Talyfan Colliery

Overview

Talyfan Colliery, Pontarddulais, was a small mine owned by John Edwards and Partners, growing from nine to fourteen men between 1923 and 1924. In September 1887 the body of a newborn baby was found wrapped in calico in one of its disused boilers.

History

The NMRS's Amman Valley roundup records only Talyfan's ownership: John Edwards and Partners, employing nine men underground and three on the surface in 1923, rising to fourteen men in 1924. A second, later mine of the same name near Pontarddulais was owned by the Llangennech Brick & Tile Company and employed three men producing both coal and clay in 1938; whether the two Talyfans are the same site under continued ownership or two distinct workings sharing a name is not established by the source. Welsh Coal Mines' 1887 fatalities index records a grimmer, unrelated find at the colliery that September: on the 18th, two men out walking found the body of a baby wrapped in calico in one of Talyfan's disused boilers. It was not established whether the child had been born alive.

Recorded claims

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

• Talyfan Colliery, owned by John Edwards and Partners, employed nine men underground and three on the surface in 1923, rising to fourteen men in 1924. ¹
• On 18 September 1887 the body of a baby, wrapped in calico, was found by two men in a disused boiler belonging to Talyfan Colliery; it was not established whether the child had been born alive. ²

Sources

1. (primary) Small Collieries of the Amman Valley — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) 1887 — Welsh Coal Mines

Record created: 15 September 2026 · Last researched: 16 September 2026