Coly Colliery

Overview

Eight small levels driven into the Taff Bargoed Valley near Bedlinog by the Dowlais Iron Company between 1865 and 1896, working the Brithdir seam and linked by rail to the great Dowlais works. Most had closed within a couple of decades, but the last, No.8, was still producing alongside the neighbouring Nantwen Colliery as late as 1910.

History

The Dowlais Iron Company drove the Colly levels — numbered 1 to 8 — into the Taff Bargoed Valley between 1865 and 1896: No.2 (January 1865), No.3 (January 1865), No.1 (March 1866), No.4 (October 1866), No.7 (April 1873), No.5 and No.6 (both April 1874) and, much later, No.8 (1896). Small-scale and worked by very few men each, they were nonetheless linked by a comprehensive rail network directly to the Dowlais works, and were in production by 1871–72 according to the Gelligaer parish production lists; the official List of Mines carries them under the Dowlais Iron Co. from 1873 to 1888, managed in 1878 by W. Lintern. A Great Western Railway report of January 1880 notes the reopening of "Colly Uchaf Colliery", closed about three years before; single-death fatal accidents were recorded at No.6 level in August 1880 and No.3 in September 1880, and the levels were still producing in 1883–84. By 1910 only No.8 remained at work, alongside the neighbouring Nantwen Colliery, together producing an average of 2,900 tons of coal a week. One account of the wider Dowlais colliery empire states that Coly's levels "closed along with the [Dowlais] Works itself" when Dowlais Ironworks shut in 1887 — but that does not square with No.8's own continued working to at least 1910, or with the record of Dowlais's holdings when it finally sold its collieries in December 1924 (by then Nantwen and the Brithdir/Tyla Du levels, with Coly no longer named separately). The most specific and best-corroborated account, drawing on the Fatal Accident Lists and the Inspector of Mines' own List of Mines returns, states plainly that all the Colly levels had closed by 1925 — the figure this record follows. In the 1930s a Bedlinog jazz band took the name "Colly Band" after the level and district (see Culture, queued for later research).

Geology

Worked the Brithdir seam of the South Wales Coalfield.

Workings

Eight separate drift levels (Nos.1–8) working the Brithdir seam, none large; No.8 was still linked with Nantwen Colliery's output as late as 1910.

Closure

Sources disagree on the closure date — one account ties it to the Dowlais Ironworks's own 1887 closure, but that source's own text shows No.8 still working in 1910, and the most detailed account of the individual levels states plainly that all had closed by 1925.

What remains

Unknown.

Nearby mines

• Nantwen Colliery — 0.3 km SE
• Nantyffin Colliery — 0.5 km W
• Trelewis Drift Mine — 1.9 km SW
• Bedlinog Colliery — 2.0 km NW
• Ogilvie Colliery — 2.2 km N, Caerphilly

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

Recorded claims

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

• The Dowlais Iron Company drove eight Colly levels between January 1865 (No.2) and 1896 (No.8), each individually dated in the Coal Authority-derived record. ¹
• Listed under the Dowlais Iron Co. in the official List of Mines from 1873 to 1888 (managed by W. Lintern in 1878), in production by 1871–72 and still producing in 1883–84; single fatal accidents recorded at No.6 (August 1880) and No.3 (September 1880). ^2,1
• By 1910 only No.8 level remained at work, producing an average of 2,900 tons of coal a week in conjunction with the neighbouring Nantwen Colliery. ²
• The Dowlais Iron Company's own account of its 1887 closure ties the Colly levels' end to that date, but the more detailed level-by-level record instead places closure of all the levels at 1925, consistent with a separate account of Dowlais's 1924 colliery holdings that no longer names Coly separately. (disputed) ^2,3,1
• In the 1930s a Bedlinog jazz band took the name "Colly Band" after the level and district. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Colly Level — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) Small Collieries of the Tredegar area — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (secondary) Bedlinog Collieries — Treharris District

Record created: 14 September 2026 · Last researched: 15 September 2026