Cwmsychan Colliery

Overview

Coal and ironstone pits near Abersychan sunk about 1860 for the British Iron Works and later the Ebbw Vale Company, with a Red Ash level on the same site, worked until about 1931.

History

Cwmsychan Colliery, near Abersychan in the Afon Lwyd valley, was a group of shafts sunk about 1860 to work ironstone and coal for the British Iron Works, in the Two-Feet-Nine, Four-Feet, Upper Six-Feet, Nine-Feet and Yard seams. Thomas Brown worked it in 1870, followed by the Ebbw Vale Steel, Iron and Coal Company, whose Abersychan ironworks it served; in 1878 the manager was Rees Emmanuel.

A Western Mail description of 1869 gives two oval pits served by one winding engine of 1855: a 200-yard downcast with a pumping engine lifting water from the Bottom Vein ironstone, and an upcast wound from 182 yards. A cross-measure drift ran 800 yards west to the Meadow Vein, worked by pillar and stall with candles and no powder. In April 1876 a fifteen-year-old signal boy, Thomas Rapps, was given three months' hard labour for cutting the rope that hauled men and trams up the slope.

The Abersychan Elled Steam Coal Company leased the mines in 1884, working the Elled, Big, Three-quarters, Black and Meadow seams, and Powell's Tillery Steam Coal Company in 1908. The Cwmsychan Red Ash level on the same site worked the Brithdir seam for T. and E. Williams and then the Waen Nantyglo Colliery Company. Cwmsychan, also called the Talywaun level, employed about 30 to 40 men in the 1920s, and by 1932 both pits and level had gone.

Geology

South Wales Coal Measures, coal and ironstone: the Two-Feet-Nine, Four-Feet, Upper Six-Feet, Nine-Feet and Yard (Meadow Vein) seams and the Bottom Vein ironstone; later the Elled, Big, Three-quarters and Black, and the Brithdir (Red Ash) at the level.

Workings

Shafts (two oval pits in 1869, a 200-yard downcast and a 182-yard upcast, with a cross-measure drift 800 yards west), worked pillar and stall; the Cwmsychan Red Ash level on the same site.

Closure

The workings reached their northern limit by 1877 and their southern by 1891; the pits and level were still listed in the 1920s and had disappeared from the lists by 1932.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Recorded claims

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

• Shallow shafts were sunk about 1860 to work ironstone and coal for the British Iron Works; in 1870 they were worked by Thomas Brown and then the Ebbw Vale Steel, Iron and Coal Company. ¹
• In 1869 the Cwmsychan pits were two oval pits served by one winding engine built in 1855, the downcast 200 yards and the upcast hoisting from 182 yards. ²
• On 15 April 1876 Thomas Rapps, a 15-year-old signal boy, was sentenced to three months' hard labour for cutting the rope that brought men and trams up the incline. ¹
• The mines were leased to the Abersychan Elled Steam Coal Company in 1884 and to Powell's Tillery Steam Coal Company in 1908. ¹
• By 1932 both the pits and the level had disappeared from the listings. ¹
• Cwmsychan is named on a combined coal and ironstone plan of the Blaenavon and Abersychan workings. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Cwmsychan Colliery - Northern Mine Research Society — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Abersychan pits - Welsh Coal Mines — Welsh Coal Mines
3. (primary) BGS mine plans: Blaenavon, Abersychan ... Cwmsychan (coal and ironstone) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 2 October 2026 · Last researched: 2 October 2026