Ystradgynlais Colliery

Overview

An anthracite colliery at Ystradgynlais in the upper Swansea Valley, opened about 1874 by the Ystradgynlais and Swansea Colliery Company, whose collieries flooded in 1893 and left it insolvent. Under later owners it grew to about 450 men, passed to Amalgamated Anthracite in 1925 and abandoned its last seams in December 1938.

History

Ystradgynlais Colliery was opened about 1874 by the Ystradgynlais and Swansea Colliery Company as an anthracite slant, and its railway agreement began on 2 December 1875. The same company opened the first Diamond drift nearby. John Hopkins managed the colliery in 1883 and T. Lloyd Davies in 1884-87. In September 1886, short of orders, the company laid off some of its men; a father and son, William and John Jones, claimed a month's wages in lieu of notice, and the Ystradgynlais miners packed the magistrates' court but lost the case. In 1887 it was working the Four-Feet seam and installed a Capell ventilating fan, 10 feet across and 4 feet 3 inches wide, on its upcast shaft.

In 1893 the collieries were flooded in what counsel called an unfortunate accident, and work stopped. The company, which had paid £30,000 for the collieries and spent £20,000 equipping them, was insolvent with liabilities of £16,925, and in June 1893 the Chancery Division granted a supervision order for its winding-up; the hope was to sell the colliery once it had been pumped out. By 1896 it was owned by E. H. Davies of Hereford, with Thomas Lloyd still the manager, and employed about 155 men underground and 29 at the surface. In 1901 it consisted of the No. 1 Pit, the No. 2 Pit and the New Drift, working the Four-Feet and Nine-Feet seams by pillar and stall with safety lamps; the upcast shaft was 10 feet across and 186 feet deep.

By 1908 the South Wales Anthracite Colliery Company owned it, with 190 men underground and 40 at the surface under W. Williams; in 1913, under George Robbings, it employed 340, and 350 in 1915-16. In mid-June 1917 the colliery was stopped by war conditions, anthracite being less in demand than steam coal. The Yniscedwyn Anthracite Company owned it in 1918-21, the Gurnos Anthracite Collieries Company in 1922-24, and Amalgamated Anthracite Collieries from 1925. It employed about 450 men in 1930-32 under T. J. Rees. The pit reached the Cornish seam at 190 feet; the Red Vein was worked at 46 inches, the Nine-Feet at 78 inches and the Bute, here called the Brass, at 39 inches, and in one district a fold in the Brass vein gave a vertical section of 115 feet of coal. It abandoned the Nine-Feet and Peacock seams in December 1938 and closed.

Men killed at the colliery included Thomas Jones, who fell from an ascending cage in 1890; Hugh Evans, killed in December 1892 by a stone falling from the roof while he and two others cleared a fall on the drift; and William Samuel, a blocklayer crushed under a falling chute at the screens in 1893.

Geology

Anthracite of the upper Swansea Valley: the Four-Feet and Nine-Feet seams were worked in 1901, and the pit sections record the Cornish, Two-Feet-Nine, Upper Four-Feet, Six-Feet, Red Vein, Nine-Feet (Big Vein) and Bute (Brass) seams. A fold in the Brass vein gave a vertical section of 115 feet of coal in one district.

Workings

A slant opened about 1874, later with the No. 1 and No. 2 pits and the New Drift; pillar and stall working with safety lamps; upcast shaft 10 feet across and 186 feet deep, ventilated by a Capell fan.

Closure

Flooded in 1893, bankrupting its first company; the Black, Four Feet, Harnlo, Big and Peacock seams of one working were abandoned in 1904. The colliery abandoned the Nine-Feet and Peacock seams in December 1938 and closed.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Gurnos Colliery — Neighbouring anthracite collieries at Ystradgynlais, both under the Gurnos company in the early 1920s and then Amalgamated Anthracite.
• Yniscedwyn Colliery — Neighbouring anthracite collieries; Yniscedwyn lay to the north, and the Yniscedwyn Anthracite Company owned Ystradgynlais in 1918-21.

What's uncertain

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

• In 1896 it employed 155 men underground and 29 at the surface. (disputed) ²
• In 1896 it employed 159 men underground and 29 at the surface. (disputed) ¹

Recorded claims

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

• Its railway agreement began on 2 December 1875. ^1,2
• In 1893 the collieries flooded and the Ystradgynlais and Swansea Colliery Company, insolvent, was wound up under a supervision order. ^2,3
• In 1901 it comprised the No. 1 Pit, No. 2 Pit and the New Drift, with an upcast shaft 186 feet deep. ^1,2
• In 1913 it employed 340 men under George Robbings. ^1,2
• It abandoned the Nine-Feet and Peacock seams in December 1938. ^1,2,4,5
• In 1896 it employed 155 men underground and 29 at the surface. (disputed) ²
• In 1896 it employed 159 men underground and 29 at the surface. (disputed) ¹
• Hugh Evans was killed by a fall of roof while clearing a fall on the drift in December 1892. ^6,7

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Gurnos, Ystradgynlais (with Gwaunclawdd, Diamond and Ystradgynlais collieries) — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) NMRS: Ystradgynlais Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) South Wales Daily Post, 22 June 1893: The Ystradgynlais Colliery — Welsh Newspapers Online (National Library of Wales)
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: YSTRADGYNLAIS (Nine Feet (Big), abandoned 1938) — British Geological Survey
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: YSTRADGYNLAIS (Peacock (Brass), abandoned 1938) — British Geological Survey
6. (secondary) Welsh Coal Mines: Fatalities 1892 — welshcoalmines.co.uk
7. (primary) South Wales Daily News, 14 December 1892: Ystradgynlais (inquest on Hugh Evans) — Welsh Newspapers Online (National Library of Wales)
8. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: YSTRADGYNLAIS (Black, Four Feet, Harnlo, Big and Peacock, abandoned 1904) — British Geological Survey
9. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: YSTRADGYNLAIS, UPCAST DOWNCAST, OLD & NEW DRIFTS — British Geological Survey
10. (secondary) 1912 (fatalities by date) — Welsh Coal Mines
11. (secondary) Welsh Coal Mines fatalities, 1893 — Welsh Coal Mines
12. (secondary) Welsh mining fatalities, 1890 — Welsh Coal Mines
13. (secondary) Welsh mining fatalities, 1899 — Welsh Coal Mines

Record created: 11 October 2026 · Last researched: 11 October 2026