Vron Colliery

Overview

Sunk at Tanyfron in 1806 and closed in 1930, a hundred and twenty-four years later. It went bankrupt once, was reopened, and after it shut the pillars left to hold up its own shafts were taken out from a level next door.

History

Rogers of Coedpoeth sank the Vron colliery in 1806. It worked on and off through the nineteenth century; a tramway built in 1845 let the coal go easily to Tanyfron. Maurice and Low were the owners by 1869, later becoming the Vron Colliery Company Limited. In 1882 the colliery was closed and placed in the hands of a liquidator. It reopened under the Vron Colliery Company Limited, which employed 266 people in 1896, sixty-eight of them at surface. Before 1908 the Broughton and Plaspower Company took charge, and the returns give 222 employed in 1908 and 358 in 1918; the workforce totalled 285 in 1923, producing from the Powell and Drowsell seams. Vron closed in 1930 after a hundred and twenty-four years of working. What happened next is unusual enough to be worth saying plainly: the coal pillars that had been left in the ground to support the Vron shafts were afterwards worked out from Offa's Dyke level, which John Houghton owned and which employed twenty-seven people in 1938. That level closed in 1943.

Geology

The colliery worked the Powell and Drowsell seams of the Denbighshire coalfield at Tanyfron, west of Wrexham.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (well documented example)

Workings

Shafts sunk in 1806, served from 1845 by a tramway down to Tanyfron. After the closure of 1930 the support pillars around the shafts were extracted from the neighbouring Offa's Dyke level.

Closure

Closed in 1930 after a hundred and twenty-four years; the shaft pillars were worked from Offa's Dyke level afterwards, and that level closed in 1943.

What remains

No account of the site as it is now was found in the sources read.

No account of surviving remains was found in the sources read.

Redevelopment

Not established.

Related mines

• Plas Power Colliery — Both came under the Broughton and Plaspower Coal Company, which took charge of Vron before 1908 and returned the two together in its Colliery Year Book entries.
• Talwrn Colliery — Both were held by the Vron Colliery Company: Talwrn is returned under it from 1880 and in the Inspector's list of 1896, and Vron was the company's own pit at Tanyfron.

Nearby mines

• Brymbo Colliery — 0.3 km E
• Talwrn Colliery — 0.9 km S
• Smelt Colliery — 1.4 km N
• Plas Power Colliery — 1.5 km E
• Minera Lead Mines — 1.8 km SW

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.

• Rogers of Coedpoeth sank the Vron colliery in 1806; it worked on and off throughout the nineteenth century, and in 1845 a tramway was constructed enabling the easy transfer of coal from the colliery to Tanyfron. ¹
• Maurice and Low were the owners by 1869, later becoming the Vron Colliery Company Limited. During 1882 the colliery was closed and placed in the hands of a liquidator; it was later reopened by the Vron Colliery Company Limited, which in 1896 employed 266 people including sixty-eight at surface. ¹
• Before 1908 the Broughton and Plaspower Company took charge of Vron; there were 222 employed in 1908 and 358 in 1918, and the workforce totalled 285 in 1923, producing from the Powell and Drowsell seams. The company's own returns carry Vron from 1910 onward. ^2,1
• Vron Colliery at Tanyfron closed in 1930 after operating for 124 years. The coal pillars which supported the Vron shafts were later worked from Offa's Dyke level, owned by John Houghton, which employed twenty-seven people in 1938 and closed during 1943. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Gatewen, Vron, Broughton and Coedpoeth collieries — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) Durham Mining Museum: Broughton and Plaspower Coal Co., Ltd. — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 10 September 2026 · Last researched: 10 September 2026