Glynogwr Colliery

Overview

A Glenavon Garw level at Gilfach Goch, opened in 1910 on the No. 2 Rhondda seam, which employed up to 460 men and closed in 1949.

History

Glynogwr Colliery was a level at Gilfach Goch, opened in 1910 to the No. 2 Rhondda seam, there 48 to 51 inches thick, which it worked to the west and south of Gilfach village. NMRS gives the Glynogwr Colliery Company as the opener and Glenavon Garw as buyer in 1911; Welsh Coal Mines credits Glenavon Garw with the opening. Glenavon Garw, incorporated in 1907 by R. McEwen and W. F. Gibb of Port Talbot, drove a No. 2 drift between 1913 and 1916 and a No. 3 drift between 1919 and 1925, and by 1923 worked the neighbouring Etna slant with it.

Joseph Evans managed the colliery from its early years to about 1930. It raised 49,761 tons in 1912 and employed 167 men in 1913, 326 in 1923 and 460 in 1929, and it had its own washery. In July 1925 Emlyn Tudor was suffocated by blackdamp in a fenced-off heading, and the same year Arthur Mayling died of injuries from a roof fall.

By 1934 Glenavon Garw controlled six collieries with 3,338 men and had become a subsidiary of the Ocean Coal Company. At nationalisation in 1947 Glynogwr employed 214 underground and 64 on the surface. It closed on 24 September 1949, its men going to Ty Mawr Colliery to open up the Six-Feet seam.

Geology

South Wales Coal Measures. The level worked the No. 2 Rhondda seam, 48 to 51 inches thick here, for manufacturing and house coal; by 1923 the No. 3 Rhondda was also worked with Etna, and a plan of the Pentre seam is catalogued.

Workings

A level with No. 2 (1913-16) and No. 3 (1919-25) drifts, working west and south of Gilfach village, with its own coal preparation plant (washery).

Closure

Closed by the National Coal Board on 24 September 1949; the remaining men were transferred to Ty Mawr Colliery to open up the Six-Feet seam.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Caradog Vale Colliery — Workings planned together with Glynogwr and the Ty Du level.
• Etna Colliery — Worked together by Glenavon Garw Collieries in 1923 (Glynogwr and the Etna slant), and planned together as 'Glynogwr, Etna'.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• Glynogwr was a level opened by the Glynogwr Colliery Company in 1910 to the No. 2 Rhondda seam, purchased in 1911 by the Glenavon Garw Company. (disputed) ¹
• Glynogwr was a level opened by the Glenavon Garw Company in 1910 to the No. 2 Rhondda seam, about 150 yards south-east of Etna colliery. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

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

• Glynogwr was a level opened by the Glynogwr Colliery Company in 1910 to the No. 2 Rhondda seam, purchased in 1911 by the Glenavon Garw Company. (disputed) ¹
• Glynogwr was a level opened by the Glenavon Garw Company in 1910 to the No. 2 Rhondda seam, about 150 yards south-east of Etna colliery. (disputed) ²
• It produced 49,761 tons in 1912 under the manager Joseph Evans, employed 167 men in 1913 and 460 in 1929. ¹
• The colliery had its own coal preparation plant (washery). ¹
• It was closed on 24 September 1949 with the manpower transferred to Ty Mawr Colliery to open up the Six-Feet seam. ^2,1
• Abandonment plans are catalogued for Glynogwr (Pentre seam) and Glynogwr with Etna (No. 2 Rhondda, 1 May 1950). ^3,4

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Glynogwr Colliery - Northern Mine Research Society — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Etna Colliery, Glynogwr Colliery - Welsh Coal Mines — Welsh Coal Mines
3. (primary) BGS mine plans: Glynogwr, Etna (No. 2 Rhondda, abandoned 1 May 1950) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
4. (primary) BGS mine plans: Glynogwr (Pentre seam) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 2 October 2026 · Last researched: 2 October 2026