Gatewen Colliery

Overview

A Denbighshire colliery at New Broughton, opened in 1877 and worked until 1932, when a small take of ground rather than exhausted coal closed it. Its headgear went on working: Bersham borrowed it after fire destroyed its own wooden gear in 1933.

History

Gatewen was opened in 1877 by the Broughton Coal Company at New Broughton near Wrexham. By the Inspector of Mines list of 1896 it was held by the Broughton and Plaspower Coal Company Limited with 522 people employed; the company's own returns put 539 there in 1894 under the manager G. J. Findlay, alongside 841 at its Plaspower pit. It grew steadily — 803 employed in 1908, 878 in 1918 and 1,073 in 1923, working the Main, Four Feet, Crank, Powell and Smith seams. What stopped it was not the coal but the ground: a small working area restricted the pit, and it closed in 1932. Its headgear outlived it. When fire destroyed the wooden headgear at the nearby Bersham colliery in 1933, Gatewen's was taken there and put to work.

Geology

The colliery worked the Denbighshire coalfield seams west of Wrexham — the Main, Four Feet, Crank, Powell and Smith. It was hemmed in: the sources say plainly that a small working area restricted the pit, which is a statement about the sett and the ground rather than about the seams running out.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (well documented example)

Workings

A shaft colliery with wooden headgear, which after the closure of 1932 was taken to Bersham to replace the gear destroyed there by fire in 1933.

Closure

Closed in 1932, restricted by a small working area rather than by exhausted coal.

What remains

No account of the site as it is now was found in the sources read.

No account of surviving remains was found in the sources read.

Redevelopment

Not established.

Related mines

• Bersham Colliery — When fire destroyed Bersham's wooden headgear in 1933, the headgear from Gatewen — closed the year before — was taken there and used.
• Broughton Colliery — Gatewen was opened in 1877 by the Broughton Coal Company, which had taken over the Broughton collieries and estate in the 1850s; the two were pits of the same concern.
• Plas Power Colliery — Gatewen and Plaspower were the two collieries of the Broughton and Plaspower Coal Company, returned together in its Colliery Year Book entries from 1894 under the same manager.

Nearby mines

• Brynmally Colliery — 0.3 km SW
• Broughton Colliery — 1.0 km NW
• Plas Power Colliery — 1.4 km W
• Westminster Colliery — 2.0 km N
• Gwersyllt Colliery — 2.1 km N

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.

• Situated at New Broughton near Wrexham, the colliery was opened in 1877 by the Broughton Coal Company; by the Inspector of Mines list of 1896 the Broughton and Plaspower Coal Company Limited held it, with 522 employed in total. ¹
• The Broughton and Plaspower Coal Company's returns give 539 employed at Gatewen in 1894 under the manager G. J. Findlay, alongside 841 at Plaspower, and the company continued to return Gatewen through the Colliery Year Books of 1896, 1900, 1905, 1910 and 1923. ²
• There were 803 employed in 1908 and 878 in 1918; the workforce totalled 1,073 in 1923, producing from the Main, Four Feet, Crank, Powell and Smith seams. ¹
• A small working area restricted the pit and it closed in 1932; its headgear was later used at the nearby Bersham colliery after a fire in 1933 destroyed the wooden headgear there. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Gatewen, Vron, Broughton and Coedpoeth collieries — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) Durham Mining Museum: Broughton and Plaspower Coal Co., Ltd. — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 10 September 2026 · Last researched: 10 September 2026