Glenhafod Colliery

Overview

A drift colliery at Goytre, Port Talbot, opened by the Glenhafod Collieries Company in the 1920s and worked in the Rock Fawr and Rock Fach seams until the National Coal Board closed it in 1958.

History

Glenhafod Colliery lay at Goytre, above Port Talbot. The Glenhafod Collieries Company was incorporated in 1920 and shared its address and much of its board with Glenavon Garw Collieries Limited; its first drift, opened soon afterwards, was possibly a reopening of the old Goytre Drift. In December 1929 two colliers, P. Potter and T. J. Adams, were found gassed in the top hole of No. 1 Deep.

In 1933 a new drift was opened about 800 yards east of the first, both working the No. 2 Rhondda or Rock Fawr seam at a thickness of 42 inches. The colliery had its own coal preparation plant, employed 220 in 1934 and raised 120,000 tons in 1940, and by 1943-45 worked the Rock Fach as well with 224 men underground and 57 at the surface.

At nationalisation it went into the National Coal Board's No. 2 Area, Maesteg Group, with 262 men producing gas and manufacturing coals. It kept around 250 to 270 men through the 1950s, raising some 70,000 to 85,000 tons a year, until the Board closed it on 28 November 1958 because its reserves were exhausted.

Geology

South Wales coalfield: the No. 2 Rhondda (Rock Fawr) seam, 42 inches thick here, and the Rock Fach.

Workings

Two drifts, the first possibly the old Goytre Drift and the second of 1933 about 800 yards east, with No. 1 Deep and the colliery's own coal preparation plant.

Closure

Closed by the National Coal Board on 28 November 1958, its reserves exhausted.

What remains

Unknown.

Related mines

• Brombil Colliery — Their Rock Fach workings share an abandonment plan of 1945, filed as Glenhafod, Brombil.

Recorded claims

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

• The Glenhafod Collieries Company was incorporated in 1920 and shared its address and much of its board with Glenavon Garw Collieries. ¹
• A second drift was opened in 1933 about 800 yards east of the first, both in the Rock Fawr seam. ^1,2
• In 1947 it raised 83,000 tons of gas and manufacturing coal. ³
• The National Coal Board closed Glenhafod on 28 November 1958 because its reserves were exhausted. ^4,1,2
• Glenhafod Colliery lay at Goytre, Port Talbot. ^3,5

Sources

1. (secondary) Glenhafod Colliery (Near Port Talbot, 794896) — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (primary) BGS mine plan: GLENHAFOD, Rock Fawr (No. 2 Rhondda), abandoned 28 November 1958 — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
3. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: Glenhafod Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
4. (secondary) NCB Collieries - Wales — Northern Mine Research Society
5. (secondary) Colliery records for family historians (Glamorgan Archives guide) — Glamorgan Archives

Record created: 24 October 2026 · Last researched: 24 October 2026