Kilgetty Colliery

Overview

An anthracite colliery in the Pembrokeshire coalfield, dating from about 1843 and served by the Stepaside section of the Saundersfoot Railway. It closed in 1873, was redeveloped and reopened in 1935 with a weighbridge house, a ventilation drift and a winding engine house, and closed finally in 1939. Its workings were drained by the neighbouring Grove Colliery, sunk alongside it in the 1850s and linked to it underground. By 2003 the site was largely built over.

History

Kilgetty was an anthracite colliery dating from around 1843, in the small and awkward Pembrokeshire coalfield at the far western end of the South Wales measures. The Saundersfoot Railway had been opened in 1834 to bring coal down from the Begelly pits to the harbour, and five years after its opening it was linked to Kilgetty by a tunnel half a mile long; the colliery was served by the railway’s Stepaside section. In 1845, in anticipation of establishing iron furnaces at Kilgetty, the Pembrokeshire Iron and Coal Company began to consider a new pit at Grove; the decision was taken in 1852 and the pit opened in 1856, linked underground to Kilgetty’s workings, which it drained. Kilgetty closed in 1873. It was redeveloped and reopened in 1935 with a weighbridge house, a ventilation drift and a winding engine house — another winding engine house standing nearby has since been converted — and closed finally in 1939. By 2003 the site was noted as being largely built over.

Geology

The Pembrokeshire coalfield, the westernmost part of the South Wales measures, where the coal is anthracite — the hardest and most carbon-rich rank, hard to light and slow-burning, and the reason the district’s coal went by sea rather than competing inland. The Kilgetty Vein, which the neighbouring Grove pit was sunk to reach at 105 fathoms, proved very disappointing there.

Workings

The colliery was served by the Stepaside section of the Saundersfoot Railway, reached from the Begelly pits by a half-mile tunnel opened about 1839. Its workings were drained by the Grove pit, which was connected to them underground from 1856. The 1935 redevelopment added a weighbridge house, a ventilation drift and a winding engine house.

Closure

Kilgetty closed in 1873, reopened after redevelopment in 1935, and closed finally in 1939.

What remains

By 2003 the colliery site was noted as largely built over. The Saundersfoot Railway’s route through Stepaside survives as the Dramway Trail, and the ironworks the coal was meant to feed stands ruined nearby.

A weighbridge house from the 1935 redevelopment is separately recorded; another winding engine house near the site has been converted.

Related mines

• Grove Colliery, Kilgetty — Grove was sunk from 1852 a few hundred yards from the older Kilgetty Colliery and opened in 1856 linked underground to its workings, which it drained; by 1900 it was proposed to move all Grove’s machinery over to Kilgetty.

Nearby mines

• Grove Colliery, Kilgetty — 0.5 km SW
• Wood Level Colliery — 1.0 km NE
• Hook Colliery — 9.2 km NW
• Landshipping Colliery — 9.6 km W
• Pont y Fenni Quarry — 14.4 km NE, Carmarthenshire

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

Recorded claims

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

• Kilgetty Colliery was an anthracite colliery dating from around 1843; it closed in 1873, was redeveloped and reopened in 1935 with a weighbridge house, ventilation drift and winding engine house, and closed finally in 1939. ¹
• The colliery was served by the Stepaside section of the Saundersfoot Railway; the railway had opened in 1834 to carry coal from the Begelly pits to Saundersfoot and was linked to Kilgetty five years later by a half-mile tunnel. ¹
• The Grove pit, decided on in 1852 and opened in 1856, was linked underground to the workings of the older Kilgetty Colliery, which it drained. ²
• In 2003 the colliery site was noted as being largely built over. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Kilgetty Colliery (NPRN 308436) — Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales
2. (primary) Grove Colliery Cornish beam engine house — Cadw list entry 18276 — Cadw, via British Listed Buildings

Record created: 7 September 2026 · Last researched: 7 September 2026