Noyadd Colliery

Overview

A short-lived anthracite mine in the upper Amman Valley between Garnant and Brynamman, opened in 1901 by the Cwmteg Anthracite Colliery Company and worked in the Trigloyn seam by the Cardiff owners of neighbouring Glangarnant. It employed well over a hundred men in 1907-08 and was shut in 1909.

History

Noyadd Colliery was opened in 1901 by the Cwmteg Anthracite Colliery Company Limited, which worked the Cwmteg slant near Brynamman. It came to be worked by the Glangarnant Colliery Company of Cardiff alongside its Glangarnant mine, and one local history calls Noyadd Glangarnant's sister mine; NMRS suggests it may even have been part of Glangarnant. The name matches Noyadd farm at Garnant, whose coal had been leased as early as 1846, together with Gwauncaegurwen, to the Blaencaegurwen Colliery Company. In 1907-08 Noyadd was working the Trigloyn seam, with 111 men underground, under the manager D. C. Rees. The 1908 list of mines names the owners as the Glangarnant and Noyadd Collieries Company Limited, with Isaac Morgan as under-manager, the same man who held that post at Cwmteg that year. That company was the last to own the mine. It shut Noyadd in 1909, abandoning the Trigloyn seam in December, after less than a decade of working.

Geology

Worked the Trigloyn (Trigloin) seam of the anthracite district of the western South Wales Coalfield.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (historical documentary reference)

Workings

No plan, depth or description of the workings has been found; the sources do not say whether it was a slant, level or pit.

Closure

The Glangarnant and Noyadd Collieries Company shut the mine in 1909, abandoning the Trigloyn seam in December. No reason is given.

What remains

Unknown.

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Cwmteg Colliery — The Cwmteg Anthracite Colliery Company opened Noyadd in 1901, and in 1908 both mines shared the under-manager Isaac Morgan.

Nearby mines

• Brynamman Colliery — 0.6 km NE
• Ynysamman Colliery — 1.4 km NE
• Garnant Colliery — 1.5 km W
• Gwaun Cae Gurwen Colliery — 1.8 km SE, Neath Port Talbot
• Gellyceidrim Colliery — 1.9 km W

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.

• Noyadd Colliery was opened by the Cwmteg Anthracite Colliery Company Limited in 1901. ¹
• NMRS locates the mine at Brynamman, Amman Valley, grid reference 700133; the Cwmgors history says it was presumably somewhere between Garnant and Lower Brynamman but could not find it on old maps. (uncertain) ^1,2
• It was worked by the Glangarnant Colliery Company of Cardiff; the last owners were the Glangarnant and Noyadd Collieries Company, which shut it in 1909. ¹
• The 1908 list of mines gives Noyadd under the Glangarnant & Noyadd Collieries Co Ltd, manager D. C. Rees, under-manager Isaac Morgan. ²
• In 1907-08 it employed 111 men underground and 18 at the surface. (disputed) ¹
• The 1908 list of mines gives 111 underground and 28 surface workers. (disputed) ²
• It worked the Trigloyn seam in 1907-08 and abandoned the Trigloin seam in December 1909. ¹
• Noyadd was a sister mine to Glangarnant; NMRS says it was possibly part of, or the same mine as, Glangarnant. (uncertain) ^1,2
• In 1846 the Blaencaegurwen Colliery Company leased the minerals under Noyadd Farm and Gwauncaegurwen, over 470 acres, for 991 years; the Amman Iron Company's lease map places Noyadd farm at Garnant. ²
• Isaac Morgan was under-manager at both Noyadd and the Cwmteg Anthracite Colliery Company's Cwmteg Colliery in 1908. ²
• The Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan for Noyadd (catalogue 5436) records the Trigloin seam, abandoned in 1909. ³
• A separate plan (catalogue 6170) for 'Glangarnant and Noyadd' in the Trigloin and Peacock seams is dated 1911. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Small Collieries of the Amman Valley — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Coal-mining in Cwmgors/Waun — Gareth Hicks, Cwmgors local history pages (RootsWeb freepages)
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans: NOYADD — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans: GLANGARNANT AND NOYADD — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 15 September 2026 · Last researched: 16 September 2026