Glynea Colliery

Overview

A Bynea colliery near Llanelli, sunk in 1861-63 and one of the most explosive pits in Carmarthenshire, with thirteen explosions between 1870 and 1919. Days after Senghenydd in 1913 a blown-out shot killed eight men, and a year-long dispute in 1905 was among the longest in South Wales mining.

History

Glynea Colliery stood in the village of Bynea, about three miles from the centre of Llanelli, between the main road and the railway. It was opened by the Copperworks Company, which sank its shafts in 1861-63, 450 feet deep by one account, to the Bushey seam at 130 yards by another, and it worked the Bushy, Fiery and Golden seams of dry steam coal. By 1880 it belonged to Nevill, Druce and Company, and in 1896 it employed 117 men. It was one of the worst pits in Carmarthenshire for firedamp: thirteen explosions are recorded between 1870 and 1919, and 34 men died there over the years from one cause or another. A dispute over representation in 1905 turned into something close to a riot, with 56 summonses issued, and lasted twelve months, one of the longest in the history of the South Wales Miners. By 1908 the Glynea and Castle Coal and Brick Company owned the mine and employed 218. On 18 October 1913, days after the Senghenydd explosion, a blown-out shot in the Fiery seam led to the deaths of eight men (see Disasters, below). In 1923 the New Glynea Colliery Company employed 393 men in the Fiery and Golden seams. The colliery closed in 1926, and extensive remains of it are still to be seen at Bynea.

Geology

Dry steam coal seams of the South Wales coalfield, the Bushy (Bushey), Fiery and Golden, dipping 20 to 31 degrees to the north; all were more or less damp with firedamp.

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

Workings

Two shafts sunk in 1861-63, to 450 feet by one account and to the Bushey seam at 130 yards by another; the Bushey worked from a slant at shaft bottom, the Golden by a cross-measures drift and the Fiery from drifts off the Golden, by pillar and stall, ventilated by a 21-foot Waddle fan, with locked safety lamps.

Closure

Closed in 1926 under the New Glynea Colliery Company, which had employed 393 men in 1923.

What remains

Extensive remains of the colliery survive at Bynea (Welsh Coal Mines, with a 2005 photograph).

Related mines

• Old Castle Colliery — Both held by Nevill, Druce and Company of Llanelli by 1880.

Disasters & major incidents

• Glynea Colliery fall of coal, 1908
  5 November 1908 · Collapse / Roof Fall · 3 fatalities
  Twenty tons of coal fell from the upper bed of the Fiery vein at Glynea Colliery, Bynea, on 5 November 1908, burying two colliers and a boy.
• Glynea Colliery explosion, 1913
  18 October 1913 · Explosion · 8 fatalities
  Four days after Senghenydd, on 18 October 1913, a blown-out shot of Swalite ignited firedamp in the Fiery seam at Glynea Colliery near Llanelli. Nine men eating their food outbye of the brattice were burned and eight died over the following fortnight; criminal proceedings and civil claims followed.

Recorded claims

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

• Glynea was opened by the Copperworks Company, which sank the shafts to 450 ft between 1861 and 1863; it worked the Bushy, Fiery and Golden seams of dry steam coal. ¹
• Between 1870 and 1919 there were no fewer than 13 explosions at the mine, and over the years 34 men lost their lives there from many causes. ¹
• In 1905 a strike over representation escalated almost to a riot, with 56 summonses issued, and lasted 12 months, one of the longest in the history of the South Wales Miners. ¹
• Nevill, Druce and Co. owned the mine by 1880; the Glynea and Castle Coal and Brick Co. by 1908, with 218 employed; the New Glynea Colliery Co. in 1923, with 393; it closed in 1926. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Glynea Colliery — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (primary) Glynea, Bynea, Caernafon, Dranon, Duffryn (Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan, via BGS catalogue item 21843970) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
3. (secondary) Glynea Colliery Explosion - Glynea - 1913 — Northern Mine Research Society

Record created: 19 September 2026 · Last researched: 19 September 2026