Wernffraith Colliery

Overview

An eighteenth-century colliery near Bryncoch and Neath Abbey, where firedamp explosions in 1758, which killed its owner William Shepley, and in 1770 took heavy loss of life.

History

Wernffraith Colliery worked coal near Bryncoch, on the hillside behind Court Herbert at Neath Abbey. It was opened in the mid eighteenth century, probably by William Shepley, who owned it and was its manager in 1758.

On Wednesday 24 May 1758 an explosion of firedamp underground killed Shepley and a number of his men. The burial register of St Catwg's Church, Cadoxton, names seventeen who were buried there together on the following Saturday, laid out in rows; the list of accidents compiled by Ian Winstanley from old chapel records gives ten dead. No headstone or memorial to them is known.

Twelve years later, on 12 June 1770, a second explosion, caused by naked lights, killed seventeen miners. Seven were buried at Cadoxton two days later, the register noting that all were "burnt to death in the coal pits", and two more buried the same day at St Thomas' churchyard were almost certainly also victims.

The Wernffraith seam was later worked at Cilfrew Colliery in the Dulais valley. A Coal Authority abandonment plan titled Wernffraith, in that seam, is dated 1930; whether it records this colliery or a later working of the name is not known.

Geology

Unknown.

Workings

Underground workings, lit by naked lights in 1770, in which firedamp exploded in 1758 and 1770; their layout and extent are unknown.

Closure

Unknown.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Cilfrew Colliery — Cilfrew Colliery worked the Wernffraith seam (Welsh Coal Mines), and the Wernffraith section sits on the Cilfrew page.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• An explosion of firedamp on 24 May 1758 killed seventeen, buried together at St Catwg's Church, Cadoxton. (disputed) ¹
• The 1758 explosion killed ten. (disputed) ²
• An abandonment plan titled Wernffraith, in the Wernffraith seam, is dated 1930. (uncertain) ⁴

Recorded claims

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

• William Shepley owned and managed the colliery in 1758 and was killed in the explosion that year. ^1,2
• An explosion of firedamp on 24 May 1758 killed seventeen, buried together at St Catwg's Church, Cadoxton. (disputed) ¹
• The 1758 explosion killed ten. (disputed) ²
• An explosion on 12 June 1770, caused by naked lights, killed seventeen miners. ^1,3
• An abandonment plan titled Wernffraith, in the Wernffraith seam, is dated 1930. (uncertain) ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Cilfrew Colliery — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) Wernfraith Colliery Explosion - Neath - 1758 (Northern Mine Research Society) — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (secondary) Wernfraith Colliery Explosion - Neath - 1770 (Northern Mine Research Society) — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: WERNFFRAITH, Wernffraith seam, abandoned 1930 — British Geological Survey

Record created: 8 October 2026 · Last researched: 10 October 2026