Cwmbach Colliery

Overview

Matthew Wayne's pit at Cwmbach near Aberdare, sunk in 1837 as the Abernant-y-groes Colliery, whose steam coal was shipped from Cardiff and used by the Admiralty by 1840; it employed 493 men in 1870 and was abandoned in 1896.

History

Cwmbach Colliery, first called the Abernant-y-groes Colliery and later the Cwmbach Old Pit, lay near the Aberdare road at Cwmbach, near Aberdare in the Cynon valley. Matthew Wayne and his partners sank it in 1837 at a cost of £4,900 and formed Wayne's Merthyr-Aberdare Steam Coal Company; the four-foot seam was won at sixty yards in December, and by the end of the month its coal was on show in London. A tramroad carried the coal to the Aberdare canal, whose barges took it at first to the ironworks and soon to the docks at Cardiff; by 1840 it was being used by the Admiralty. Its success set off a rush of new sinkings in and around Cwmbach. A New Pit was later sunk about 400 yards to the north.

The Northern Mine Research Society records an explosion at Cwmbach at eleven in the morning of 1 August 1845 that killed 28 men and boys and three horses, among them a boy of nine and a man of 78; it took three days to recover the bodies. Gareth Harris's history of the Aberdare valley disasters lists the same dead under the Duffryn Colliery, on 2 August 1845. Two more were killed by an explosion of firedamp on 17 February 1855. The Aberdare Coal Company worked the colliery in 1860 and the Aberdare Plymouth Company in the 1860s and 1870s, with 493 men in 1870. From 1884 to 1896 the Aberdare Works and Collieries Company held it, with 260 men and an output of 34,150 tons in 1894, and the colliery was abandoned in 1896.

Geology

South Wales coalfield, Cynon valley: the four-foot seam at sixty yards, worked for steam coal.

Workings

The Old Pit (Abernant-y-groes, 1837) and a New Pit about 400 yards to the north, with a tramroad to the Aberdare canal.

Closure

Abandoned in 1896 under the Aberdare Works and Collieries Company.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• An explosion at Cwmbach on 1 August 1845 killed 28 men and boys and three horses. (disputed) ¹
• The 28 killed in the explosion of 2 August 1845 were at the Duffryn Colliery. (disputed) 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 1837 at a cost of £4,900 by Matthew Wayne and partners. ^1,2
• Cwmbach Colliery was originally called the Abernant-y-groes Colliery. ^3,2
• By 1840 its coal was used by the Admiralty to power its ships. ³
• An explosion at Cwmbach on 1 August 1845 killed 28 men and boys and three horses. (disputed) ¹
• The 28 killed in the explosion of 2 August 1845 were at the Duffryn Colliery. (disputed) ³
• In 1870 the colliery employed 493 men. ^1,2
• The colliery was abandoned in 1896. ²
• BGS holds plans of the Aberdare collieries naming Abernant-y-groes and Cwmbach together. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Cwmbach Colliery (Northern Mine Research Society) — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Cwmbach Colliery (Welsh Coal Mines) — Welsh Coal Mines
3. (secondary) The Aberdare Valley Colliery Disasters 1845-1861 — People's Collection Wales
4. (primary) BGS mine plan: Aberaman, Abercwmboi, ... Abernant-y-groes, High Duffryn, Cwmbach ..., Yard seam — British Geological Survey

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