Griffin No. 1 Colliery

Overview

The first of the Griffin pits at Nantyglo, later called North Griffin, worked by John Lancaster and Company for steam coal from the 1870s. It stopped producing when Beynon Colliery opened in 1922 and was filled in 1957.

History

Griffin No. 1 Colliery stood at Nantyglo in the Ebbw Fach valley. The Nantyglo and Blaina Company is said to have sunk it before 1873, and J. Lancaster and Company took it over in 1878. Another account credits the sinking, before 1868, to John Lancaster himself. When Lancaster's Nos. 2 and 3 pits opened about a mile and a quarter to the south from 1882, they became South Griffin and No. 1 became North Griffin.

By 1888 it worked the Three-Quarter (Upper Six Feet), Big Vein (Four Feet) and Elled (Two Feet Nine) seams. It raised 132,150 tons in 1889 and 158,239 in 1894. In 1896 it employed 415 men, and 444 in 1899, under the manager J. Williams. From 1907 the three Griffin pits and Henwaun were returned together, with over 3,000 men. Lancaster's 1913 advertisement sold Griffin Nantyglo steam coal to steamship companies and railways at home and abroad, shipped through Newport and Cardiff.

Accounts of its end differ. One has No. 1 closing around 1909; another has it closing as a production unit when Beynon Colliery opened in 1922, with the shaft filled in 1957.

Geology

South Wales Coal Measures: the Three-Quarter (Upper Six Feet), Big Vein (Four Feet) and Elled (Two Feet Nine), with the Old Vein and Black Vein named in the company's 1913 advertisement. The coal was semi-bituminous steam coal.

Workings

A single winding pit, the northernmost of the three Griffin pits, about a mile and a quarter north of Griffin Nos. 2 and 3.

Closure

Closed as a production unit, by one account around 1909 and by another on the opening of Beynon Colliery in 1922. The shaft was filled in 1957.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Beynon Colliery — Its opening in 1922 ended production at Griffin No. 1.
• Henwaun Colliery — Returned together with the three Griffin pits from 1907.
• South Griffin Colliery — Lancaster's Griffin Nos. 2 and 3, a mile and a quarter south; No. 1 became North Griffin when they opened.

What's uncertain

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

• Sunk before 1873 by the Nantyglo and Blaina Company and taken over in 1878 by J. Lancaster and Company. (disputed) ¹
• Sunk before 1868 by John Lancaster. (disputed) ²
• Closed around 1909. (disputed) ¹
• Closed as a production unit when Beynon Colliery opened in 1922, and filled in 1957. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

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

• Sunk before 1873 by the Nantyglo and Blaina Company and taken over in 1878 by J. Lancaster and Company. (disputed) ¹
• Sunk before 1868 by John Lancaster. (disputed) ²
• Raised 132,150 tons of coal in 1889 and 158,239 tons in 1894. ²
• Employed 415 men in 1896, working the Three Quarters, Big and Elled. ¹
• Closed around 1909. (disputed) ¹
• Closed as a production unit when Beynon Colliery opened in 1922, and filled in 1957. (disputed) ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) South Griffin Blaina — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) Griffin Collieries — Northern Mine Research Society

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