Danygraig Colliery

Overview

A string of small licensed drift mines on the western side of the Dulais Valley above Crynant, worked from 1956 into the 2010s in the Ynysarwed and Upper Pinchin seams by a succession of small operators.

History

J. G. Williams opened Danygraig, on the western flank of the Dulais Valley about a kilometre north of Crynant, in December 1956, as a small mine worked under licence from the National Coal Board. In 1957 its ten men raised 2,335 tons. The Danygraig Colliery Company (Crynant) Ltd held it from 1960, when it produced 4,910 tons from the Ynysarwed seam with eight men underground and two on the surface; in 1962 the company sought to work the Upper Pinchin because the Ynysarwed workings kept breaking into old workings, and the first mine was abandoned in December 1964. No. 2 followed in the 1960s, working the Ynysarwed and then, from 1971, the Upper Pinchin. It passed to Joseph Horlock in 1973 and to Vivian Edward Williams in 1979; in March 1980 Williams was fined £8,400 for breaches of the mining regulations and his licence was withdrawn. Daniels and Hosken worked it next, and a fire in October 1981 destroyed all the surface buildings. Three D's Mining Ltd worked No. 2 until its abandonment in March 1992, and No. 4 from 1994 to 1997. Work to reopen No. 4 began in 2009, under a planning permission of 2010, and a scheme to take 12,000 tonnes of Upper Pinchin coal by trench and auger from an old opencast cut beside it was put forward. No. 4 closed in February 2016.

Geology

Anthracite measures of the Dulais Valley: the Ynysarwed (No. 2 Rhondda) and Upper Pinchin seams.

Workings

A series of drift mines and levels: the first Danygraig (1956-64), No. 2 (abandoned 1992), No. 3 (abandoned 1990 and 1992) and No. 4 (worked 1994-97 and reopened from 2009).

Closure

No. 4 was abandoned in October 1997, reopened from 2009 and closed again in February 2016.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

What's uncertain

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

• No. 2 was opened in 1963. (disputed) ¹
• No. 2 was opened in 1966. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

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

• Danygraig was opened by J. G. Williams in December 1956. ¹
• In 1960 it produced 4,910 tons from the Ynysarwed seam, with eight men underground and two on the surface. ^1,2
• In March 1980 the licensee was fined £8,400 for contravening mining regulations, and the licence was withdrawn in April. ¹
• A fire in October 1981 destroyed all the surface buildings. ¹
• No. 2 and No. 3 abandoned the Upper Pinchin seam on 1 March 1992, and No. 4 on 9 October 1997. ^3,4
• No. 2 was opened in 1963. (disputed) ¹
• No. 2 was opened in 1966. (disputed) ²

Sources

1. (secondary) West Glamorgan Small Mines (Welsh Coal Mines) — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) Danygraig Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) BGS mine plans: Danygraig No.4, Upper Pinchin seam, abandoned 9 October 1997 — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
4. (primary) BGS mine plans: Danygraig No.2 & No.3, Upper Pinchin seam, abandoned 1 March 1992 — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

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