Cwmllynfell Colliery

Overview

An anthracite colliery at Cwmllynfell in the upper Swansea Valley, known locally as 'the Clink', opened in 1820 and struck by an explosion in 1825. Closed in 1880 after flooding, it reopened in 1908 and grew to over 400 men in the 1940s under Henderson's Welsh Anthracite and the NCB, but losses and the worst output per manshift in Britain led to its closure in February 1959.

History

A series of anthracite mines at Cwmllynfell was opened in 1820 by Reynolds and Aubrey, and in 1825 an explosion is recorded as killing 59 men (see Disasters, below). The colliery, also called 'Clink', was owned by James and Aubrey from the 1840s to the 1860s and employed 124 men in 1842. The No. 1 closed in 1878 and the No. 2 in 1880 after flooding. Benjamin Thomas reopened the colliery in April 1908, and B. Thomas and Sons of Swansea employed 125 men in 1913. The Colliery Investment Trust held it from about 1917, the Cwmllynfell Anthracite Collieries Company bought it in 1924, and by 1930 it belonged to Henderson's Welsh Anthracite Collieries, part of Amalgamated Anthracite. It stood idle for thirteen months until January 1929, when the men agreed to return on a reduced price list. Manpower passed 400 in the early 1940s, working the Middle and Lower veins.

On nationalisation in 1947 it employed 360 men. On 7 June 1951 a fire caused by shotfiring broke out in the Middle Vein workings; the pumps were stopped, water rose to within an inch of the roof of one face, and 82 rescue men sealed off the district. Work restarted on 12 June. In the mid-1950s the NCB's losses grew from £3.85 to £7.37 a ton, there were 22 unofficial stoppages in two years, and in January 1956 output per manshift fell to 5.8 hundredweight, the worst in the United Kingdom. The colliery closed on 2 February 1959 with 294 men; the miners' request to run it as a co-operative was refused. Until the end, the lodge of the National Union of Mineworkers held its meetings in Welsh.

Geology

Anthracite from the Big Vein (to 1925) and the Middle and Lower veins. A lease of 1815 names the Great Vein and the Brass Vein, later called the Peacock Vein from the colours its pyrite-rich coal showed after lying under water.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (historical documentary reference)

Workings

Opened as drift mines; later records describe a pit with a Balance Pit and a Ty Newydd working shown on old maps, linked to the Midland Railway at Gwys. A nine-foot Waddle fan was installed in 1923, the winders were electrified in 1955, and the colliery had its own coal preparation plant.

Closure

The first period ended with the No. 2 closing in 1880 after flooding. The reopened colliery closed on 2 February 1959 after years of heavy losses, unofficial stoppages and very low productivity; the Big Vein was abandoned in 1925, the Middle Vein in 1957 and the Lower Vein in 1959.

Related mines

• Brynamman Colliery — Both owned by Henderson's Welsh Anthracite Collieries in the 1930s.

Disasters & major incidents

• Cwmllynfell Colliery explosion, 1825
  1825 · Explosion · 59 fatalities

  In 1825 an explosion at the Cwmllynfell anthracite mines in the upper Swansea Valley, opened five years earlier by Reynolds and Aubrey, killed 59 men. A plaque at the national mining memorial garden in Senghenydd records it.

  The Cwmllynfell mines, known locally as 'the Clink', were a series of anthracite workings opened in 1820 by Reynolds and Aubrey. In 1825 an explosion there killed 59 men. The day, the cause and the names of the dead are not recorded in the accounts that survive.

  The colliery itself went on, owned by James and Aubrey through the mid-nineteenth century and working, with breaks, until 1959.

What's uncertain

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

• In 1825, 59 men were killed in an explosion. (uncertain) ¹

Recorded claims

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

• Cwmllynfell was opened in 1820 by Reynolds and Aubrey and was known as 'Clink'; the No. 1 closed in 1878 and the No. 2 in 1880 after flooding. ^1,2
• In 1825, 59 men were killed in an explosion. (uncertain) ¹
• Reopened in April 1908 by Benjamin Thomas; Colliery Investment Trust by 1917; Cwmllynfell Anthracite Collieries from 1924; Henderson's Welsh Anthracite Collieries (Amalgamated Anthracite) by 1930. ^1,2
• The Welsh Coal Mines summary gives 114 men in 1908, 155 in 1918, 285 in 1923, 396 in 1938, 404 in 1945 and 319 underground and 51 surface in 1956. ²
• NMRS statistics give 124 men in 1842, 125 in 1913, 199 in 1923, 403 in 1933, 429 in 1941, 360 in 1947 and 313 in 1956. ¹
• On 7 June 1951 a shotfiring fire in the Middle Vein workings stopped the colliery; 82 rescue men sealed the district and work restarted on 12 June. ^1,2
• In January 1956 output per manshift fell to 5.8 hundredweight, the worst in the UK; losses rose from £3.85 per ton in 1954 to £7.37 in 1955, with 22 unofficial stoppages. ^1,2
• It closed on 2 February 1959 with 253 men underground and 41 on the surface; the lodge met in Welsh, and a request to run it as a co-operative was refused. ^1,2
• An 1815 agreement let the Great Vein and Brass Vein under Cwmllynfell to George Walker of Swansea for 21 years at 9d a ton; the 1908 list of mines gives B. Thomas & Sons with 100 underground and 14 surface workers. ^3,2
• Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan SWR1532, 'Cwmllynfell Upcast & Downcast', records the Upper Gellideg (Middle Vein) seam. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Cwmllynfell Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society (Ray Lawrence)
2. (secondary) Cwmllynfell Colliery — Welsh Coal Mines
3. (secondary) Coal mining in Gwauncaegurwen and Cwmgors and local area (Glyn-Moch Colliery; Ystrad, Glanaman) — Gareth Hicks, GENUKI
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans: CWMLLYNFELL UPCAST & DOWNCAST — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 16 September 2026 · Last researched: 16 September 2026