Glyn Quarry and Quarry Level

Glyn Quarry - ST 2578 9946

Glyn Quarry, also known as 'Blaendare Quarry' after its owners, is shown on the 1880 OS map but had closed by 1912. The large, steep-sided quarry is very rough but the internal tramways are traceable from the quarry floor as far as the lost incline top.

Glyn Quarry and Level, 1880	Glyn Quarry and Level, 1901	Glyn Quarry and Level, 1920
Glyn Quarry left-hand face	Glyn Quarry centre face	Glyn Quarry right-hand face

Quarry Level siding, workshops and incline - ST 2584 9964

The remaining part of the quarry incline connected the colliery with the Blaendare branch. About halfway down on the left are the foundations of the stables and blacksmiths. Here, the incline cuts through the ancient leat to Glyn Pits which, on the right, was carried on a sustantial stone-built causeway, now heavily overgrown.

Loading bank on Blaendare branch	Loading bank shelter	Siding on Blaendare branch	Wooden structure beside siding
Stables and blacksmiths shop	Stables and blacksmiths shop	Stables and blacksmiths shop	Water tank
Quarry Level incline looking up	Quarry Level incline looking down	Incline from stables	Incline from stables
Incline from stables	Waterpipe running beside incline	A metal hanger of some kind

Downcast and upcast levels - ST 2578 9951

The Quarry Level, or Wern Tillery Colliery, is shown on the 1880 OS map just below the quarry but has disappeared by 1901. With the closure of the quarry, the Blaendare Co re-open it c1912, becoming infamous in 1926 when a strike is broken by a police baton charge. Quarry Level closed around 1943. The upcast level is gated and once had a furnace flue just above it, where foundations and a large diameter iron pipe remain. The main level was dug into the top of the quarry incline and has been sealed. An emergency exit from the colliery is reported to emerge near Blaendare Farm.

Quarry Level downcast level	Rail at downcast level	Quarry Level downcast level	Downcast level haulage cable
Quarry Level upcast level	Quarry Level upcast level	Quarry Level upcast level	Quarry Level upcast level
Quarry Level upcast level	Upcast level brickwork	Upcast level valve	Quarry Level furnace flue
Quarry Level furnace area	Fanhouse and furnace foundations	Quarry Level furnace flue	The inside of the furnace flue

Quarry Level, 1980s by Colin Hall

One of the few photos of the furnace flue in situ.

Quarry Level upcast level

Quarry Level

Quarry Level

Quarry Level

Quarry Level around 1986 by Gary Taylor

A good selection of photos of Quarry Level main and upcast levels from c1986.

Quarry Level downcast level	Upcast level interior	Upcast level interior	Upcast level interior
Upcast level interior	Upcast level interior	Upcast level interior	Upcast level interior
Upcast level interior	Upcast level interior	Upcast level interior	Upcast level interior
Upcast level interior	Upcast level interior	Upcast level interior	Upcast level interior
Upcast level interior	Upcast level interior	Upcast level interior	Upcast level interior
Upcast level interior	Upcast level interior	Upcast level interior	Upcast level interior
Upcast level interior	Upcast level interior	Upcast level's tatty old gate	Upcast level's shiny new gate

Glyn Levels nos 1 and 2 and Glyntillery Colliery

Glyn Level No. 1 (1880), later Glyntillery Colliery (circa 1913) - ST 2522 9930

The first incarnation of Glyntillery Colliery, opened as Glyn Level No.1 prior to 1880 and renamed Glyntillery around 1913. It was disused by the 1960s. The woods conceal a number of interesting remains - brickwork and the sealed level and drainage level, foundations, old rails and the body of a metal dram (or could it just be a watertank?). What appears to be the ironwork of a wooden-bodied dram and a flue lie close by.

Glyn Level no 1	Glyn Level no 1, upcast level	Glyn Level no 1, upcast level
Glyn Level no 1 drainage channel	Glyn Level no 1, dram frame	Glyn Level no 1, dram frame	Foundations (of furnace?)
Iron pipe (furnace flue?)	Ironwork (dram body?)	Glyn Level no 1, Lefthand view	Glyn Level no 1, Lefthand view
Glyn Level no 1, Lefthand view	Glyn Level no 1, Lefthand view	Rail above level entrance	Glyn Level no 1, Righthand view
Glyn Level no 1, Righthand view	Glyn Level no 1, Righthand view	Glyn Level no 1, Righthand view	Glyn Level no 1 interior

Glyn Level No. 2 - ST 2539 9938

Glyn Level No.2 opened prior to 1880 and was disused by 1920, being retained for ventilation as it had a small furnace (really just a large fireplace) situated inside the entrance. Old photos of the Glyn Ponds show a stubby stone or brick chimney above the furnace.

Glyn Level no 2 chimney	Glyn Level no 2 furnace	Glyn Level no 2 furnace	Glyn Level no 2 furnace
Glyn Level No 2	Glyn Level No 2	Glyn Level No 2	Glyn Level No 2 furnace flue
Glyn Level No 2 entrance	Glyn No 2 entrance and furnace	Glyn Level No 2 furnace	Glyn Level No 2 interior
Glyn Level No 2 interior	Glyn Level No 2 rail

Glyntillery Colliery (c1915)- ST 2487 9920
Glyntillery Colliery (1954) - ST 2387 9869

The second site of Glyntillery Colliery is shown as a small level in 1916 and disused by 1962.
The third and final incarnation of Glyntillery Colliery, previously one of Hafodyrynys Colliery's drifts. The drift was closed in 1975 finally ending the nomadic existence of Glyntillery Colliery.

Glyntillery Level, 2nd site

Glyntillery Level, 2nd site

Glyntillery Level, 2nd site tips

Glyntillery Level, 3rd site

Hafodyrynys and the Northern side of the valley

Coedcae Newydd Colliery - SO 2598 0007

Coedcae Newydd Colliery appears only on the 1920 OS map and the tramway, tips and sites of numerous adits along the outcrop survive in deep and vicious undergrowth. Owned by John Bowen in 1904 but he went bankrupt in 1905 according to the London Gazette. Not a good businessman or not good coal?

Cwm Glyn or Bryn Gwyn level - ST 2579 9988

A stone wall on the side of the Old Crumlin Road is the only obvious sign of Cwm Glyn or Bryn Gwyn level, abandoned in 1878. There was a 'Bettys Level' next door. Workings up the hillside behind the level running NW through a cutting in the hillside are possibly the remains of the third Gelly Colliery incline.

Cwm Glyn and Coedcae Newydd

Coedcae Newydd Colliery

Coedcae Newydd Colliery

London Gazette entry, April 1904

Cwt-y-mynydd Colliery - ST 2436 9951

In 1880 this was an area of old workings on an outcrop but by c1895 Cwt-y-mynydd Colliery was up and running. However it closed around 1903 leaving the tips and a number of shallow workings, quarries and gravel pits.

Cwt-y-mynydd Colliery, 1901	Cwt-y-Mynydd Colliery	Cwt-y-Mynydd Colliery	Cwt-y-Mynydd Colliery
Cwt-y-Mynydd Colliery			Tir Shon Shenkin level

Mysterious ruins on Cefn Crib - ST 2411 9970

On the top of Cefn Crib, just above Cwt-y-Mynydd Colliery, there was a brick-built octagonal building with an attached square building and another square building 100 ft away, all made of concrete and unmarked bricks.. It seems that they were a military observation point, searchlight or anti-aircraft battery. The octagonal shape resembles the Pontypool Folly - did it also serve as a cunning WW2 diversion?

The octagonal building	The octagonal building	The octagonal building	The octagonal building
The octagonal building	The octagonal building
The rectangular building	The rectangular building	The rectangular building

Hafodyrynys Village

Cefn-y-Crib Colliery - ST 2342 9950

Cefn-y-Crib Colliery ( or Cefn Crib Colliery) is mentioned in 1855 with the incline opening c1858. It went through a string of owners before being abandoned in 1900, a 1916 report has it being sold to the Tirpentwys Colliery.

Cefn Crib Colliery, North, 1880	Cefn Crib Colliery, South, 1880	Cefn Crib Colliery incline	Cefn Crib Colliery incline top
Cefn Crib Colliery incline top	Cefn Crib Colliery incline top	Cefn Crib Colliery incline top	Cefn Crib Colliery tramway

Cwm Level - ST 2282 9956

Cwm Level first appears on the 1901 map, slowly expanding up the hillside until the 1938 edition. It's marked 'disused' by 1948.

Cwm Level, 1901	Cwm Level, 1920	Cwm Level, 1962
Cwm Level middle level	Cwm Level middle level	Cwm Level middle level	Cwm Level top level
Tramway from lower levels	Tramway from top level	Cwm Level tips

Penyrheol Colliery - ST 2291 9982

An old level is shown below Heol Cochwydd from 1880 onwards with Penyrheol Colliery appearing above Heol Cochwydd on the 1962 map. Planning permission for new levels was granted in 1961. The company was known as the Blaentwina Colliery Co Ltd or Blaentwina Drift Mine Ltd from 1988 to 1995 when it was dissolved.

Penyrheol Colliery, 1962	Penyrheol Colliery c1970-80	Penyrheol Colliery c1970-80	Penyrheol Colliery c1970-80
Penyrheol Colliery c1970-80	Penyrheol Colliery c1970-80	Penyrheol Colliery c1970-80	Penyrheol Colliery c1970-80
Penyrheol Colliery	Penyrheol Colliery	Penyrheol Colliery	Penyrheol Colliery
Penyrheol Colliery	Penyrheol Colliery	Penyrheol Colliery	Penyrheol Colliery
Lower level, Heol Cochwydd		Barn below Heol Cochwydd	Barn below Heol Cochwydd

Tyr Hen Forwen North levels (Penyrheol Colliery) - SO 2352 0001

An old level is shown here in 1880, a new level was open in 1901 but gone again by 1920. As far as I can tell, this is the site of two new levels into Penyrheol Colliery opened c1969 and closed with Penyrheol in 1994. This is the site shown in 'Small Mines of South Wales Vol 1'.

North of Tyr Hen Forwen, 1901

North of Tyr Hen Forwen

Tyr Hen Forwen South levels - ST 2348 9968

A very old site with 3 or 4 levels which were 'old' in 1880. There seems to have been a revival in the 1960s with a small level which may have been called 'Bush Colliery'.

South of Tyr Hen Forwen, 1880	South of Tyr Hen Forwen, 1962
Tyr Hen Forwen lower level	Tyr Hen Forwen lower level tips	Tyr Hen Forwen middle level tips	Tyr Hen Forwen upper level tips

Hafodyrynys Colliery - ST 2437 9902

The surviving water tower of the once extensive site of the modern Hafodyrynys Colliery, opened by 1914. A modernisation scheme in the 1950s saw new drift mines either side of the valley but coal-winding ceased in the 1960s. However, the washery continued in use until the 1970s. The filled-in concrete portal of the 1954 level is to the North of the main road.

RFC winding wheel and dram	Northern level entrance	Northern level entrance	Retaining wall below level
'Gwent' at Hafodyrynys Colliery	'Gwent' at Hafodyrynys Colliery	'Nasmyth' at Hafodyrynys Colliery	'Nasmyth' at Hafodyrynys Colliery
'Nasmyth' at Hafodyrynys Colliery	'Nasmyth' at Hafodyrynys Colliery	'Glendower' at Hafodyrynys Colliery

Acknowledgments, sources and further reading.

Thanks to Clive Davies, Colin Hall, Gwyn Jenkins, Alan Murray-Rust, Christine Peploe and Gary Taylor for their photos and information
'The Surviving Engines of the Glyn Pits' by Gwyn Tilley, Landmark Publishing, 2005
'Small Mines of South Wales Vol 1' by A J Booth, Industrial Railway Society, 1997