Henllys Colliery

Overview

A colliery high on Mynydd Maen above Henllys, near Cwmbran, opened about 1815 by Hanson and Company to feed their fireclay brickworks, later part of the Patent Nut and Bolt Company's Cwmbran collieries, and abandoned in 1928.

History

Henllys Colliery stood on the eastern upper slopes of Mynydd Maen above the village of Henllys, near Cwmbran. It was opened around 1815 by Hanson and Company and appears on John Prujean's map of the ironworks and collieries of Monmouthshire of 1843. In 1858 Hanson and Company owned both the colliery and the Henllys fireclay brickworks, which made special bricks for iron and tin works and could turn out 2,800,000 a year; a tramroad ran from the colliery down to the brickworks, and Joshua Flesher Hanson is associated with both. Hanson's still held the colliery in 1869, but by 1880 it had passed to Hill and Company and in the 1880s to the Patent Nut and Bolt Company.

In 1895 Cwmbran and Henllys collieries together employed 750 men below ground and 130 above. Henllys was listed as abandoned in 1898 but reopened, and in 1900 only ten men worked there, raising Black Vein coal and clay; in 1896 it had employed 67 on gas, manufacturing and steam coal and clay. With the Cwmbran fireclay level it employed 1,218 in 1908 and 1,032 in 1918. About 1916, when the Cwmbran Mine Slope closed, the ventilating fan was moved to the Henllys shaft. In 1923 the group was working the Elled, Red, Old Coal, Black and Meadow veins. Production ended in 1927 and the colliery was abandoned the following year. Some remains survive on the site, with a plaque.

Geology

South Wales Coalfield, eastern crop: the Black Vein, Elled, Red, Old Coal and Meadow veins, with fireclay.

Workings

A shaft, which from about 1916 carried the ventilating fan for the Cwmbran workings; a tramroad to the Henllys brickworks.

Closure

Production ended in 1927 and the colliery was abandoned in 1928.

What remains

Some remains survive, with a plaque, as photographed in 2005.

Some remains of the colliery and a plaque.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Cwmbran Colliery — Worked together by the Patent Nut and Bolt Company; Henllys carried the Cwmbran ventilating fan from about 1916.

Recorded claims

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

• Henllys Colliery was opened around 1815 by Hanson and Company. ¹
• In 1858 Hanson and Company owned Henllys Colliery and the fireclay brickworks, able to make 2,800,000 bricks a year. ²
• A tramroad ran from Henllys Colliery to the Henllys brickworks; Joshua Flesher Hanson is associated with the colliery. ³
• Cwmbran and Henllys together employed 750 men below and 130 above ground in 1895; Henllys was listed as abandoned in 1898 but reopened, and in 1900 ten men worked Black Vein coal and clay. ²
• By 1880 Hill and Company owned it, and the Patent Nut and Bolt Company in the 1880s. ¹
• About 1916 the Cwmbran Mine Slope closed and its ventilating fan was moved to the Henllys shaft. ¹
• Production ended in 1927 and the colliery was abandoned in 1928. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Henllys Colliery — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) Cwm Lickey Circular Walk — Torfaen County Borough Council
3. (secondary) Henllys Tramroad c.1895 (drawing) — Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales

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