Ynysarwed Colliery

Resolven, Vale of Neath

An Ynysarwed Culm Colliery was owned as early as 1823 by Messrs. Morgan and Perkins. In 1860/9 it was owned by Penrose and Starbuck and in 1870 by T.C. Hinde. In March 1877 the Ynisarwed Resolven Colliery Company went into liquidation. In the 1890’s there were two levels working the No.1 Rhondda seam, the No.1 was using the long wall system and the No.2 level was working by the pillar & stall system. Both used naked lights. Each level had a furnace at the bottom of a 5 feet diameter, 30 feet-deep upcast shaft. In 1904/5 the Ynisarwed Colliery Company (Messrs. Stephens, Lewis, Edwards & Howell) opened a new drift approximately one mile to the north-west of Garth Merthyr Colliery. It had a mineral take of 2,000 acres with another 1,700 acres added in 1920.

The Upper Ynisarwed seam had a thickness of 34 inches and at that time 280 men were working this seam and producing 350 tons of coal a day. The Lower Ynisarwed seam was the same thickness with 310 men producing 400 tons of coal a day. In 1907 the manager was D.G. Jones and this mine was working the No.2 and Ynysarwed seams. The Ynisarwed Colliery Company was based at Atlantic Building, Gloucester Place, Swansea, and was not a member of the Monmouthshire and South Wales Coal Owners Association.

The colliery remained in the hands of this company until 1918 when purchased by D.R. Llewellyn’s Ynisarwed Collieries Company Limited. It stayed with this company until Nationalisation in 1947. In 1918 the Ynisarwed was managed by D. Griffiths and in 1927 by R. Howells. In 1928 it struck the Big Vein seam. The Lower Ynisarwed slant was abandoned in March 1924.

On the 15th of August 1925, Morris John Jones aged 37 years and a repairer died when he was crushed by a tram. On the 15th of January 1929, David John Jones, aged 29 years and a hard ground man died when he was run over by trams.

In 1913/19 it was still managed by D.G. Jones and employed 390 men. In 1935 the manager was J.T. Williams and the colliery employed 125 men producing anthracite, house and manufacturing coals. It had its own coal preparation plant (washery) and the canteen was opened in April 1943. In 1945 it employed 154 men with the manager being W.J. Jones.

On Nationalisation in January 1947, Ynisarwed Colliery was placed in the National Coal Board’s, South Western Division’s, No.1 (Swansea) Area, and at that time employed 62 men working on the surface of the mine and 172 men underground working the Peacock, Eighteen-Feet, Nine-Feet and Clynteg seams. The manager was W.J. Jones.

In 1954 it produced 25,155 tons of coal, and by that time it had been transferred to the No.9 (Neath) Area. The Nine-Feet seam at this colliery had a thickness of 9 feet 5 inches but geological disturbances in this area could thicken it to up to 24 feet. The Six-Feet seam was called the Eighteen-Feet seam at this colliery and had a thickness of around 8 feet 6 inches. The No.3 Rhondda was also extensively worked at a thickness of 34 inches.

Ynisarwed Colliery was closed in December 1955.

Some Statistics:

• 1903: Manpower: 22.
• 1905: Manpower: 46.
• 1907: Manpower: 98.
• 1909: Manpower: 186.
• 1910: Manpower: 239.
• 1911: Manpower: 203.
• 1912: Manpower: 329. Lower: 122.
• 1913/19: Manpower: 350.
• 1920: Manpower: 390.
• 1923: Manpower: 157. Lower: 231.
• 1924: Manpower: 197.
• 1925: Manpower: 700 with Graig Merthyr.
• 1927: Manpower: 700.
• 1931: Manpower: 700.
• 1933: Manpower: 292.
• 1935: Manpower: 125.
• 1937: Manpower: 312.
• 1945: Manpower: 154.
• 1947: Manpower: 234.
• 1948: Manpower: 246. Output: 75,000 tons.
• 1950: Manpower: 244.
• 1954: Output: 25,155 tons.

Information supplied by Ray Lawrence and used here with his permission.