Pont-y-Yard Pont-y-Yard Pont-y-Yard Bridge, adjacent to the A 4067 just South of Abercrave, was one of the earliest stone bridges to span the River Tawe. It was built by Daniel Harpur, a local industrialist who came originally from Tamworth in Staffordshire. The bridge was intended as an aqueduct, to link the adjacent Lefel Fawr Colliery to the Swansea Canal at Hen-Neuadd dock, (now the site of Longs Coaches) This extension to the canal was never completed however, because of the gradient and the hardness of the local rock. Instead a horse-drawn tramway was built to take the coal to the canal and to the Abercrave Ironworks. The cottage by the bridge was occupied by the colliery manager. Just beyond the cottage you can see the barred entrance to the Lefel Fawr Mine which Daniel Harpur opened around 1801 . Notice the red-brown colour of the stream that flows from the entrance. This is due to iron which is often associated with coal seams. The colliery level was tunnelled for over a mile into the hillside by William Watkins a local engineer. He did not use explosives, and preferred to shatter the rock by harnessing the expansion produced when lime was slaked with water. The yard itself, which gave the bridge its name (bridge of the yard), was an area between the old Swansea Valley Canal feeder and the river Tawe. The main A 4067 road now runs across it. It was originally used to store and load coal from the Lefel Fawr mine. Around the year 1910 it was the site of a billiard hall, dance hall and newsagents shop, all operated by a Mrs Walters of Caehopkin. It was also used by travelling circuses and fairs. In 1794 Daniel Harpur became one of the proprietors of the Swansea Canal, and in 1801 he moved into the area, building Abercrave Mansion (now Abercrave House) near the old Abercrave Farm. It was Harpur who anglicised the name ‘Abercraf’ to ‘Abercrave’ (the name Abercraf comes from the confluence of the Craf stream with the river Tawe, with ‘Craf ‘ being an old Welsh word for wild garlic). As well as developing the Lefel Fawr Colliery and the Abercrave Iron works he became a director of the British Iron and Steel Company. Page 1 file:///C|/websites/craig-y-nos/walks/7ystradgynlais/history2print.htm29/01/2008 16:15:29 The Collieries of Abercrave The Collieries of Abercrave Abercrave Colliery, Year-1896 Mynydd-y-Drum (The Drum Mountain) which overlooks Abercrave and Ystradgynlais from the East has been extensively mined. At the beginning of the nineteenth century Daniel Harpur had opened the "Lefel Fawr" mine and built Pont-y-Yard Owner Abercrave Collieries Co bridge over the river Tawe to transport coal, from a low lying coal seam, to the Swansea Valley Canal. Type of Mine Slant (Drift) Manager W.W.Morgan Later in the century the Blackburn family from Nant-y-Glo near Merthyr Tydfil were quarrying sand stone higher up on the Type of Product Anthracite and Coal Drum Mountain overlooking Abercrave (just above what became the route of the subsequent railway line) when they found a Workers Employed 154 below ground, 18 above ground seam of anthracite up to 18 feet in thickness. Gwaunclawdd Colliery, Year 1908 This lead to the opening of four collieries overlooking Abercrave. They were established in the following order, heading Northwards, and were named "Gwaun-y-clawdd", "International (Candy) ", "Abercrave" and "Nicky Nack" colliery. All were all strung out along the Western side of Mynydd-y-Drum, just below the Neath and Brecon Railway line. Owner Abercrave Collieries Co Type of Mine Slant (Drift) Manager Eli Davies Every colliery had to have a "return" or alternative way out, and the old Lefel Fawr air shaft near Yard Bridge was used as the Type of Product Anthracite and Coal "return" for the International (Candy) Colliery, as well as for ventilation. The original Gwaun-y-clawdd coal shaft just above the Workers Employed 78 below ground, 23 above ground railway line was later used as the "return" for what became the main Gwaun-y-clawdd colliery. The 1908 inspection of the International The Morgan Family who had leased the stone quarry to the Blackburns now formed their own company, Abercrave Collieries Colliery, adjacent to Co, to run Abercrave and Gwaun-y-clawdd Collieries. They built most of the houses in the village of Caehopkin to Abercrave Colliery, recorded it as belonging accommodate the workers. to the International Anthracite Co, but being in receivership. Surveys carried out by Her Majesty's Inspectors of Mines) around the beginning of the twentieth century recorded the information shown on the left. International (Candy) Colliery, Year 1908 Abercrave Colliery had two entrances (drifts), exploiting different coal measures and different seams. One drift was known as the "Eighteen Foot" and the other as the "Lower Measures". Eighteen Foot referred to the maximum thickness of the seam Owner International Anthracite Co which reached 18ft (5.5 metres) in a few places. Ltd Type of Mine Slant (Drift) The seam known as the Lower Measures varied in thickness from four foot ( 1.3 metres) down to six inches ( 150 centimetres) Manager D.T. Alexander, and the miners often had to work lying on their side in narrow tunnels to extract the coal from this seam. The methods of receiver and manager. Type of Product Anthracite and Coal working changed over the years as mechanisation was introduced. Workers Employed 201 below ground, 53 above ground Originally the miners had worked in "stalls" and dug the coal with picks and shovels. They were paid according to the tonnage they produced and the coal and spoil (waste) was removed by horse drawn wagons (drams). 1 Page 2 file:///C|/websites/craig-y-nos/walks/7ystradgynlais/history1print.htm (1 of 3)29/01/2008 16:10:11 The Collieries of Abercrave Winches were often used to pull the drams up the steeper inclines out of the mine, using ropes or steel cables, and this system was known as a "haulage". When conveyors were introduced the method of calculating payment changed, with each miner being allocated a six yard (5.5 metre) long "stint" of the coal face to mine. Every man negotiated a price per yard with "the fireman" and the price depended on the height of the seam at that location. The men worked a 24 hour three shift system, but coal was only extracted on the day shifts. Miners at The International, "Candy" Colliery in 1912 The night shift "cut" the coal and carried out the operations necessary to "advance" the face ready for the next day shift. Cutting involved the use of a 4.5 foot ( 1.3 metre") diameter circular saw with large hardened steel teeth. This pulled itself along a tethered steel cable and made a 2 foot ( 0.6 metre) deep cut along the bottom of the coal seam, parallel to the floor of the gallery. The miners on the following day shifts then used pneumatic drills, picks and shovels to extract all the coal above the cut. The drifts at all three collieries headed Eastwards into the mountain, towards Seven Sisters and the Eighteen Foot Seam was very wet, as the land above it was marshy. The last day at Abercrave Colliery in March 1967. Around the year 1964 a 100 foot ( 31 metre) thick section of the roof fell into one of the galleries at Abercrave Colliery and it was fortunate that no-one was injured or killed. It took around five months to clear the vast amount of fallen material and those who were doing the work could look up and see the sky above. Gwaunclawdd Colliery closed in the mid 1930s and the International Colliery closed in the early 1950s. Abercrave Colliery continued in production until March 1967 when four hundred and fifty men lost their jobs. Some were offered jobs in other pits such as Ynyscedwyn Colliery in Ystradgynlais but unfortunately this also closed, exactly one year later. There were many different seams of coal under Mynydd-y-Drum, all of which were classed as Anthracite. Anthracite is ancient vegetation which has been 2 reduced to almost pure carbon by the action of time and pressure.Page 3 file:///C|/websites/craig-y-nos/walks/7ystradgynlais/history1print.htm (2 of 3)29/01/2008 16:10:11 The Collieries of Abercrave Abercrave Colliery With anthracite, most of the original volatile matter has gone, and so when burned it remains solid, unlike "soft coals" which soften and become tar-like. Anthracite varies considerably in its hardness and other qualities according to where it occurs. The upper measures (such as the eighteen Foot seam) are less hard and shatter easily. They tend to create very dusty working conditions for the miners. The lower measures are much older, more deeply buried, highly compressed and harder to shatter, but they break cleanly producing little dust and leaving the hands clean after handling. The highest quality anthracite came from the lower measures, but these thinner, harder, seams cost more to mine. The best quality anthracite mined from the lower measures was called "Blue Diamond" as it shone when broken, and the miners would fashion sculptures and ornaments from it. 3 Page 4 file:///C|/websites/craig-y-nos/walks/7ystradgynlais/history1print.htm (3 of 3)29/01/2008 16:10:11 The Neath and Brecon Railway The Neath and Brecon Railway The construction of the Neath and Brecon Railway was a vital cog in the development of the South Wales coal industry.