Bryndu Colliery

Overview

A colliery at Kenfig Hill, near Pyle, begun in 1834 to feed two blast furnaces on the same site and later worked by George Ford and Sons and the Bryndu Coal and Coke Company for its Cefn ironworks. It was notorious in the 1850s: explosions at naked lights killed four in 1852, five in 1853 and eleven or twelve in 1858. Famous for its house coal, it closed by 1908 on one account and in 1913, after heavy losses, on another.

History

In 1834 a Mr O'Neil formed a company to mine coal at Bryndu, on land belonging to the Talbots, to supply two blast furnaces on the same site. By 1843 the mine was advertised as in full operation, producing steam and house coal under Messrs Ford and Company, and George Ford and Sons expanded it or opened a new one in 1851, developing the colliery and its coke works and working it until at least 1865. Candles and naked lights brought three disasters in six years: in November 1852 three men and a youth went into their workings before the fireman had examined them and were killed when gas fired at their candles; in December 1853 five died when a man ignored orders not to enter a gassy area with a naked light; and in May 1858, when the fireman unlocked his safety lamp to light a shot's fuse in the hard coal of the West Nine Feet heading, eleven or twelve were killed (see Disasters, below). From 1869-70 the Bryndu Coal and Coke Company worked the colliery for its Cefn ironworks, and in the 1880s it was ventilated by a 19-foot Waddle fan. In 1891 the Western Mail reported Bryndu, famous for its splendid house coal, sold to a Scottish firm that owned the Glyn Pits near Pontypool, which planned new shafts on the west side, and in 1892 the Brynddu Coal and Coke Company Limited was formed with £180,000 to take over from James and William Wood, William Frazer, George Anderson and James McKillop. In 1896 Bryndu and Cefn together employed 378. Blindell Brothers of Bridgend owned the colliery in 1902. The Bryndu Slip drift in the Upper Nine Feet was abandoned on 31 January 1912. Welsh Coal Mines says Bryndu had closed by 1908; the NMRS says it closed in 1913 after losses of £90,000, its owner Miss Talbot of Margam being reluctant to throw men out of work. The name was later given to an opencast site worked in 1961.

Geology

Worked the Gellideg seam, 78 inches thick here; the Lower Seven Feet, known locally as the Slatog Fawr; the Red Vein, called the Caerau Vein; and the highly disturbed Upper Nine Feet, which could thicken to 14 feet of coal. The coal of the West Nine Feet district was hard enough to need blasting.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (well documented example)

Workings

Pits and a slip drift into the Upper Nine Feet, abandoned in January 1912. A 19-foot Waddle fan ventilated the colliery in the 1880s; coke ovens worked alongside.

Closure

The Bryndu Slip drift was abandoned on 31 January 1912. Welsh Coal Mines says Bryndu had closed by 1908; NMRS says the colliery closed in 1913 after accumulated losses of £90,000.

What remains

Welsh Coal Mines shows a photograph captioned as the winding house remains at Bryndu Colliery, undated. No recent report of the site has been found; an opencast site of the same name was worked in 1961.

Nearby mines

• Cribbwr Fawr Colliery — 1.6 km W
• Cornelly Quarries — 2.9 km SW
• Park Slip Colliery — 3.8 km NE
• Morfa Colliery — 6.8 km W, Neath Port Talbot
• Barrow Colliery, Bryncethin — 7.8 km E

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

Disasters & major incidents

• Bryndu Colliery explosion, 1852
  November 1852 · Explosion · 4 fatalities
  One Thursday morning in November 1852 three men and a youth at Bryndu Colliery, Kenfig Hill, went into their workings with candles before the fireman had examined them with a safety lamp for firedamp gathered in the night. The gas exploded at once and killed all four, the youngest a boy of twelve.
• Bryndu Colliery explosion, 1853
  23 December 1853 · Explosion · 5 fatalities
  Two days before Christmas 1853 John Williams, a collier of forty-one, went against orders into a part of Bryndu Colliery known to be gassy. His naked light fired the gas, and the explosion killed him, his eleven-year-old son Rees and three others. It was the colliery's second fatal explosion at a naked light in thirteen months.
• Bryndu Colliery explosion, 1858
  May 1858 · Explosion · 12 fatalities
  At about five in the afternoon on 27 or 28 May 1858 firedamp exploded in the West Nine Feet heading of Bryndu Colliery, Kenfig Hill, killing eleven or twelve men, the colliery's worst disaster and its third fatal explosion in six years. The coal there was so hard it had to be blasted, and the fireman, Jenkin Lewis, who was among the dead, is believed to have unlocked his safety lamp to light a fuse.

Recorded claims

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

• In 1834 a Mr O'Neil formed a company to mine coal at Bryndu to supply blast furnaces on the site. ^1,2
• Messrs Ford and Company owned the mine by 1843; George Ford and Sons expanded it in 1851 and worked it to at least 1865. ^1,2
• Welsh Coal Mines dates the explosion that killed four to Thursday 11 November 1852; NMRS gives 18 November 1852. (disputed) ^1,2
• Welsh Coal Mines gives twelve killed on 28 May 1858 and names twelve; NMRS gives eleven on 27 May. (disputed) ^1,2
• From 1870 the Bryndu Coal and Coke Company worked the colliery to feed its Cefn Iron Works. ^1,2
• In 1896 Bryndu and Cefn together employed 378 (269 underground and 109 at the surface). ^1,2
• By 1908 Bryndu had closed, with 461 employed at Cefn. (disputed) ¹
• The colliery closed in 1913 after accumulated losses of £90,000. (disputed) ²
• Cefn Slip Colliery, opened about 1857 to supply the Cefn ironworks, became the Bryndu Colliery Co. Ltd in 1908 and closed in 1912 after serious water incursion. (uncertain) ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Bryndu colliery — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) Brynddu Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society (information supplied by Ray Lawrence)
3. (secondary) Bridgend and the Valleys, its Industrial Archaeology and history — Industrial Gwent

Record created: 13 September 2026 · Last researched: 14 September 2026