Normandy Level (Part of Clydach Merthyr Colliery)

Near Clydach, Swansea Valley c67977/02824

Normandy Level was part of the Clydach Merthyr Colliery, thought to commemorate the Normandy landings.

Mining was a little bit more than the underground workings, as a look at the surface plant at Clydach Merthyr shows; Managers office, timekeepers office, pay office, wheel turning lathe house at the wagon works, wagon repair shop, shelter over the screens road, screen building with two main screens, 3 tipplers, two washeries, Niagara screen, belts, elevators, breakers and a 200h.p. engine. Stores, steam-driven mortar mill, garage for a car, boilers and shelters, electrical stores, winding engine house, ambulance room, general stores, tram weigh house, haulage engine, truck weigh office and weighbridge, cart and lorry weighbridge, lorry garage, saddlers shop, carpenters shop and sawmill, tram repairing shop, fitting shop, and a smithy.

This mine was opened in 1863 by Nixon & Bell, approximately half a mile to the south of Hendy Merthyr Colliery and approximately seven miles to the north of Swansea, to work the Graigola seams. It was also called Nixon’s Graigola. On the 1877 OS Map, it was called Western Merthyr Slant Colliery. In 1879 it was purchased by the Graigola Merthyr Company (Thomas Cory & Frank Yeo) which was to become one of the longest-lasting coal companies in the South Wales Coalfield.

In 1884 it was managed by William Rees and in 1893 by Owen Morgan. In 1896 it employed 344 men underground and 65 men on the surface with the manager being Thomas Owen. The main slant was driven in a westerly direction from 65 yards above the Graigola seam dipping down 18 inches to the yard until it hit the Graigola seam 1,050 feet from the surface. It was 12 feet wide and 7 feet high. The return airway was driven 20 yards from this drift. A steam-driven haulage engine was placed on the surface which had two horizontal cylinders of 25-inch diameter with a four-foot stroke. The drum was 9 feet in diameter and 4 feet wide and could draw up the slant four full trams at a time, each tram weighed 19 hundredweights and carried 35 hundredweights of coal. There were two further underground haulages one had a 9-foot diameter 4-foot wide drum and the other a 5-foot drum.

By 1911, the company, which was based at Cambrian Place, Swansea, employed 548 men at Clydach Merthyr and another 65 men at Graig Cwm level producing manufacturing and steam coals. In 1913 it employed 516 men. The managing director at that time was W.T. Farr. This company was a member of the Monmouthshire and South Wales Coal Owners Association. The manager in 1908/15 was Ioan Davies and in 1918 it was O. Davies. In 1913/5/30 the manager was David Jones.

An advert for the company in 1913 stated:

“The GRAIGOLA MERTHYR CO. (Late Cory, Yeo & Co.) Head Offices: Cambrian Place, Swansea. Works: King’s Dock, Swansea. Manufacturers and Shippers of “Graigola Merthyr ”Patent Fuel (Locomotive Merthyr Brand) Annual Manufacture of Patent Fuel, 600,000 to 700,000 tons. Supplied to all important foreign railways and steamship companies, and extensively used for industrial purposes. -Unrivalled for Low Percentage of Ash. Proprietors and Shippers of Cwm, Graigola Merthyr & Cardiff Graigola, Steam Large, Cobbles, Walnuts and Beans Largely Employed Abroad for Domestic and General Steam Purposes”

In 1935 the Chairman of the Company was D.R. Llewellyn, and the directors were; Griffith Llewellyn, H.H. Merrett, W.M. Llewellyn, T.J. Callaghan, W.P. Miles, The Viscountess Rhondda and R. Vaughn Price. It controlled two collieries, employed 1,221 miners and produced 550,000 tons of coal. This Colliery at that time employed 400 men underground and 136 men on the surface and with Graig Merthyr produced 550,000 tons of coal. The manager at that time was still D. Llewellyn Jones. In 1943/5 the manager was D.J. Price and along with the Abergelli slant it employed 453 men underground working the Four-Feet and Graigola seams and 140 men at the surface of the mine.

When Clydach Merthyr was Nationalised in 1947 it was worked in conjunction with the Abergelli Slant; they were placed in the National Coal Board’s South Western Division’s No.1 (Swansea) Area. The ceremony to celebrate the takeover of the colliery, the raising of the NCB’s flag, was performed by the oldest and youngest members of the local NUM Lodge. The senior man, a compressor attendant, was 82 years of age.

This colliery possessed its own coal preparation plant, and coal selling depot and was the site for a wagon repair workshop. The manager in 1949 was still D.J. Price. By 1954 the colliery was in Area No.1, Group No.3 (Felinfran), with 98 men working on the surface and 425 men employed underground working the Graigola Four-Feet and Maesmelyn seams. The manager was E.J. Jones. In 1955 this colliery employed 220 men at the coalfaces, in 1956 it was 167 men, and in 1958 it was 171 men working at the coalfaces which were by then pillars left over from the old workings which produced mainly small coal.

In 1961 the No.1 Area’s, No.3 Group consisted of Clydach Merthyr, Daren, Felinfran and Graig Merthyr collieries, the total manpower for the Group was 1,449 men, while total coal production for the year was 478,452 tons. The Group Manager was D. Griffiths, while the Area Manager was J.G. Tait. Clydach Merthyr Colliery was closed by the National Coal Board on the 24th of June 1961 because its workmen were needed for other more profitable collieries. It was retained by the NCB as a pumping station until Graig Merthyr Colliery closed in 1978.

Some Statistics:

• 1889: Output: 127,342 tons.
• 1894: Output: 135,158 tons.
• 1899: Manpower: 534.
• 1900: Manpower: 645.
• 1901: Manpower: 492.
• 1902: Manpower: 489.
• 1903: Manpower: 446.
• 1905: Manpower: 390.
• 1907: Manpower: 420.
• 1908: Manpower: 498.
• 1909: Manpower: 498.
• 1910: Manpower: 536.
• 1911: Manpower: 548.
• 1912: Manpower: 594.
• 1913: Manpower: 516.
• 1915: Manpower: 580.
• 1918: Manpower: 529.
• 1919: Manpower: 518.
• 1920: Manpower: 660.
• 1922: Manpower: 520.
• 1923: Manpower: 556.
• 1924: Manpower: 667.
• 1925: Manpower: 680.
• 1927: Manpower: 320.
• 1928: Manpower: 383.
• 1929: Manpower: 380.
• 1930: Manpower: 530.
• 1931: Manpower: 575.
• 1932: Manpower: 618.
• 1935: Manpower: 536.
• 1938: Manpower: 632.
• 1940: Manpower: 630.
• 1943/5: Manpower: 593.
• 1948: Manpower: 604.
• 1949: Manpower: 598. Output:150,000 tons.
• 1950: Manpower: 564.
• 1953: Manpower: 545. Output: 120,000 tons.
• 1954: Manpower: 523. Output: 115,571 tons.
• 1955: Manpower: 537. Output: 120,488 tons.
• 1956: Manpower: 524. Output: 114,807 tons.
• 1957: Manpower: 521. Output: 116,673 tons.
• 1958: Manpower: 495. Output: 100,373 tons.
• 1960: Manpower: 288. Output: 71,012 tons.

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