and the No. 3 Rhondda (up to 42 inches); the New Drift worked the Upper Yard; the pit was sunk to the Two-Feet-Nine and Six-Feet seams and later worked the Nine Feet.

Workings

Outcrop levels (the No. 3, the Darran level and others), a New Drift, and the Braichycymmer or Victoria pit, Ffaldau's third shaft, 16 feet in diameter and about 220 yards north-west of the other two; from 1950-52 it was the main winding shaft, with double-decked cages and a pit bottom at 342 yards.

Closure

No collieries of the name were listed in 1932 or 1935, but the pit was working in 1945 and the NCB listed it with Ffaldau in 1947. A Ffaldau and Braichycymmer Nine Feet plan is dated 4 July 1949.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Ffaldau Colliery — The Braichycymmer or Victoria pit was Ffaldau Colliery's third shaft; the NCB listed the two together in 1947.

Disasters & major incidents

• Braichycymmer Colliery roof fall, 1907
  25 June 1907 · Collapse / Roof Fall · 2 fatalities
  At about midnight on Tuesday 25 June 1907 a big fall in a new drift being driven at Pontycymmer to win the Victoria seam buried three men. Joseph Toman was killed; the contractor David Davies was dug out alive after about twenty hours of dangerous rescue work but died soon after; John Maloney was freed injured.

Recorded claims

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

• Braichycymmer was the name of a series of outcrop levels and of the Victoria pit, the third shaft of Ffaldau Colliery. ^1,2
• Braichycymmer Colliery was listed in 1878 under the Braichycymmer Coal Company, managed by H. Harries. ^1,2
• In 1896 the Ffaldau Colliery Company's Braichycymmer pit employed 383 men underground and 52 on the surface. ^1,2
• In 1923 the pit employed 1,176 men underground and 203 on the surface and produced 300,000 tons. ^1,2
• The Victoria or Braich-y-Cymmer Pit was sunk to the Lower-Five-Feet seam at 1,104 feet 11 inches, about 220 yards north-west of Ffaldau's other shafts. ³
• A photograph of about 1915 shows workmen of Braich y Cymmer Colliery in the uniform of the Glamorgan Volunteer Training Corps. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) NMRS: Braichycymmer Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Welsh Coal Mines: Braich y Cymmer — Welsh Coal Mines
3. (secondary) NMRS: Ffaldau Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (secondary) Museum Wales: Braich y Cymmer Colliery, photograph (2018.133) — Amgueddfa Cymru - Museum Wales
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: FFALDAU, BRAICHYCYMMER (Nine Feet, abandoned 4 July 1949) — British Geological Survey

Record created: 11 October 2026 · Last researched: 11 October 2026