Brynderi Colliery

Overview

An anthracite slant at Gurnos, where the Swansea and Twrch valleys meet, about fourteen miles from Swansea. A London company opened it in 1923; after a liquidation it was re-equipped for £50,000 and employed about 200 men by 1927-29, but its plant was auctioned in 1933.

History

Brynderi first appears in 1923, owned by Brynderi Anthracite Collieries (1923) Limited of London and employing 65 men. It lay at the junction of the Swansea and Twrch valleys, about fourteen miles from Swansea, with a mineral take of 655 acres split in two by a north-south fault that threw the coal down 125 yards to the west. The original workings were in the Lower Vein, south of a drift driven in from the outcrop at 1 in 9.

In 1926 the company was in the hands of the liquidator, with 23 men employed, and a new company, Brynderi Anthracite Limited, was formed with a share capital of £92,500; its board included General Sir George MacMunn. It spent £50,000 re-equipping the mine, repairing the Lower Vein roadways, driving a drift at 1 in 4 that struck the Bryn seam after 161 yards and a slant to the Middle Vein, and opening a 100-yard face in the Bryn seam with coal cutters and conveyors. A 300-horsepower main-and-tail haulage could raise 600 tons a shift; a fan half a mile away gave 100,000 cubic feet of air a minute, and there were new washing plant and sidings.

By 1927-29 about 200 men were employed under E. D. Dyer, and the new owners put the reserves at 7.25 million tons. It employed 150 in 1931, but the plant and machinery were put up for auction on 4 August 1933. Its abandonment plan, with Cwm Phil and Pant-y-Blodau, is dated 1932.

Geology

Anthracite measures; the Big Vein (72 inches), Brass Vein (42), Middle Vein (28), Lower Vein (39) and Bryn (25) seams. A north-south fault threw the coal down 125 yards to the west, splitting the 655-acre take.

Workings

A main slant from the outcrop of the Lower Vein at 1 in 9; from 1926 a drift at 1 in 4 to the Bryn seam (161 yards) and a 70-yard slant to the Middle Vein, with a 100-yard machine-cut, conveyor face in the Bryn seam and a 300 hp main-and-tail haulage.

Closure

After the 1926 reconstruction it employed 150 men in 1931; the abandonment plan is dated 1932 and the plant and machinery were auctioned on 4 August 1933.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Recorded claims

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

• The slant appeared in 1923, owned by Brynderi Anthracite Collieries (1923) Limited of London and employing 65 men. ^1,2
• A new company, Brynderi Anthracite Limited, spent £50,000 re-equipping the mine, which employed 200 men by 1927-29. ^1,2
• It worked the Middle and Lower Veins and the Bryn seam; the abandonment plan is dated 1932. ^1,3
• The plant and machinery were put up for auction on 4 August 1933. ^1,2

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) NMRS: Brynderi Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Welsh Coal Mines: Brynderi Colliery — Welsh Coal Mines
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: BRYNDERI, CWM PHIL, PANT-Y-BLODAU (Middle, Lower, Bryn; abandoned 1932) — British Geological Survey

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