Charles Pit, Llansamlet

Overview

The Smith family's colliery at Llansamlet, near Swansea, sunk from 1821, which raised nearly 70,000 tons a year in the 1830s and where gas from old workings killed nineteen men and boys in July 1870; it was abandoned in 1876.

History

The Charles Pit, also called the Llansamlet or Charles Colliery, lay near Llansamlet church by a canal bridge, about four miles from Swansea. It was begun by Henry Smith, and was worked by his nephew Charles Henry Smith, the landowner who also had Scott's Pit nearby. Sinking began in 1821 and reached the Swansea Five Feet seam at 136 yards in 1826, and the shaft was later deepened to the Swansea Three Feet at 316 yards. In the mid-1830s it was one of the most productive collieries of the district, raising nearly 70,000 tons a year.

By 1870 it was a small colliery of 50 to 60 men and boys, managed by Robert Mills. Three shafts, two of them used for working and ventilation, are given as 54 yards deep, with a heading 600 yards long driven towards Tregof Farm. It was thought so free of gas that it was worked with naked lights, but its workings lay to the rise of the old Tyr Cenol colliery, whose gas-filled goaf was joined to it by boreholes made to drain water away. An explosion of that gas killed nineteen men and boys in July 1870 (see Disasters, below).

Evan Matthew Richards bought the colliery in 1872; by 1874 it had stopped producing, and it was abandoned in 1876.

Geology

South Wales coalfield, Swansea district: the Swansea Five Feet seam at 136 yards and the Swansea Three Feet at 316 yards; free of gas in its own workings but beside the gas-charged goaf of the old Tyr Cenol colliery.

Workings

Three shafts in 1870, two used for winding and ventilation, with a 600-yard heading towards Tregof Farm; heading and stall working.

Closure

Production had stopped by 1874 and the colliery was abandoned in 1876.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Scott's Pit — Both worked by Charles Henry Smith at Llansamlet, and described together by Welsh Coal Mines.

Disasters & major incidents

• Charles Pit explosion, Llansamlet, 1870
  23 July 1870 · Explosion · 19 fatalities
  Gas from the old Tyr Cenol workings fired at the naked lights of Charles Pit, Llansamlet, on Saturday 23 July 1870, killing nineteen men and boys in a small colliery thought so free of gas that it was never worked with safety lamps.

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 shaft was deepened to the Swansea Three Feet seam at 316 yards. (disputed) ¹
• In 1870 the colliery's three shafts were each 54 yards deep. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

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

• Sinking began in 1821 and the Swansea Five Feet seam was reached at 136 yards in 1826. ¹
• The shaft was deepened to the Swansea Three Feet seam at 316 yards. (disputed) ¹
• In 1870 the colliery's three shafts were each 54 yards deep. (disputed) ²
• In the mid-1830s the colliery raised nearly 70,000 tons a year. ¹
• Charles Henry Smith owned the colliery in 1870. ^1,2
• Evan Matthew Richards bought the colliery in 1872; production stopped by 1874 and it was abandoned in 1876. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Scot's pit and Charles pit — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) Charles Colliery Explosion, Llansamlet, 1870 (Northern Mine Research Society) — Northern Mine Research Society

Record created: 6 October 2026 · Last researched: 6 October 2026