Cwmclydach Graigola Colliery

Overview

A Clydach mine on Gelliwastad Mountain, opened by two sons of a Swansea Valley boat-builder in 1860 and worked for over sixty years under several names.

History

Cwmdŵr Colliery — also called Gwndwn or Gwndwn-Cadi, and later Cwmclydach Graigola — was opened high on Gelliwastad Mountain above Clydach in 1860 by Samuel and John Hill, two of the three sons of Samuel Hill senior, an English-born Quaker-raised incomer who had settled in Clydach and built up a boat-building business serving the Swansea Valley Canal. The brothers added coal-working to the family trade, driving a tramway down a steep incline to the canal so that coal could be loaded onto narrowboats bound for Swansea docks. Their elder brother, Benjamin Hill, was the Swansea Valley Canal's engineer and a noted amateur astronomer who lived in seclusion at Cwmdŵr until his death in 1888.

By 1884, and into the early 20th century, the mine traded as Cwmclydach Graigola Colliery, owned by S. & J. Hill Limited — controlled by William Hill of Swansea and managed by Samuel Hill — producing manufacturing coal and employing 65 men in 1899, growing to a peak of 97 men in 1913-16. William Rees took over as manager by 1918 and was still there in 1930, when the colliery employed 62 men underground and 20 on the surface working the Graigola seam, producing 30,000 tons of coal. It abandoned the Graig and Five-Feet seams in 1932. A separate, independent account of the same site states it continued operating until 1925, the last of the old Clydach collieries to use the Swansea Valley Canal — a different closing date to the one implied by NMRS's own 1930/1932 activity record, not reconciled here.

On the morning of 10 January 1924, William Philips, a 55-year-old pumpsman, was struck by a runaway dram and died of his injuries before a doctor could reach him; he left a widow at Ynystawe.

The colliery's tall chimney stack, which once carried smoke from the furnace powering the winding engine, still stood on the hillside overgrown with vegetation as of a 1998 photographic survey, along with the remains of the inclined tramroad down to the canal.

Geology

Worked the Graigola seam, later also the Graig and Five-Feet seams.

Workings

Opened 1860 by Samuel and John Hill; a tramway ran down a steep incline to the Swansea Valley Canal.

Closure

Abandoned the Graig and Five-Feet seams in 1932, per NMRS; an independent account gives 1925 as the closing date instead, not reconciled here.

What remains

The colliery's tall chimney stack, which carried smoke from the furnace powering the winding engine, still stood on the hillside as of a 1998 photographic survey.

The chimney stack, overgrown with vegetation, and the remains of the inclined tramroad down to the canal, both recorded as of a 1998 photographic survey.

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 independent local-history account of the same site states operations continued until 1925, the last of the old Clydach collieries to use the Swansea Valley Canal — an earlier closure than NMRS's own record of activity into 1930-32; the accounts disagree. (disputed) ^2,1

Recorded claims

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

• Opened in 1860 by Samuel and John Hill, sons of Clydach boat-builder Samuel Hill senior, who added coal working to the family's canal-boat business; their elder brother Benjamin Hill, the Swansea Valley Canal's engineer and an amateur astronomer, lived at the site until his death in 1888. ¹
• By 1884 and into the 20th century the mine traded as Cwmclydach Graigola Colliery under S. & J. Hill Limited, controlled by William Hill and managed by Samuel Hill, growing from 65 men (1899) to a peak of 97 men (1913-16); by 1930, under manager William Rees, it employed 82 men and produced 30,000 tons of coal, before abandoning the Graig and Five-Feet seams in 1932. ²
• An independent local-history account of the same site states operations continued until 1925, the last of the old Clydach collieries to use the Swansea Valley Canal — an earlier closure than NMRS's own record of activity into 1930-32; the accounts disagree. (disputed) ^2,1
• On 10 January 1924 a 55-year-old pumpsman, William Philips, was struck by a runaway dram and died of his injuries; the colliery was recorded under the alias Cwmdwr Colliery in the fatalities register. ³
• As of a 1998 photographic survey, the colliery's tall chimney stack survived on the hillside, overgrown with vegetation, along with the remains of the inclined tramroad down to the Swansea Valley Canal. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Cwmdŵr Colliery, Clydach Glamorgan — People's Collection Wales (John Ball)
2. (primary) Small collieries in the Pontardawe area — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (secondary) Welsh coal mine fatalities, 1924 — Welsh Coal Mines

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