Gellyceidrim Colliery

Overview

Gellyceidrim was a large Amman valley anthracite colliery at Glanamman, working the Big, Brynlloi and Peacock seams — the Peacock being the anthracite the district was named for. It employed 500 people in 1905 and over 600 through the 1920s and 1930s, and raised 70,000 tons for the National Coal Board in 1947. It passed from the Gellyceidrim Collieries Co. Ltd through Amalgamated Anthracite Collieries to the Board, and was closed in 1957 in the reorganisation that sent its men to Pantyffynnon and other long-life mines.

History

The Gellyceidrim Collieries Co. Ltd worked the colliery at Glanamman in the Amman valley, and the Lists of Mines return 500 people in 1905, 421 of them below ground, raising anthracite from the Big, Brynlloi and Peacock seams. Employment grew to 595 in 1910, 567 in 1915 and 632 in 1923, and the same 632 is returned in 1933 and 1937 before falling to 422 in 1940 and 383 in 1947, when the colliery raised 70,000 tons. Ownership passed to Amalgamated Anthracite Collieries Ltd, the combine that absorbed most of the Welsh anthracite trade between the wars, and to the National Coal Board in 1947. The colliery's end belongs to a wider decision. In 1957 the Coal Board reconstructed Pantyffynnon, half a dozen miles down the valley, to give it another twenty-five years, and closed Saron, Gelliceidrim and Llandebie for want of men, transferring their workers to Pantyffynnon and other long-life mines.

Geology

Gellyceidrim worked the anthracite of the Amman valley on the northern outcrop of the South Wales coalfield. Its named seams are the Big, the Brynlloi and the Peacock — the last the celebrated anthracite of the district, the standard other collieries' coal was measured against.

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

Workings

A colliery of some size for the Amman valley, employing over six hundred people through the 1920s and 1930s, with roughly five in six of them below ground.

Closure

Gellyceidrim was closed in 1957. The National Coal Board had reconstructed Pantyffynnon that year to give it another twenty-five years of production, and closed Saron, Gelliceidrim and Llandebie because of a shortage of men, transferring their workers to Pantyffynnon and other long-life mines.

What remains

The colliery has been cleared. The Amman valley mineral line that carried its coal can still be traced through Glanamman and Garnant, and the ground around the site is now golf course and open fields.

Related mines

• Pantyffynnon Colliery — Gellyceidrim was one of three collieries the National Coal Board closed in 1957 for want of men, transferring its workers to Pantyffynnon, which had just been reconstructed for another twenty-five years of production.

Nearby mines

• Garnant Colliery — 0.5 km E
• Betws Colliery — 4.9 km W
• Ammanford Colliery — 5.6 km W
• Wernos Colliery — 5.9 km W
• Pantyffynnon Colliery — 6.0 km W

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.

• The colliery worked the Big, Brynlloi and Peacock seams, raising anthracite. ¹
• Gellyceidrim employed 500 people in 1905, 632 in 1923, 1933 and 1937, and 383 in 1947, when it raised 70,000 tons. ¹
• The colliery was worked by the Gellyceidrim Collieries Co. Ltd, then Amalgamated Anthracite Collieries Ltd, then the National Coal Board from 1947. ¹
• In 1957 the National Coal Board reconstructed Pantyffynnon Colliery to give it another twenty-five years and, because of a shortage of men, closed the Saron, Gelliceidrim and Llandebie collieries and transferred their men to that and other long-life mines. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: Gellyceidrim Colliery — Durham Mining Museum, from the Lists of Mines
2. (secondary) Pantyffynnon Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society (read via a 2024 Wayback Machine capture)
3. (secondary) Glanamman — Wikipedia

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