Wagstaff Colliery

Overview

A small Dowlais Iron Company level that worked the Six-Feet seam near its outcrop, closing in 1914 — a date confirmed independently by two separate accounts of the Dowlais Collieries.

History

Wagstaff Colliery was a small level owned by the Dowlais Iron Company, working the Six-Feet seam near its outcrop at a thickness of 45 inches. It abandoned that seam in June 1914 -- a closure independently confirmed by a separate account of the wider Dowlais Collieries group, which records that "Wagstaff's abandoned the Big or Six-Feet seam in June 1914," the "Big Vein" being the local name for the same Six-Feet seam. Like the other small Dowlais-feeder levels, it was one of many collieries and levels the ironworks drew on rather than a large undertaking in its own right. A Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan of Wagstaff's workings in the Big (Six Feet) seam, dated to its 1914 abandonment, survives in the national mine plans catalogue.

Geology

Worked the Six-Feet seam (locally the Big Vein) near its outcrop, at a thickness of 45 inches.

Workings

A small level owned by the Dowlais Iron Company.

Closure

Abandoned the Six-Feet seam in June 1914.

Recorded claims

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

• A small level owned by the Dowlais Iron Company, working the Six-Feet seam near its outcrop at a thickness of 45 inches. ¹
• Abandoned the Six-Feet seam in June 1914, independently confirmed by a second NMRS account referring to the same seam by its local name, the Big Vein. ^1,2
• Owned by the Dowlais Iron Company, one of the pits comprising the wider Dowlais Collieries group. ²
• The national mine plans catalogue holds a Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan for 'Dowlais / Wagstaff's' in the Big (Six Feet) seam, abandoned in 1914, and a group plan of the Dowlais levels including Wagstaff's in the same seam. ^3,4

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 / Wagstaff's — British Geological Survey
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans catalogue: Dowlais, Brewhouse, Cwmbargoed, Fochriw Nos 1 & 2, Longwork, Morgan's, Penydarren Nos 1, 2, Rhas Las, Wagstaff's — British Geological Survey

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