Tonmawr Colliery

Overview

A colliery at Tonmawr, near Port Talbot, opened in 1839 for a firm that went bankrupt within the year. It changed hands repeatedly over the following decades, and a 14-year-old collier's boy died here under a fall of stone in 1864.

History

Tonmawr Colliery was opened in 1839 for Messrs Parson & Strange, who ordered a steam engine from the Neath Abbey Iron Works for it the following year — by which time they had already gone bankrupt, in 1839. The pit lay idle until purchased by Mr Sturge in 1845. It was working again by 1860–70 under Weymouth and Green, but had closed by 1878. On 15 March 1864, David Stephens (recorded as Stephen in one source), a 14-year-old collier's boy, was killed by a fall of stone. The name was worked again later: a separate Tonmawr owned by William Smith between 1900 and 1901 failed to find a workable seam and was listed as discontinued in 1902. The site's name was also carried by a much larger 20th-century operation — not listed in 1878 but employing 131 men by 1907, falling to 41 by 1911 and 60 by 1913–5 under manager Watkin Morris, producing manufacturing coal for the Talbot Merthyr Collieries Limited of Cardiff; it was not listed in 1917.

Geology

Unknown — no specific seam is named in the sources read for this pass.

Workings

Successive workings on the same site name across the 19th and early 20th centuries; no specific seam or depth recorded.

Closure

The original 1839 working closed by 1878; a distinct early-1900s working (William Smith) failed to find a workable seam and was discontinued in 1902; a later, larger operation for the Talbot Merthyr Collieries was not listed after 1917.

What remains

Unknown.

Nearby mines

• Cefn Parc Arlais Colliery — 4.4 km S
• Ynysarwed Colliery — 4.4 km N
• Caerau Colliery — 4.7 km SE, Bridgend
• Coegnant Colliery — 4.9 km SE, Bridgend
• Glenavon Colliery — 5.2 km E

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

Recorded claims

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

• Opened in 1839 for Messrs Parson & Strange, who ordered a steam engine from the Neath Abbey Iron Works but had already gone bankrupt that year; the pit lay idle until purchased by Mr Sturge in 1845. ¹
• David Stephens (or Stephen), 14, a collier's boy, was killed by a fall of stone on 15 March 1864. ^2,1
• Working again under Weymouth and Green by 1860–70 but closed by 1878; a separate 1900–02 working under William Smith failed to find a workable seam; a later operation, 1907–17, produced manufacturing coal for the Talbot Merthyr Collieries Limited. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Small Collieries in the Afan Valley and surrounding areas — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Welsh mining fatalities, 1864 — Welsh Coal Mines

Record created: 14 September 2026 · Last researched: 15 September 2026