Brynna Colliery

Near Llanharan (986830)

This colliery was opened on the site of an old Lantern seam drivage (which was also called Brynna) and extensively worked the Two-Feet-Nine seam which it called the Lantern seam. It had a thickness of around 48 inches.

In October 1882 the equipment from this colliery was sold off at auction. The lots included; winding and pumping engines, boilers, weighbridge, winches, water wheels, 50 trams, blacksmiths shop gear, nuts, bolts, nails, scrap brass and iron, bricks, office furniture, and surveyors equipment.

There were three entrances; the No.1 was opened in 1914, the No.2 in 1915 and the No.3 in 1923 when it employed 220 men. Nos. 1 & 3 were the productive slants with the No.2 used for return ventilation. It was worked for house coal in 1917 by the Brynna Gas Coal Colliery Limited which did not associate to the Monmouthshire and South Wales Coal Owners Association, was managed by E. Morgan in 1918 when it employed 76 men underground and 35 men on the surface Owned in 1921/25 by the Brynna Collieries Co. In 1920/2 it employed 220 men and in 1923 it produced 75,000 tons of coal with David Rees as the manager.

It was owned in 1927 by Brynna Gas Coal Collieries Limited. In that year J.S. Evans was the manager and it employed 220 men between 1924 and 1928 and 270 in 1929. In August 1928 the South Wales Miners Federation made a concerted effort to recruit at this colliery and managed to recruit 80% of the workforce for the first time since the General Strike of 1926. Also in 1928 the No.3 was abandoned. In 1930 it was managed J.B. Hawkins and employed 220 men working underground and 40 men working at the surface of the mine and produced 70,000 tons. In 1932 it employed 220 men with the manager being J.S. Evans and the owners were Brynna Collieries Limited. In 1933 manpower had dropped to 36 men working in the No.1 and in 1923 this figure had dropped again to 23 men. During that period it was owned by the Brynna Collieries Limited who again increased manpower to 260 men in 1938 when it produced 75,000 tons of coal.

Some statistics:

• 1918: Manpower: 111.
• 1922: Manpower: 220.
• 1923: Manpower: Nos. 1 & 2: 402. No.3: 133.
• 1924: Manpower: 409. No.3: 155.
• 1927: Manpower: 181.
• 1928: Manpower: 220.
• 1929: Manpower: 270.
• 1930: Manpower: 260.
• 1932: Manpower: 220.
• 1933: Manpower: 36.
• 1938: Manpower: 260.

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