Reynolton Colliery

Overview

A Pembrokeshire anthracite colliery near Tenby, leased in 1901 and promoted in 1904 for its Bonvilles Court vein, reopened with a new drift in 1914 and worked by the New Reynalton company, with up to 100 men, until 1921.

History

Reynolton Colliery lay in the parish of Reynalton, six miles from Tenby, between Loveston Colliery to the west and Thomas Chapel to the east. The 525-acre property was leased in 1901 for fifty years, and the colliery employed 38 men in 1901 under Thomas Morgan and 66 in 1902. A report made in March 1904 to the National Investors Corporation described the Bonvilles Court vein, 1 ft 6 in to 1 ft 9 in thick, being worked from a slant, and a shaft sunk 55 yards that would reach the vein in another ten or twelve; the anthracite, it said, was always in demand, especially from the brewers of Burton. Nevertheless by 1905 no coal was being worked.

In 1914 the Reynolton Colliery Company, owned by D. Williams and R. H. Collingdon, opened a new drift into the Lower Level seam, and the New Reynalton Anthracite Coal Company was formed the same year. It employed 50 men in 1915 under Hezekiah Williams and 100 in 1916, and its output peaked in 1919 at 11,215 tons. The New Reynalton Anthracite Colliery Company of Radstock, Somerset, closed it in 1921, when it still employed 79 men underground and 24 on the surface.

Geology

Pembrokeshire anthracite: the Bonvilles Court vein (1 ft 6 in to 1 ft 9 in) and the Lower Level (Summerhill) seam.

Workings

A slant and a shaft sunk 55 yards by 1904; a new drift into the Lower Level seam from 1914.

Closure

Closed in 1921 by the New Reynalton Anthracite Colliery Company; the Summerhill workings were abandoned that year.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Loveston Colliery — Neighbours, Loveston to the west; the two share an abandonment plan of the Loveston and Reynalton adit levels.

Recorded claims

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

• In 1904 the Bonvilles Court vein was being worked from a slant and a shaft had been sunk 55 yards towards it. ¹
• The 525-acre property was held on a fifty-year lease from 1901. ¹
• By 1905 no coal was being worked. ²
• A new drift into the Lower Level seam was opened in 1914. ²
• Output peaked in 1919 at 11,215 tons of anthracite. ²
• It closed in 1921; the Summerhill workings were abandoned that year. ^2,3
• Four men, among them banksmen and a rider, were injured at Reynolton in 1912-13. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Pembrokeshire Herald, 13 May 1904: Reynolton Colliery (report to the National Investors Corporation) — National Library of Wales, Welsh Newspapers
2. (secondary) Welsh Coal Mines: Trefrane and Pembrokeshire collieries (Reynolton) — Welsh Coal Mines
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: REYNOLTON, Summerhill seam, abandoned 1921 — British Geological Survey
4. (secondary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: David Jenkins (injured), Reynolton, 1912 — Northern Mine Research Society

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