Glanmwrwg Colliery

Overview

A Llangennech colliery near Llanelli, at work by 1872 with a shaft of 56 yards, where an inrush from old workings in December 1899 drowned a collier and brought three Royal Humane Society medals; the company of the same name also held St David's and Penprys from 1904.

History

Glanmwrwg Colliery stood at Llangennech, north-east of Llanelli, in the anthracite district of the South Wales coalfield. It was at work well before the end of the nineteenth century: on 6 August 1872 Thomas Lloyd, a banksman of 35, fell down the shaft while pushing a dram, and the return of his death gives the shaft as 56 yards deep — the only depth figure the pit has left behind. It was still at work in 1899, the year of the accident it is remembered for. On 9 December a working holed into old flooded workings and the water came in on the men. Thomas Williams, a collier of 47, was drowned. David Lloyd survived by hanging on to a collar for eleven hours until he could be got out, and the Royal Humane Society afterwards gave silver medals to two colliers, David Thomas and Thomas Francis, and a bronze medal to a third, David Jones, for the rescue. A second man, the collier John Price, aged 40, was killed at Glanmwrwg in the same year by a fall of coal weighing about two tons. The Glanmwrwg Colliery Company that carried the pit's name was a presence in the wider Llangennech field. Between 1904 and 1908 it held St David's Colliery between Bryn and Dafen — a mine begun by the Llangennech Colliery Company in 1827 and, when its shaft was finished in June 1832 at 660 feet, the deepest in the South Wales coalfield — and worked the neighbouring Penprys as a separate mine, using St David's as a pumping pit. Those mines closed in 1908. What became of Glanmwrwg itself is not known.

Geology

Worked coal in the anthracite district of the South Wales coalfield at Llangennech, driven up against older workings that had been left standing full of water.

Workings

A shaft of 56 yards at Llangennech, worked with drams handled at bank by a banksman. The 1899 accident shows the workings had been driven up against old flooded ground, and the water that broke in came from those abandoned workings rather than from the surface.

Closure

Unknown. The colliery was still at work in 1899; the Glanmwrwg Colliery Company's mines at St David's and Penprys were closed in 1908.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Nearby mines

• St David's Colliery — 0.4 km N
• Genwen Colliery — 1.5 km SE
• Glynea Colliery — 2.0 km SE
• Morlais Colliery — 2.0 km E
• Brynlliw Colliery — 3.8 km E, Swansea

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

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 shaft was 56 yards deep in 1872. The Glanmwrwg Colliery Company's own mines at St David's and Penprys were closed in 1908. (uncertain) ¹

Recorded claims

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

• Glanmwrwg Colliery was at work by 1872, when a banksman was killed falling down its shaft, and still at work in 1899. The Glanmwrwg Colliery Company that carried its name held St David's Colliery from 1904 to 1908 and worked neighbouring Penprys as a separate mine, using St David's as a pumping pit. ¹
• The shaft was 56 yards deep in 1872. The Glanmwrwg Colliery Company's own mines at St David's and Penprys were closed in 1908. (uncertain) ¹
• On 9 December 1899 water burst in from old workings and drowned Thomas Williams, a collier of 47. David Lloyd survived by hanging on to a collar for eleven hours. The Royal Humane Society gave silver medals to the colliers David Thomas and Thomas Francis and a bronze medal to David Jones for the rescue. ¹
• The workings are recorded in the mine-plans catalogue of the British Geological Survey. ²
• On 6 August 1872 Thomas Lloyd, a banksman aged 35, fell down the Glanmwrwg shaft while pushing a dram. The return records the shaft as 56 yards deep. ³
• John Price, a collier of 40, was killed at Glanmwrwg Colliery in 1899 by a fall of coal weighing about two tons. ⁴
• For the inrush of 9 December 1899 the Royal Humane Society awarded silver medals to the colliers David Thomas and Thomas Francis and a bronze medal to David Jones. ⁵
• The Glanmwrwg Colliery Company held St David's Colliery between Bryn and Dafen from 1904 to 1908 and worked neighbouring Penprys as a separate mine, using St David's as a pumping pit. St David's had been begun by the Llangennech Colliery Company in 1827 and was, on the completion of its shaft at 660 feet in June 1832, the deepest mine in the South Wales coalfield. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) St. David's Colliery — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (primary) Glanmwrwg abandonment plans (BGS mine-plans catalogue) — British Geological Survey
3. (secondary) Welsh mining fatalities, 1872 — Welsh Coal Mines
4. (secondary) Welsh mining fatalities, 1899 — Welsh Coal Mines
5. (secondary) Medals — Welsh Coal Mines — Welsh Coal Mines

Record created: 23 September 2026 · Last researched: 23 September 2026