Copper Pit Colliery

Overview

A Morriston colliery opened in 1864 by Cory, Yeo and Co. to fuel the Morriston copper works, disused by 1899 and reopened by Copper Pit Collieries Ltd, which employed nearly 450 in 1918 and raised 100,000 tons of steam coal in 1923 before closing in the slump of 1933.

History

Copper Pit was opened in 1864 by Cory, Yeo and Co. to supply fuel to the nearby Morriston copper works. It began as a single shaft about 150 yards deep to the Swansea Two-Feet seam. Thomas Davies, 17, was killed there in April 1867 when he fell in front of trams. John Glasbrook owned it by 1873, and in 1878 he took over Morriston Collieries Ltd; in 1888 Copper Pit and Cwm Pit together employed 330 men. Morriston Collieries Ltd was dissolved in 1898, and the pit was marked disused on the map of 1899.

Copper Pit Collieries Ltd of Morriston reopened it, adding a second shaft. In 1908 it employed 106 men underground and 19 on the surface under D. L. Thomas, 310 in all by 1913, and in 1918, with J. Standidge as manager, 357 underground and 89 on the surface. In 1923 it produced 100,000 tons of steam coal from the Two-Feet and Three-Feet seams with 408 men under J. Morgan. William Williams of Bonymaen was killed by a fall of side after firing a shot in 1914, one of three deaths that year.

It employed 395 in 1932 but closed in 1933, like other collieries round about, through the cost of working the lower seams and of pumping, the loss of foreign markets and the depression.

Geology

The Swansea Two-Feet and Three-Feet seams, and the Hughes; steam coal.

Workings

One shaft of about 150 yards from 1864, with a second added on reopening after 1899.

Closure

Closed in 1933 through the cost of working deeper seams and pumping, lost foreign markets and the depression; the Hughes workings were abandoned in 1925 and the Two-Feet and Three-Feet in 1931.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Recorded claims

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

• Opened in 1864 by Cory, Yeo and Co. to fuel the Morriston copper works, with one shaft of about 150 yards. ¹
• John Glasbrook owned it by 1873 and took over Morriston Collieries Ltd in 1878. ¹
• After being marked disused in 1899 it was reopened by Copper Pit Collieries Ltd with a second shaft. ^1,2
• In 1923 it produced 100,000 tons of steam coal with 408 men. ¹
• William Williams of Bonymaen was killed by a fall of side at Copper Pit in 1914; the inquest returned accidental death. ³
• The Three-Feet workings were abandoned in 1931 and the Hughes in 1925. ^4,5
• It closed in 1933. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Mynydd Newydd Colliery — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Morgan Davies, Copper Pit, Morriston, 4 September 1914 — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) South Wales Weekly Post, 6 June 1914: Killed at the Copper Pit. Inquest on Bonymaen collier — National Library of Wales, Welsh Newspapers
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: COPPER, Three Feet seam, abandoned 1931 — British Geological Survey
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: COPPER, Hughes seam, abandoned 1925 — British Geological Survey

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