Caepontbren Colliery

Overview

A Pontyates anthracite colliery: shallow shafts to the Gwendraeth seam from 1887 to 1897, then a drift opened in 1901 that worked until 1917 and employed nearly two hundred.

History

Caepontbren Colliery was at Pontyates in the Gwendraeth Valley. The first successful venture there was in 1887, when two shafts were sunk to the Gwendraeth seam, only 49 yards down, one for winding and one as an air pit; the colliery had its own sidings on the Burry Port and Gwendraeth Valley Railway. In 1896 H. and H. E. Smart of Kidwelly employed 64 there under the manager W. W. Walton. The Gwendraeth seam was exhausted that year, and an attempt on the faulted Braslyd seam, 18 yards below the surface, failed; the pit closed in 1897.

In 1901 the Caepontbren Colliery Company opened a drift further up the hill, opposite the New Inn, in a seam its plans called the Green Vein, which the development of Cynheidre later showed to be the Felen. It employed 167 in 1908 under W. C. Jones. When the company went into liquidation in 1909 the mine reopened the same year as New Caepontbren, which employed 193 in 1910. On 1 November 1912 a spark from the signalling system ignited gas and four men were badly burnt. It employed 150 in 1913 and closed in 1917; the company was wound up in 1921.

Geology

Gwendraeth Valley anthracite: the Gwendraeth seam at 49 yards, the faulted Braslyd 31 yards above it, and at the drift the seam worked as the Green Vein, later identified as the Felen.

Workings

Two shafts of 1887 (winding and air pit), a drift of 1896 at 1 in 4.5 to the Braslyd seam, and from 1901 a drift mine further up the hill.

Closure

The shafts closed in 1897 when the Gwendraeth seam was exhausted and the Braslyd failed. The drift closed in 1917, and the New Caepontbren Colliery Company was wound up in 1921.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Plasbach Colliery — Their Gwendraeth-seam abandonment plans are filed together (CAEPONT-PREN / PLASBACH).

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 mine closed in 1913. (disputed) ¹

Recorded claims

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

• Two shafts were sunk to the Gwendraeth seam, 49 yards down, in 1887. ¹
• The Caepontbren Colliery Company opened a drift in 1901. ¹
• The New Caepontbren Colliery Co. owned it in 1911. ^1,2
• On 1 November 1912 an ignition of gas from a signalling spark badly burnt four men. ¹
• The Gwendraeth seam was worked here, its plans filed with Plasbach's. ^1,3
• The colliery closed in 1917. ¹
• The mine closed in 1913. (disputed) ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Welsh Coal Mines: Gwendraeth Colliery, Pontyates (with Caepontbren Colliery) — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Thomas Williams (injured), Caepontbren, Pontyates, 23 September 1911 — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: CAEPONT-PREN / PLASBACH, Gwendraeth seam — British Geological Survey

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