Tir Edmund Colliery

Overview

A Dyffryn Clydach colliery north of Neath, better known for most of its life as Bryndewi or Bryndewy, whose Graigola coal was shown at the Great Exhibition of 1851. It passed through the Dyffryn and Neath Abbey companies to the Main Colliery Company, and closed in 1895 while raising 200 tons a day of poor-quality coal.

History

Bryndewi Colliery was working by 1851, when a specimen of its coal, sold as Craigola (Graigola), was shown at the Great Exhibition in London and described as coming from under a mountain between the vales of Neath and Swansea, about three miles from the sea. The Neath poet Elijah Waring wrote a poem about the colliery. In August 1876 the Dynevor Dyffryn and Neath Abbey United Collieries Company advertised in the Western Mail for tenders to work its Cwmdu, Brithdir, Main and Bryndewy collieries, offering the Main and Bryndewy together or separately. The Dyffryn Main and Neath Abbey United Collieries Company was running Bryndewi, alongside Cwmdu, Dyffryn Main and West Brithdir, in 1880, and a local history records the Dynevor Coal Company, under Howel Gwyn and the Moore family, controlling it in 1882. By 1889 it belonged to the Main Colliery Company, which raised 40,683 tons that year and 56,465 tons in 1894. In 1894 the company listed it as 'Tir Edmund (or Bryn-dewy)', with 164 men underground and 12 at the surface under the manager Richard Thomas. It worked the Graigola and Four-Feet seams and was ventilated by a furnace at the foot of a 120-foot upcast shaft. Before it closed it was producing 200 tons a day, but the coal was poor, and the Four-Feet seam was abandoned in December 1895. The Northern Mine Research Society also gives Wernddu as one of its names.

Geology

Worked the Graigola and Four-Feet seams of the western South Wales Coalfield; the Graigola coal from here was exhibited as Craigola in 1851.

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

Workings

Ventilated by a furnace at the bottom of a 120-foot-deep upcast shaft, 5 feet square, which moved 11,300 cubic feet of air a minute. No plan or overall depth of the workings has been found.

Closure

The Four-Feet seam was abandoned in December 1895. Before closure the mine was producing 200 tons a day, but the coal was of poor quality, which is the only reason the sources suggest. It is absent from the Main Colliery Company's 1896 list of mines.

What remains

Unknown.

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Cwrt Herbert Colliery — Both controlled by the Dynevor Coal Company in 1882 and owned by the Main Colliery Company, under the same manager, in 1894.
• Dyffryn Main Colliery — Worked by the same companies: offered for tender with the Main colliery in 1876, run together in 1880, and both Main Colliery Company pits in 1894.

Recorded claims

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

• A specimen of Bryndewi Colliery's coal, known as Craigola, was exhibited at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. ¹
• The Neath poet Elijah Waring wrote a poem about Bryndewi Colliery. (uncertain) ¹
• In August 1876 the Dynevor Dyffryn and Neath Abbey United Collieries Company invited tenders for working its Cwmdu, Brithdir, Main and Bryndewy collieries, the Main and Bryndewy together or separately. ²
• By 1880 the Dyffryn Main and Neath Abbey United Collieries Company was running Bryndewi, Cwmdu, Dyffryn Main and West Brithdir. ³
• In 1882 the Dynevor Coal Company under Howel Gwyn and the Moore family controlled Court Herbert, Bryndewi, Brithdir and Dyffryn Main. ¹
• In 1894 the Main Colliery Company listed 'Tir Edmund (or Bryn-dewy)', Neath, manager Richard Thomas, with 164 employed underground and 12 above ground; it is absent from the company's 1896 list. ⁴
• Owned by the Main Colliery Company, it produced 40,683 tons of coal in 1889 and 56,465 tons in 1894; before closure it produced 200 tons a day of poor-quality coal. ⁵
• It worked the Graigola and Four-Feet seams and was ventilated by a furnace at the foot of a 120-foot upcast shaft, 5 feet square, giving 11,300 cubic feet of air a minute. ⁵
• It abandoned the Four-Feet seam in December 1895, when owned by the Main Colliery Company. ⁵
• NMRS gives Bryndewy, Bryn Dewi and Wernddu as other names; a forum contributor citing mine lists reported Bryn Dewi worked by the Neath Abbey Coal Company in 1854 and renamed Tir Edmund under the Main Colliery Company by 1895, with 183 employed. (uncertain) ^5,6
• NMRS lists the mine under 'Clydach, Swansea Valley', but the Durham Mining Museum, the 1876 notice and the Dyffryn Clydach sources place it among the Dyffryn collieries near Neath. (disputed) ^4,1,5,2
• A Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan (SWR2047) is titled 'Brithdir and Tir Edmund or Parsons', probably in the Four Feet seam. ⁷
• A Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan (SWR2046) covers 'Bryndewi and Cwmdu / Emily / Birchgrove / Penlan Level', probably in the Graigola seam. ⁸

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Dyffryn Clydach: a guide (part 5) — Dyffryn Clydach local history guide
2. (primary) Advertising, The Western Mail, 15 August 1876 (Dynevor Dyffryn and Neath Abbey United Collieries tender notice) — The Western Mail, via Welsh Newspapers (National Library of Wales)
3. (secondary) Bryncoch colliery (Dyffryn Main) — Welsh Coal Mines
4. (secondary) Durham Mining Museum - Main Colliery Co., Ltd. — Durham Mining Museum
5. (primary) Small collieries in the Pontardawe area — Northern Mine Research Society
6. (observational) Re: Dyffryn Clydach Area (Welsh Coal Mines forum thread, October 2007) — Welsh Coal Mines forum
7. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans: BRITHDIR AND TIR EDMUND OR PARSONS — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
8. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans: BRYNDEWI AND CWMDU/ EMILY/ BIRCHGROVE /PENLAN LEVEL — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

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