Wernbwll Colliery

Overview

A colliery east of Penclawdd on the north Gower coast, opened in 1893 and working the Penlan and Penclawdd seams from 1923. An explosion in the West District killed seven men in 1929 (see Disasters, below); the colliery closed in September 1937.

History

Wernbwll Colliery opened in 1893. From 1923 it worked the Penlan and Penclawdd seams via drifts to the east of Penclawdd village, on the north Gower coast, soon employing about 150 men, mostly drawn from Penclawdd and the surrounding north Gower area; a lodge of the South Wales Miners' Federation, forerunner of the National Union of Mineworkers, was established at the colliery by 1926. Coal was carried by tramroad over a bridge across the main Penclawdd-to-Gowerton road, near the Berthlwyd public house, to be loaded onto the main railway line. On 28 November 1929 an explosion in the West District's No.13 West Level killed seven men (see Disasters, below); soon afterwards the operating company formally took the name Berthlwyd Colliery Ltd. The colliery worked on until September 1937, when, on the very last shift, a collier named Sid James was killed by a fall of ground — a sad end, as Welsh Coal Mines put it, 'to mining on the north Gower coast'.

Geology

Worked the Penlan and Penclawdd seams; the Penclawdd seam was about 4 feet 6 inches thick with a conglomerate sandstone roof and a fireclay floor, dipping at about 34 degrees.

Workings

Worked by the 'Tophole' system, a local variant of pillar and stall common to the steep seams of the western South Wales Coalfield: levels 9 feet wide were driven 40-60 yards apart, with topholes 14 yards apart driven to the full rise between them. At the time of the 1929 explosion the West District was reached by three slants, the lowest — the Main West Slant — running 1,450 yards from the surface at a depth of roughly 1,500 feet of cover.

Closure

Closed in September 1937; the last man killed at the colliery, Sid James, died in a fall of ground on the final working shift.

What remains

Not established from the sources read for this pass.

Not established from the sources read for this pass.

Redevelopment

Not established from the sources read for this pass.

Related mines

• Berthlwyd Colliery — Shared the same owner (D.D. Williams) and certificated manager (J. Phillips) at the time of Wernbwll's 1929 disaster, working the same seams about a mile apart, and were linked by an underground tramway tunnel per Cadw's listing for the Caer Eithin engine house.

Nearby mines

• Berthlwyd Colliery — 1.4 km N
• Killan Colliery — 2.4 km E
• Elba Colliery — 2.5 km NE
• Broad Oak Colliery, Loughor — 4.0 km N
• Brynlliw Colliery — 5.5 km N

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

Disasters & major incidents

• Wernbwll Colliery explosion, 1929
  28 November 1929 · Explosion · 7 fatalities
  An explosion in the No.13 level of Wernbwll Colliery's West District killed seven men on the evening of 28 November 1929; the official inquiry blamed firedamp ignited at an open acetylene lamp, spread by coal dust the colliery had never stone-dusted against.

Recorded claims

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

• Opened in 1893; from 1923 worked the Penlan and Penclawdd drifts east of Penclawdd, employing about 150 men mostly from the local area. ¹
• An explosion in the West District's No.13 West Level killed seven men on 28 November 1929 (see Disasters, below). ^1,2
• Closed in September 1937; a collier, Sid James, was killed by a fall of ground on the final shift. ¹
• At the time of the 1929 disaster the colliery's owner and agent was D.D. Williams, who also owned the nearby Berthlwyd Colliery working the same seams about a mile away; J. Phillips was certificated manager of both collieries. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Wernbwll Colliery (Welsh Coal Mines) — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) Wernbwll Colliery Explosion - Penclawdd - 1929 — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) Wernbwll Colliery Disaster Report (H.M. Inspector of Mines) — Durham Mining Museum (official inquiry report)

Record created: 13 September 2026 · Last researched: 14 September 2026