Wagstaff Colliery

Location	Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil — 51.7680, -3.3110 (approximate)
Commodity	Coal
Type	Coal
Worked	Unknown (working by 1914)–June 1914
Maximum depth	Unknown — worked near the seam's outcrop.
Operators	Dowlais Iron Company (?–1914)

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.

Geology

Worked the Six-Feet seam, also called the Big Vein locally, of the South Wales Coalfield, at 45in thick.

Workings

A small level working the Six-Feet (Big Vein) seam near its outcrop, at a thickness of 45 inches.

Closure

Abandoned the Six-Feet seam in June 1914, a date given independently by two separate NMRS accounts.

What remains

Unknown.

Nearby mines

Rhas Las Colliery — 0.3 km S
Fochriw Colliery — 0.4 km W, Caerphilly
Buxtons Colliery — 0.5 km SW
Pant-y-Waun Colliery — 0.5 km SW
Blaen Rhas Colliery — 0.6 km W

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.

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

Photographs & further reading

Small collieries of the Dowlais Cwmbargoed & Penydarren areas — Northern Mine Research Society (reference)

NMRS's entry on Wagstaff Colliery's seam and 1914 closure.

View source

Dowlais Collieries — Northern Mine Research Society (reference)

NMRS's umbrella account, independently confirming the June 1914 closure under the seam's local name, the Big Vein.

View source

Sources

(secondary) Small collieries of the Dowlais Cwmbargoed & Penydarren areas — Northern Mine Research Society
(secondary) Dowlais Collieries — Northern Mine Research Society

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