Cwmceiros Colliery

Overview

A short-lived level north-east of Pontardawe whose relationship to the neighbouring Cwmnantllwyd Colliery was already a source of confusion to NMRS's own researchers.

History

Cwmceiros Colliery, its mineral take lying to the north-east of Pontardawe, was not listed in 1917 but appears by 1921 under the ownership of the Cwmceiros Collieries Limited, employing 35 men by 1923. By 1927 it had passed to the Duffryn Tawe Collieries Limited, employing 20 men, falling to 14 by 1928. In 1932 it was recorded under the ownership of the Cwmnantllwyd Colliery Company, though no separate Cwmnantllwyd Colliery appears in the same listings; by 1935 there was no Cwmceiros Colliery at all, only a Cwmnantllwyd Colliery. The Northern Mine Research Society's own account can only assume the two were the same level under different names. Worked for house and manufacturing coal, Cwmceiros was served by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway's Midland and Swansea Vale Section. A local historian's independent survey of the district lists Cwmceiros Drifts (two of them, working the Pretoria and South Wales Four-Feet seams respectively) as a distinct entry alongside, not identical to, the neighbouring Cwmnantllwyd Pit and Drifts (working the South Wales Four-Feet, Graigola and Upper Maesmelyn seams) — evidence the two names may genuinely describe separate, if adjoining, workings rather than one site as NMRS itself suspected.

Related mines

• Cwmnantllwyd Colliery — Adjacent Pontardawe-area levels sharing the Duffryn Tawe Collieries Limited operator; NMRS's own text wonders if they are the same site, but a local forum's account of the district treats them as separate workings in different seams.

Nearby mines

• Boundary Level — 0.2 km NW
• Cwmnantllwyd Colliery — 0.4 km SW
• Gwyn's Colliery — 0.6 km N
• Graigola Colliery — 0.7 km W
• Primrose Colliery — 1.6 km SE

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.

• Owned by the Cwmceiros Collieries Limited by 1921 (35 men by 1923), then by the Duffryn Tawe Collieries Limited from 1927 (20 men, falling to 14 by 1928); by 1935 the name Cwmceiros had disappeared from the listings entirely, with only a Cwmnantllwyd Colliery recorded in its place. ¹
• NMRS's own compiler could only assume Cwmceiros was the same level as the neighbouring Cwmnantllwyd Colliery, but an independent local-history account of the district's old mines lists Cwm Ceirios Drifts (working the Pretoria and South Wales Four-Feet seams) as a separate entry from Cwmnantllwyd Pit and Drifts (working the South Wales Four-Feet, Graigola and Upper Maesmelyn seams) — suggesting they may genuinely be two adjoining, not identical, workings. (uncertain) ^1,2
• The mine was worked for house and manufacturing coal and was served by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway's Midland and Swansea Vale Section. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Small collieries in the Pontardawe area — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Old Swansea Valley Mines (forum thread) — Welsh Coal Mines forum

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