Upper Graigola Colliery

Overview

A small coal level on the slopes of Graig Ola in the lower Swansea Valley, worked as the Old Colliery by Cory, Yeo and Company in 1884 and as a new level by the Trebanos firm of Bevan and Bowen in the early 20th century, before the Llwyn Du Colliery Company took it on and worked it into the 1930s.

History

Upper Graigola was one of several small collieries named after Graig Ola, the hill between Glais and Alltwen. The Old Colliery was being worked in 1884 by Cory, Yeo and Company, the Swansea coal owners, with William Jordan as manager. A New Colliery followed and was worked into the 1930s.

In 1908, 1913 and 1918 the mine belonged to Bevan and Bowen of Trebanos, a small firm outside the Monmouthshire and South Wales Coal Owners' Association. It employed 26 men in 1908, 23 underground and three on the surface, under the manager Evan Lewis. The 1918 list gives Bevan and Bowen's Upper Graigola Level with 21 men underground and four on the surface, managed by H. Griffiths, who was still there in 1919 when 31 were employed. An Ordnance Survey map of 1918 shows a tramway running round the foot of the hill to Upper Graigola and on to unnamed levels beyond.

By 1923 the Llwyn Du Colliery Company Limited was working the Graigola Level and the Upper Graigola Level together, with 78 men underground and 12 on the surface between them. Under the Llwyndu company the workforce rose to 120 in 1925 and 1927, with W. J. Bevan as manager. Employment at Upper Graigola itself had grown from 16 in 1899 to 26 by 1908 and 70 by 1922.

Geology

Unknown.

Workings

A level driven into the hillside, known in 1918 as the Upper Graigola Level and served by a tramway round the foot of Graig Ola; worked from 1923 together with the Graigola Level by the Llwyn Du Colliery Company.

Closure

Worked into the 1930s under the Llwyn Du Colliery Company; the date and cause of closure are unknown.

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.

• The Old Colliery was worked in 1884 by Cory, Yeo and Company, managed by William Jordan. ¹
• Owned by Bevan and Bowen in 1908, 1913 and 1918. ^1,2
• Employed 26 men in 1908: 23 underground and three on the surface. ^1,2
• In 1918 the Upper Graigola Level employed 21 men underground and four on the surface. ^1,2
• In 1923 the Llwyn Du Colliery Company Limited worked the Graigola and Upper Graigola levels with 78 men underground and 12 on the surface. ²
• Owned by the Llwyndu Colliery Company in 1925 and 1927, employing 120 men. ¹
• Recorded as a post-medieval coal mine at SN 71660 01880 in the community of Cilybebyll. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Small collieries in the Pontardawe area — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Graigola Colliery - Glais (forum thread) — Welsh Coal Mines
3. (primary) Upper Graigola Colliery (NPRN 80598) — Coflein (RCAHMW)

Record created: 15 September 2026 · Last researched: 29 September 2026