Penllwyngwent Colliery

Overview

A drift mine at Ogmore Vale, a mile down the valley from Wyndham, opened by Cory Brothers in 1905-06 to work coking coal beyond the Aber fault. It employed up to 820 men, passed to Powell Duffryn in 1942 and the National Coal Board in 1947, and closed on 28 February 1969.

History

Cory Brothers, the Cardiff shipowners who had become the largest independent coal owners in South Wales, bought Wyndham Colliery in the Ogmore valley and then drove the Penllwyngwent slant, also called the Aber slant, a mile further down the valley. It opened in 1905 or 1906. Thanks to the 130-yard upthrow of the Aber fault it worked the Bute seam, which it called the Yard, up to 66 inches thick, with the Upper Nine Feet at about 54 inches and the Lower Six Feet at up to 98 inches. Its coal was mostly prime coking coal for foundries and blast furnaces.

Employment rose from 145 in 1909 to 394 in 1913, under the manager T. Redshaw, and peaked at 820 in 1926. In March 1930, 228 men who had walked out agreed at Bridgend Police Court to pay £1 each; in June 1937 the men were awarded £1,500 by Bridgend County Court after the owners shut the pit from a Friday to a Wednesday for fear of stay-down strikes. The same year 'jiggers', sliding metal conveyors that shook the coal down the face, were installed.

Powell Duffryn took control in 1942. At nationalisation in 1947 the colliery employed 527 men on the Pentre, Two-Feet-Nine and Yard seams, in the National Coal Board's Ogmore group with Wyndham and Western, and it produced 100,000 to 140,000 tons a year through the 1950s. The Coal Board closed it on 28 February 1969; of the 320 men then employed, 197 transferred to Wyndham/Western and the rest took redundancy.

Geology

Thrown up 130 yards by the Aber fault, the drift worked the Bute (called the Yard, up to 66 inches), the Upper Nine Feet (about 54 inches) and the Lower Six Feet (up to 98 inches), later the Pentre, Two-Feet-Nine and Lower New. A disturbance called the Jubilee Slide removes every seam from the Six Feet to the Lower Nine Feet in a belt at least half a mile wide. The coal was mostly type 301A prime coking coal.

Workings

A slant (drift) driven from the valley side, later worked with the neighbouring Cwmfuwch slant; 'jiggers' (shaker conveyors) installed on the faces in 1937.

Closure

Closed by the National Coal Board on 28 February 1969; 197 of its 320 men moved to Wyndham/Western and the rest took redundancy.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Aber Colliery — Both Cory Brothers mines; Penllwyngwent was also called the Aber slant and its plans are titled Penllwyngwent Level, Aber.
• Cwmfuwch Colliery — Worked together with the Cwmfuwch slant from 1935, when Penllwyngwent replaced Cwmfuwch's Cwm Llo drift.

Recorded claims

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

• Cory Brothers opened the drift in 1906. ¹
• The Penllwyngwent (Aber) slant was opened in 1905. ²
• It employed 705 men on the Six Feet seam in 1923. ¹
• Manpower peaked at 820 in 1926. ²
• In June 1937 Bridgend County Court awarded the men £1,500 after the owners shut the pit for fear of stay-down strikes. ²
• Jigger conveyors were installed in 1937, and Powell Duffryn took control in 1942. ^1,2
• The Penllwyngwent Level workings in the Two Feet Nine were abandoned on 27 September 1968. ³
• The National Coal Board closed the colliery on 28 February 1969, transferring 197 of its 320 men to Wyndham/Western. ^1,2

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Welsh Coal Mines: Penllyngwent Drift, Ogmore Valley — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) NMRS: Pellwyngwent Colliery, Ogmore Vale — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: PENLLWYNGWENT LEVEL, ABER (Two Feet Nine), abandoned 27 September 1968 — British Geological Survey

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