Golynos Colliery

Overview

The ironworks pit and slope at Golynos near Abersychan in the Afon Lwyd valley, working by 1842, whose coal came third in the Admiralty's steam trials of 1856; electrified in the 1890s with 500 men, it closed in the 1900s.

History

Golynos lay near Abersychan and Talywain in the Afon Lwyd valley, where there were at least three mines of the name: a pit, a slope and, later, a level. The pit was working in 1842 for the Pentwyn and Golynos ironworks, whose colliery and mine works then employed 98 young persons and 53 children, the youngest a boy of seven. Crawshay Bailey is recorded as owner between 1854 and 1861, and in Admiralty trials of July 1856 Golynos coal came third in the country for raising steam, behind Merthyr and Ebbw Vale. From 1862-63 William Richards held it with his ironworks, together called the Golynos Works. The slope was worked in the early 1860s by C. B. Marshall, and by Partridge, Jones and Company from 1880 until it closed in 1885. Two brothers were killed by a fall of roof in 1878 (see Disasters, below).

In 1888 Richards's executors were working the Meadow Vein and Old Coal at the pit, for gas and manufacturing coal. The Golynos Coal Company had it in 1890-91 and closed it in 1891. It reopened in 1892, and the Abersychan Steam and House Coal Company, which took over in 1893, raised 12,755 tons with 54 men in 1894; as the Abersychan Elled Company, the partnership of Hoskins and Llewellyn, it electrified the colliery and was employing some 500 men for 500 tons a day, the Golynos Nos. 1 and 2 pits working with the Abersychan Big Pits. Over its life it worked the Old Coal, Meadow Vein, Yard, Big Vein, Red Vein, Black Vein and Elled. The company ran into debt, and in 1908 the pit lay idle until Powell's Tillery Steam Coal Company bought it; the Northern Mine Research Society gives its closure as 1909, Welsh Coal Mines as 1913. A small Golynos level was worked from 1922, mainly for fireclay later, until 1962.

Geology

South Wales coalfield, eastern edge: the Old Coal, Meadow Vein, Yard, Big Vein, Red Vein, Black Vein and Elled seams, worked with ironstone.

Workings

The Golynos pit (Nos. 1 and 2), the Golynos slope (to 1885) and, later, the Golynos level (1922-1962).

Closure

The slope closed in 1885; the pit closed in 1891, reopened, lay idle from 1908 and closed in 1909 (1913 in Welsh Coal Mines).

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Cwmsychan Colliery — Neighbours near Abersychan held in turn by the same two owners, the Abersychan Elled company and Powell's Tillery Steam Coal Company; Welsh Coal Mines describes them on one page.

Disasters & major incidents

• Golynos Colliery roof fall, 1878
  January or February 1878 · Collapse / Roof Fall · 2 fatalities
  Two brothers, John and Henry Williams, colliers, were killed together by a fall of roof in their stall at Golynos Colliery, near Abersychan, in early 1878.

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 Golynos pit closed in 1909. (disputed) ¹
• Golynos was closed down in 1913. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

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

• The Golynos pit was working in 1842 with the Pentwyn and Golynos ironworks. ¹
• In the Admiralty trials of July 1856 Golynos coal came third in the UK for raising steam. ¹
• William Richards bought a mine at Golynos in 1863 and held it with his ironworks as the Golynos Works. ^1,2
• Under the Abersychan Elled Company the Golynos pits worked with the Abersychan Big Pits, with about 500 men. ^1,2
• The Golynos pit closed in 1909. (disputed) ¹
• Golynos was closed down in 1913. (disputed) ²
• BGS holds a Golynos plan of the Mount Pleasant, Big, New, Air and Nos. 1 and 2 pits and the Black Vein level, for coal and ironstone. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Golynos Colliery (Northern Mine Research Society) — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Golynos (Welsh Coal Mines) — Welsh Coal Mines
3. (primary) BGS mine plan: Golynos, Mount Pleasant pits, Big Pit, New Pit, Air Pit, Nos 1 & 2 pits, Black Vein level, coal and ironstone — British Geological Survey

Record created: 6 October 2026 · Last researched: 6 October 2026