Cwmaman Colliery

Overview

Shepherd's Pit, sunk in 1849 in the Aman valley above Aberdare and known locally by the founder's name for the rest of its life. It worked steam coal for eighty-six years, employed over a thousand men, and closed in 1935; the pub on the corner is still named after him.

History

Cwmaman was sunk in 1849 to the Gellideg seam by Thomas Shepherd in partnership with H. J. Evans, about five hundred yards west of Fforchaman, and the coal was found in December of that year. The village called it Pwll Shepherd — Shepherd's Pit — and went on calling it that. The downcast shaft went 232 yards to the Four-Feet seam and the upcast 218 yards to the Two-Feet-Nine; ventilation was by furnace at first and the winding by water balance.

From 1873 Thomas Shepherd worked the colliery alone with Griffith Thomas as his manager, until the Cwmaman Coal Company was formed on 13 January 1882 to acquire the belongings of John Hall and others. In 1886 the upcast was deepened to the Gellideg and a Waddle fan thirty feet across was installed in place of the furnace.

It was a big pit by the 1890s. The Inspector of Mines list for 1896 gives 1,078 men producing steam coal, and 1,012 were employed in 1908. By 1918 Cwmaman had been integrated with the Fforchwen and Trewen collieries under D. R. Llewellyn, the three employing 1,836 men between them; a list of 1923 gives 924 at Cwmaman itself, working coal and ironstone from the Nine Feet, Bute, Nos. 1 and 2 Yard, Red and Seven Feet seams. By 1930 it was held by the Bwllfa and Cwmaman Collieries Limited, a company incorporated in 1891.

The pit killed children as readily as men. Thomas Howells, aged twelve, died under a fall of roof on 4 July 1885; Joseph Howells, also twelve, was crushed by trams on 19 April 1886, the day after Thomas Evans, aged sixty-one, went the same way. The colliery closed in 1935.

Geology

The colliery worked the steam coal seams of the Aberdare district in the eastern South Wales coalfield. The shafts were sunk to the Four-Feet and Two-Feet-Nine and later deepened to the Gellideg; the 1923 return names the Nine Feet, Bute, Nos. 1 and 2 Yard, Red and Seven Feet, with ironstone raised alongside the coal.

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

Workings

Two shafts sunk in 1849: a downcast 232 yards to the Four-Feet seam and an upcast 218 yards to the Two-Feet-Nine, with furnace ventilation and water-balance winding at first. In 1886 the upcast was deepened to the Gellideg and a Waddle fan thirty feet in diameter replaced the furnace.

Closure

Closed in 1935.

What remains

No account of the colliery site as it is now was found. The village stands; the Shepherds Arms on the corner of Fforchaman Road and Pwllfa Road, which dates from 1850 and is named after the colliery's founder, is still there.

Related mines

• Fforchaman Colliery — Neighbours five hundred yards apart in the Aman valley, worked together as one unit from 1918 and again under the Coal Board after 1947.
• Fforchwen Colliery — Sunk by the Cwmaman Coal Company, Fforchwen was later absorbed into Cwmaman Colliery, and their production was combined in 1935.

Disasters & major incidents

• Cwmaman Colliery haulage accident, 1910
  1 October 1910 · Haulage / Transport · 2 fatalities

  Two boys hurrying to the pit bottom at the end of their shift at Cwmaman Colliery were overtaken and killed by a journey of drams on 1 October 1910.

  On 1 October 1910 Albert John Harris, 17, and Lewis Lewis, 16, were making their way to the pit bottom at Cwmaman Colliery after their shift. They passed the rider, Gwilym Roberts, who told them his journey of full drams was about to start. Soon after it set off the drams blocked together and several jumped the rails, knocking out supports and bringing down roof. The two boys were found lying across the drams, both dead. A collier walking behind them had stepped into a manhole and was unhurt.

• Cwmaman Colliery gas explosion, 1911
  16 September 1911 · Explosion · 2 fatalities
  Around midday on Saturday 16 September 1911 an outburst of gas and an explosion in the main intake of the Hafod district at Cwmaman Colliery, near Aberdare, killed the lampman William Bryant and the haulier Thomas Davies and injured two more. Dust poured from the top of the pit. About 600 men were brought out, and the 1,600 at neighbouring Fforchwen, joined to Cwmaman underground, were ordered out too. Davies was a sergeant in the rescue brigade that came to recover him.
• Cwmaman Colliery roof fall, 1917
  2 May 1917 · Collapse / Roof Fall · 2 fatalities
  On Wednesday 2 May 1917 four men clearing a fall at the end of a double parting in the Ffaldau New Seven-feet seam at Cwmaman Colliery were caught by a second fall. The repairer Daniel Davies was killed outright and the fireman David Thomas died of his injuries; William Gough and David Cox were hurt.

Culture

• Cwmaman Institute (Learning)
  Cwmaman Colliery workmen funded the Institute from 1884 through a halfpenny-in-the-pound levy on their wages.

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 BGS mine-plans catalogue holds a Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'Cwmaman' (catalogue SWR1207, Six Feet, dated 1914); the catalogue gives no location and the plan's details do not clearly tie it to this working, so it may belong to another of the same name. (uncertain) ³

Recorded claims

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

• The colliery was sunk in 1849 to the Gellideg seam by Shepherd and Evans and was known locally as Pwll Shepherd or Shepherd's Pit; the downcast shaft went 232 yards to the Four-Feet seam and the upcast 218 yards to the Two-Feet-Nine, with furnace ventilation and water-balance winding. ¹
• From 1873 Thomas Shepherd operated the colliery alone with Griffith Thomas as manager, until the Cwmaman Coal Company was formed on 13 January 1882 to acquire the belongings of John Hall and others; by 1918 it was owned by D. R. Llewellyn and by 1930 by the Bwllfa and Cwmaman Collieries Limited, a company incorporated in 1891. ¹
• In 1886 the upcast shaft was deepened to the Gellideg seam and a Waddle-type ventilation fan thirty feet in diameter was installed. ¹
• The Inspector of Mines list for 1896 gives 1,078 men employed producing steam coal, and 1,012 were employed in 1908. By 1918 the colliery had been integrated with Fforchwen and Trewen, the unit employing 1,836 men; a list of 1923 gives 924 at Cwmaman, producing coal and ironstone from the Nine Feet, Bute, Nos. 1 and 2 Yard, Red and Seven Feet seams. ¹
• Thomas Howells, aged twelve, died under a fall of roof on 4 July 1885; Joseph Howells, also twelve, was crushed by trams on 19 April 1886, a day after Thomas Evans, aged sixty-one, met a similar fate. ¹
• The Shepherds Arms, on the corner of Fforchaman Road and Pwllfa Road, dates from 1850 and is named after Thomas Shepherd, the founder of Cwmaman Colliery. ²
• The BGS mine-plans catalogue holds a Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'Cwmaman' (catalogue SWR1207, Six Feet, dated 1914); the catalogue gives no location and the plan's details do not clearly tie it to this working, so it may belong to another of the same name. (uncertain) ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Cwmaman — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (observational) North side of the Shepherds Arms, Cwmaman, Geograph 3905100 — Geograph Britain and Ireland
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans: CWMAMAN — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

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