Meredith's Colliery

Overview

A Dowlais level owned by William Meredith in the mid-19th century, its Upper Four-Feet seam closure independently confirmed by two separate NMRS accounts.

History

Meredith's Colliery, at NGR 093088 in the Dowlais district of Merthyr Tydfil, was owned by William Meredith in 1858-65, one of the many levels worked for the Dowlais Iron Company to feed its works. It abandoned the Upper Four-Feet seam in 1893 -- a closure independently confirmed by a separate account of the wider Dowlais Collieries complex, which lists Meredith's among the pits (with Brewhouse, Fochriw No.1, Longwork, Morgan's, the Penydarren pits, Rhas Las and Tommo) that abandoned the same Upper-Four-Feet seam in February 1893, alongside several other small collieries feeding the same works. The national mine plans catalogue holds the abandonment plan for that seam, drawn for Meredith's together with the other Dowlais levels that gave it up in 1893.

Geology

Worked the Upper Four-Feet seam.

Workings

One of the many levels worked for the Dowlais Iron Company to feed its works.

Closure

Abandoned the Upper Four-Feet seam in 1893, the same closure recorded for several other small Dowlais-feeder pits that month.

Recorded claims

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

• Owned by William Meredith, 1858–65, one of the levels feeding the Dowlais Iron Works, abandoning the Upper Four-Feet seam in 1893. ¹
• The 1893 Upper-Four-Feet closure is independently confirmed by a second NMRS account, which lists Meredith's among the pits sharing that seam's abandonment. ²
• One of the many pits comprising the wider Dowlais Collieries complex. ²
• A Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan of the Dowlais levels Brewhouse, Fochriw No.1, Longwork, Meredith's, Morgan's, Penydarren Nos 1 and 2, Rhas Las and Tommo records the Upper Four Feet seam abandoned in 1893. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Small collieries of the Dowlais Cwmbargoed & Penydarren areas — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Dowlais Collieries — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans catalogue: Dowlais, Brewhouse, Fochriw No 1, Longwork, Meredith's, Morgan's, Penydarren Nos 1, 2, Rhas Las, Tommo — British Geological Survey

Record created: 15 September 2026 · Last researched: 16 September 2026