New Pool Colliery

Overview

A Burry Port colliery of the early 1880s that worked the Cwmmawr seam from its Bertha slant, later under Evan Davies and Company alongside Crown Colliery.

History

New Pool Colliery was at Burry Port, near Pwll. It was open in the early 1880s and was owned by the New Pool Colliery Company from 1884. The Inspector of Mines' list for 1896 gives sixteen men underground and two at the surface, under the manager J. G. Thomas, producing house and manufacturing coal.

By 1908 the workforce had grown to 42 underground and ten at the surface, still under J. G. Thomas, working the Cwmmawr seam at the Bertha slant. Davies and Evans and Company of Burry Port later took it over and in 1918 employed 88 men there under J. Bonnell. In 1916 Samuel Evans, chairman of the New Pool Workmen's Committee, was taken ill at work and died on the way home.

The colliery was listed as idle in 1923. In 1935 it was working again under Evan Davies and Company, with 60 men underground and ten at the surface raising 15,000 tons a year from the Cwmmawr seam, under the manager R. G. Thomas. Its abandonment plans are catalogued with those of Crown Colliery.

Geology

The Cwmmawr seam of the Carmarthenshire coalfield, worked at the Bertha slant.

Workings

Slant workings, including the Bertha slant, in the Cwmmawr seam; its plans are catalogued with Crown Colliery's.

Closure

Idle in 1923 and working again in 1935; the closure date and reason are unknown.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Crown Colliery — Both worked the Cwmmawr vein and their abandonment plans are catalogued together (NEW POOL AND CROWN COLLIERIES); both were owned by Evan Davies and Company.

Recorded claims

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

• The colliery was open in the early 1880s and owned by the New Pool Colliery Company from 1884. ¹
• It worked the Cwmmawr seam, at the Bertha slant in 1908. ^1,2,3
• In 1918 it employed 88 men under J. Bonnell. ¹
• In 1935 it raised 15,000 tons with 60 men underground and ten at the surface. ¹
• Its plans are catalogued together with Crown Colliery's, in the Cwmmawr vein. ³
• Samuel Evans, chairman of the New Pool Workmen's Committee, died after being taken ill at work in 1916. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Welsh Coal Mines: New Lodge colliery, Crown Colliery — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: NEW POOL, Cwmmawr seam — British Geological Survey
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: NEW POOL AND CROWN COLLIERIES, Cwmmawr vein — British Geological Survey
4. (secondary) 1916 fatalities — Welsh Coal Mines

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