Ynysfechan Colliery

Overview

A Pontardawe level opened in 1838 to feed the once world-famous Ystalyfera Iron and Tinplate Works, worked into the late 1920s.

History

No record of this mine has been found before 1907, but according to the History of Pontardawe by J.E. Morgan, Ynysfechan Colliery was opened in 1838 by Parsons and Company to feed the Ystalyfera Iron Works, and was linked to the Primrose level. From 1907 to 1920 it was worked by Lloyd and Company of Pontardawe, employing 30 men underground and 7 on the surface in 1907, dipping to 20 men in 1911 and settling around 28 men through the mid-1910s producing house and manufacturing coals; the company was not a member of the Monmouthshire and South Wales Coal Owners Association. Ownership passed to the Tawe Vale Collieries Limited between 1921 and 1927, which grew the workforce sharply — 61 men in 1923, 165 men in 1927 under manager R. Howells. The mine worked a mineral lease to the south of Pontardawe and abandoned the Hughes seam in December 1927. The Ystalyfera works the colliery had originally been sunk to supply were, at their peak under James Palmer Budd from 1839, among the largest ironworks and tinplate works in the world — reputed in 1866 to employ 4,000 people at the works alone, with a further 1,000 in the mines that fed them, Ynysfechan among them. The works finally closed in 1886, not long after Budd's death in 1883.

Nearby mines

• Cefn Coed Colliery — 2.1 km E
• Gleision Colliery — 2.6 km N
• Tarenni Colliery — 2.7 km NW
• Primrose Colliery — 2.9 km W
• Cambria Mercantile Colliery — 3.3 km N

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

Recorded claims

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

• According to J.E. Morgan's History of Pontardawe, the mine was opened in 1838 by Parsons and Company to feed the Ystalyfera Iron Works and was linked to the Primrose level; it was worked by Lloyd and Company from 1907 and by the Tawe Vale Collieries Limited from 1921, growing to 165 men by 1927 before abandoning the Hughes seam that December. ¹
• An independent account drawn from the same History of Pontardawe and District confirms the Ystalyfera Iron and Tinplate Works as a major 19th-century concern under James Palmer Budd from 1839, reputed by 1866 to employ 4,000 people at the works and a further 1,000 in its associated ore and coal mines, closing in 1886. ²
• Under the Tawe Vale Collieries Limited the workforce grew sharply, from 61 men in 1923 to 165 men in 1927 under manager R. Howells, before the mine abandoned the Hughes seam in December 1927. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Small collieries in the Pontardawe area — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Ystalyfera Iron and Tinplate Works — GENUKI, from History of Pontardawe and District by John Henry Davies, 1967

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