Llancaiach Colliery

Overview

One of the earliest of Thomas Powell's South Wales coal ventures, opened in 1811 just north of Nelson, part of his wider mining interests around Gelligaer and served from 1841 by its own dedicated branch of the Taff Vale Railway.

History

Llancaiach Colliery was opened by Thomas Powell in 1811, just to the north of the village of Nelson and south of Llancaiach Fawr Manor, as part of his wider mining interests around Gelligaer — a different area of the South Wales Valleys from the Rhondda, where his contemporary Walter Coffin was operating at Dinas. From 1841 the colliery was served by its own dedicated branch line of the Taff Vale Railway, the Llancaiach Branch, running from Navigation (Abercynon) to link Powell's Gelligaer workings to the wider rail network. The colliery closed in 1887.

Workings

No shaft depth or seam detail was found in the sources checked for this pass.

Closure

Closed in 1887 after 76 years of working.

Recorded claims

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

• Llancaiach Colliery was opened by Thomas Powell in 1811, part of his wider mining interests around Gelligaer, a different area from the Rhondda coalfield worked by his contemporary Walter Coffin. ^1,2
• From 1841 the colliery was served by its own dedicated Llancaiach Branch of the Taff Vale Railway, running from Navigation (Abercynon). ¹
• A collier, Hopkin Richard, fell down the shaft to his death in June 1849; a twelve-year-old boy, S. Osbourne, was killed by a fall of roof in May 1850 — both single-fatality incidents, neither meeting this archive's disaster threshold. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Llancaiach Colliery — Wikipedia — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Nelson area mine workings — Llancaiach Colliery — Treharris District

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