Lanelay Colliery

Overview

A colliery near Pontyclun, opened in the early 1850s and known for a time as Cardiff Navigation, working the Two-Feet-Nine and Six-Feet steam-coal seams. It employed 386 men at its peak in 1927 and closed in the mid-1930s.

History

Lanelay Colliery, near Pontyclun, was opened in the early 1850s and belonged to Plant and Company in 1858. N. V. E. Vaughan owned it until 1870, when the Loftus Iron Company took it over; that company went into liquidation, and from 1880 the colliery was in the hands of its mortgagees. In 1884 it belonged to the Lanelay Collieries Company, managed by William Cosslett. Working mainly the Two-Feet-Nine and Six-Feet seams, it produced over 21,000 tons in 1894. The Ordnance Survey of 1876 marks it as Lan-Elay Colliery.

By 1899 the maps called it Cardiff Navigation Colliery, and in 1918 the Cardiff Navigation Colliery Company employed 148 men underground and 53 on the surface there under D. Middleton. By 1923 it was Lanelay again, owned by the Bargoed Coal Company, with 111 men underground and 60 on the surface producing steam coal from the Six Feet under Joseph M. Wilson. Its Six Feet workings were abandoned in 1922, the Pumpquart in 1928 and the Cribbwr Fawr and Drydydd in 1929.

The workforce peaked at 386 in 1927 and fell to 300 by 1930. The Pwllgwaun Colliery Company, its last owner, closed it in the mid-1930s. By the 1940 map the colliery had been demolished, leaving only abandoned earthworks, and the site has since been built over.

Geology

Steam coal from the Two-Feet-Nine and Six-Feet seams, with the Pumpquart, Cribbwr Fawr and Drydydd seams also worked.

Workings

A colliery with an upcast and a downcast shaft, recorded on the abandonment plans.

Closure

Closed by the Pwllgwaun Colliery Company in the mid-1930s; it had been demolished by the 1940 Ordnance Survey edition.

What remains

The site has been built over.

None recorded; by 1940 only abandoned earthworks remained.

Redevelopment

The site has been built over since the colliery was demolished.

Recorded claims

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

• The colliery was opened in the early 1850s and belonged to Plant and Company in 1858. ¹
• The 1876 Ordnance Survey names it Lan-Elay Colliery; the 1899 and 1919 editions call it Cardiff Navigation Colliery. ^1,2
• In 1923 the Bargoed Coal Company employed 171 men there producing steam coal from the Six Feet. ¹
• Its Six Feet workings were abandoned in 1922, the Pumpquart in 1928 and the Cribbwr Fawr in 1929. ^3,4,5
• It closed in the mid-1930s and had been demolished by the 1940 map edition. ^1,2

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Ynysmaerdy — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) Coflein: Lan-Elay Colliery; Cardiff Navigation Colliery, Pontyclun (NPRN 418598) — RCAHMW (Coflein)
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: LANELAY (Six Feet), abandoned 1922 — British Geological Survey
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: LANELAY (Pumpquart), abandoned 1928 — British Geological Survey
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: LANELAY (Cribbwr Fawr), abandoned 1929 — British Geological Survey

Record created: 11 October 2026 · Last researched: 11 October 2026