Graig Fawr Colliery

Overview

A pit of the Ebbw Vale Steel, Iron and Coal Company at Llandafal near Cwm, sunk from 1887 to the Tillery or Red Ash seam and later worked by levels into the mountainside, until it closed at the end of the 1920s.

History

The Ebbw Vale Steel, Iron and Coal Company began sinking Graig Fawr in 1887 at Llandafal, near Cwm in the Ebbw Fach valley, on a spot where a siding had served an earlier colliery the company had sunk and abandoned. It worked the Tillery seam, which where it rises close to the surface often has a reddish hue and burns to a reddish ash, and so is known locally as the Red Ash. In 1896 it employed 97 men, ten of them at the surface, and by 1908 it was listed with the nearby Marine Colliery.

On 16 April 1903 two colliers, William Shorthouse, 24, and Richard Battle, 17, were killed by a fall of stone from slips while forming a stall out of a heading; they had been working in the wrong place for six and a half hours without an official visiting them. In 1909 Fred Wiston was killed by a fall from glassy slips while holing, having passed over timber the examiner had chalked on the floor for him to set. The pit was later abandoned and levels were driven into the mountainside to work the Red Ash, among them the Victoria and Red Ash levels; the Graig Fawr level employed 137 men in 1918 and 75 in 1923. It closed in 1928, though injuries there were still being recorded in 1929.

Geology

South Wales Coalfield: the Tillery seam, known here as the Red Ash.

Workings

A pit sunk from 1887, later abandoned for levels driven into the mountainside, one of them at SO 184 046.

Closure

Closed in 1928 by one account; NMRS records an injury there in 1929.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Marine Colliery — Ebbw Vale company pits near Cwm, listed together by 1908.

What's uncertain

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

• Graig Fawr closed in 1928. (disputed) ¹
• Injuries were still being recorded at Graig Fawr in 1929. (disputed) ⁵

Recorded claims

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

• The Ebbw Vale Steel, Iron and Coal Company started sinking Graig Fawr in 1887. ¹
• The Tillery seam, reddish near the surface and burning to a reddish ash, is known here as the Red Ash. ¹
• It employed 97 men in 1896; the Graig Fawr level employed 137 in 1918 and 75 in 1923. ¹
• On 16 April 1903 William Shorthouse and Richard Battle were killed by a fall of stone from slips; they had worked in the wrong place for 6.5 hours with no official visiting. ^2,3
• The colliery at Llandafal was owned by the Ebbw Vale Steel, Iron and Coal Company. ^1,2,4
• Graig Fawr closed in 1928. (disputed) ¹
• Injuries were still being recorded at Graig Fawr in 1929. (disputed) ⁵

Sources

1. (secondary) Graig Fawr, Cwm — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: William Shorthouse, Graig Fawr, 1903 — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Richard Battle, Graig Fawr, 1903 — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Fred Wiston, Graig Fawr, 1909 — Northern Mine Research Society
5. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Edward Coles (injured), Graig Fawr, 1929 — Northern Mine Research Society

Record created: 18 October 2026 · Last researched: 18 October 2026