Dukes Pit, Tredegar

Overview

The earliest recorded pit at Tredegar, sunk in 1806 and named after the Duke of Beaufort; a small water-balance pit whose workers' cottages became the village of Dukestown.

History

Dukes Pit, sunk in 1806, is the earliest recorded pit at Tredegar. It was named after the landowner, the Duke of Beaufort, and sunk near the Nant Melyn brook, one of the local streams named for the yellow and red colours that the ironstone outcrop gave the water. The colliers' and miners' cottages built beside it became the village of Dukestown.

The shaft was only eight feet by eight and 35 yards deep, wound by a water-balance engine; it is an early example of the water-balance headgear that spread across the northern rim of the coalfield, where a tank of water under the carriage at the top outweighed the loaded carriage at the bottom. Its chain once snapped with four men on the carriage, killing the mining agent, Williams, and an overman, Thomas, and injuring the overman Owen and a trainee agent, Jones, who later became mining agent himself. The shaft now lies in a house garden, and modern houses stand on the pit's large shale tip.

Geology

South Wales Coalfield, northern outcrop.

Workings

A shaft eight feet square and 35 yards deep, wound by water balance.

Closure

Unknown.

What remains

The shaft lies in a house garden and houses stand on the tip.

None recorded; the shaft site is in a private garden.

Redevelopment

Housing on the spoil tip.

Related mines

• Ash Tree Pit, Tredegar — Early water-balance pits of the Tredegar ironworks.
• Mountain Pit, Tredegar — Tredegar Iron Company workings around the Tredegar ironworks.
• Yard Level, Tredegar — Tredegar Iron Company workings around the Tredegar ironworks.

Recorded claims

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

• Dukes Pit was sunk in 1806, the earliest recorded pit in the Tredegar area, named after the Duke of Beaufort. ¹
• Dukes Pit near Tredegar, opened in 1806, is an early example of water-balance headgear, working at about one hundred feet. ²
• The pit was eight feet by eight and 35 yards deep, with a balance engine. ¹
• Its chain snapped with four men on the carriage, killing the mining agent Williams and overman Thomas. ¹
• The colliers' and miners' cottages formed the village of Dukestown. ¹
• The shaft is in a house garden and modern houses stand on the spoil tip. ¹

Sources

1. (secondary) Tredegar Pits — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) NMRS: The Brynpwllog headgear now at Big Pit (water balance winding) — Northern Mine Research Society

Record created: 18 October 2026 · Last researched: 18 October 2026