Cwmteg Colliery

Overview

An anthracite slant on the south side of the Aman at Brynamman, opened in 1899 by the Amman Iron Company's Cwmteg Anthracite Colliery Company. It employed 280 men by 1908, struggled with water from the old Pant-y-Celyn workings and a costly railway wayleave, went into voluntary liquidation in 1915 and abandoned its seams in 1916; small licensed mines worked the name again until 1963.

History

Cwmteg was developed under mineral leases on two farms, Cwmteg and Blaen Cwmteg, south of the Aman. The Amman Iron Company held the leases and began the work, then passed the mine to a company of its own making. On 30 November 1899 the landowner, Christopher Jones, a barrister of Lincoln's Inn, signed an agreement with Henry and George Henry Strick of the Amman Iron Company for opening the colliery and laying a railway to the Midland line over his Furnace Top branch, at a wayleave of a penny a ton. The same day he leased the mine for 21 years to the Cwmteg Anthracite Colliery Company, and in March 1900 added the middle and lower veins under Blaen Cwmteg, naming George Harris Meager, William Gibson Morris and David William Meager as the proprietors. The slant employed 19 men in 1899 and 128 by 1902. By 1901 the company had also opened Noyadd Colliery nearby. In 1906 it asked Jones to halve the wayleave because the mine was expensive to work, and he refused; by 1907 water leaking in from the old Pant-y-Celyn workings was adding to the cost. Even so, manpower reached 206 in 1907 and 280 in 1908-09, when P. T. Jenkins was manager, 231 men worked underground and 49 at the surface, and Isaac Morgan was under-manager here and at Noyadd. On 3 November 1910 Jonathan Jones, a 21-year-old rider, was run over by a journey he was riding. The workforce fell to 99 in 1912 and 167 in 1913. The company went into voluntary liquidation on 20 May 1915, and the Middle and Lower seams were abandoned in July 1916. The name returned with small mines: New Cwmteg worked the Bynlloi (probably Brynlloi) seam from 1940 to 1943 under L. C. Rees, and Cwmteg No. 2 was worked by Rees in 1955-56 and then by the Cwmteg No. 2 Colliery Company of Brynamman until 1963.

Geology

Worked the middle and lower veins of the anthracite coal measures (abandoned as the Middle and Lower seams in 1916); the lease also covered fireclay and ironstone. New Cwmteg worked the Bynlloi (probably Brynlloi) seam and Cwmteg No. 2 the Bryn seam.

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

Workings

A slant, with its entrance on the south side of the river Aman, linked to the Midland Railway by the Furnace Top branch, which the company had to maintain. Water from the older Pant-y-Celyn mine leaked into the workings.

Closure

The Cwmteg Anthracite Colliery Company went into voluntary liquidation on 20 May 1915, and the Middle and Lower seams were abandoned in July 1916. The sources point to high working costs: the wayleave dispute of 1906 and water leaking in from Pant-y-Celyn in 1907. New Cwmteg (1940-43) and Cwmteg No. 2 (1955-63) were later small mines of the same name; No. 2 abandoned the Bryn seam in 1960.

What remains

Unknown. A local account notes the site can still be reached by public footpath.

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Noyadd Colliery — The Cwmteg Anthracite Colliery Company opened Noyadd in 1901, and in 1908 both mines shared the under-manager Isaac Morgan.

Nearby mines

• Ynysamman Colliery — 1.2 km W, Carmarthenshire
• Brynamman Colliery — 1.8 km W, Carmarthenshire
• Gwaun Cae Gurwen Colliery — 2.2 km SW
• Noyadd Colliery — 2.3 km W, Carmarthenshire
• Cwmllynfell Colliery — 3.2 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.

• Cwmteg Colliery was opened as a slant in 1899 by the Amman Iron Company, which formed the Cwmteg Anthracite Colliery Company of Swansea. ¹
• On 30 November 1899 landowner Christopher Jones of Lincoln's Inn agreed with Henry and George Henry Strick (the Amman Iron Co) for opening the colliery and a railway over his Furnace Top branch, at 1d a ton wayleave on output over 6,000 tons in six months, and leased the mine to the Cwmteg Anthracite Colliery Co for 21 years at 50 pounds a year. ²
• A lease of 30 March 1900 for the minerals under Blaen Cwmteg farm named the proprietors as George Harris Meager, William Gibson Morris and David William Meager, allowing the middle and lower veins, fireclay and ironstone. ²
• Letters of 1906 asked for the wayleave to be cut to a halfpenny a ton because the mine was expensive to work, which Jones refused; letters of 1907 hint at water leaking in from Pant-y-Celyn; the company went into voluntary liquidation on 20 May 1915. ²
• Manpower: 19 (1899), 58 (1900), 90 (1901), 128 (1902), 104 (1903), 95 (1905), 206 (1907), 280 (1908 and 1909; 231 underground, 49 surface, manager P. T. Jenkins), 240 (1910), 237 (1911, manager G. E. Garden), 99 (1912), 167 (1913). ¹
• The 1908 list of mines gives the Cwmteg Anthracite Colliery Co Ltd with manager P. T. Jenkins, under-manager Isaac Morgan, 231 underground and 49 surface. ²
• On 3 November 1910 Jonathan Jones, 21, a rider, was run over by a journey on which he was riding; no one saw how it happened and the road was in good order. ¹
• It abandoned the Middle and Lower seams in July 1916. New Cwmteg worked the Bynlloi seam in 1940-43 under L. C. Rees; No. 2 was worked in 1955-56 by Rees and in 1956-63 by the Cwmteg No. 2 Colliery Company of Brynamman, abandoning the Bryn seam in 1960. ¹
• The Cwmteg Anthracite Colliery Company opened Noyadd Colliery in 1901. ³
• The Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan for Cwmteg (SWR2706) records the Middle and Lower seams. ⁴
• A plan for 'Cwmteg Slant / Trigloin Slant' (SWR1535) records the Upper Gellideg (Middle Vein) and Lower Gellideg (Lower Vein). ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Small Collieries of the Amman Valley worked under NCB Licence (Ystrad Colliery entry) — Northern Mine Research Society (information from Ray Lawrence)
2. (secondary) Coal mining in Gwauncaegurwen and Cwmgors and local area (Glyn-Moch Colliery; Ystrad, Glanaman) — Gareth Hicks, GENUKI
3. (secondary) Small Collieries of the Amman Valley — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans: CWMTEG — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans: CWMTEG SLANT/ TRIGLOIN SLANT — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

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