Caedefaid Colliery

Overview

A Maesteg level, the No. 9, driven through the measures to the Caedefaid and Victoria coking-coal seams and the black-band ironstone for the Llynfi ironworks. In the 1880s it employed about 400 men and was the most important colliery in the district; North's Navigation closed it in 1908.

History

Caedefaid Colliery, also known as the Number Nine Level or Cae'r Defaid, was the last of the numbered levels opened to feed the Maesteg ironworks. Welsh Coal Mines dates its formal opening to October 1867 by the Llynvi Coal and Iron Company; the Northern Mine Research Society gives 1863 and John Brogden and Sons, and the GENUKI list of Llynfi Valley mines also has 1867. It reached the Caedefaid and Victoria coking-coal seams by a cross-measures drift, and its black-band ironstone was as important as its coal.

The Llynvi, Tondu and Ogmore Coal and Iron Company owned it from 1872 to 1878; it was in receivership in 1878-80 and belonged to the Llynvi and Tondu Company from 1880 to 1889. In the 1880s it employed about 400 men, 403 in 1888, and was the most important colliery in the Maesteg district. Three men were killed by a fall of roof in 1875 (see Disasters, below). About ten years later the fireman John Llewellyn, aged between 60 and 70, was killed by an explosion while inspecting the workings, carrying a small naked-flame lamp as well as his locked safety lamp, against the colliery rules.

As the local iron industry declined the level passed in 1889 to North's Navigation Collieries. In 1896 it employed 299 men underground and 54 on the surface under David Davies; it produced 55,666 tons in 1901 and kept about 250 men in 1900-07. In April 1892 Robert Lloyd, a fifteen-year-old collier, was killed trying to jump onto a journey of drams. With its workings near exhaustion North's Navigation closed it in 1908 and turned to its new No. 3 Pit at Caerau, two miles away, which worked a similar range of seams.

The research society also lists a Cae Defaid colliery at Cwmdu, a little to the west, owned in turn by the Llynvi companies, North's Navigation and Celtic Collieries, which abandoned the Caedefaid seam in March 1919 and its last seams in 1923 with twelve men.

Geology

The Caedefaid and Victoria coking-coal seams, with black-band ironstone; the Yard and Two and a Half Feet seams were also worked at Cwmdu.

Workings

A level reaching the Caedefaid and Victoria seams by a cross-measures drift; coal and men moved in journeys of drams.

Closure

Closed by North's Navigation Collieries in 1908 as its workings neared exhaustion, its owners turning to the new No. 3 Pit at Caerau.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Caerau Colliery — North's Navigation closed Caedefaid in 1908 and moved to Caerau's new No. 3 Pit, which worked a similar range of seams.

Disasters & major incidents

• Caedefaid Colliery roof fall, 1875
  31 August 1875 · Collapse / Roof Fall · 3 fatalities
  A fall of roof in the Caedefaid level at Maesteg buried three men at about four o'clock on the afternoon of 31 August 1875. They lay trapped until the fireman found them the next day; all three died.

What's uncertain

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

• The level was formally opened in October 1867 by the Llynvi Coal and Iron Company. (disputed) ¹
• The No. 9 level was opened in 1863 by John Brogden and Sons. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

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

• The level was formally opened in October 1867 by the Llynvi Coal and Iron Company. (disputed) ¹
• The No. 9 level was opened in 1863 by John Brogden and Sons. (disputed) ²
• It employed 403 workers in 1888 and 246 in 1899. ^2,3
• In 1896 it employed 299 men underground and 54 on the surface; it produced 55,666 tons in 1901. ²
• North's Navigation Collieries closed it in 1908. ^1,2,3
• In 1875 the Cae'r Defaid level was the property of the Llynvi, Tondu and Ogmore Coal and Iron Company. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Gin Maesteg (Welsh Coal Mines) — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) Small Collieries of the Llynfi Valley — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (secondary) Coal mines in production in the Llynfi Valley 1840-1985 (David Lewis) — GENUKI
4. (primary) 'Shocking accident at Maesteg: three men killed by a fall', South Wales Daily News, 2 September 1875 — Welsh Newspapers Online (National Library of Wales)

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