Elwyn Colliery

Overview

A small drift mine at Onllwyn in the Dulais Valley, worked from 1955 to 1993. From about 1991 it was joined underground to the nearby Graig y Fforest No.2 Colliery (Pinetrees), which then brought its coal out through Elwyn's own drift. A collier was killed by a fall of roof in 1992.

History

Elwyn Colliery was a drift mine at Onllwyn, near Seven Sisters in the Dulais Valley, worked from 1955 into the Red Vein seam, about 2 feet 9 inches thick, by hand-got methods; horses hauled the coal at first, later replaced by a conveyor, with drams then hauled to the surface up a steep drift by powered haulage. E.R. Rowlands owned it from 1955 to 1957; the Elwyn Colliery Company ran it from 1957 to 1971, when 15 men worked underground and 5 on the surface, producing 5,405 tons of coal in 1960. The Tower Anthracite Company took over in 1971, employing 19 men by 1987; a surface fire in December 1976 caused over £50,000 of damage to colliery machinery. Around 1991 Elwyn's workings were joined underground by a timbered roadway to the nearby Graig y Fforest No.2 Colliery, known as Pinetrees, on the other side of the mountain; from then on Graig y Fforest's coal was brought out through Elwyn's own drift, and the two mines were sometimes referred to together as Elwyn/Pinetrees. Ryan Mining Ltd owned Elwyn from 1989, employing around 25 to 30 men and, by October 1990, 31, when permission was sought to mine some 15,000 tons a year. On 21 July 1992 a collier, Paul Roberts, aged 32, was killed at the face by a fall of roof; he left a widow and three young sons. Elwyn closed in 1993, its men transferred to Ryan's other mine, Lyn Mine at Resolfen; Ward Brothers, the Durham-based opencast company, later sought permission to opencast the site, along with the nearby Brawds Level and Nant Hir Colliery.

Geology

Worked the Red Vein seam, about 2 feet 9 inches thick, of the South Wales Coalfield.

Workings

A drift mine; hand-got, with horse and later conveyor haulage to a powered haulage system up a steep drift to the surface. From about 1991 linked underground by a timbered roadway to Graig y Fforest No.2 Colliery (Pinetrees), whose coal was then brought out through Elwyn.

Closure

Closed in 1993; its workforce transferred to Ryan Mining's Lyn Mine at Resolfen. Ward Brothers later sought permission to opencast the site.

What remains

Not established from the sources read for this pass.

Not established from the sources read for this pass.

Redevelopment

Not established from the sources read for this pass.

Nearby mines

• Nant Hir Colliery — 0.4 km SW
• Onllwyn Colliery — 2.0 km N
• Blaenant Colliery — 2.5 km SW
• Seven Sisters Colliery — 3.5 km W
• Aberpergwm Colliery — 3.7 km NE

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.

• A drift mine at Onllwyn opened in 1955, worked into the Red Vein seam by hand-got methods. ^1,2
• Owned by E.R. Rowlands (1955-57), the Elwyn Colliery Company (1957-71), the Tower Anthracite Company (1971-89) and Ryan Mining Ltd (1989-93). ¹
• Produced 5,405 tons of coal in 1960 with 15 men underground and 5 on the surface; employed 19 men in 1987 and around 25-31 in its final years under Ryan Mining. ^1,2
• From about 1991 Elwyn's workings were joined underground by a timbered roadway to the nearby Graig y Fforest No.2 Colliery (Pinetrees), whose coal was thereafter brought out through Elwyn's own drift. ¹
• NMRS separately records an 'Elwyn Pinetrees' as worked by the Tower Anthracite Company and then, from 1993, by Ward Brothers -- likely the same Elwyn/Graig y Fforest connection described by Welsh Coal Mines, though NMRS's own date range for it ('1911 and 1992') is not consistent with either source's other dates and is probably a transcription error. (uncertain) ²
• Collier Paul Roberts, 32, was killed at the face by a fall of roof on 21 July 1992, leaving a widow and three young sons. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) West Glamorgan Small Mines (Welsh Coal Mines) — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) Small collieries of the Dulais Valley — Northern Mine Research Society

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