Waunllwyd Colliery

Overview

One of the Ebbw Vale Steel, Iron and Coal Company's big Ebbw Fawr pits, sunk between 1874 and 1876 and raising coal and ironstone for the company's own works. A fire near the underground stables in September 1879 killed a fireman and two ostlers, a father and his son, and sixteen horses, after an air door left open to clear gas was closed again and sent the gas to naked lights. The workforce passed 2,300 by 1918; Partridge Jones and John Paton took the colliery over in 1935, and it was effectively closed when its workings were integrated with the Marine colliery in 1964.

History

The Ebbw Vale Steel, Iron and Coal Company sank Waunllwyd's No. 2 and No. 3 shafts between 1874 and 1876, the No. 2 a downcast 268 yards deep and the No. 3 an upcast of 269 yards; a third shaft, the No. 1 downcast of 272 yards, followed in 1897 and was 20 feet in diameter. On 22 September 1879 an underground fire broke out near the stables. An air door had been left open on purpose to clear a pocket of gas and was accidentally closed again by a fireman, sending the gas to the naked lights at the stables, where it ignited. Three men died -- John Jones, a fireman, and William Griffiths senior and junior, father and son, both ostlers -- along with sixteen horses. Welsh Coal Mines notes that these are three of many fatal accidents reported at the colliery over its life; the Northern Mine Research Society records others, among them Samuel Tippins, a repairer of 66 who tripped over a hauling rope in 1894 and died of the abscess that followed, and William Golding Ham, a collier's assistant of 20 killed by a fall of side in 1913. In 1896 a workforce of 951 worked the Three Quarters, Big Vein and Elled seams under the manager T. Jones. Output was 252,249 tons in 1889 and 346,266 in 1894, and manpower climbed through the 1900s to 1,903 by 1908 and 2,365 by 1918. A list of 1923 records 1,977 at work, raising coal and ironstone from the Old Coal and Meadow Vein in the No. 1 pit and the Elled, Big Vein and Three Quarter in the No. 2. Partridge Jones and John Paton and Company became the owners in 1935; 1,123 were employed in 1938 and 758 in 1945. On nationalisation in January 1947 the colliery went into the National Coal Board's South Western Division, No. 6 (Monmouthshire) Area, with 597 men underground and 112 on the surface.

Geology

Coal and ironstone of the eastern South Wales coalfield: the Three Quarter, Big Vein and Elled seams worked from the 1890s, with the Old Coal and Meadow Vein raised from the No. 1 pit by the 1920s.

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

Workings

Three shafts: No. 2 downcast, 268 yards, and No. 3 upcast, 269 yards, sunk 1874-76, and No. 1 downcast, 20 feet in diameter and 272 yards deep, sunk in 1897. The workings were integrated with those of the Marine colliery in 1964.

Closure

The colliery was effectively closed when it was integrated with the Marine colliery in 1964, its workings being taken into that pit rather than abandoned.

What remains

Unknown.

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Marine Colliery — Waunllwyd's workings were integrated with the Marine colliery in 1964, which effectively closed it.

Nearby mines

• Pochin Colliery — 2.5 km SW
• Henwaun Colliery — 2.8 km E
• Bedwellty Pits — 2.9 km NW
• Beynon Colliery — 2.9 km NE
• Coalbrook Vale Colliery — 2.9 km NE

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

People

• William Griffiths (d. 1879) · victim, from 1879 — Ostler, killed with his son in the fire near the underground stables at Waunllwyd on 22 September 1879.
• William Griffiths junior (d. 1879) · victim, from 1879 — Ostler, killed with his father in the fire near the underground stables at Waunllwyd on 22 September 1879.
• William Golding Ham (d. 1913) · victim, from 1913 — Collier's assistant, aged 20, killed by a fall of side at the working face on 3 May 1913 while waiting for his comrade to bar down a piece of coal.
• John Jones (d. 1879) · victim, from 1879 — Fireman, killed in the fire near the underground stables at Waunllwyd on 22 September 1879.
• Samuel Tippins (d. 1894) · victim, from 1894 — Repairer, aged 66, who tripped over the hauling rope while cleaning the road on 12 May 1894, kept working, and died of the abscess that followed.

Recorded claims

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

• The Ebbw Vale Steel, Iron and Coal Company sank the No. 2 and No. 3 shafts between 1874 and 1876, 268 and 269 yards deep, and added the No. 1 downcast of 272 yards in 1897. ^1,2
• An underground fire near the stables on 22 September 1879 killed John Jones, a fireman, and the ostlers William Griffiths senior and junior, father and son, together with sixteen horses; an air door left open to clear gas was accidentally closed, sending the gas to the naked lights at the stables. ¹
• The colliery employed 951 men in 1896 and 1,903 by 1908, reaching 2,365 in 1918 and 1,977 in 1923, when it raised coal and ironstone from the Old Coal and Meadow Vein and the Elled, Big Vein and Three Quarter seams. ^1,2
• Partridge Jones and John Paton and Company became the owners in 1935, and on nationalisation in January 1947 the colliery went into the National Coal Board's No. 6 (Monmouthshire) Area with 597 men underground and 112 on the surface. ^1,2
• Waunllwyd was effectively closed when its workings were integrated with the Marine colliery in 1964. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Waunllwyd Ebbw Vale (Welsh Coal Mines, via the Internet Archive) — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) Waunlwyd Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society (Internet Archive)

Record created: 20 September 2026 · Last researched: 20 September 2026