Nantyffin Colliery

Overview

A level in the Taff Bargoed Valley near Bedlinog, worked by Dowlais Collieries Ltd and its successors from the 1920s. Its workforce grew from 23 men in 1927 to nearly 500 by the mid-1940s, before the drift was grouped with the neighbouring Bedlinog workings under the National Coal Board and closed in 1956; small-scale licensed working under the same name resumed from 1969 into the 1980s.

History

Nantyffin Colliery worked the Brithdir and No.2 Rhondda seams for house coal in the Taff Bargoed Valley near Bedlinog, owned by Dowlais Collieries Limited with John Bevan as manager. Employment grew fast through the interwar and wartime years: 23 men in 1927, 75 in 1930, 200 in 1933, and by 1940 470 men producing 130,000 tons; by 1941 484 men produced 150,000 tons, and manpower peaked at 499 in 1944. In 1934 Dowlais Collieries Limited, by then based at Port Talbot, held three mines — the Brithdir Levels, Nantyffin and Bedlinog Drift — of which only Bedlinog was then producing; Nantyffin had merged into the Bedlinog Colliery administration by 1935, though it continued to be worked and reported as a distinct drift within that complex. At Nationalisation in 1947 the National Coal Board listed Nantyffin drift alongside Bedlinog's pumping station and cross-measures drift as part of one managed unit under A.G. Powry, employing 429 men underground and 88 on the surface across the whole group that year, and producing coal from both the Brithdir and Tyla Du seams. The group's output fell to 64,207 tons in 1954 from a workforce of around 120 men, and the NCB finally closed the Bedlinog/Nantyffin drift complex in March 1956. A separate, smaller licensed mine also using the Nantyffin name was working by 1969, when its No.2 was owned by Edward Thomas of Merthyr Tydfil; ownership passed in 1975 to the Nantyffin Small Mines Limited of Merthyr Tydfil, who were still operating it in 1980.

Geology

Worked the Brithdir and No.2 Rhondda seams of the South Wales Coalfield, and later also the Tyla Du seam.

Workings

A level worked for house coal in the Brithdir and No.2 Rhondda seams, later grouped with the Bedlinog cross-measures drift and worked also for the Tyla Du seam.

Closure

The main Dowlais/NCB workings, by then grouped with Bedlinog's drift complex, closed in March 1956; a smaller separately licensed Nantyffin mine continued from at least 1969 into the 1980s.

What remains

Unknown.

Nearby mines

• Coly Colliery — 0.5 km E
• Nantwen Colliery — 0.7 km E
• Trelewis Drift Mine — 1.5 km SW
• Bedlinog Colliery — 1.6 km NW
• Ogilvie Colliery — 2.5 km N, Caerphilly

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

Recorded claims

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

• Owned by Dowlais Collieries Limited, working the Brithdir and No.2 Rhondda seams for house coal under manager John Bevan. ¹
• Manpower grew from 23 in 1927 to 75 (1930), 200 (1933), 470 with 130,000 tons output (1940), 484 with 150,000 tons (1941) and a peak of 499 (1944). ¹
• By 1935 Nantyffin's administration had merged into Bedlinog Colliery; in 1934 Dowlais Collieries Ltd (by then based at Port Talbot) held Nantyffin as one of only three mines, alongside the Brithdir Levels and Bedlinog Drift. ¹
• At Nationalisation the NCB grouped Nantyffin drift with Bedlinog's pumping station and cross-measures drift under manager A.G. Powry (429 men underground, 88 on the surface across the group in late 1947, working the Brithdir and Tyla Du seams); the group produced 64,207 tons in 1954 and was closed by the NCB in March 1956. ²
• A separately licensed Nantyffin mine (No.2) was owned by Edward Thomas of Merthyr Tydfil by 1969, passing to Nantyffin Small Mines Limited of Merthyr Tydfil in 1975, who were still operating it in 1980. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Small Collieries of the Tredegar area — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Bedlinog Collieries — Treharris District

Record created: 14 September 2026 · Last researched: 15 September 2026