Talyclyn Colliery

Overview

A small Carmarthenshire colliery and firebrick works, opened in 1870 half a mile north of Wernos Colliery. Small for its first fifty years, it grew under Thomas Williams and Sons (Llangennech) to employ some 180 in the Second World War, and the National Coal Board closed it on 6 February 1952.

History

Talyclyn was opened in 1870, about half a mile north of Wernos Colliery. W. Masters owned it in 1878 and R. E. Bill in 1882-83, with W. H. White as manager; by 1885 it belonged to the Talyclyn Colliery and Firebrick Company of Pontarddulais, which made firebricks from its clay and worked the Golden Vein by pillar and stall with naked lights and a ventilating furnace. In November 1889 the overman, Llewellyn Morris, was killed when the capping at the end of the haulage rope broke and a tram of rails ran back down the slant. The company employed only twelve in the mid-1890s, raising house and manufacturing coal and clay, and was wound up voluntarily about 1900.

Thomas Williams and Sons (Llangennech) Ltd owned the colliery from the early 1900s; Evan Williams, one of the sons, became chairman of the Monmouthshire and South Wales Coal Owners' Association. The Golden seam was abandoned in January 1910, and the workforce stayed around twenty until the 1920s, reaching 69 in 1927. It grew in the late 1930s, working the Swansea Four Feet, then the Fiery, Six Feet and Golden seams, and employed 182 in 1940-42. In 1938 a 17-year-old hitcher, Ronald Clifford, was electrocuted underground. In August 1945 five colliers were fined £30 each by the magistrates for not producing seven tons of coal a shift. Under the National Coal Board it employed 119 in 1947 and raised 20,000 tons in 1948 from the Swansea Six Feet and Three Feet. It closed on 6 February 1952, its trams, lamps and equipment going to Morlais, and a Talyclyn No. 2 Level was worked as a small licensed mine in the mid-1950s.

Geology

South Wales coalfield: the Golden Vein, Fiery (Swansea Six Feet), Swansea Four Feet and Three Feet seams, with fireclay; the Grovesend, Gelli, Pennyscallen and Loughor seams were also proved.

Workings

Slant and levels worked by pillar and stall, with a ventilating furnace in the 1880s; a firebrick works used the colliery's clay.

Closure

Closed by the NCB on 6 February 1952; the Fiery (Swansea Six Feet) plans carry the same date.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Brynlliw Colliery — Thomas Williams and Sons (Llangennech) collieries.
• Morlais Colliery — Thomas Williams and Sons (Llangennech) collieries.

Recorded claims

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

• Talyclyn was opened in 1870 about half a mile north of Wernos Colliery. ¹
• The Talyclyn Colliery and Fire Brick Company of Pontarddulais was wound up voluntarily about 1900, and Thomas Williams and Sons owned the colliery and brickworks by the early 1900s. ^1,2
• Talyclyn employed about twenty for most of 1899-1922, 182 in 1940-42 and 119 at nationalisation in 1947. ¹
• In August 1945 five colliers were fined £30 each for not producing seven tons of coal a shift. ¹
• In 1938 Ronald Emrys Clifford, a 17-year-old hitcher, was electrocuted in the main roadway underground. ³
• The NCB closed Talyclyn on 6 February 1952 and moved its equipment to Morlais. ^4,1,5
• Plans of the Talyclyn Golden seam are dated 23 July 1949. ⁶

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Talyclyn Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Wales page 4, letters T to Z (Talyclyn) — brocross.com (Penmorfa brick history)
3. (secondary) Welsh mining fatalities, 1938 — Welsh Coal Mines
4. (secondary) NCB Collieries - Wales — Northern Mine Research Society
5. (primary) BGS mine plan: Talyclyn, Fiery (Swansea Six Feet), 6 February 1952 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans
6. (primary) BGS mine plan: Talyclyn (Tal-y-clyn), Golden, 23 July 1949 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans

Record created: 5 October 2026 · Last researched: 5 October 2026