Millbrook Colliery

Overview

North and South levels in the Kendon valley a little north of Kendon Colliery, between Crumlin and Croespenmaen, working the Mynyddislwyn seams. Opened about 1825, it was Rees Emanuel's colliery at the turn of the century and employed some fifty men in 1923; it closed about 1940.

History

Millbrook Colliery lay a little to the north of the Kendon Colliery, in the Kendon valley between Crumlin and Croespenmaen. Welsh Coal Mines records it as opened around 1825 by a Mr Barnes, who also opened Kendon, and later leased to Messrs Morrison and Co. It then disappears from the record until 1900, when Rees Emanuel was the proprietor.

Emanuel, of Sunny Bank, Griffithstown, was a native of Carmarthen who had managed anthracite collieries before moving to Monmouthshire, where he managed Partridge, Jones and Co.'s collieries at Varteg, went into partnership with W. P. James over the Abersychan red ash collieries and helped promote Tirpentwys Colliery. His obituary called him proprietor of the Millbrook Colliery, Crumlin. He died on 27 March 1904, on the eve of his fifty-sixth birthday.

The Millbrook Colliery Company was listed as owner by 1907; its coal went by horse and cart to the railway sidings at Crumlin, and its wagons carried the company name. In 1908 and 1918 there were 42 and 40 men at the North and South levels, and by 1923 the workforce was 53, working the upper and lower Mynyddislwyn seams. A collier, James Alford, was crushed between two drams at the Millbrook Level in 1913. Later owned by E. C. Morgan, who worked only the South level in 1938 with three men, it closed around 1940.

Geology

The upper and lower Mynyddislwyn seams.

Workings

Two levels, the North and the South, driven into the Mynyddislwyn seams; coal went by horse and cart to the railway sidings at Crumlin.

Closure

By 1938 only the South level was worked, by E. C. Morgan with three men; the colliery closed around 1940. Abandonment plans covering Millbrook are dated 1944 and 1947.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Kendon Colliery — Neighbouring Kendon valley levels in the Mynyddislwyn seams, both opened by a Mr Barnes; covered by the same 1944 abandonment plan.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• Millbrook was opened around 1825 by a Mr Barnes. (uncertain) ¹

Recorded claims

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

• Millbrook was opened around 1825 by a Mr Barnes. (uncertain) ¹
• Rees Emanuel of Griffithstown, who died on 27 March 1904, was proprietor of the Millbrook Colliery, Crumlin. ^1,2,3
• The Millbrook Colliery Company of Crumlin owned the colliery. ^1,4
• There were 42 men in 1908 and 40 in 1918 at the North and South levels, and 53 in 1923. ¹
• It worked the Mynyddislwyn seams; abandonment plans covering Millbrook date from 1944 and 1947. ^1,5,6

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Welsh Coal Mines: Kendon, Millbrook and Rosemont levels — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (primary) 'Pontypool: Late Mr Rees Emanuel', County Observer and Monmouthshire Central Advertiser, 7 May 1904 — Welsh Newspapers Online (National Library of Wales)
3. (primary) 'Local obituary notices: Mr Rees Emanuel, Griffithstown', Weekly Mail, 2 April 1904 — Welsh Newspapers Online (National Library of Wales)
4. (secondary) Museum Wales: Millbrook Colliery Company, coal wagon model (2004.131/6) — Amgueddfa Cymru - Museum Wales
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: BUSH LEVEL MILLBROOK KENDON NEW KENDON CEFN COCH LEVELS (Mynyddislwyn, abandoned 1944) — British Geological Survey
6. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: MILLBROOK SOUTH ABERCARN GWRHAY MORRISON'S (Mynyddislwyn Upper and Lower, abandoned 1947) — British Geological Survey

Record created: 10 October 2026 · Last researched: 11 October 2026