Pen-y-fan Colliery

Overview

A group of levels on Mynydd Pen-y-fan near Aberbeeg, opened about 1803 under Sir Henry Protheroe's lease and worked on the Mynyddislwyn seam by a string of owners into the 1920s.

History

Pen-y-fan was a group of levels on the eastern slopes of Mynydd Pen-y-fan near Aberbeeg. Sir Henry Protheroe held the lease of 'Penvan' colliery, which opened about 1803, until the 1840s, when Aaron Crossfield and a partner took it over; John Prujean's map of the Monmouthshire ironworks and collieries of 1843 shows it as Penyfan and Penyfan Ucha.

Thomas Powell owned it in 1854-64. George Elliot and Company bought it in 1864 and sold it the following year to the Ebbw Vale Company, and by 1868 it had passed to Roger Lewis. In 1890 C. Pond, who owned several small mines in the district, added Pen-y-fan to them.

In the 1890s a new adit was driven into the same mountainside about a mile north of Pen-y-fan Uchaf and linked underground with Pond's Manmoel colliery, and the older adits were disused by 1902. In 1896 28 men worked the Mynyddislwyn seam here, in 1908 48, and in 1918 only 21 together with the Verdun level; Pen-y-fan Upper still employed 21 in 1923.

Geology

South Wales Coal Measures. The levels worked the Mynyddislwyn seam.

Workings

Levels (adits) on the eastern side of Mynydd Pen-y-fan: Pen-y-fan, Pen-y-fan Uchaf and, from the 1890s, an adit about a mile further north linked underground with Manmoel colliery.

Closure

The older adits were disused by 1902; Pen-y-fan Upper employed 21 men in 1923, and its closure date is Unknown.

What remains

An adit of the original Pen-y-fan, near Cwm-nant-gwynt, was reduced to a drainage pipe by March 2010.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Gwrhay Colliery — Held by the same owners, Aaron Crossfield and then Roger Lewis; returned together in 1842.
• Manmoel Colliery — C. Pond linked a new Pen-y-fan adit underground with Manmoel in the 1890s.

Recorded claims

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

• Sir Henry Protheroe held the lease of 'Penvan' colliery, which opened about 1803, until the 1840s, when Aaron Crossfield and a partner took it over. ¹
• Thomas Powell owned it in 1854-64; George Elliot and Co. bought it and sold it in 1865 to the Ebbw Vale Co.; Roger Lewis owned it by 1868 and C. Pond from 1890. ¹
• In the 1890s another adit was driven about a mile north of Pen-y-fan Uchaf and linked underground with Pond's Manmoel colliery; the older adits were disused by 1902. ¹
• In 1896 28 men worked the Mynyddislwyn seam at Pen-y-fan; 48 in 1908; 21 in 1918 with the Verdun level; Pen-y-fan Upper employed 21 in 1923. ¹
• An abandonment plan is catalogued for Penyfan Level in the Mynyddislwyn seam. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Penyfan-Gwrhay - Welsh Coal Mines — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (primary) BGS mine plans: Penyfan Level (Mynyddislwyn seam) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 1 October 2026 · Last researched: 2 October 2026