Vanwain Colliery

Overview

One of the sixteen Dowlais Iron Company levels named together in the account of the Dowlais Collieries complex, worked for coal and ironstone and abandoned with the others in May 1924 when the works no longer needed its own pits.

History

Vanwain Colliery was one of the many levels used by the Dowlais Iron Company to feed its works, part of the wider "Dowlais Collieries" complex -- an umbrella name for everything worked for the Dowlais Iron Works across the district. It is named alongside Black Ball, Blaen Dowlais, Brewhouse, Buxton's, Carno, Coslet, Cwmcenol, Morgan's, Pant-y-Waun, Penyard, several Penydarren pits, Pen-yr-Heol, Price's, Rhas Las and Tyla Dowlais collieries, all worked for coal and ironstone and abandoned together in May 1924 as the Dowlais works' own need for them ended. Vanwain's workings are recorded on the surviving 1924 abandonment plan of the Dowlais water levels, drawn for coal and ironstone.

Geology

Worked for coal and ironstone, as with the other pits in the Dowlais Collieries group.

Workings

One of the many levels used by the Dowlais Iron Company to feed its works.

Closure

Abandoned in May 1924 along with the rest of the Dowlais Collieries group.

Related mines

• Dowlais Ironworks — One of the many Dowlais Iron Company levels that fed the Dowlais Ironworks.

Recorded claims

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

• One of the many levels used by the Dowlais Iron Company to feed its works, abandoned in May 1924. ¹
• Named among the pits making up the wider Dowlais Collieries complex, all worked for coal and ironstone and abandoned together in May 1924. ²
• Part of the wider Dowlais Collieries complex, the umbrella name for everything worked for the Dowlais Iron Works. ²
• Vanwain appears on the Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan of the Dowlais water levels, worked for coal and ironstone and abandoned in 1924. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Small collieries of the Dowlais Cwmbargoed & Penydarren areas — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Dowlais Collieries — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans catalogue: Dowlais (water levels): Black Ball, Blaen Dowlais, Brewhouse, Buxton's, Carno, Coslet, Cwmcenol, Morgan's, Panty Wain, Penyard, Penydarren Nos 2, 4, 7, Pen-yr-Heol, Prices', Rhas-Las, Tyla Dowlais, Vanwain — British Geological Survey

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