Brewhouse Colliery

Overview

A long-lived Dowlais-feeder level whose haulage rope, by the 1850s, ran 3,000 yards to pull up to 35 trams at a time. It worked successive seams for over sixty years before its final abandonment in 1924.

History

Brewhouse Colliery was worked to feed the Dowlais Ironworks with coal, clay and iron. As early as the 1850s it had a haulage rope 3,000 yards long, used to pull 30 to 35 trams at a time. Over the following decades it worked and abandoned a succession of seams: the Elled in 1859, the Upper Four-Feet in 1893, the Brass Vein in November 1901, the Lower Four-Feet in 1908 (and the top part of that same seam in 1917), the Six-Feet in 1914, and the Seven-Feet, Red and Nine-Feet seams all in 1917. The colliery itself was finally abandoned in May 1924.

The Dowlais Ironworks it fed had been founded in 1759 and grew, under John Josiah Guest, into one of the largest ironworks in the world, running 18 blast furnaces and employing 7,300 people at its 1845 peak. Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds was formed from the works in 1899–1902, and the main Dowlais plant continued production until 1936. The level was part of more than the coal trade: the ironworks' gravity drainage system, an extensive network of leats and reservoirs feeding underground U-shaped channels built to the 'Dowlais pattern', ran through the Brew House Level among others, draining seams as far off as Cwm-Bargoed and Pantywaun towards a water pit at Tyle Dowlais. Its hazards were those of any gassy level: in December 1876 a boy of twelve, John Thomas, was suffocated in a manhole there, and the inquest found he had died from inhaling poisonous gas. The Mining Remediation Authority's abandonment plan for the Dowlais workings names Brewhouse among them.

Geology

Worked the Elled, Upper and Lower Four-Feet, Brass Vein, Six-Feet, Seven-Feet, Red and Nine-Feet seams of the South Wales Coalfield in succession, from 1859 to 1917.

Workings

A drift/level fed by a 3,000-yard haulage rope pulling 30–35 trams at a time, working the Elled, Upper and Lower Four-Feet, Brass Vein, Six-Feet, Seven-Feet, Red and Nine-Feet seams in succession.

Closure

Finally abandoned in May 1924, after more than sixty years supplying the Dowlais Ironworks.

Related mines

• Buxtons Colliery — Both levels carried the Dowlais Ironworks' gravity drainage system, its 'Dowlais pattern' culverts running through the Brew House Level and Buxton's (the Purple Level) (Heneb, Merthyr Tydfil landscape area).
• Tommo Colliery — Worked the Elled seam together and share abandonment plan 8195.

Recorded claims

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

• By the 1850s the colliery had a haulage rope 3,000 yards long, used to pull 30 to 35 trams at a time. ¹
• Worked and abandoned a succession of seams over its life: the Elled (1859), Upper Four-Feet (1893), Brass Vein (November 1901), Lower Four-Feet (1908, upper part 1917), Six-Feet (1914), and the Seven-Feet, Red and Nine-Feet (all 1917). ¹
• The colliery was finally abandoned in May 1924. ¹
• Founded in 1759, the Dowlais Ironworks employed 7,300 people and ran 18 blast furnaces at its 1845 peak, becoming GKN in 1899–1902 and continuing production until 1936. ²
• Named among the Dowlais Iron Company's collieries, worked for coal and ironstone and abandoned in May 1924; the seam-abandonment sequence (Elled 1859, Upper-Four-Feet 1893, Lower-Four-Feet 1908, Six-Feet 1914, Nine-Feet and Red 1917) is recorded there. ³
• On 5 December 1876 John Thomas, aged 12, was suffocated by gas in a manhole at the Brewhouse level; the adjourned inquest before the deputy coroner returned a verdict of death from inhaling poisonous gas. ⁴
• The Brew House Level carried part of the Dowlais Ironworks' gravity drainage system, with underground U-shaped channels built to the 'Dowlais pattern'. ⁵
• Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan SWR3130 covers Brewhouse among the Dowlais workings, in the seams upper four feet /big coal/ rhas las/ little vein/ lower four feet. ⁶

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Small collieries of the Dowlais Cwmbargoed & Penydarren areas — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Dowlais Ironworks — Wikipedia
3. (secondary) Dowlais Collieries — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) Dowlais. Inquests (South Wales Daily News, 11 December 1876) — Welsh Newspapers Online (National Library of Wales)
5. (secondary) Merthyr Tydfil - Historic Landscape Character Area — Heneb (Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust)
6. (primary) DOWLAIS/ PENYARD /BLIND BALANCE/ TYLA DOWLAIS /SMOKE /BLIND ENGINER/ BUXTONS /CWM CENOL/ BLAEN RHAS/ PANTYWAIN /LOWER FOUR FEET FLUE/ CARNO/ CARNO FLUE UPCAST/ BIG COAL FLUE/ LOWER FOUR FEET/ RHAS LAS — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 15 September 2026 · Last researched: 24 September 2026