Glyntillery Colliery

Overview

A drift mine in the Glyn valley between Hafodyrynys and Pontypool, opened about 1913 on the site of the old Glyn levels to work the Tillery seam. The Coal Board added new drifts in 1954, the first in South Wales with electric locomotives underground, and the last coal came out in December 1975.

History

The Tillery seam outcropped on this side of Mynydd Maen, and the old Glyn Nos. 1 and 2 levels, owned in 1880 by the Blaendare Company, had worked it in the Glyn valley between Hafodyrynys and Pontypool. The Glyntillery Colliery Company took them over in 1889 and opened the drift about 1913, with a haulage plane and a return driven into the outcrop of the Brithdir, or Tillery, seam and a drainage adit below. In March 1914 two men died when a charge of frozen gelignite exploded as it was rammed. The colliery employed 251 men in 1918 but only 60 the next year, and about 200 by 1929; it worked the seam at an average of 44 inches, producing gas and house coal. Based at Penygarn, Pontypool, the company stayed outside the coal owners' association and kept the pit until nationalisation; there were ten fatal accidents before 1947.

In 1947 Glyntillery had 169 men, working heading and stall with reserves estimated at three million tons. In 1954 the National Coal Board opened two new drifts to the west and joined them to the new Hafodyrynys mine; this new Glyntillery was the first colliery in the South Wales coalfield to use electric locomotives underground, running 1,200 metres into the mine. Its coal was cut by plough. In 1975 the Board refused to spend £1 million on boreholes to prove more coal, calling the coal dirty and the workings wet; the last coal came out on 23 December 1975 and the colliery closed on 2 January 1976.

Geology

South Wales coalfield: the Tillery (Brithdir) seam, about 44 inches thick, outcropping on Mynydd Maen; gas and house coal.

Workings

A haulage plane, return and drainage adit into the seam outcrop (c. 1913); two new drifts of 1954 joined to Hafodyrynys New Mine, with electric locomotives running 1,200 m in; plough faces.

Closure

Last coal drawn on 23 December 1975; closed on 2 January 1976 for poor geology.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Hafodyrynys Colliery — Neighbouring Glyn valley mines; Glyntillery's new drifts of 1954 were joined to Hafodyrynys New Mine and the two merged in 1959.

Recorded claims

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

• Glyntillery Colliery was opened about 1913 on the site of the Glyn Nos. 1 and 2 pits or levels, and closed in 1976. ^1,2
• It worked the Tillery (Brithdir) seam at an average of 44 inches, producing gas and house coal. ¹
• On 18 March 1914 two men died in an explosion of frozen gelignite in a shot hole. ¹
• The new Glyntillery of 1954 was the first colliery in the South Wales coalfield to use electric locomotives underground. ¹
• The last coal was brought out on 23 December 1975 and the colliery closed on 2 January 1976. ¹
• Glyntillery, Pontypool, is listed from 1913 to 1959, when it merged with Hafodyrynys, and again from 1959 to December 1975. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Glyntillery Colliery — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) Glyntillery Colliery (NPRN 421086) — Coflein (RCAHMW)
3. (secondary) NCB Collieries - Wales — Northern Mine Research Society

Record created: 4 October 2026 · Last researched: 4 October 2026