Pwllfaron Colliery

Overview

An anthracite colliery at Glyn-neath in the Vale of Neath, opened in 1813. It was worked with neighbouring Aberpergwm from the early 1900s and became Aberpergwm's main drift after nationalisation.

History

Henry Vigours opened Pwllfaron Colliery, just below Aberpergwm in the parish of Cadoxton near Glyn-neath, in 1813, as the Neath Canal opened up the head of the valley. He did not make it pay, and in 1816 John and David Arthur of Neath took it over. Price and Company owned it in 1842. That year it employed 46 adults, 12 under 18 and 3 under 13. Its agent, Charles Waring, told the Children's Employment Commission that the coal was raised by four steam engines of 76 horsepower. He said the workings were ventilated by downthrow and upthrow pits with fires at the bottom, and that the only deaths had been a man crushed by coal and a boy of about ten run over on the incline. The anthracite slant is also dated to 1866, and the Neath Abbey Coal Company owned Pwllfaron in 1860 and 1869-70.

John Thomas owned and managed it in 1884. In 1896 it employed 172 under Daniel Rees, rising to 430 in 1905, working the Nine Feet. By 1910 G. H. Williams of Swansea owned it with Aberpergwm, the Pwllfaron slant having been reopened in 1906, and from December 1911 Aberpergwm Collieries Ltd held both. In 1918 Pwllfaron employed 369 underground and 120 at the surface under Rees Howells.

The Vale of Neath Collieries Company owned it by 1923, when the Pwllfaron slant alone employed 1,039 men underground and 208 at the surface. It is listed on nationalisation in 1947, with 879 men working the Three-Feet, Nine-Feet and Eighteen-Feet. It then became the main drift into Aberpergwm.

Geology

South Wales Coalfield anthracite. The Nine-Feet, called the Big Vein here, was up to ten feet thick near its outcrop and was worked extensively. The Eighteen-Feet was a composite of the Six-Feet and Four-Feet up to 10 feet 4 inches, alongside the Three-Feet, Upper Four-Feet (47 inches), Six-Feet (up to ten feet) and Red Vein (37 inches).

Workings

A slant (drift) driven into the Nine-Feet near its outcrop. In 1842 one working was entered by a shaft and one by a level, with all coal drawn up a shaft by four steam engines.

Closure

Listed separately for the last time on nationalisation in January 1947, after which it became the main drift into Aberpergwm Colliery. By 1981 Aberpergwm's coal was still brought to the surface by conveyor through the old Pwllfaron Drift.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Aberpergwm Colliery — Neighbouring anthracite colliery under the same owners from about 1910; Pwllfaron became its main drift after 1947.

Disasters & major incidents

• Pwllfaron Colliery runaway tram, 1901
  13 August 1901 · Haulage / Transport · 2 fatalities
  On the night of Tuesday 13 August 1901 a runaway set of empty trams overtook the journey on which a pump boy and a rider were travelling down the slant at Pwllfaron Colliery, Glyn-neath. Richard Davies, 16, was killed outright and William Morgan, 20, died of his injuries.
• Pwllfaron Colliery roof fall, 1905
  6 June 1905 · Collapse / Roof Fall · 3 fatalities
  At about half past ten on Tuesday 6 June 1905 a mass of roof about 20 feet square fell in the main road of the Ladysmith level, worked with Pwllfaron Colliery at Glyn-neath. It buried three of six men repairing the road. The inquest returned accidental death.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• The anthracite slant was opened in 1866. (uncertain) ³

Recorded claims

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

• Opened by Henry Vigours in 1813 and taken over in 1816 by John and David Arthur of Neath. ¹
• In 1923 the Pwllfaron slant employed 1,039 men underground and 208 at the surface. ^1,2
• Owned by Price and Company in 1842, when it employed 46 adults, 12 under 18 and 3 under 13. ³
• The anthracite slant was opened in 1866. (uncertain) ³
• Employed 430 people in 1905, 378 of them underground, working the Nine Feet. ^2,3
• In 1918 employed 369 men underground and 120 at the surface under Rees Howells. ³
• Listed on nationalisation in 1947 with 677 underground and 202 at the surface, then became the main drift into Aberpergwm. ³
• Its drifts at Penstar, Ladysmith and Maesgwyn are planned together in the Three Feet and Nine Feet. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Aberpergwm Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (primary) Pwllfaron Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Pwllfaron Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) Mine plan: Pwllfaron, Penstar, Ladysmith and Maesgwyn drifts, Three Feet — British Geological Survey

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