Tynywain Colliery

Overview

A small Clydach mine that passed from the Swansea Vale Spelter Company to the newly formed National Smelting Company as the zinc industry consolidated around it.

History

Tynywain Colliery at Clydach in the Swansea Valley was owned by the Swansea Vale Spelter Company of Llansamlet in 1918, when it employed 20 men underground and 22 on the surface. By 1927 it had passed to the National Smelting Company, employing 44 men under manager J.H. Hearse. No other reference to the mine has been found, beyond the abandonment of a level called Tyn-y-Wain at Clydach in January 1946, which may be the same site. The National Smelting Company that came to own it had been formed in 1917, with the co-operation of the British Government, to boost wartime production of spelter (zinc), on which Britain had depended on imports for three-quarters of its supply. In 1924 it issued shares to acquire the leasehold Llansamlet works of the Swansea Vale Spelter Company outright, and by 1927 its Swansea Vale works was described as likely to become the largest of its kind in the United Kingdom.

Nearby mines

• Cwmclydach Graigola Colliery — 0.4 km SW
• Goitre Colliery — 0.6 km NW
• Graigola Colliery — 2.6 km NE
• Cwmnantllwyd Colliery — 2.8 km NE
• Boundary Level — 3.2 km NE

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.

• Owned by the Swansea Vale Spelter Company of Llansamlet in 1918 (20 men underground, 22 on the surface), passing to the National Smelting Company by 1927, when it employed 44 men under manager J.H. Hearse; a level called Tyn-y-Wain at Clydach was abandoned in January 1946, possibly the same site. ¹
• Grace's Guide's independent company history confirms the National Smelting Company was formed in 1917 with British Government backing to boost wartime zinc production, and that it issued shares in 1924 to acquire the leasehold Llansamlet works of the Swansea Vale Spelter Company outright, becoming by 1927 likely the largest spelter plant of its kind in the United Kingdom. ²
• A level called Tyn-y-Wain at Clydach was abandoned in January 1946; the source treats this as possibly, but not certainly, the same site as Tynywain Colliery. (uncertain) ¹
• By 1927 the National Smelting Company's Swansea Vale works, which by then owned the mine, was described as likely to become the largest spelter plant of its kind in the United Kingdom. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Small collieries in the Pontardawe area — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) National Smelting Co — Grace's Guide to British Industrial History

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