Talyfan Colliery

Overview

A tangle of small coal and clay workings at Tal-y-fan-fach, just north of Pontarddulais, worked on and off for eighty years under the names Talyfan, Cae and Glynhir: an early pit shown on the 1876 map, a failed sinking in 1904, a slant of 1921 that employed up to fourteen men, a clay working of 1938-39 and a last Glynhir that closed in 1954. In 1887 a newborn baby's body was found in one of its disused boilers.

History

The first Tal-y-fan-fach Colliery lay west of the railway north of Pontarddulais. It is shown on the 1876 Ordnance Survey map but was never listed in Hunt's returns or the Inspectors' List of Mines, and appears to have closed by 1878; later maps mark it disused. Welsh Coal Mines' 1887 fatalities index records a grim find at Talyfan that September, though it does not say which working: 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.

East of the railway a run of workings went under a confusing number of names. Sinking for a Glynhir Colliery began in 1904 and struck coal early in 1905, but the pit never appeared in the official lists and seems to have been abandoned. In 1921 Talyfan Slant was driven on the Five Feet seam; the lists record it in the Graigola in 1921-22, the Six Feet in 1923 and the Fiery in 1924-26. John Edwards and Partners of Pontardulais owned it in 1923, when it employed six men underground and three at the surface, and fourteen men worked there in 1924. It appears to have been renamed Cae Colliery in 1927 and was abandoned in November 1929; the Mining Remediation Authority's plan is titled 'Cae (formerly Talyfan), Glynhir'.

A new Glynhir was started on the Graigola seams in 1933, abandoned the Lower Graigola in 1934 and closed in March that year, its plan describing it as 'Glynhir formerly Cae or Talyfan'. In 1938 the Llangennech Brick & Tile Company started another Talyfan, employing three men raising coal and clay from the Fiery seam, and abandoned it the following year. A last Glynhir lasted from 1953 to 1954. Whether these were all separate openings or reopenings of earlier sites is not clear from the sources; two slants are recorded east of the railway.

Geology

Worked seams of the upper Swansea district coal measures near Pontarddulais: the Five Feet, Graigola (Upper and Lower or Three Feet), Six Feet and Fiery seams; the 1938 working took clay from the Fiery seam.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (historical documentary reference)

Workings

The 1876 Tal-y-fan-fach site at SN 593 052 lay west of the railway. The 20th-century workings were east of it and included a 1904 sinking and the 1921 Talyfan Slant; two slants are recorded at SN 596 050.

Closure

Each working was short-lived: Tal-y-fan-fach closed by 1878, the 1904 Glynhir sinking was abandoned, Talyfan or Cae was abandoned in November 1929, the 1933 Glynhir closed in March 1934, the clay Talyfan in 1939 and the last Glynhir in 1954. No reasons are recorded.

What's uncertain

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

• A Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'Talyfan' (SW290, No. 2 Rhondda seam) is dated 1956; no account of the Talyfan workings mentions activity then, so it may belong to another working of the name. (uncertain) ²

Recorded claims

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

• 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. ¹
• A Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'Talyfan' (SW290, No. 2 Rhondda seam) is dated 1956; no account of the Talyfan workings mentions activity then, so it may belong to another working of the name. (uncertain) ²
• Talyfan Colliery, owned by John Edwards and Partners of Pontardulais, employed 6 men underground and 3 at the surface in 1923, and 14 men in 1924. ³
• A Talyfan near Pontardulais owned by the Llangennech Brick & Tile Company employed 3 men in 1938 producing both coal and clay. ³
• Tal-y-fan-fach Colliery is shown on the 1876 Ordnance Survey map at SN 593 052, west of the railway; other Talyfan workings lay east of the railway, with two slants recorded at SN 596 050. ⁴
• Mindat records Tal-y-fan-fach Colliery, a coal locality, at 51.72784, -4.03857, 1.5 km north of Pontarddulais. ⁵
• GENUKI's Llandeilo Talybont place list gives Talyfan Colliery at Tal-y-fan-fach, Pontardulais, SN592052. ⁶
• Tal-y-fan-fach was never listed in Hunt's returns or the HM Inspectors' List of Mines and appears to have closed by 1878; it is shown as disused on the 1906, 1918 and 1938 maps. ⁴
• Sinking for Glynhir Colliery began in 1904 and struck coal early in 1905, but it never appeared in the List of Mines and seems to have been abandoned. ⁴
• Talyfan Slant was driven in 1921 on the Five Feet seam (Graigola recorded 1921-22, Six Feet 1923, Fiery 1924-26), was apparently renamed Cae Colliery in 1927, and was abandoned in November 1929. ⁴
• A Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'Cae (formerly Talyfan), Glynhir' records the Fiery (Swansea) seam, abandoned 1929. ⁷
• Glynhir was started in 1933 on the Graigola seams; the Three Feet or Lower Graigola was abandoned in 1934 and the mine closed in March 1934. ⁴
• The Mining Remediation Authority plan titled 'Glynhir (formerly Cae or Talyfan)' records the Upper Graigola seam, abandoned 1934; another plan titled 'Talyfan' records the Swansea Three Feet seam. ^8,9
• In 1938 another Talyfan was started working only clay in the Fiery seam and was abandoned the following year; a further Glynhir lasted from 1953 to 1954. ⁴
• A Mining Remediation Authority plan titled 'Tal-y-Fan' is dated 1939, matching the clay working's abandonment. ¹⁰

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) 1887 — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans: TALYFAN — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
3. (secondary) Small Collieries of the Amman Valley — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (secondary) Birchrock Colliery (Graig Merthyr) — Welsh Coal Mines
5. (secondary) Tal-y-fan-fach Colliery, Pontarddulais, Swansea, Wales, UK (locality 385224) — Mindat.org (Hudson Institute of Mineralogy)
6. (secondary) Llandeilo Talybont, Glamorgan — GENUKI
7. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans: CAE (FORMERLY TALYFAN), GLYNHIR — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
8. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans: GLYNHIR (FORMERLY CAE OR TALYFAN) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
9. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans: TALYFAN (Swansea / Three Feet) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
10. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans: TAL-Y-FAN (1939) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

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