Llandybie Colliery

Llandybie, (60301570)

This was an anthracite mine with the first slant being driven towards the north-west in 1904 by Holmes & Company of Swansea who possibly formed the Llandebie Colliery Company Limited whose commercial manager was Cleeve’s & Company of York Chambers, Swansea. In 1908 it employed 89 men underground and 20 men on the surface with the manager being John Williams.

In 1912 this mine was acquired by Cleeve’s who drove two new slants to new reserves to the south-west and electrified the machinery at the colliery to produce 300 tons of coal a day. The main haulage was then capable of hauling 13 full trams up the main slant. In 1913 the manager was D. Morgan with it employing 150 men in that year.

On the 3rd of December 1914, Robert Henry Young, age 43 years and a fireman: He was suffocated by trying to reach the face of a rising tophole, 56 yards long, which he knew to be full of methane gas, for the purpose of knocking on the coal to find out approximately where, and how far, the road was from another level higher up.

In 1917 it was still owned by Cleeve’s Western Valleys Anthracite Company Limited which was a member of the Monmouthshire and South Wales Coal Owners Association. In 1918 it employed 248 men underground and 54 men on the surface, the manager was W.J. Davies, he was still there in 1919. In 1923 the manager was Idris James. This company was the first to be absorbed into the newly formed Amalgamated Anthracite Collieries Limited in 1923 with it remaining with them until Nationalisation.

On the 8th of May 1925, David Spencer Davies, Aged only 14 years, and a screen boy caught his coat sleeve in a cog wheel which drew him into the machinery and killed him.

By 1932 this colliery had its own coal preparation plant (washery) with in 1934 the manager being I. James. In the mid-1930s it was closed until re-opened on the 9th of August 1943. In 1943/5 the manager was T. Walters and this mine employed 353 men underground working the Lower Pumpquart and Trichwart seams and 76 men on the surface.

On Nationalisation in 1947 Llandebie Colliery was placed in the National Coal Board’s, South Western Division’s, No.1 (Swansea) Area, and at that time employed 74 men on the surface and 347 men underground working the Lower Pumpquart seam. The manager was T. Walters who was still there in 1949. Pit head baths were erected in 1950. In 1955 out of the total colliery manpower of 366 men, 213 of them were employed at the coalfaces in 1956 these figures were 177 men and 318 men respectively.

This colliery which mainly worked the Lower and Upper Pumpquart’s, Stanllyd and Trichwart seams was closed by the NCB on the 20th of December 1958.

Some Statistics:

• 1905: Manpower: 47.
• 1907: Manpower: 56.
• 1909: Manpower: 109.
• 1911: Manpower: 109.
• 1912: Manpower: 159.
• 1913: Manpower: 150.
• 1915/6: Manpower: 300.
• 1919: Manpower: 295.
• 1920: Manpower: 295.
• 1922: Manpower: 375.
• 1923: Manpower: 392.
• 1924: Manpower: 405.
• 1925: Manpower: 393.
• 1926: Manpower: 404.
• 1927: Manpower: 443.
• 1928: Manpower: 436.
• 1931: Manpower: 465.
• 1933: Manpower: 513.
• 1935: Manpower: 409.
• 1937: Manpower: 525.
• 1938: Manpower: 526.
• 1940: Manpower: 476.
• 1941/2: Manpower: 488.
• 1944: Manpower: 277.
• 1947: Manpower: 421.
• 1949: Manpower: 416. Output: 70,000 tons.
• 1950: Manpower: 357.
• 1954: Manpower: 319. Output: 64,000 tons.
• 1955: Manpower: 366. Output: 48,586 tons.
• 1956: Manpower: 318. Output: 42,807 tons
• 1958: Manpower: 274. Output: 33,751 tons.

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