Nebo Level

Overview

A house-coal level at Ystrad in the Rhondda Fawr, worked by Cory Brothers as part of their Gelli collieries in the Pentre and Lower Pentre seams and linked underground to Gelli's Bodringallt shaft. It employed 240 men in 1938 and about 170 under the National Coal Board, and closed in July 1953, 2,500 yards in from its mouth.

History

Nebo Level was a house-coal level at Ystrad in the Rhondda Fawr, working the Pentre seam, about 34 inches thick, for Cory Brothers and Company. The Cory brothers, Cardiff shipowners who had bought Pentre Colliery in 1869 and the Gelli and Tynybedw pits in 1884, worked it as part of the Gelli collieries. Gelli's Bodringallt shaft, 371 yards deep, was linked to the Nebo level by a landing at the Pentre seam, 64 yards down; the level's mouth was 450 yards away.

In 1935 Nebo was producing 179 tons of house coal a day from the Lower Pentre seam, 77 yards below the surface, where the section was 14 inches of coal, an inch and a half of dirt and an inch of coal. In 1938 it employed 240 men under E. R. Williams. In 1943 and 1945 it had 153 men underground in the Pentre and Lower Pentre seams and 36 at the surface. One district's workings in the Pentre seam were abandoned in 1940.

At nationalisation in 1947 the level went to the National Coal Board's South Western Division, No. 3 Area, with 150 men underground and 26 at the surface under A. D. Thomas. It produced 20,000 tons in 1948 and 46,000 tons with 170 men in 1949. It closed in July 1953, when it had been driven 2,500 yards north from its mouth; the Pentre seam workings of Gelli, Nebo, Abergorki and Bodringallt were abandoned the same year.

Geology

House coal from the Pentre seam, about 34 inches thick, and the Lower Pentre, recorded in 1935 as 14 inches of coal, 1.5 inches of dirt and 1 inch of coal.

Workings

A level driven 2,500 yards north from its mouth, linked to Gelli's Bodringallt shaft by a landing at the Pentre seam 64 yards down.

Closure

Closed by the National Coal Board in July 1953; the Pentre seam workings of Gelli, Nebo, Abergorki and Bodringallt were abandoned in 1953.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Bodringallt Colliery — Gelli's Bodringallt shaft was linked to the Nebo level by a landing at the Pentre seam.
• Gelli Colliery — Nebo was worked by Cory Brothers as part of the Gelli collieries.

Recorded claims

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

• Nebo was a house-coal level in the Pentre seam owned by Cory Brothers. ¹
• Gelli's Bodringallt shaft was linked to the Nebo level by a landing at the Pentre seam, 64 yards deep. ²
• In 1935 it produced 179 tons a day from the Lower Pentre seam. ¹
• In 1949 it employed 170 men and produced 46,000 tons. ¹
• It closed in July 1953, 2,500 yards north of its mouth. ^1,3

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) NMRS: Nebo Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Gelli Colliery — Welsh Coal Mines
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: GELLI / NEBO / ABERGORKI / BODRINGALLT / PENTRE NOS 1 & 2 (Pentre, abandoned 1953) — British Geological Survey
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: NEBO (Pentre, abandoned 1940) — British Geological Survey

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