Cefn Bryn Colliery

Also known as Cefn-y-Bryn Colliery.

Bryn, Maesteg (824924)

The Cefn Bryn was opened in 1901 by William Thomas and by 1903 it employed 15 men, in the 1905 listings it was ‘re-opening’ under the ownership of Samuel Williams. He held it until 1908. It was then owned by the Cefn Bryn Colliery Company. The Colliery Guardian of February 1909 stated that it had struck the Golden Vein and Rider coal, “it is a coal of excellent quality suitable for house coal and manufacturing.”

This appears to be the new level called Cefn y Bryn. It was managed by Joseph Evans and employed 31 men. In 1911 it employed 56 men with John Hopkins the manager while in 1913 it employed 115 men and was managed by J.F. Bell. It still employed 115 men in 1915/6 but was managed by T. Mills in 1916. In 1918 it employed 72 men underground and 11 men on the surface with the manager being D. Bassett. The sales agents for this Company were D. Robert Evans and Hughes of Adelaide Chambers, Swansea. This Company did not join the Monmouthshire and South Wales Coal Owners Association. They don’t seem to be ideal employers, for in their short tenure, the men were out on strike over price lists from May 1914 to August 1915. In 1915 the owners and manager were fined for 31 breaches of the Coal Mines Act, and there was another strike in August 1917.

The mine was put up for sale in 1922 but had no takers. It was owned in 1925 by the Wern-y-Bryn Colliery Company Limited, (Who changed the name to Werny Bryn) who were based at The Docks, Milford Haven, Pembroke and in 1927 employed 140 men with D. Rees as the manager. He was still the manager in 1930 when it employed 160 men working underground in the Golden Seam and 33 men working at the surface of the mine. It produced 50,000 tons of coal in that year. In 1935 it employed 3 men on the surface and 10 men underground producing 50,000 tons of manufacturing and house coals from the Upper Cockshot seam. The manager was now R.G. Taylor. The 1935 listing (O’Connell’s Directory and Manual) should be treated with caution, those ten super-colliers must have been producing over 20 tons of coal per day each to produce 50,000 tons, it is probably a printing error and possibly should have been 5,000 tons. Also, I am not too sure about the ‘Upper Cockshot seam which was probably the Lower Pentre seam which averaged a thickness of 33 inches in this area. It abandoned the Lower Cockshot Seam in 1924, the Golden Seam in 1931 and the Upper Cockshot Seam in 1935.

Some statistics:

• 1901: Manpower: 5.
• 1902: Manpower: 16.
• 1903: Manpower: 15.
• 1905: Manpower: 4.
• 1907: Manpower: 15.
• 1908: Manpower: 31.
• 1909: Manpower: 31.
• 1910: Manpower: 72.
• 1911: Manpower: 56.
• 1912: Manpower: 68.
• 1913: Manpower: 115.
• 1916: Manpower: 115.
• 1918: Manpower: 83.
• 1920: Manpower: 115.
• 1922: Manpower: 115.
• 1923: Manpower: 116. Output: 30,000 tons.
• 1924: Manpower: 132.
• 1925: Manpower: 142.
• 1926: Manpower: 142.
• 1927: Manpower: 196.
• 1928: Manpower: 200.
• 1929: Manpower: 200.
• 1930: Manpower: 193. Output: 50,000 tons.
• 1932: Manpower: 200.
• 1925: Manpower: 142.
• 1926: Manpower: 142.

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