Wood Level Colliery

Overview

A Pembrokeshire anthracite coalfield colliery at Kilgetty, reported as the last pit working anywhere in the county, closing in 1950.

History

Wood Level Colliery worked anthracite at Kilgetty, part of the Pembrokeshire coalfield, a district stretching from Amroth to Newgale that had been exploited for its high-grade anthracite since the late medieval period, though heavy faulting and folding of the seams made large-scale working difficult throughout the coalfield's history. Kilgetty's own mining complex was long-established: its first documented pits were sunk in 1775, abandoned and reopened on numerous occasions, with a beam engine bought from the Neath Abbey Iron Company around 1811 and further pits sunk in the 1840s; the colliery prospered in the 1850s supplying the Kilgetty (or Stepaside) Ironworks before declining in the 1860s. By report, Wood Level was the last colliery to remain at work anywhere in the Pembrokeshire coalfield, closing in 1950 -- two years after the industry's nationalisation -- and its closure marked the end of large-scale industrial coal mining in the county, though small-scale extraction continued locally until 1990.

Workings

Worked anthracite in ground long affected by heavy faulting and folding, characteristic of the difficulty of large-scale working throughout the Pembrokeshire coalfield.

Closure

By report, the last colliery to remain at work in the Pembrokeshire coalfield, closing in 1950; small-scale extraction continued locally until 1990.

Abandoned workings can be dangerous — unstable ground, uncapped shafts, flooding and bad air are common even where a site looks safe from the surface. This entry describes history and general location only; it is not an access guide.

Recorded claims

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

• Kilgetty's mining complex had its first documented pits sunk in 1775, with a beam engine bought from the Neath Abbey Iron Company around 1811 and further pits sunk in the 1840s; the colliery prospered in the 1850s supplying the Kilgetty (or Stepaside) Ironworks before declining in the 1860s. ¹
• The Pembrokeshire coalfield, stretching from Amroth to Newgale, had been exploited for its high-grade anthracite since the late medieval period, though heavy faulting and folding of the seams made large-scale working difficult throughout its history. ²
• Wood Level is repeatedly described in secondary accounts of the Pembrokeshire Coalfield as the last colliery working anywhere in the county, closing in 1950 -- a mundane, consistently repeated fact, though no primary listing or plan naming Wood Level itself by that name has yet been directly read. (uncertain) ³

Photographs & further reading

This page doesn't try to reproduce everything — these are the best original sources found for this mine.

Sources

1. (primary) Kilgetty Colliery Chimney Base, Stepaside (Historic listing, Cadw, via British Listed Buildings) — Cadw
2. (secondary) GENUKI: The Coal Industry in Pembrokeshire — GENUKI
3. (secondary) Pembrokeshire Coalfield — Wikipedia

Record created: 31 August 2026 · Last researched: 31 August 2026