Castle Colliery, Llanelli

Overview

A level at Furnace, Llanelli, known also as Cille, Kille, Furnace and Sandy, worked from 1867 to 1952 with a patent-fuel works and brickworks; the only mine in Llanelli town to survive nationalisation.

History

Castle Colliery stood at Furnace, on the edge of Llanelli. It went by several names in its long and chequered life (Cille, Kille, Furnace and Sandy), but was known locally as Castle. It began as a level or drift in 1867 and employed 35 men in 1888. By 1893 a ventilation shaft 100 feet deep had been sunk some distance away. A patent-fuel plant on the site, able to make 14,000 briquettes a day from the mine's small coal, is thought to have been one of the earliest in South Wales.

In 1896 the Castle Colliery Company owned it, with 32 men. By the end of the century it comprised several levels and a shaft, with a brickworks to follow. In 1906, under David Lewis of Llanelli, it was being re-equipped: electric pumping and haulage were in, a gas suction plant of over 200 horsepower was expected, with a pump able to raise 40,000 gallons an hour, and two electric coal cutters were to start work; 68 men were employed. By 1908 the Sandy Coal and Brick Company owned it, as the Sandy, with 50 men.

A large development costing £280,000 followed in 1928. The Castle Colliery Company had it again in 1938 and 1945, with 20 and 24 men at the Castle Level. From 1941 its output went to Ireland. It survived nationalisation, worked under licence as the only mine in the Llanelli town area to do so, but lost its Irish contract in 1948 and closed for the last time in 1952.

Geology

Coal Measures of the Llanelli district of the South Wales Coalfield; the seams worked are not recorded.

Workings

A level or drift from 1867, later several levels and a shaft, with a ventilation shaft 100 feet deep by 1893, a patent-fuel plant and a brickworks on site; electric pumping, haulage and coal cutters from 1906.

Closure

Worked under licence after nationalisation; output had gone to Ireland from 1941, and after that contract was lost in 1948 the colliery closed for the last time in 1952.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Old Castle Colliery — A different Llanelli colliery of a similar name: General Warde's Llanelli Pit at Erw Fawr, renamed Old Castle, described on the same Welsh Coal Mines page.

Recorded claims

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

• Known at times as Cille, Kille, Furnace and Sandy, but locally as Castle. ¹
• Started as a level or drift in 1867; 35 men were employed in 1888. ¹
• By 1893 a ventilation shaft 100 feet deep had been sunk some distance away. ¹
• A patent-fuel plant on the site could make 14,000 briquettes a day from the mine's small coal. ¹
• In 1906 it was owned by David Lewis of Llanelli and was being re-equipped with electric pumping and haulage, a gas suction plant of over 200 horsepower and two electric coal cutters. ^1,2
• By 1908 it belonged to the Sandy Coal and Brick Company and was called the Sandy, with 50 men. ¹
• A development costing £280,000 took place in 1928. ¹
• It survived nationalisation, worked under licence, the only mine in the Llanelli town area to do so. ¹
• Its Irish export contract was lost in 1948 and it closed for the last time in 1952. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Castle Colliery (Old Castle section) — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (primary) West Wales ports: improvements at the Castle Colliery (The Cambrian, 9 February 1906) — Welsh Newspapers (National Library of Wales)

Record created: 19 September 2026 · Last researched: 9 October 2026