Cwm Cynon Colliery

Overview

The most southerly of Nixon's Navigation collieries, sunk at Penrhiwceiber from 1889 to shafts over five hundred yards deep. It employed nearly two thousand men for thirty years and closed in 1949, two years after nationalisation. Bernd and Hilla Becher photographed its winding tower.

History

Sinking at Cwm Cynon's No. 1 and No. 2 shafts began in 1889, on the Cynon valley floor near Mountain Ash, and the shafts went down 508 yards to the steam coal. The Inspector of Mines list for 1896 catches the work in progress: thirty-six sinkers and thirty surface workers, the Lists of Mines noting the colliery as sinking to steam coal. What followed was one of the fastest expansions in this archive. From sixty-six people in 1896 the workforce went to 1,058 in 1900, 1,860 in 1905 and 1,843 in 1910. It was the most southerly of the Nixon's Navigation Coal Company's collieries, and it stayed close to two thousand for a quarter of a century — 1,937 in 1923, working the Two Feet Nine, Six Feet and Nine Feet seams, and 1,825 as late as 1933, though by then a third of them were at the surface. Llewellyn (Nixon) Limited reopened it in 1929 and Powell Duffryn took it over in 1935. Then it fell away: 686 employed in 1940, 644 in 1945, 555 in 1947 when it produced 120,000 tons for the National Coal Board. It closed in 1949, two years after nationalisation.

Geology

The colliery worked the steam coal seams of the Cynon valley — the Two Feet Nine, Six Feet and Nine Feet — reached by shafts sunk 508 yards from the valley floor. It began on household coal in 1894 and was on steam coal from 1896, which is the change the sinking to 508 yards was for.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (well documented example)

Workings

Two shafts, No. 1 and No. 2, sunk from 1889 to a depth of 508 yards.

Closure

Closed in 1949, two years after nationalisation.

What remains

No account of the site as it is now was found in the sources read.

No account of surviving remains was found in the sources read.

Redevelopment

Not established.

Related mines

• Nixon's Navigation Colliery — Both were pits of John Nixon's company in the Cynon valley, run from the Navigation Offices at Mountain Ash; Cwm Cynon was the most southerly of the group.

Nearby mines

• Nixon's Navigation Colliery — 1.4 km NW
• Taff Merthyr Colliery — 2.4 km E, Merthyr Tydfil
• Merthyr Vale Colliery — 2.5 km NE
• Penrikyber Colliery — 3.0 km S
• Abercwmboi Colliery — 3.4 km NW

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.

• Sinking at the Cwm Cynon No. 1 and No. 2 shafts, 508 yards deep, began in 1889; the Inspector of Mines list for 1896 records thirty-six sinkers and thirty surface workers employed here, and the colliery was the most southerly of Nixon's Coal Company's collieries. ^1,2
• The Lists of Mines give 495 employed in 1894, sixty-six in 1896 while sinking to steam coal, 1,058 in 1900, 1,860 in 1905, 1,843 in 1910, 1,541 in 1915, 1,937 in 1923, 1,825 in 1933, 686 in 1940 and 555 in 1947. Welsh Coal Mines gives 1,823 in 1908, 1,883 in 1913, 1,950 in 1923 and 644 in 1945. ^1,2
• The colliery returned household coal in 1894 and steam coal from 1896 onward, and in 1923 was producing from the Two Feet Nine, Six Feet and Nine Feet seams; in 1947 it produced 120,000 tons of manufacturing and steam coal. ^1,2
• The colliery was reopened by Llewellyn (Nixon) Ltd in 1929 and taken over by the Powell Duffryn Company in 1935; it passed to the National Coal Board in 1947 and closed in 1949, two years after nationalisation. ^1,2

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Cwmcynon Colliery — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) Cwm Cynon Colliery — Durham Mining Museum

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