Nantewlaeth Colliery

Overview

A colliery near Cymmer, in Glyncorrwg community in the upper Afan valley, opened by Gibbs Navigation Colliery Ltd with a level and two pits sunk to 714 yards. A miners-only railway halt served it from 1940; it employed nearly 500 at the end of the Second World War and was closed by the Coal Board in November 1948.

History

Gibbs Navigation Colliery Ltd opened Nantewlaeth near Cymmer at the beginning of the twentieth century; the Coal Board's list dates it from 1915. It consisted of a level and two pits, whose shafts were sunk to 714 yards, and by 1918 the workforce had reached 205. By 1923 it belonged to Glenavon Garw Collieries Ltd: a New Slant employed 144 men in the No. 2 Rhondda seam and 153 worked in the pits in the Six Feet, with 93 more on the surface.

In 1940 a Waddle fan ten feet across was installed, and on 28 October that year the Great Western Railway opened Nantewlaeth Colliery Halt on the South Wales Mineral Railway, open only to miners. The colliery passed to Ocean and United National Collieries Ltd, which held it until nationalisation, and in 1945 496 men worked at the pit and drift. In 1943 a surface labourer, Benjamin Holmes, died after a displaced haulage rope struck him, and a collier, David Samuel Matthews, married about three months, was killed by a heavy fall of roof.

The National Coal Board closed the colliery in November 1948, and its Six Feet, Nine Feet, Little and No. 2 Rhondda workings were abandoned on 23 November. Trains for the halt were shown in the timetable until 18 September 1955, and the track was lifted in 1966.

Geology

South Wales coalfield: the Six Feet, Nine Feet, Little and No. 2 Rhondda seams.

Workings

A level, two pits with shafts to 714 yards, and a New Slant (by 1923) in the No. 2 Rhondda.

Closure

Closed by the NCB in November 1948; the abandonment plans are dated 23 November 1948.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Etna Colliery — Glenavon Garw Collieries pits.
• Glenavon Colliery — Glenavon Garw Collieries pits.
• Glenrhondda Colliery — Glenavon Garw Collieries pits.
• Glynogwr Colliery — Glenavon Garw Collieries pits.
• Maindy Colliery — Ocean and United National Collieries pits.

Recorded claims

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

• Gibbs Navigation Colliery Ltd opened Nantewlaeth at the beginning of the twentieth century, with a level and two pits whose shafts were sunk to 714 yards. ¹
• In 1923 Glenavon Garw Collieries Ltd employed 144 in the New Slant, 153 in the pits and 93 on the surface. ¹
• Nantewlaeth Colliery Halt, open only to miners, was opened by the Great Western Railway on 28 October 1940. ²
• In 1945 496 men worked at the Nantewlaeth pit and drift. ¹
• The NCB closed Nantewlaeth in 1948; its workings were abandoned on 23 November 1948. ^3,1,4
• Nantewlaeth Colliery is recorded as a coal mine at SS 86320 97650 in Glyncorrwg community. ⁵
• In 1943 Benjamin Holmes was killed by a displaced haulage rope and David Samuel Matthews by a fall of roof. ⁶

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Nantewlaeth Colliery Cymmer — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) Nantewlaeth Colliery Halt railway station — Wikipedia
3. (secondary) NCB Collieries - Wales — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) BGS mine plan: Nantewlaeth, Six Feet, abandoned 23 November 1948 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans
5. (primary) Nantewlaeth Colliery (NPRN 80558) — Coflein (RCAHMW)
6. (secondary) Welsh coal mining fatalities, 1943 — Welsh Coal Mines

Record created: 4 October 2026 · Last researched: 4 October 2026