Westernmoor Colliery

Overview

A small slant colliery about two miles from Neath, opened around 1868 in the thin Westernmoor seam, where three men and a boy drowned in 1878 when a stall broke into water in workings abandoned a century before.

History

Westernmoor Colliery was a small colliery near Neath, opened around 1868 by Edward Evans to work the Westernmoor seam, 23 inches thick, at a shallow depth. Thomas Lloyd, a fifteen-year-old collier, was killed there by a fall of roof on 15 February 1875.

By 1878 it belonged to Messrs Johns and Williams, the Westernmoor Coal Company, with Mr Johns as managing partner; the pit was too small to need a certificated manager. The workings were reached by a slant about 100 yards long, made in the summer of 1877, up which the trams were drawn by a winding engine, with stalls on both sides. The ground around was marked by old shale tips, and no plans existed of the old workings, closed more than a hundred years earlier.

On 16 April 1878 a stall broke into those old workings and three men and a boy were drowned (see Disasters, below). The colliery closed in 1888.

Geology

The Westernmoor seam, 23 inches thick, at a shallow depth; a downthrow fault of about five yards crossed the workings.

Workings

A slant about 100 yards long with stalls on both sides; trams were drawn up the slant by a winding engine.

Closure

Closed in 1888.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Disasters & major incidents

• Westernmoor Colliery inundation, 1878
  16 April 1878 · Flooding / Inundation · 4 fatalities
  On the morning of Tuesday 16 April 1878 a stall at Westernmoor Colliery, a small slant near Neath, broke into old workings abandoned more than a century before, and the rush of water and debris drowned three men and a boy of fourteen.

Recorded claims

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

• Opened around 1868 by Edward Evans to work the Westernmoor seam. ¹
• Thomas Lloyd, a fifteen-year-old collier, was killed by a fall of roof on 15 February 1875. ¹
• The colliery was worked from a slant about 100 yards long, made in the summer of 1877, with stalls on both sides. ²
• In 1878 it belonged to Messrs Johns and Williams; the pit was too small to need a certificated manager. ^1,3,4
• The colliery closed in 1888. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Westernmoor and Gnoll Collieries (Welsh Coal Mines) — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (primary) South Wales Daily News, 26 April 1878: The Western Moor Colliery accident. The adjourned inquest — National Library of Wales, Welsh Newspapers
3. (primary) Pontypool Free Press, 20 April 1878: A colliery flooded at Neath. Four persons drowned — National Library of Wales, Welsh Newspapers
4. (primary) Pontypool Free Press, 4 May 1878: The flooding of the Western Moor Colliery. Adjourned inquest — National Library of Wales, Welsh Newspapers

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