Felinfran Colliery

Overview

A drift mine at Glais, between Clydach and Llansamlet, opened by the Felin Fran Colliery Company in 1932-35 and worked for house coal from the Swansea Four Feet and later the Graigola seam, using the flooded workings of the old Gueret's Graigola pit as its return airway. It employed about 300 men after nationalisation, suffered an explosion during Easter maintenance in 1947, and closed in December 1965 as the last colliery in the Llansamlet area.

History

An older Velinfran Colliery had been opened at Llansamlet in 1885, with two shafts to the Drews Vein; it employed 104 men in 1899 and abandoned the seam in 1902. The Felinfran Colliery of the 20th century, known locally as Garth, was begun by the Felin Fran Colliery Company in 1931-32 and completed in 1935 as a level for house coal, its main winding drift 650 yards long, starting in the Drews and Swansea Four Feet seams as a naked-light mine. The Hendy Merthyr Colliery Company took control in July 1941.

To open the Graigola seam, reached in June 1943, the company bought the old Gueret's Graigola pit, closed in 1904, from the Mond Nickel Company, pumped out its workings and drove over 1,000 yards of road to use its 143-yard shaft bottom and old slant as the return airway, with a fan on Pontardawe Road; the work was completed in October 1946. In August 1944 three colliers were fined for refusing to work over poor ventilation. The mine employed 255 men underground and 54 at the surface just before nationalisation, and on 6 April 1947 an explosion during holiday maintenance killed two men and injured six (see Disasters, below). It raised its best ever week of 2,130 tons in November 1954 and had its own manufactured fuel plant and a training face. In 1957 the NCB invested £100,000, and in 1961 it proposed closure and transfer of the men to Brynlliw; the union argued for two to three million tons of reserves and development was intensified. Felinfran closed as uneconomic on 13 December 1965.

Geology

Worked the Drews, Swansea Four Feet and Two Feet seams, and from 1943 the Graigola seam.

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

Workings

A drift mine with intake and return drifts at Glais and a 650-yard main winding drift. From 1946 the Graigola workings used the old Gueret's Graigola shaft bottom (18 feet across, 143 yards deep) and the Ynyspenllwch slant as the return, with a fan at Pontardawe Road, Clydach. A Garth pit sunk to the Four Feet at 204 yards was not used.

Closure

Closed by the NCB on 13 December 1965 as uneconomic, after a proposal to close it in 1961 was resisted by the union. It was the last mine to work in the Llansamlet area.

Related mines

• Guerets Colliery — Felinfran's Graigola workings used Gueret's pit and slant as their return airway from 1946, and the NCB merged the two in 1950.

Disasters & major incidents

• Felinfran Colliery roof fall, 1942
  1942 · Collapse / Roof Fall · 2 fatalities

  On the 11th of April or June 1942 a stone of about five tons fell on two men testing the roof in the new hard heading at Felinfran Colliery, Glais, in the lower Swansea Valley, killing Gwilym Richard Jones and a 22-year-old collier, Evans.

  A collier working nearby, Thomas Edwards, said the two had gone back to the face for their food and were testing the roof when the stone came down on them. The place had been well timbered.

• Felinfran Colliery Explosion, 1947
  6 April 1947 · Explosion · 2 fatalities
  An explosion of gas 1,800 yards underground, while fourteen men were carrying out maintenance over the Easter holiday, killed two of them and injured six. Smoke hampered their escape, and a mines rescue team went down in breathing apparatus to help bring out the injured along a damaged haulage road.

What's uncertain

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

• Welsh Coal Mines says the Felinfran Colliery Company opened the colliery, known locally as Garth, in 1931. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

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

• The Felin Fran Colliery Company started work on Felin Fran in 1932 and completed the level in 1935 for house coal; the main drift was 650 yards long. ^1,2
• Welsh Coal Mines says the Felinfran Colliery Company opened the colliery, known locally as Garth, in 1931. (disputed) ²
• The old Gueret's Graigola pit was bought from the Mond Nickel Company and its workings dewatered so that over 1,000 yards of roadway linked Felinfran to it as a return airway, completed in October 1946. ^1,2
• Manpower 222 (1937), 295 (1947), 300 (1954, 95,149 tons), 308 (1957), 217 (1961), 261 (1964). ¹
• Felinfran closed on 13 December 1965 as uneconomic and was the last mine in the Llansamlet area. ^1,2
• Mining Remediation Authority plans titled 'Felin Fran / Gueret's' (Graigola seam) and 'Felin Fran' (surface) are dated 1965, and 'Felinfran / Garth' (Swansea Four Feet) 1946. ^3,4

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Felinfran Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society (Ray Lawrence)
2. (secondary) Guerets and Felinfran — Welsh Coal Mines
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans: FELIN FRAN/ GUERET'S (1965) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans: FELINFRAN/ GARTH (1946) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

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