Pwllbach Colliery

Ystalyfera, (739095)

The original Pwllbach Level was opened in 1812 by Daniel Harper into the Red Vein which it worked at a section of 36 inches and at a depth of 114 feet 8 inches. It was later bought by Thomas Walters but is not on the 1878 list of mines.

In 1893 it was owned by D.W. Davis of Ystalyfera and employed 28 men working underground. In 1896 it is owned by the Pwllbach Colliery Company of Ystalyfera who employed 71 men underground and 12 men on the surface with the manager being M.W. Davies. In 1905 the manager was Peter Jones. In 1913 the New Pwllbach was owned by the Pwllbach Colliery Company whose commercial manager and secretary was Thomas H. Henderson, this company was a member of the Monmouthshire and South Wales Coal Owners Association and in that year employed 120 men at Pwllbach Colliery. It was located just to the west of the Tawe Valley Geological Disturbance.

In 1915 it was managed by J.W. Davies. In 1916 it employed 250 men, in 1918 it employed 141 men underground and 35 on the surface, and in 1919 it employed 195 men. The manager during this period and up to at least 1930 was D.J. Daniels. It was served by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (Midland, Swansea Vale Branch), Pwllbach produced anthracite coal from the Red Vein.

In the 1920s, the Pwllbach Colliery Company became the Pwllbach, Tirbach and Brynamman Anthracite Collieries Limited which was absorbed into Henderon’s Welsh Anthracite Collieries Limited, which in turn was absorbed into the giant Amalgamated Anthracite Collieries Limited. In 1927 D.J. Daniels was the manager and it employed 250 men.

Work at the colliery re-commenced in February 1929 after a yearlong layoff caused by the men refusing to accept reduced wages.

In 1934 Henderson’s Welsh Anthracite Collieries Limited was based at 81 Gresham Street, London and its directors were; Sir A. Cope, Sir D.R.
Llewellyn, T.H. Henderson, T.P. Cook, D. Thomas, W. Peglar and W. Slark. It controlled ten collieries and employed 2,714 miners. In 1935 Pwllbach Colliery employed 40 men on the surface and 160 men underground. In 1945 the manager was D.R. Williams. In 1943 this mine employed 355 men working underground in the Red Vein and 105 men on the surface.

At Nationalisation in January 1947, Pwllbach Colliery was placed in the National Coal Board’s, South Western Division’s, No.1 (Swansea) Area, and at that time employed 104 men on the surface, and 410 men underground still working the Red Vein seam. The manager was W.A. Davies.

In 1955 the National Coal Board was far from happy with the production figures for this colliery and issued notices threatening the men with dismissal. They were later withdrawn. It happened again in 1956 with the NCB claiming that 50 colliers were only producing 9 to 15 tons of coal a day between them. The men were given fourteen days’ notice of dismissal.

In 1955 out of the total colliery manpower of 354 men, 177 of them worked at the coalfaces, the coalface figure was 146 men in 1956, 150 men in 1958, and in 1961 out of a colliery total manpower of 348 men, 139 of them worked at the coalfaces. In 1956 out of the 316 men working at this colliery, only one was under the age of 18 years.

In 1961 this colliery was in the No.9 (Neath) Area’s, No.3 Group along with Abercrave, Varteg, Yniscedwyn and Tirbach Collieries. The total
manpower for this Group was 1,746 men, while the total coal production for that year was 310,819 tons. The Group Manager was D. Evans and the Area Manager was Islwyn Lewis. In the review meeting over this colliery the NCB cited the following losses as the reason for closure.

Year – Output per Manshift – Loss per Ton

• 1963/64 – 22.2 cwts – £1.30
• 1964/65 – 17.6 cwts – £2.91
• June 1966 – 15.6 cwts – £4.97

Pwllbach Colliery was closed in January 1966.

On the 20th of December 1893, William Evans, aged 23 years and a collier died under a roof fall in the old mine, while on the 12th of February 1912, Evan Jones, aged 14 years and a collier boy was killed by runaway trams in the new mine.

Some Statistics:

• 1899: Manpower: 87.
• 1900: Manpower: 91.
• 1901: Manpower: 76.
• 1902: Manpower: 76.
• 1903: Manpower: 67.
• 1905: Manpower: 66.
• 1907: Manpower: 55.
• 1909: Manpower: 69.
• 1910: Manpower: 87.
• 1911: Manpower: 84.
• 1912: Manpower: 136.
• 1913: Manpower: 120.
• 1915: Manpower: 200.
• 1920: Manpower: 195.
• 1922: Manpower: 195.
• 1923: Manpower: 157.
• 1924: Manpower: No.2: 50.
• 1925: Manpower: 250.
• 1926: Manpower: 250.
• 1927: Manpower: 167.
• 1930: Manpower: 200.
• 1932: Manpower: 240.
• 1933: Manpower: 266.
• 1935: Manpower: 200.
• 1937: Manpower: 316.
• 1938: Manpower: 338.
• 1940: Manpower: 341.
• 1941: Manpower: 359.
• 1942: Manpower: 359.
• 1944: Manpower: 403.
• 1945: Manpower: 458.
• 1947: Manpower: 511.
• 1948: Manpower: 515. Output: 80,000 tons.
• 1949: Manpower: 480. Output: 100,000 tons.
• 1950: Manpower: 491.
• 1953: Manpower: 449. Output: 84,500 tons.
• 1954: Manpower: 315. Output: 58,000 tons.
• 1955: Manpower: 354. Output: 40,490 tons.
• 1956: Manpower: 316. Output: 50,532 tons.
• 1957: Manpower: 310. Output: 46,408 tons.
• 1958: Manpower: 304. Output: 56,267 tons.
• 1960: Manpower: 330. Output: 49,113 tons.
• 1961: Manpower: 348. Output: 62,843 tons.
• 1965: Manpower: 358.

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