Glyn Pits
Pontypool
This historically important site contains two large steam engines, which have suffered serious deterioration over many years. The site was originally owned by Capel Hanbury Leigh.
There is no access. The engine houses are securely fenced.
The Old Glyn Pits were originally known as Cwm-y-Glyn Colliery or Race Colliery.
For a comprehensive description, see 'The Surviving Engines of Glyn Pits, Pontypool'[1]. This souurce includes maps showing Pld Glyn Pits as Glyn Collieries Nos 1 & 2 Pits located WSW of Pontypool, and Glyn Collieries Nos 3 & 4 Pits located a short distance NNE of Nos 1 & 2. To the east was Balance Pit, and to the south of that were Upper Race Iron Works and Upper Race (Blaendare) Brickworks. Also imcluded is an 1895 drawing showing the strata to a depth of 190 ft, which includes ten seams of coal totalling 42 ft, the thickest being Meadow Vein, at 10 ft 2". There was also fireclay and ironstone.
One of the surviving engines is a vertical winding engine using flat wire ropes, built some time after 1852 and before 1865.
The other engine is a beam pumping engine built in 1845, probably by Neath Abbey Iron Co.
Events
1853 'IMPORTANT RAILWAY COMPENSATION CASE
Pontypool Iron Company (Messrs. Edward Bagna Dimmack, John Thomson; and Joseph Firmstone) claimants, and the Newport, Abergavenny, and Hereford Railway Company, Respondents. ....
..... Mr. Rogers, cross-examined by Sir Frederick Thesiger : I did not know anything of the works before I became manage — when they were in Mr. Leigh’s hands. It was about 18 months ago when I was appointed manager. I have only worked the pits which were in work when I began. There were then only two furnaces in blast, a third was in course of erection: very little had been done to it. It has now been worked five months with cold blast. A month ago we changed it from cold to hot blast. There were also the Cwmlicky and the balance pits, which had only just commenced working. We have several mine levels driven in; and our principal supplies are now derived from them. The whole of the level from the Cwmlicky pit to the rise is nearly exhausted. The first month after we took possession of the property, we raised 1,200 tons of iron mine. Last month (January) we raised 2,322 tons — it was a five weeks month.. I can't say how long the spoil has been accumulating near the balance pits. These pits would, I think, last five or six years longer. There is an abundance of space for the refuse yet to be got out of the balance pits. The Glyn pits had not been worked until within the last three or four months. We are just commencing to raise mine and coal out of this pit. When we commenced operations, the pits had not been opened at all. The spoil near them arose simply from the sinkings of the pit, and driving the shafts. I think we have only got out of this pit about three or four hundred tons of mine, and three thousand tons of coal. I should say that less than 500 superficial yards, exclusive of the headings, have been worked at the Glyn pit. With the present power we possess, we raise, I think, about a thousand tons a month. We get from the Glyn pits about fifty tons a month : from the balance pits, 39,400 tons. Then we have 650 from the Cwmlicky pits. We can raise, perhaps, 200 tons of every sort of material in the Glyn pits every twelve hours. We assume that we shall be able to work in new pits, near the Glyn pits, after five years. We purpose to sink another pair of shafts, at the upper measure of the mine. At the Glyn pits we are now erecting a 30-inch cylinder. I think shall be able to raise 500 tons of all materials in a day. I estimate the yield at 2000 tons per acre. After deducting 1-4th of the 2000 tons for loss in working, I estimate that the whole of the black mine that could be worked from the new range, would be exhausted in 56 years. There is ample space for the spoil adjoining the Glyn pits, for that one measure, for all that may be got out in the 56 years. New openings would be made according to our necessity. In order to keep the supply of minerals, we shall have to make new openings, in perhaps twenty years. We should make them at the head of the pond. There is but a small space there for the spoil. The depth of the second opening would perhaps be 490 yards, to the bottom of the whole of the measures. We should have to do so, to raise another 35-inch cylinder engine, of at least 120-horse power. I do not know of any mine worked to that depth; but I apprehend we should not leave any mine in the ground. I can simply say, that at 190 yards we find the measures better than at any other depth. We should have spoil room for the working at the head of the lower point, for some time — say 59 years, including what will have to be conveyed to a further distance. The third opening, by another pair of shafts, would be at the end, perhaps, of 30 years. There are large quantities of iron-stone brought into this district, from Lancashire, Forest of Dean, Bristol, and other places. It costs more to import the foreign ores than it would to raise our native ores. We burn limestone for sale. It is of a good quality for building purposes, but not for white-liming. We have two lime-kilns. I think blasting would be dangerous near the railway; but we blast now near the tramway. The lime-stone contains a large quantity of silica; and for building purposes it is very good.
Re-examined by Mr. Keating: There was no preparation for the developement of the resources of the property, before the Pontypool Iron Company came into possession. In the proper working of these mines, we should not confine ourselves to one measure. When we blast at the quarry, we always send a man out to stop the trams which may be coming towards the spot at the time, that there may be no injury. ....'[2]
1858 'FATAL ACCIDENT.— On Thursday week a man named Robert Treasure was killed by a fall of coal in the Glyn pit, belonging to the Pontypool Iron Company. On Saturday an inquest was formally opened....'[3]
1892 '... the Bryndu Coal and Coke Company, Limited, has been formed with a capital of £ 180,000 .... for the purpose of acquiring and working the Bryndu and Cefn Collieries and Coke Works, Glamorganshire, and the Glyn Collieries, Monmouthshire. The collieries have connection with the Great Western Railway, and are situate in great industrial centres. There is a large local demand for the coke and coal, and excellent shipping facilities, not only at Cardiff, Barry, and Swansea, but also at Porthcawl, which is only distant from six to seven miles of the Bryndu collieries. The Glyn Collieries are distant 8 miles from Newport. They are situate near Pontypoo!, and have been sub-leased from the Ebbw Vale Company, the terms including all the plant, machinery, etc. The duration of the lease of the Glyn Colliery is for 23 years from 24th June, 1891; and that of Bryndu and Cefn endures for 60 years from May, 1891. The area of ground embraced in the Glyn Colliery is in all upwards of 2,000 acres, and the area of the Bryndu and Cefn leasehold is 2,170 acres. There still, according to the engineers' reports, remain to work large quantities of coal, and of the three seams which have been most extensively worked, there remain to get 22 million tons, besides which there are extensive areas containing the other seams which will pro- duce large quantities of coal. At Bryndu and Cefn there are unworked 136,000 tons. The coal is stated to be suitable for steam and household purposes, while a portion of one Glyn seam is first-class cannel coal. It is estimated that the output of the two will reach 600,000 tons a year. ....'[4]