Kendon Colliery

Overview

A small level in the Kendon valley between Crumlin and Croespenmaen, opened about 1810 and working the Mynyddislwyn seams. Under Martin Morrison in 1842 it employed boys as young as seven; later a family concern of a handful of men, it was abandoned in 1941.

History

Kendon Colliery lay in the Kendon valley, midway between Crumlin and Croespenmaen, and worked the Mynyddislwyn seams. It was opened about 1810 by a Mr Barnes and was owned from 1830 by Martin Morrison. The Royal Commission on the employment of children in mines took evidence in 1842 at Morrison's Tynygelly, Traenant, Penycoedcae and Kendon collieries, from his surveyor and storekeeper William Evans, the schoolmaster, and boys including John Jones, an eight-year-old collier, Thomas Mure, an eight-year-old air-door boy, and Joseph Morgan, a seven-year-old air-door boy.

Edmund Jones owned the colliery in 1860 and T. Morgan by 1880. Later the Davies brothers worked it, with 6 men in 1896 and 11 in 1908. A New Kendon Level was opened in the 1890s and closed in the 1920s, and in 1923 the colliery was listed as suspended. In 1938 A. J. Biss owned it, working with five men. Other owners over the years included H. C. Davies, the Waterloo Colliery Company and the Kendon Colliery Company. A photograph of 1910 shows a donkey at work at the mine. The Kendon workings in the Mynyddislwyn were abandoned in 1941.

Geology

The upper and lower (top and bottom) Mynyddislwyn seams.

Workings

Hillside levels: Kendon and, from the 1890s, New Kendon, recorded with Trinant on the earlier plans.

Closure

New Kendon closed in the 1920s and the colliery was listed as suspended in 1923; a handful of men worked it in 1938, and the Kendon workings were abandoned in 1941.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Recorded claims

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

• Opened about 1810 by a Mr Barnes and owned from 1830 by Martin Morrison. ¹
• The 1842 Royal Commission took evidence at Kendon from boys of seven and eight working as colliers and air-door boys. ¹
• The Davies brothers employed 6 men in 1896 and 11 in 1908. ¹
• Trinant, Kendon and Kendon New are recorded on plans of the upper and lower Mynyddislwyn dated 1897. ²
• The Kendon workings in the Mynyddislwyn were abandoned in 1941. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Welsh Coal Mines: Kendon, Millbrook and Rosemont levels — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: TRINANT, KENDON, KENDON NEW (Mynyddislwyn upper and lower), 1897 — British Geological Survey
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: KENDON (Mynyddislwyn), abandoned 1941 — British Geological Survey

Record created: 10 October 2026 · Last researched: 10 October 2026