Brynteg Colliery

Overview

An Evans and Bevan anthracite colliery in the Dulais Valley, between Crynant and Seven Sisters, at work by 1878. Its slants followed the Red Vein for more than 3,500 yards until two great faults ended the coal, and the National Coal Board closed it as uneconomic on 30 October 1954.

History

Brynteg Colliery lay half way between Crynant and Seven Sisters in the Dulais Valley, a mile south of Seven Sisters Colliery. It was at work by 1878, when it was one of six Dulais Valley mines owned by Evans and Bevan of Neath; Thomas Jenkins managed it in 1884, and in 1893 it was listed as standing. It worked a single seam, the Red Vein, a semi-anthracite about 32 inches thick and fairly sulphurous, from the outcrop.

The original drift worked the Red Vein far to the south-west until it was stopped in 1946. The next slant ran more than 3,500 yards until it met a fault with a throw of 270 yards; driving through it, the miners found a second fault 300 yards on that dropped the seam another 118 yards, and the coal between the two was the last the colliery worked. A 400 horsepower haulage engine on the surface could draw forty full trams 3,000 yards up the drift, and a six-foot Waddle fan was installed around 1917. A mechanised face tried in 1910 failed to give the coal expected and was abandoned. John Gorbett managed the colliery from before 1908 into the 1930s, while the workforce grew from 154 in 1908 to 550 in 1927; in February 1939 seven night-shift men stayed underground for two days in a wage dispute and were fined for breach of contract.

At nationalisation in 1947 the No. 1 and No. 2 slants employed 481 and raised 70,000 tons. The colliery closed on 30 October 1954 as uneconomic, then consisting of the Old and New Slopes into the Red Vein outcrop and a pit sunk 156 feet to the same seam. There was deep resentment in the union when two small mines were afterwards licensed to work the Red Vein in the old Brynteg area.

Geology

South Wales anthracite coalfield: the Red Vein (perhaps the Gorllwyn), semi-anthracite about 32 inches thick and fairly sulphurous, cut off to the south-west by faults throwing 270 and 118 yards.

Workings

The Old and New Slopes (No. 1 and No. 2 slants) driven into the Red Vein outcrop, the later one more than 3,500 yards long, and a pit 156 feet deep; a 400 hp surface haulage engine and, from about 1917, a 6-foot Waddle fan.

Closure

Closed by the National Coal Board on 30 October 1954 as uneconomic; the Red Vein plans are dated 28 October 1954. The NMRS list gives November 1954.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Crynant Colliery — Evans and Bevan collieries in the Dulais Valley.
• Maes Marchog Colliery — Evans and Bevan collieries in the Dulais Valley.
• Onllwyn Colliery — Evans and Bevan collieries in the Dulais Valley.
• Seven Sisters Colliery — Evans and Bevan collieries in the Dulais Valley.

Recorded claims

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

• Brynteg was at work in 1878 as one of six Dulais Valley mines owned by Evans and Bevan, a mile south of Seven Sisters Colliery. ^1,2
• The later slant ran more than 3,500 yards before meeting a fault of 270 yards; a second fault 300 yards beyond dropped 118 yards, and the coal between them was the last worked. ²
• Brynteg employed 118 in 1905, 376 in 1923, 511 in its two slants in 1940 and 481 in 1947, when it raised 70,000 tons of anthracite and steam coal. ¹
• In February 1939 seven night-shift workers stayed underground from Thursday to Saturday in a wage dispute and were fined for breach of contract. ²
• Brynteg closed on 30 October 1954 as uneconomic, with the Old and New Slopes and a pit sunk 156 feet to the Red Vein. ^3,2
• The Brynteg Red Vein workings were abandoned on 28 October 1954. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Brynteg Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Brynteg Colliery, Crynant, Dulais Valley — Welsh Coal Mines
3. (secondary) NCB Collieries - Wales — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) BGS mine plan: Brynteg, Red, abandoned 28 October 1954 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans

Record created: 5 October 2026 · Last researched: 5 October 2026