East Blaina Red Ash Colliery

Overview

A level on Mynydd James above Blaina, won only after a contested 1924–25 court hearing between rival coal companies, then modernised by the Bargoed Coal Company from 1929. Employment nearly quintupled in the early 1930s, from 70 to 350 men, working the Brithdir seam for house coal.

History

In December 1924, J. & C. Jenkins & Co. of Sirhowy Villa, Tredegar, applied for the right to mine 304 acres of the Red Ash (Brithdir) coal seam under Mynydd James at East Blaina. The application was fiercely opposed by two established firms with deep pits either side of the mountain — the Lancaster Steam Collieries Ltd and the Nantyglo and Blaina Ironworks Company Ltd — who argued that working the shallower Red Ash separately from their own deep steam-coal seams risked disturbing the water table and flooding their Rose Heyworth and Cwmtillery collieries. The hearing ran for several days, with mining engineers and two sitting MPs, George Barker and Charles Edwards, giving evidence; Barker cited rising local unemployment and seven mines already closed by the Ebbw Vale Company in support of the application. After an adjournment, the Lancaster company withdrew its opposition on condition that Jenkins took an underlease of the Lancaster company's own coal at £380 rent plus royalties, and drove an underlevel drift from Blaina through the mountain into the Cwmtillery valley to drain water away via the Tylery Brook — addressing directly the flooding concern that had driven the opposition. By June 1925 the levels, tramlines, bank head and incline were ready. In August 1929 the Bargoed Coal Company, under mining engineer G. Pullen-Williams, took the level over, widened the incline gauge for larger trucks running the coal to Coalbrookvale for onward carriage by the Great Western and London, Midland and Scottish railways, and installed compressed-air and electrical machinery. Under the new company the level's workforce grew fast: 70 men in 1930 producing 120 tons a week under manager G.P. Williams, 200 men in 1931, 150 in 1932, and 350 by 1933; in 1934, with P.J. Taylor as manager, it employed 280 men underground and 50 on the surface. That year the Bargoed Coal Company Limited, based at 4a Wind Street, Brecon, also owned one other mine, the much smaller Abernant Colliery. East Blaina Red Ash closed before Nationalisation in 1947; no more precise closure date has been found.

Geology

Worked the Red Ash, also called the Brithdir seam, beneath Mynydd James — the same seam worked at the neighbouring Coed Cae Tillery, Rosemont and Llanerch Padern levels.

Workings

A drift level and underlevel drainage drift, driven from Blaina through Mynydd James into the Cwmtillery valley, working the Red Ash (Brithdir) seam.

Closure

Closed at some point before Nationalisation in 1947; no source gives a precise date.

What remains

Unknown.

Nearby mines

• Milfraen Colliery — 0.4 km NW, Torfaen
• Garn Colliery, Nantyglo — 1.5 km NW
• Big Pit — 1.9 km SE, Torfaen
• Forge Colliery, Nantyglo — 1.9 km NW
• Forge Slope Colliery — 2.1 km SE, Torfaen

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.

• J. & C. Jenkins & Co. applied in December 1924 to mine 304 acres of Red Ash seam at East Blaina; the Lancaster Steam Collieries and Nantyglo and Blaina Ironworks companies opposed it over flooding risk to their own deep pits, and MPs George Barker and Charles Edwards gave evidence in support. ¹
• The Lancaster company withdrew its opposition on condition Jenkins took an underlease of its coal and drove an underlevel drainage drift from Blaina into the Cwmtillery valley; the levels were ready by June 1925. ¹
• The Bargoed Coal Company took over in August 1929, modernising the level; the workforce grew from 70 men (120 tons/week) in 1930 to 350 in 1933 and 280 underground/50 surface in 1934. ^2,1
• The colliery had closed before Nationalisation in 1947. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) East Blaina Coal Co Level — Bargoed Coal Company — Out Of The Blue Artifacts
2. (secondary) Small Collieries of the Ebbw Valley — Northern Mine Research Society

Record created: 14 September 2026 · Last researched: 15 September 2026