Some Captured History of Glanamman and Garnant

Cawdor Colliery (Garnant)

The Cawdor Colliery (New Cawdor), at Garnant was reputedly started in 1894 by David Jones and Sons of Glanamman. The coal was extracted via a drift mine which was situated a short distance North East of Pen-yr-heol and North of Pen-y-waun, near the top of Brynceithin Road. (OS co-ordinates 269200 211600).

There was also a Cawdor Colliery (Old Cawdor), between Pant-y-ffynon Farm and Ynys-y-frwynen Farm near Grenig Road in Glanamman. This was working as early as 1880 when it was owned by Morgan and Thompson and appears on OS maps until 1907 when it is no longer shown. Further coal working in the area of the Old Cawdor by the Hopkin family of nearby Pantyffynon Farm, however, continued into the later part of the 20th Century.

There were two winding engines used at the new Cawdor Colliery; one to wind the trucks up the slant and the second to lower coal down the hill to the railway sidings, which were approximately half a mile from the colliery. The "sidings" were where the coal was loaded into the railway trucks.

Cawdor Colliery Winding House

David Jones and Sons had 'private siding agreements' (PSA's) with the Great Western Railway (GWR), for the following dates:

Cwmtrupit Colliery:
1st October 1900,
14th Jul 1901,

New Cawdor: 13th September, 1904.

Looking at an Ordnance Survey map dated 1891, there is a coal pit in the immediate vicinity of where the Cawdor Slant was later situated. It is not certain what the name of this colliery was or who were the owners. It may be tempting to assume that this was Cwmtrupit Colliery, though this may not be the case as another map from 1901 shows an unnamed coal pit a short distance to the south east near Llwyn-celyn, Garnant. Another map dated 1907 shows both pits as "old shaft", with the Cawdor Colliery engine house clearly marked a short distance to the North. The tramway from the Cawdor Colliery to the railway sidings is clearly marked on the 1907 map but is not marked on the 1901 or previous maps. Given that the siding agreement dated 1904 named the associated colliery as "New Cawdor", it may be the case that the tramway was established at that time.

Coal Wagons marked "David Jones & Sons. Cawdor Collieries", this image is from a postcard which was posted in 1903.

By 1908 the New Cawdor Colliery was owned by the Cawdor & Garnant Colliery Ltd. of Garnant and these had a private siding agreement with the Great Western Railway Company dated the 26th of August, 1908. Although the new railway line had opened in November 1907, the sidings were still operating from the old railway line. The manager of the Cawdor Colliery at that time was Morgan Morgan and the under-manager was Phillip Rees. There were 240 men employed at the Cawdor Colliery in 1908; 194 below ground and 46 above. The Cawdor produced three grades of coal; large, cobbles and culm.

The 8th of February, 1917 edition of the Amman Valley Chronicle reported on the prosecution of a man charged with stealing a piece of timber from the North Amman Colliery Company, who owned the Cawdor Colliery. Police Constable David John Thomas saw the man carrying the matchboard at 3.10am on the 15th of February 1917 and asked him where he got it. The man told the police officer that he had taken it from the Cawdor Colliery yard. When asked, he admitted that he had not had permission as he was only taking it home for firewood.
During the man's trial, he told the court that on that morning he was working "on the billy" and that it was very cold. He had seen the wood lying on the yard with trams running over it and took it to stir the fire up. Thomas Henry Beanland, who was an engineer at the Cawdor Colliery, told the court that the man was employed at the Cawdor Colliery but had no right to take the timber away. The value of the timber was said to be 6d.
The magistrates ordered the man to pay costs and be bound over in £5 under the First Offenders Act for six months.

A private siding agreement dated the 8th of May 1916, shows the owners of the Cawdor Colliery at that time were North Amman Collieries Ltd, of Garnant. The same company were the registered owners in 1918 and the number of men employed totalled 438. This number consisted of 356 below ground and 82 above ground. The manager then was John Powell of Garnant.

The 19th September 1918 edition of the A.V. Chronicle reported on the legal proceedings brought against the Cawdor Colliery agent and the colliery manager. The two officials were charged with allowing the use of black powder in an area where gas had been found. The black powder was more liable to flame than the permitted explosives which is why it was prohibited.
The defence was that the same explosive was used in the other collieries in the district and that up to the date of the offence (28th March 1918), there was no report of gas being present in sufficient quantity to be of any danger. The two officials were fined £5 each.
The fireman was also prosecuted for allowing men to work in a dangerous place and for failing to fence the place. He was fined £1 for each offence.

In 1923, the address for the North Amman Collieries Ltd., was 3 Dumfries Place, Cardiff. Their agent was named as Walter. S. Wardlaw. Kelly's Directory for South Wales in 1923, listed him as Manager of the North Amman Collieries Ltd, living at Glangarnant. The Cawdor Colliery manager in 1923 was however, John Powell. The Cawdor employed 488 men at that time; 407 below ground, working the Red Vein and 81 above ground.

The last owners of the Cawdor Colliery were Amalgamated Anthracite Collieries Ltd., also known as the "Mond Combine", after Sir Alfred Mond who owned the company. The Combine took control of both the Cawdor and Cwmgorse Collieries Companies as from the 31st of December 1924, at a cost of approximately half a million pounds. That took the total number of collieries owned by the Mond Combine to eight, these being: Tirydail, New Cross Hands, Llandybie, Gellyceidrim, Crynant, Gurnos, Cawdor and Cwmgorse.

There was a private siding agreement with Amalgamated Anthracite Collieries Ltd. dated the 27th of April 1925.

The 3rd and 10th of February 1927 editions of the Amman Valley Chronicle, reported that the Cawdor Colliery was experiencing a slack time through scarcity of trucks due to lack of orders and that because of the trade depression, no more than four days per week had been worked for several weeks.

July of 1927 saw a temporary closure of the colliery due to a shortage of trucks. Up to the report appearing in the Amman Valley Chronicle, the Cawdor Colliery had been closed for nine days, with the men losing valuable pay during that period. The Gellyceidrim was also affected by the shortage of trucks, but not as severely as the Cawdor.

On Monday the 12th of September, 1927, 462 workmen at the Cawdor Colliery were given 14 days notice of termination of their contract of employment. These consisted mainly of men who lived at Cwmamman, but also included many from Gwaun-cae-gurwen.

By 1934, the Cawdor Colliery had it's own coal preparation plant and 499 men were employed there, working the Red Vein seam. The manager was John Powell.

The Private Siding Agreement between the Cawdor Colliery and the Great Western Railway terminated on the 7th of April 1938.

In 1957, an airway was driven from the old Cawdor Colliery to help in the ventilation of Cwmgorse Colliery; resulting in a tunnel joining the two mines.

Local Alderman D. O. Morgan worked at the Cawdor as a young man. In a local history video, he told how he remembered that while other colliers had to work six full shifts a week, the workers at the Cawdor were allowed to finish at around noon on a Saturday, providing that the allocated amount of work had been completed.

Pen-y-waun Farm with the Cawdor buildings in the background

Much of the information on this page was taken from the Amman Valley Chronicle and a series of newspaper cuttings from an unknown source titled "Industrial Story of Garnant - by a Retired Miner". The author of this piece is unknown. Thanks to Gomer Davies (Archivist for the Amman Valley Railway Society), for the information regarding the PSA's. Many thanks to W. Johnny Morgan and June Davies for the images displayed on this page.

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