Rhondda Mountain Colliery

Overview

A small level at Glyn-neath in the Vale of Neath, worked from the 1870s and again from 1915 into the 1940s under a changing series of owners. A 15-year-old collier, William Morris, died under a roof fall here in June 1876.

History

Rhondda Mountain Colliery, at Glyn-neath in the Vale of Neath, was worked by the Rhondda Mountain Steam Coal Company in 1876–82 under manager W. Tom. William Morris, a 15-year-old collier, died under a roof fall here on 10 June 1876. The colliery then disappears from the record until 1915, when it was owned by William Perch Limited of Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff, employing 150 men by 1922. Manpower fluctuated over the following years: 50 men underground and 10 on the surface in 1923 (producing 10,000 tons of coal), 110 men in 1924, and 100 men in 1927 under manager James Evans, who was still in post in 1930 (60 men) and 1932 (100 men). By 1934 the owning company's directors were W. Higson Lewis, C.M. Marshall and H.M. Ingledew, with G.L. Richards as company secretary; that year it controlled two collieries, Rhondda Mountain and Pengam, employing 180 men between them and producing 35,000 tons of coal. In 1935 it employed 50 men underground and 10 on the surface, still under manager J. Evans. The colliery was finally closed by Nationalisation in 1947. A separate, earlier level called Fforch-y-Grawn, opened around 1860 and owned in 1871 by the Rhondda Mountain Colliery Company, is possibly the same site under an earlier name.

Geology

Unknown; in the sources.

Workings

A level, worked in two widely separated phases (1876–82 and 1915–47) under different owners.

Closure

Closed by Nationalisation in 1947, by then jointly managed with the Pengam colliery under the same company.

What remains

Unknown.

Nearby mines

• Glyn Neath Colliery — 0.2 km NE
• Aberpergwm Colliery — 1.5 km N
• Maes Marchog Colliery — 1.9 km W
• Graig y Fforest No.2 Colliery (Pinetrees) — 2.8 km S
• Elwyn Colliery — 3.0 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.

• Worked by the Rhondda Mountain Steam Coal Company in 1876–82 under manager W. Tom. ¹
• William Morris, 15, a collier, died under a roof fall on 10 June 1876. ^1,2
• Reopened by 1915 under William Perch Limited of Cardiff, with manpower ranging from 50 to 150 men over the following decades; from 1934 controlled alongside the Pengam colliery, together employing 180 men; closed by Nationalisation in 1947. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Small Collieries at Resolven — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Fatalities 1876 — Welsh Coal Mines

Record created: 14 September 2026 · Last researched: 15 September 2026