Tewgoed Colliery

Overview

Slants and levels at Pontrhydyfen, above Cwmavon in the Afan valley, worked from the 1860s by the Margam tinplate company and from the 1880s by R. B. Byass and Company of Port Talbot. Their slants, ventilated by a 24-foot Waddle fan, worked the Wernddu seam; the main colliery closed in 1912 and the last Byass working in 1936.

History

Tewgoed Colliery lay at Pontrhydyfen, above Cwmavon in the Afan valley. In the 1860s it was listed near Neath as the property of the Margam Tin Plate Company. In February 1873 its men, meeting at the British Lion in Pwllygwlaw, resolved to refuse a reduction in pay and to leave work at the end of their month's notice; when they set off home with their tools the company's agent, Mr Daniels, came to them asking only that they work on at the old price. By 1878 it was listed at Cwmavon, and by the 1880s it belonged to R. B. Byass and Company of Port Talbot. In 1885 the men were again out in a dispute, and a meeting condemned an attempt to take the workings on contract while they were idle.

In the 1890s the slants worked the Wernddu seam by pillar and stall with safety lamps, ventilated by a Waddle fan 24 feet across, and the levels worked the Jonah Rider seam and clay with natural ventilation. In 1898 the colliery produced 43,980 tons. Its seams were given up one by one: the Wernddu Rider in November 1894, the White in September 1899, the Wernddu in June 1908 and the clay in March 1910. Thomas Williams, 48, known as Tom Wilson, was killed by a fall in April 1882, and Jacob Aubery, 41, in March 1887.

NMRS gives the closure of the Tewgoed Colliery as 1912 and of the Tewgoed (Byass) as 1936. The Graig-y-Tewgoed workings were abandoned in 1912, and a Tewgoed Old working in the Cwm Byr seam in 1930.

Geology

Coal and fireclay of the Afan valley: the Wernddu and Wernddu Rider seams in the slants; the Jonah Rider, White and clay seams in the levels; the Cwm Mawr, Cwm Byr and Tormynydd at Graig-y-Tewgoed.

Workings

Slants worked by pillar and stall with safety lamps, ventilated by a 24-foot Waddle fan, and levels with natural ventilation.

Closure

Its seams were abandoned between 1894 and 1910; NMRS gives the colliery's closure as 1912 and the last Byass working as 1936.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Recorded claims

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

• Tewgoed belonged to the Margam tinplate company in the 1860s and 1873. ^1,2
• In February 1873 the men resolved to refuse a reduction and leave work at the end of their notice. ²
• R. B. Byass and Company of Port Talbot owned it in the 1880s and 1890s. ¹
• In the 1890s the slants were ventilated by a Waddle fan 24 feet in diameter. ¹
• The Wernddu Rider was abandoned in 1894, the White in 1899 and the Wernddu in 1908. ^1,3,4,5
• Thomas Williams was killed by a fall at Tewgoed in April 1882. ^6,1

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) NMRS: Tewgoed Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (primary) Y Gwladgarwr, 15 February 1873: Glofa Tewgoed — Welsh Newspapers Online (National Library of Wales)
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: TEWGOED (Wernddu / Wernddu Rider, abandoned 1894) — British Geological Survey
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: TEWGOED (Clay, Jonah and White, abandoned 1899) — British Geological Survey
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: TEWGOED (Wernddu, abandoned 1908) — British Geological Survey
6. (secondary) Welsh coal mining fatalities, 1882 — Welsh Coal Mines
7. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: GRAIG-Y-TEWGOED / DANIELS (Cwm Mawr, Cwm Byr, Jonah, White and Tormynydd, abandoned 1912) — British Geological Survey
8. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: TEWGOED / TEWGOED OLD (Cwm Byr, abandoned 1930) — British Geological Survey
9. (primary) Tarian y Gweithiwr, 30 April 1885: Glofa y Tewgoed, Cwmafon — Welsh Newspapers Online (National Library of Wales)

Record created: 11 October 2026 · Last researched: 11 October 2026