Cae Duke Colliery

Overview

A colliery at Upper Loughor, sunk in 1889 and 1893 to the Swansea Four-Feet and Five-Feet and later the Six-Feet, which employed over 400 men in 1923, had a district closed by outbursts and served as an airway and training centre after production stopped in the 1940s.

History

Cae Duke Colliery, at Upper Loughor near Gorseinon, had its shafts sunk in 1889 and 1893 by the Loughor Colliery Co. Ltd to work the Swansea Four-Feet and Five-Feet seams. One of its two headframes, the smaller, was of concrete, then an unusual material for the purpose. In 1896 it employed 159 men raising house and manufacturing coal.

In 1910 the company prepared to sink two new pits to the Six-Feet, or Fiery, seam close to the old ones; the Six-Feet was reached in 1911, a further seam three feet three inches thick was struck in 1912, and by 1913 the water that had troubled the colliery was nearly drained. Employment grew from 295 in 1908 to 397 in 1918 and 406 in 1923, when the Six-Feet was being worked. The Loughor Colliery Co. (1910) Ltd kept a rescue station there, and its instructor, E. M. Painter, was suffocated by carbon monoxide in 1912. Unusually for a mine outside the Gwendraeth valley, Cae Duke had a district closed because of outbursts of coal and gas.

The Swansea Navigation Mines Co. held it by 1939, but production had ceased by 1947. It was kept as a return airway for the Mountain Colliery, and the National Coal Board ran a training centre there until the mid 1970s.

Geology

The Swansea Four-Feet, Five-Feet and Six-Feet (Fiery) seams; one district was closed because of outbursts.

Workings

Two shafts of 1889 and 1893, one with a concrete headframe, and a new pair sunk to the Six-Feet in 1910-11; a mines rescue station by 1912.

Closure

The Swansea Five-Feet workings (with Jubilee) were abandoned in 1922; production ceased by 1947, after which the shafts served as a return airway for the Mountain Colliery and an NCB training centre until the mid 1970s.

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 shafts were sunk in 1889 and 1893 by the Loughor Colliery Co. Ltd. ¹
• It employed 159 in 1896, 295 in 1908, 397 in 1918 and 406 in 1923. ¹
• A district was closed because of outbursts, unusual outside the Gwendraeth valley. ¹
• The rescue station instructor, E. M. Painter, was suffocated by carbon monoxide on 27 October 1912. ²
• The Swansea Five-Feet workings of Cae Duke and Jubilee were abandoned in 1922. ³
• Production had ceased by 1947; it served as a return airway for the Mountain Colliery and as an NCB training centre until the mid 1970s. ^1,4
• David Williams, a collier, was killed by a fall of a bell-stone at the face on 19 June 1905. ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Welsh Coal Mines: Cae Duke — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: E. M. Painter, Cae Duke, Loughor, 27 October 1912 — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: CAE DUKE / JUBILEE, Swansea Five Feet seam, abandoned 1922 — British Geological Survey
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: MOUNTAIN / CEFNNARDA / CAEDUKE, Swansea Six Feet seam, abandoned 24 October 1963 — British Geological Survey
5. (secondary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: David Williams, Cae Duke, Loughor, 19 June 1905 — Northern Mine Research Society

Record created: 10 October 2026 · Last researched: 10 October 2026