Brynwith Colliery

Overview

A gas-coal slant at Heol-y-Cyw, near Bryncethin, opened by Hedley's Collieries and worked from 1916 by the Raglan company, whose owners backed the breakaway Miners' Industrial Union. It grew to more than 700 men in the 1920s and produced 180,000 tons a year in the 1930s; its abandonment plan is dated 1935.

History

Brynwith, also spelt Brynwyth, was a slant at Heol-y-Cyw, near Bryncethin and Pencoed, a few hundred yards north of the Raglan drifts. Hedley's Collieries of Pontardawe opened it to work the No. 2 and No. 3 Rhondda seams; NMRS puts the opening around 1875, while Welsh Coal Mines notes that the death of James Brain in December 1910 was the first in the six years since the colliery opened. A collier, Gomer David, was killed by a falling stone at a Brynwith Colliery at Coity in 1894. In 1908, under H. V. Thornley, it employed 323 men underground and 44 at the surface, worked separately from the Raglan No. 2 drift.

Its men were often in dispute. In July 1906 they stopped work without notice over a price-list award and were told to go back on its terms. In May 1909, amid trouble over sub-contracting and non-unionism at Brynwith and Raglan, some 300 men refused to go down until an official was removed; when two brothers kept working, a crowd of three or four hundred, many of them women, followed them home across a brook while the police held a footbridge.

By 1916 the Raglan Colliery Company owned Brynwith, worked with the Raglan No. 4 drift; in 1918 Brynwith had 156 men underground and 49 at the surface under M. Rees. The company stayed outside the coal owners' association and encouraged the breakaway South Wales Miners' Industrial Union until the Miners' Federation forced it to sign the conciliation agreement. Brynwith employed 507 men in 1923 on gas coal from the No. 3 Rhondda seam, and up to 762 in 1928, with V. O. Jones as manager from 1920 into the 1930s. In 1934 Raglan Collieries Limited, of Bush House, Aldwych, had Brynwith as its only mine, and in 1935 it employed 640 men producing 180,000 tons of gas and manufacturing coal. Its abandonment plan, covering the Rock Fawr (No. 3 Rhondda), Lantern, Lantern Rider and Hafod seams, is dated 1935, though NMRS lists 490 men as late as 1940-42.

Men killed there included James Brain in 1910, captain of Heol-y-Cyw rugby club; Thomas Warren, crushed by a stone of two and a half tons in 1912; and three in 1913, among them Waldo Mordecai, an 18-year-old rider killed by runaway trams when a shackle broke. Brynwith is one of the pits named on the Heol-y-Cyw miners' memorial.

Geology

The No. 2 and No. 3 Rhondda seams, the No. 3 Rhondda known locally as the Rock Fawr; the abandonment plan also shows the Lantern (Pentre), Lantern Rider and Hafod seams.

Workings

A slant (drift) a few hundred yards north of the Raglan No. 2 drift, worked separately from the Raglan drifts in 1908 and with the Raglan No. 4 drift from about 1917.

Closure

The abandonment plan of Brynwith and its old workings is dated 1935, when the Raglan company also closed its Raglan colliery for losses; NMRS lists 490 men at Brynwith in 1937 and 1940-42.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Raglan Colliery — Neighbouring workings at Heol-y-Cyw under the same owners, Hedley's and then the Raglan company.
• Werntarw Colliery — Neighbouring collieries at Heol-y-Cyw, both named on the village's miners' memorial.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• Hedley's Collieries opened it around 1875. (disputed) ²
• The death of James Brain in December 1910 was the first in the six years since the colliery opened. (disputed) ³
• The abandonment plan of Brynwith and its old workings is dated 1935. (disputed) ⁶
• It employed 490 men in 1937 and in 1940-42. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

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

• In 1908 it employed 323 men underground and 44 at the surface under H. V. Thornley. ^1,2
• Hedley's Collieries opened it around 1875. (disputed) ²
• The death of James Brain in December 1910 was the first in the six years since the colliery opened. (disputed) ³
• In May 1909 about 300 men refused to work in protest against an official. ^4,5
• The Raglan Colliery Company owned it by 1916 and it was its only mine in 1934. ^1,2
• In 1923 it employed 507 men producing gas coal from the No. 3 Rhondda seam. ^1,2
• In 1935 it employed 640 men producing 180,000 tons of gas and manufacturing coal. ²
• The abandonment plan of Brynwith and its old workings is dated 1935. (disputed) ⁶
• It employed 490 men in 1937 and in 1940-42. (disputed) ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Llanharan Colliery - Welsh Coal Mines — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) NMRS: Brynwith Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (secondary) Welsh Coal Mines fatalities, 1910 — Welsh Coal Mines
4. (primary) Glamorgan Gazette, 14 May 1909: Dispute at Brynwith — Welsh Newspapers Online (National Library of Wales)
5. (primary) Glamorgan Gazette, 21 May 1909: Pencoed colliery strike — Welsh Newspapers Online (National Library of Wales)
6. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: BRYNWITH (INCLUDING OLD WORKINGS) (Rock Fawr (No 3 Rhondda), Lantern, Lantern Rider, Hafod; abandoned 1935) — British Geological Survey
7. (observational) Geograph: Heol-y-cyw miners memorial — Geograph Britain and Ireland
8. (primary) Glamorgan Gazette, 27 July 1906: Brynwith Colliery dispute — Welsh Newspapers Online (National Library of Wales)
9. (secondary) 1912 (fatalities by date) — Welsh Coal Mines
10. (secondary) 1916 fatalities — Welsh Coal Mines
11. (secondary) Mining fatalities, 1894 - Welsh Coal Mines — Welsh Coal Mines
12. (secondary) NMRS: Raglan Colliery, Heol-y-Cyw — Northern Mine Research Society
13. (secondary) Welsh coal mining fatalities, 1913 — Welsh Coal Mines
14. (secondary) Welsh mining fatalities, 1911 — Welsh Coal Mines

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