Ynysamman Colliery

Overview

A small anthracite level at Brynamman worked under the Ynysamman name for five years before reverting to the older Brynamman identity that had preceded it.

History

The drift at Brynamman had already been worked on and off since the 1840s — as Brynamman Works, then under a series of owners including a lease to Edward Lange, who abandoned it in 1905. It was reopened under the ownership of the Ynys Amman Colliery Company of Pontardawe and worked as Ynysamman Colliery from 1909. The level grew quickly: 75 men in 1910, dipping to 43 in 1911, then 110 in 1912 and 83 in 1913, working under managers D.T. Williams and later Richard Williams. By 1915/16 it employed 138 men under manager D. Jeffrey — its largest recorded workforce.

The Ynysamman Colliery Company was placed into voluntary liquidation at a creditors' meeting in Swansea on 23 June 1915, and the mine is recorded as having closed under that name in 1914. It was not listed at all in 1917, but by 1918 the same site was working again — now as Brynamman Colliery under Brynamman Colliery Limited, employing 59 men under manager R. Williams — the name by which it continued through further changes of ownership into the 1930s.

The liquidator put the colliery up for auction at the Hotel Metropole in Swansea on 9 November 1915, advertised as a well-equipped anthracite colliery with an extensive unworked coal area of about 230 acres and direct railway connection to the ports of Swansea and Llanelly, the leasehold sold with its buildings, plant, machinery, sidings and stores. The company's winding-up dragged on: the liquidator's notice of the final general meeting of members appeared in the London Gazette in July 1920.

Workings

A drift, worked on and off since the 1840s under a series of owners and names.

Closure

Closed under the Ynysamman name in 1914 after the owning company's 1915 liquidation; reopened under a new name, Brynamman Colliery, by 1918.

Recorded claims

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

• Worked as Ynysamman Colliery by the Ynys Amman Colliery Company of Pontardawe from 1909, employing between 43 and 138 men across the period, with 138 men recorded in 1915/16 under manager D. Jeffrey. ¹
• The Northern Mine Research Society's separate account of the same site (published as its Brynamman Colliery entry) confirms the site was worked "under the ownership of the Ynys Amman Colliery Co as Ynysamman between 1909 and its closure in 1914", and that by 1918 it had reverted to the Brynamman name under Brynamman Colliery Limited. ²
• The Ynysamman Colliery Company was in voluntary liquidation by June 1915, with a creditors' meeting held at Salubrious Chambers, Swansea, on 23 June 1915. ¹
• In October 1915 Messrs Bowen and Evans of Swansea, instructed by the liquidator of the Ynysamman Colliery Co. Ltd, advertised the colliery for sale by public auction at the Hotel Metropole, Wind Street, Swansea, on 9 November 1915: 'a well-equipped colliery in the anthracite coalfield, having valuable and extensive unworked coal area, with direct railway connection to the ports of Swansea and Llanelly', the leasehold undertaking at Brynamman with the unworked minerals under about 230 acres, together with the buildings, fixed and loose plant, machinery, railway sidings and stores. ³
• The London Gazette of 2 July 1920 carries the notice, under the Companies (Consolidation) Act 1908, of a general meeting of the members of the Ynysamman Colliery Company Limited, dated 28 June 1920 and signed by G. Brinley Bowen as liquidator, the closing formality of the winding-up begun in 1915. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Small Collieries of the Amman Valley — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (primary) Brynamman Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) Sale by auction of the Ynysamman Colliery, Brynamman (advertisement, The Cambria Daily Leader, 23 October 1915, Welsh Newspapers Online) — National Library of Wales
4. (primary) The Ynysamman Colliery Company Limited: notice of general meeting, 28 June 1920 (The London Gazette, issue 31962, p. 7177) — The London Gazette

Record created: 15 September 2026 · Last researched: 24 September 2026