Fforchneol Colliery

Overview

A short-lived pit at Cwmaman, near Aberdare, sunk from 1868-69 by the Hirwaun shopkeeper Rees Bevan and his brother David, who was killed falling down the shaft in 1871. Troubled by faulted seams, debt and a string of accidents, it changed hands several times and was abandoned in 1891.

History

Fforchneol Colliery was one of two lesser and short-lived ventures beside the large Cwmaman pits. It was sunk from 1868-69 by the Bevan brothers of Hirwaun, Rees, who kept a grocer's and draper's shop, and David, a publican and cabinet maker, hoping to profit from the coal boom. A sinker, Henry Jones, was killed by a stone falling down the shaft in 1869, and colliers were already at work that year. In 1871 David Bevan stepped too close to the edge of the sinking pit and fell, striking a sinker who was coming up in the bucket; the sinker held on, but Bevan was killed.

Rees Bevan ran the colliery as manager and proprietor until about 1878. In January 1875 the Inspector of Mines prosecuted him for employing a boy under twelve underground; he argued that the fault lay with the official he had appointed to enforce the rules, but the stipendiary ruled against him and fined him £10 and costs. Early in 1879 a gas explosion injured three men, one of whom, William Beynon, died; at about the same time a collier, John Whitely, was fined for continuing to fire shots with gunpowder after permission had been withdrawn near old workings. Bevan was by then in liquidation, his losses blamed on the purchase of a brigantine at Swansea and of the Fforchneol Colliery itself.

NMRS has F. Render taking the colliery over in 1879; at the end of 1880 a newspaper gave its owner as Frederick Brewer Miller of Manchester. On Christmas Day 1880 the overman, David Richards, was killed in the shaft. The only engineman, Jonah Thomas, had been drinking rum with him; he crashed the cage into the headgear, then lowered the overman and a boy so fast that the cages collided where they passed, and Richards fell. The boy clung on and reached the bottom safely. The inquest jury found Thomas guilty of manslaughter and he was committed for trial.

The Fforchneol Colliery and Brickworks Company was formed in 1885, and in 1889 the colliery was sold to the Graig Coal and Brickworks Company, which called it the Crown Colliery. Its short life is put down to the failure to find seams free of geological disturbance. It closed in 1891; the abandonment plan is catalogued as Fforchneol, Cwmneol or Morris's, in the Graig seam. A small Fforchneol Graig Colliery worked in the same seam name in 1923-24.

Geology

Seams broken by geological disturbance, which is held to have shortened the colliery's life; the abandonment plan records the Graig seam.

Workings

A shaft about 105 yards deep with two cages passing in the middle, wound by a single engine; worked by stalls, with gunpowder shot-firing and a pumping engine underground.

Closure

Closed in 1891 under the Graig Coal and Brickworks Company, after repeated changes of owner; the failure to find undisturbed seams is given as the reason for its short life.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Cwmneol Colliery — Neighbouring Cwmaman pits; the 1891 abandonment plan is catalogued as 'Fforchneol, Cwmneol or Morris's'.

What's uncertain

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

• The pit was 105 yards deep. (disputed) ²
• The pit was 105 feet deep. (disputed) ⁸
• Fforchneol Colliery worked from 1868 to 1893. (disputed) ¹⁰

Recorded claims

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

• Fforchneol Colliery was sunk from 1868-69 by the Bevan brothers of Hirwaun. ^1,2,3
• David Bevan, an owner, fell down the sinking pit and was killed in 1871. ^1,2
• Rees Bevan was prosecuted in 1875 for employing a boy under twelve in the mine. ^2,4
• A gas explosion in 1879 injured three men, of whom William Beynon died. ^5,2,6
• The overman David Richards was killed in the shaft on Christmas Day 1880 when the cages collided. ^7,2,8
• The pit was 105 yards deep. (disputed) ²
• The pit was 105 feet deep. (disputed) ⁸
• The colliery closed in 1891. ^2,9
• Fforchneol Colliery worked from 1868 to 1893. (disputed) ¹⁰

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Fatalities 1871 — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) NMRS: Fforchneol Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) South Wales Daily News, 18 July 1879: The estate of an Aberdare colliery proprietor — Welsh Newspapers Online (National Library of Wales)
4. (primary) The Cardiff Times, 30 January 1875: Charge against a colliery manager at Aberdare — Welsh Newspapers Online (National Library of Wales)
5. (secondary) Welsh coal mine fatalities, 1879 — Welsh Coal Mines
6. (primary) Weekly Mail, 8 March 1879: Death from an explosion in an Aberdare colliery — Welsh Newspapers Online (National Library of Wales)
7. (secondary) Welsh mining fatalities, 1880 — Welsh Coal Mines
8. (primary) The Cardiff Times, 1 January 1881: Terrible accident at an Aberdare colliery — Welsh Newspapers Online (National Library of Wales)
9. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: FFORCHNEOL/ CWMNEOL OR MORRIS'S (Graig, abandoned 1891) — British Geological Survey
10. (secondary) Rhondda Cynon Taf heritage trail: Cwmaman — Rhondda Cynon Taf Libraries
11. (secondary) 1869 (Welsh mining fatalities by date) — Welsh Coal Mines
12. (secondary) 1874 fatalities — welshcoalmines.co.uk
13. (secondary) Fatalities 1883 — Welsh Coal Mines
14. (secondary) NMRS: Fforchneol Colliery (second page) — Northern Mine Research Society
15. (secondary) Welsh mining fatalities, 1872 — Welsh Coal Mines
16. (secondary) Welsh mining fatalities, 1875 — Welsh Coal Mines

Record created: 11 October 2026 · Last researched: 11 October 2026