AARON BRUTES
Blaenavon

One of the numerous levels worked by the Blaenavon Iron Works Company in the late 18th and 19th centuries. It was worked for iron ore as well as for coal. Sited where the seams of the Middle and Lower Coal Measures come near to the surface, with between these seams iron stones occur in both thin tabular beds, called pins, and as nodular concretions, or balls. There were approximately nine of these seams between the Five-Feet/Gellideg and Garw coal seams, none of them more than 24 inches thick.

BLACK PIN
Blaenafon

Named after the iron ore vein it was opened to work in c1812. It also worked for coal and supplied both to the Iron Works. The closure date of this mine is uncertain. Iron ore was found in abundance in this area. In the 127 feet of ground between the Five-Feet/Gellideg and Garw coal seams, no less than nine iron ore veins were found. None were more than 24 inches in thickness but the average yield per acre was 15,000 tons. From around 1850 the bar iron trade died out because the pig iron produced was inferior to that made from foreign ores, and the iron works of the northern outcrop began to close. A temporary respite to this came about at Blaenafon when the Gilchrist-Thomas method of smelting allowed ores mined locally to be used in steel making.

BLAENDARE BIG VEIN/YARD LEVEL
Near Llanelly Hill

The Yard Level was owned in 1907/8 by W.H. Charles and employed three men in 1907 and five men underground in 1908. In 1912 the Big Vein Level employed two men and the Yard Level employed three men. The Big (presumably working the Big Vein) was a small level that was owned by W.H. Charles in 1917 and employed two men underground. Meanwhile, in 1918 the Yard (presumably working the Yard seam) was owned by J.D. Collett and Company and also employed two men underground.
This mine abandoned the Garw seam in March 1920 and probably closed in that year. Mr Charles was not a member of the Monmouthshire and South Wales Coal Owners Association.

BLAEN GELLY COLLIERY
Clydach/Blaenavon, Afan Lwyd Valley

This was just another of the small levels that littered this area. This one was owned by Thomas Davies in 1917, who was not a member of the Monmouthshire and South Wales Coal Owners Association.
It employed 3 men in 1910, 4 men in 1912 and 2 men in 1918, 1923 and two men in 1928/38 working the Meadow Vein.

BRICKYARD LEVEL
Blaenavon

One of the hundreds of bell pits, slopes, levels, drifts and pits in the Blaenavon area. This one was presumably in the yard of the brickworks. Coal mining was first recorded in this area in 1775 when leases to mine coal were granted to William Tanner and Mary Gunter. Conditions were appalling and safety unheard of. Due to the shallowness of the workings, the miner often had to work up to his/her waist in water. To supplement his meagre earnings the man often had to utilise his wife to drag the coal out in baskets through the pitch-black tunnels, and often his children, as young as five years, were used to open and close the air doors.

In the Blaenavon area pressure was often put on the men by the company to take their children into the mine by making it a condition of employment, or allotting extra trains to fill depending on the number of children a man had. Although the 1842 Act forbid women and boys under ten years of age from working underground this was largely ignored at Blaenavon, and a survey held in 1850 showed that at least 30 of the 120 boys working underground were less than ten years of age.

BRIDGE LEVEL
Blaenafon

This was one of the earliest levels in this area being opened in 1782. Two horizontal roadways were driven in to find the coal, one above the other. They had reached a distance of three-quarters of a mile when the level was abandoned. It was worked for both coal and iron ore.

BLAEN GELLY COLLIERY
Clydach/Blaenavon, Afan Lwyd Valley

This was just another of the small levels that littered this area. This one was owned by Thomas Davies in 1917, who was not a member of the Monmouthshire and South Wales Coal Owners Association.
It employed 3 men in 1910, 4 men in 1912 and 2 men in 1918, 1923 and two men in 1928/38 working the Meadow Vein.

BRICKYARD LEVEL
Blaenavon

One of the hundreds of bell pits, slopes, levels, drifts and pits in the Blaenavon area. This one was presumably in the yard of the brickworks. Coal mining was first recorded in this area in 1775 when leases to mine coal were granted to William Tanner and Mary Gunter. Conditions were appalling and safety unheard of. Due to the shallowness of the workings, the miner often had to work up to his/her waist in water. To supplement his meagre earnings the man often had to utilise his wife to drag the coal out in baskets through the pitch-black tunnels, and often his children, as young as five years, were used to open and close the air doors.

In the Blaenavon area pressure was often put on the men by the company to take their children into the mine by making it a condition of employment, or allotting extra trains to fill depending on the number of children a man had. Although the 1842 Act forbid women and boys under ten years of age from working underground this was largely ignored at Blaenavon, and a survey held in 1850 showed that at least 30 of the 120 boys working underground were less than ten years of age.

BRIDGE LEVEL
Blaenafon

This was one of the earliest levels in this area being opened in 1782. Two horizontal roadways were driven in to find the coal, one above the other. They had reached a distance of three-quarters of a mile when the level was abandoned. It was worked for both coal and iron ore.

CINDER PIT
Blaenavon, Afan Lwyd Valley

Blaenavon was selected as a site for one of the newfangled Iron Works in 1789 by Hopkins, Hill, Isaac and Benjamin Pratt who constructed the first purpose-built multi furnace in Wales. By 1796 it was the second-highest iron producer in Wales with an annual output of 5,400 tons.

The reason that they had selected Blaenavon was due to the abundance of minerals in the area. Timber, stone, limestone, ironstone, water and coal were all there for the taking. The coal and ironstone seams outcropped in the area and were first easily collected by just scraping the soil away. As the hungry belly of the furnaces demanded more food shallow bell pits and levels were driven into the earth to feed this giant cuckoo in the nest. Again this supply was not enough and pits such as this one were sunk to the ever deeper seams. In this reckless search for coal, man, or the owners, ignored the laws of nature and paid scant attention to the safety of the men, women and children who worked in these dark, damp and dangerous holes in the ground.

In 1838 a tremendous storm battered Blaenavon, rain poured down on the hills surrounding the town and temporary rivers formed from this deluge gushed down the hillsides. Standing in the way of one such torrent was the entrance to the Cinder Pit, the water poured down the shaft and took the lives of the fourteen men and two women who were working underground at that time. It was kept open and in 1878 and 1888 the records show that it was managed by P. Williams. It was listed as not working in the period 1895/1900. The full report can be found here.

CLAY COLLIERY
Blaenavon, Alan Lwyd Valley

As the name implies, this level was worked for clay as well as coal and ironstone. It was owned by the Blaenavon Iron and Steel Company it was working the Old Coal seam in 1888, and employed 26 men in 1913. It was managed in 1878 and 1888 by P. Williams and in 1913 by G.P. Williams.

COITY PIT

This pit was sunk in c1840 to feed the Blaenavon Iron Works. In 1888 when the Big Pit was formed the Coity Pit became the upcast shaft for the new venture. Please see Big Pit for more information.

DODD’S SLOPE

It was probably named after the contractor who opened up the mine. The Blaenavon Iron and Coal Company constructed new furnaces at Forge Side, Blaenavon in the 1840s, to feed these furnaces with coal Dodd’s Slope was opened amongst other nearby levels. It worked most of the seams of the Lower and Middle Coal Measures near their outcrops. In 1878 and in 1888 it was managed by P. Williams, who was manager of all the company’s mines at those times. In 1888 it was working the Three-Quarter (Six-Feet) seam at a thickness of 54 inches. In 1889 it produced 88,000 tons of coal and in 1894 it produced 81,054 tons of coal while in 1896 it employed 176 men underground and 18 men on the surface working the Three-quarter seam. P. Williams was still the manager.

In 1899 it employed 204 men; in 1900 it employed 200 men, but from then on gradually lost its identity as it was absorbed into the Big Pit complex of mines.
The average section of the coal seams encountered at Dodd’s Slope were; Two-Feet-Nine(EIled) 42 inches, Upper Four-Feet (Big Vein) 36 inches, Upper-Six-Feet (Three-Quarter) 54 inches, Upper-Nine-Feet (Horn) 48v, Nine-Feet (Bottom Rock) 66v, Yard/Seven-Feet (Meadow Vein) 42 inches, Five-Feet/Gellideg (Old Coal) 54 inches, Garw 30 inches.

Just some of those who died in this mine:

  • 16/08/1871, John Jones, Age: 23: Collier: Fall of the roof.
  • 11/07/1872, William Davies, Age: 46: Explosion in Dodds Slope 11th. Died 13th.
  • 5/07/1878, Thomas Walby, Age: 28: Collier: Injured by fall of roof and died the same day.
  • 29/09/1881, J. Davies, Age: 69: Injured by fall of stone and died on 1st October.
  • 1/06/1885, Joseph Davies, Age: 12: Collier: Deceased was employed for the day as door boy and was standing between a journey of trams and another tram loaded these being about two feet apart. The single tram moved on and squeezed him. He died the next day.
  • 21/10/1886, Thomas Jayne, Age: 33: Collier: Fall of stone.
  • 25/02/1887, William Payne, Age: 19: Injured by a fall of coal. He died on the 6th of March.
  • 17/04/1889, Thomas Parry, Age: 27: Collier: Fall of the roof.
  • 21/06/1894, Thomas Davies, Age: 62: Collier: Fall of roof

ENGINE PIT
Blaenafon

This mine consisted of a pit and two levels situated in the Iron Works yard. They had a short working life of between 1800 and 1810, although the Engine Pit level was kept open as an emergency exit for local mines. This pit was probably the first pit to be sunk in the Blaenavon area.

FORGE SLOPE
Blaenavon, Afan Lwyd Valley

The Forge Level, Pit and Slope were all developed in the 1840s by the Blaenavon Iron Company to feed their works. In 1878 and 1888 the manager was P. Williams. It was served by the London and North Western Railway and it worked the Horn Coal in 1888. In 1889 it produced 40,000 tons of coal, in 1894 it produced 33,036 tons of coal while it employed 114 men underground and 9 men on the surface in 1896, and 142 men in 1900, and 90 men in 1913 when it was managed by G.P. Williams.

There was a tremendous increase in manpower during the war years, in 1915 it was 239, in 1916 it employed 409 men and in 1918 it employed 512 men. The general manager of all the Blaenavon mines during that period was F. Cartwright. In 1923 it employed 678 men working underground and 63 men at the surface of the mine with C. Humphreys as the manager. In 1927 W. Daniel was the manager and it employed 528 men while in 1930 W. Rouzel was the general manager and it employed 366 men working underground and 48 men at the surface of the mine. The Slope which produced coking, gas, house and manufacturing coals was still listed as late as 1921.

In all some fourteen miners died in accidents at this mine; five died in haulage accidents, seven under roof falls and one was kicked by a horse:

  • 23/02/1864, Thomas Stephens, Age: 17: Benjamin Stephens, age 14, Colliers: These brothers were killed by a heavy fall which rolled off in consequence of a concealed rough separation in the coal
  • 6/04/1864, Edward Nash, Age: 53: Collier: Very heavy fall of rock.
  • 25/06/1887, Daniel Thomas, Age: 40: Injured by a fall of roof and died on 26th.
  • 29/09/1898, Isaac Prosser, Age: 64: Overman: While giving directions for removing some additional side coal in the Main Heading which was being reopened after the strike a fall of roof occurred killing him instant
  • 12/01/1910, Henry Whent: Was knocked down by a loco engine while walking to his work during a raging storm and died the same day.
  • 17/07/1914, Joseph Evans, Age: 49: Collier: He was kicked by a horse as he was assisting a haulier on a heading road He died the same day from his injuries.
  • 4/12/1914, William John James, Age: 20: Labourer: Fall of roof
  • 19/04/1915, Leonard Lewis: Crushed by timber.
  • 11/10/1915, Arthur Bryant: Fall of a large stone.
  • 12/03/1917, loan Davies: Knocked down by trams.
  • 6/12/1923, Abiathar Stanley: Peritonitis and accident.
  • 21/01/1924, Raymond Smith: Fall of large stone.
  • 26/07/1929, Abraham Williams, Age: 52: Hitcher: Riding on the bull chain of journey coming up double parting when he was knocked over.

GANTS
Blaenafon

An obscure 19th-century mine opened to feed the local Iron Works. Situated on the northern rim of the Coalfield all the seams of the Middle and Lower Coal Measures would have been available to this level which probably would have found the Two-Feet-Nine seam with a section of 42 inches, the Upper-Four-Feet seam with a section of 36 inches, the Upper-Six-Feet seam with a section of 54 inches, the Upper-Nine-Feet seam with a section of 48 inches, the Lower-Nine-Feet seam with a section of 62 inches, the Yard/Seven-Feet at 42 inches, the Five-Feet/Gellideg at 54 inches, and the Garw seam at a section of 32 inches.

GRWN CHIN
Blaenafon

An obscure little 19th-century level used to feed the local iron works.

GUNTERS COLLIERY
Blaenavon, Afan Lwyd Valley

This was one of the numerous levels driven in the early 18th century to feed the Blaenavon Iron Works. This Company was particularly fortunate with the accessibility of both coal and iron ore, the eastern outcrop of the South Wales Coalfield finds the coal seams of the Middle and Lower Coal Measures and the main ironstone veins close together, whilst the outcrop area was two miles wide in places making them easily available. All bar one of the major seams were workable. The name of this level implies that it was worked by a contractor, in1849 out of the 800 to 900 colliers and miners employed by the Blaenavon Company, approximately two-thirds would have been contractors. it is interesting to note that although the 1842 Act of Parliament prohibited females and boys under the age of 10 years from working underground, in 1849, at Blaenavon, 30 of the 120 boys working underground were under-age, and at least 70 women and girls, 20 of them 11 to 12 years of age, were still working below ground in this type of level.

HILL COLLIERY
Blaenavon, Afan Lwyd Valley

This mine was opened cl844 by the Blaenavon Iron Company, and in 1888 working the Old Coal and Bydelog coal seams, and the Bottom Vein Mine ironstone vein. There appears to have been two pits twelve feet apart, the one was 32 inches in diameter, and the other 6 feet by 10 feet elliptical. It was managed in 1878 and 1888 by J. Williams and probably disappeared into the Big Pit Complex. In 1889 it produced 31,000 tons of coal. A Hill Drift was working near Waenavon in 1927 when it employed 3 men working the Soap Vein under the ownership of Eleazor Davies and Company. In 1937/38 it employed 2 men, and in 1948 it employed 1 man. It was then owned by W. Rees of Llanelly Hill.

Just some of those that died in this mine:

  • 22/02/1853, William Emery, Age: 53: Collier: Fall of the roof.
  • 7/07/1855, Samuel Rees: Fall of stone.
  • 23/02/1858, William Smith, Age: 20: Collier: Fall of coal in one of the stalls.
  • 14/07/1859, Elijah Coles, Age: 29: Collier: Fall of stone over coal.
  • 14/11/1860, Henry Davies: Fall of a large stone.
  • 1/05/1866, George Thornhill, Age: 42: Miner: Fall of working ground in the Hill pit forcing out timber.
  • 17/01/1871, William Lewis, Age: 25: Collier: Fall of bell mould in the Hill pit.
  • 12/03/1890, Joseph Morgan, Age: 12: Colliers boy: When on his way out from work with his father they got into a manhole on the self-acting plane in order to let the journey pass up; as soon as it had done so forgetting the one on the other side coming down the boy continued his way out and was run over.

HORN COAL
Blaenavon

This slope was another of the many mines that exploited the outcropping seams on behalf of the Blaenavon Company in order to feed their works with both coal and iron ore.

HOSKINS
Blaenavon

Again another of the early levels used to feed the Works, this one appears to have been worked under the contractor system, where a master collier or contractor is paid by the Blaenavon Company to run the mine for them. In this case, it was Jas. Hoskins.

KEARS’ SLOPE
Blaenavon, Afan Lwyd Valley

Known as Dick Kears’ or New Slope and driven c1820 on the contractor system for the Blaenavon Iron Company. It became part of the drainage system for Big Pit.

KEARSLEY’S PIT AND SLOPE
Blaenavon, Afan Lwyd Valley

The slope was driven by James Kearsley on the contact system for the Blaenavon Iron Company pre-1840. This slope was followed by the sinking of Kearsley’s pit c1840, to the Three-Quarter seam which it found at a depth of 128 feet. It was then used as a ventilation shaft for the Forge Pit and Level. In 1879 the Blaenavon Company re-organised its collieries in the area, it deepened this pit to the Old Coal (Five-Feet/Gellideg seam which it found at a depth of 293 feet and called the new concern Big Pit. For further details please see the listing on Big Pit.

MARQUIS COLLIERY
Near Blaenavon, Afan Lwyd Valley

A small level on the northern outcrop of the Coalfield located about 1,000 feet south of Milfraen Colliery that worked the Brithdir seam in the 1880s under the ownership of the Marquis Red Ash Colliery Company. It was abandoned in January 1892. It worked the Red Ash (Brithdir) seam which consisted of; coal 8 inches, stone 9 inches, coal 11 inches, dirt 3 inches, coal 2 inches.

MEADOW VEIN
Blaenavon

Another of the nineteenth-century levels opened to feed the Blaenavon Iron Works. This one presumably worked the Meadow Vein (Yard/Seven-Feet) seam. It was still working in 1902 but I can find no trace of it on my 1913 listings.

PARKERS
Blaenafon

This was another of the 19th-century levels driven under the contractor system for the Blaenavon Iron Company. This system was an agreement made between the ironmasters and a small group of colliers to open or work at a particular level. The owners would provide the capital and lease out the mine, and the contractors had to find the equipment and manpower to work it. They would agree to produce a stipulated amount of coal or ironstone, or both, at a fixed price to be delivered to the works, payments for this would be made quarterly.

PWLLDU COLLIERY
Blaenafon

This mine was listed in 1878 as working the ironstone Bottom Vein under the ownership of the Blaenavon Iron Company. It was still being worked for Ironstone in 1896 when it employed five men working underground and one man at the surface of the mine. The outcrop of the Lower and Middle Coal Measures of the South Wales Coalfield is around two miles wide in the upper Afan Lwyd valley, intermingled with the coal seams are ironstone veins. These were extensively mined until the 1880s when foreign ores proved better for the new steel-making process.

Just some of those that died in this mine:

  • 5/10/1857, Jonah Mach: Collier: Fall of coal.
  • 12/10/1857, John Marks, fall of roof.
  • 17/09/1862, John Williams, Age: 55: Collier: Fall of coal
  • 28/06/1865, William Davies: Shotfiring accident.

REID’S (FRANK) LEVEL
Blaenafon

Another of the myriad of levels opened and worked on the contractor system to feed the iron works. It was estimated that about 60% of the Blaenavon Company’s coal and iron mines were worked in this way.

RIVER ROW
Blaenavon

Yet another level driven in the early 1800s to feed the works, this type of level was opened and abandoned with little regard to documentation.

ROBIN (MOSES) LEVEL
Blaenavon

Presumably opened on the contractor system by Moses Robin for the Blaenavon Iron Company, this small level was still working in 1878 when it was owned by F. Jones. Not on my listings for 1888.

SHONS (DICK) LEVEL
Blaenavon

15/04/1856, William Evans, Age: 37, John Taylor, aged 47, Charles Young, aged 57,James Young, aged 28: Colliers: Suffocated by coal being on fire near an old flue. Three of the principal rules were violated, two by management and one by three by the deceased. There were four killed.

It presumably worked under the contractor system by Dick Shon for the Blaenavon Iron Company. The operating dates are unclear, but it did not reach 1878.

TUNNEL COLLIERY
Blaenavon, Afan Lwyd Valley

One of the many mines owned by the Blaenavon Company, along with the Clay Level it employed 35 men underground and 6 men at the surface in 1900 and worked the Bydelog, Meadow Vein and Old Coal seams. It employed 25 men in 1907.

It was listed as temporarily closed in 1938 but I doubt if it ever worked again.

Some statistics:

  • 1899: Manpower: 42.
  • 1900: Manpower: 41.
  • 1902: Manpower: 34.
  • 1905: Manpower: 29.
  • 1907: Manpower: 25.
  • 1909: Manpower: 26.
  • 1911: Manpower: 26.
  • 1933: Manpower: 48.
  • 1934: Manpower: 50.

WAINAVON COLLIERY
Blaenavon, Afan Lwyd Valley

This level was also spelled Waenavon. It was listed in 1878/84 as being owned by Phillips & Williams and managed by J. Phillips, and in 1888 it was called the Waenavon Slope and was worked by the Waenavon Slope Colliery Company (Phillips & Williams) in the Big and Elled seams with J. Phillips is still the manager as he was in 1893. In 1896 the Waenavon Clydach Slope was owned by Rees and Parry of Blaenavon and employed 16 men underground and 2 men on the surface working the Old Coal. It then disappeared until 1927 when it employed 4 men, in 1932 and in 1938 it employed 4 men under the ownership of W.A. Williams of Llanelly Hill. It was not listed after this date.

 

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

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