Tytalwyn Colliery

Overview

A slant north of Kenfig Hill, driven in the late 1890s beside Ton Phillip into the No. 3 Rhondda seam. Flooded by a water break-in on Christmas Eve 1909 and reopened in May 1910, it employed up to 290 men before the 1920s, was dismantled in 1929, and was reworked by a small company until 1950.

History

Tytalwyn was one of two slant mines opened north of Kenfig Hill in the late 1890s by the Ton Phillip Rhondda Colliery Company to work the No. 3 Rhondda seam, here called the Rock Fawr and 31 to 48 inches thick; it ran about 250 yards from its sister, Ton Phillip, under the same managers. It employed 45 men in 1903 and 123 underground and 15 at the surface in 1908 under Esiah Morgan.

On 24 December 1909 water broke in and flooded four headings, rising 250 yards up the workings, and the colliery stood idle until powerful three-throw pumps could deal with it. It reopened for coal on Monday 23 May 1910 under the manager I. Morgan, who changed the haulage from electricity to steam with an Uskside engine and installed a Mather and Platt turbine pump able to lift 500 gallons against a 600-foot head. Employment rose to 291 in 1912 and 220 in 1915. In April 1915 the collier William Heir Jones, 25, who had worked there since he was fourteen, was killed by a stone four feet wide and two yards long while clearing a fall of coal; the Chief Inspector of Mines, Dyfed Lewis, attended the inquest.

From 1918 Tytalwyn was counted with Ton Phillip, the pair employing 767 men that year and 755 in 1923, producing gas and manufacturing coal and fireclay. Baldwins bought them, and in 1929, under the Coytrahen Park Colliery Company, the colliery was being dismantled and the company wound up; the joint abandonment plan of Ton Phillip, Tynewydd and Tytalwyn is dated that year. A new Tytalwyn Colliery Company, of Porthcawl, formed in 1942, reopened the workings on a small scale, with 16 men at No. 1 and 5 at No. 3 in 1945. The National Coal Board served notice to end its lease in February 1948, wanting the main slants for the neighbouring Aberbaiden colliery, but in March decided it was not ready and let the company carry on. No. 1 was abandoned on 31 January 1949 and No. 3 on 7 June 1950.

Geology

The No. 3 Rhondda seam, locally the Rock Fawr, 31 to 48 inches thick; the Malthouse seam and fireclay were also worked.

Workings

Slants (drifts) driven into the No. 3 Rhondda seam about 250 yards from Ton Phillip; latterly the No. 1 and No. 3. Steam haulage from 1910, with a Mather and Platt turbine pump.

Closure

Dismantled in 1929 when its company was wound up; reworked from 1942 by the Tytalwyn Colliery Company, whose No. 1 was abandoned on 31 January 1949 and No. 3 on 7 June 1950.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Aberbaiden Colliery — The Coal Board wanted Tytalwyn's main slants for Aberbaiden in 1948; Baldwins owned both.
• Ton Phillip Colliery — Sister slants about 250 yards apart, opened together and counted together from 1918.

What's uncertain

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

• The workings were abandoned in January 1949. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

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

• Tytalwyn and Ton Phillip were opened in the late 1890s by the Ton Phillip Rhondda Colliery Company to work the No. 3 Rhondda seam. ^1,2
• Water broke in on 24 December 1909, flooding four headings; the colliery reopened in May 1910. ³
• In 1908 it employed 123 men underground and 15 at the surface. ¹
• In 1929 it was being dismantled and its owning company wound up. ^4,2
• The National Coal Board served notice in 1948 to take the slants for Aberbaiden, then let the company carry on. ¹
• No. 1 was abandoned on 31 January 1949 and No. 3 on 7 June 1950. ^1,5,6
• The workings were abandoned in January 1949. (disputed) ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Aberbaiden colliery - Welsh Coal Mines — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) NMRS: Tytalwyn Colliery (Tytalwyn Drift) — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) The Glamorgan Gazette, 27 May 1910: Re-opening of Tytalwyn Colliery — Welsh Newspapers Online (National Library of Wales)
4. (primary) BGS mine plans: Ton Phillip, Tynewydd, Tytalwyn, Rock Fawr & Malthouse, 1929 — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: TYTALWYN, TYTALWYN NO 1 (Rock Fawr, abandoned 31 January 1949) — British Geological Survey
6. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: TYTALWYN NO 3 (Rock Fawr, abandoned 7 June 1950) — British Geological Survey
7. (primary) The Glamorgan Gazette, 23 April 1915: Kenfig Hill inquest — Welsh Newspapers Online (National Library of Wales)
8. (secondary) 1915 fatalities — Welsh Coal Mines

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