There is evidence of mining in the Blaenafon area going back to the 14th century, but it is believed to have been practised in Roman times and possibly earlier. The coal mining industry burgeoned in the 19th century, when shafts were sunk to complement the open-cast and drift mining already exploiting the ample and obvious coal resources.

Incorporating existing Coity colliery and Kearsley's pit (sunk in 1860), Big Pit ('Pwll Mawr' in Welsh) opened in 1880, so called because it was the first shaft in Wales large enough to allow two tramways. At the height of coal production, there were over 160 drift mines and over 30 shafts working the nine seams in the Blaenavon locality. Big Pit alone employed some 1300 men digging a quarter of a million tons of coal a year. Large amounts of coal were needed to supply the local ironworks, as it took 3 tons of coal to produce a ton of iron. Blaenafon 'steam' coal was of high quality and it was exported globally. Burning hotly while leaving minimum ash, it was ideal to power the steam engines now driving ships and railways across the world.

Economics and politics took their toll and all the smaller pits were either abandoned or swallowed into Big Pit's encroaching search for new seams. Finally in February 1980 the coal ran out and even Big Pit, then the oldest mine in Wales, had to close. Thanks once again in some part to the dire economic situation prevalent in the region at the time, Big Pit was left pretty much as it stood until funds were available ten years later to restore it as a museum.

Today the National Mining Museum of Wales is situated here and is steadily establishing itself as one of the most popular tourist attractions in not only Wales, but the UK. In 2005 it won the prestigious Gulbenkian Prize for Museum of the year. It is one of only two remaining mines where it is possible for visitors to journey to the underground workings some 300ft (90m) below using the same cages as transported the miners. On the one hour guided trip below ground you are shown a coal-face, pony stables, ventilation shafts and more, accompanied by an ex-miner who can help to convey the miserable working conditions of the men, women and indeed children of Blaenafon who toiled here. Although the Mines Act of 1842 was meant to prevent women and boys under 10 from working underground, it is believed to have been widely ignored. Much later, in the middle of the 20th century, mining was still a hazardous enterprise and many of Blaenavon's older citizens still suffer from silicosis and other mining related diseases.

The only deep mine still working in Wales, the Tower Colliery, Hirwaun run by a miner's co-operative since 1984, is itself facing the prospect of running out of coal in the near future if new seams are not developed. It is interesting to see how conditions have changed underground these days - A Journey into the Mine.

Several other small mines still exist, including the Blaenant drift mine next to the Cefn Coed Colliery Museum. There are still nine headstocks remaining in Wales, including Big Pit (the metal frame erected in 1921 during the Miners' Strike of that year, to replace a wooden structure) viewable at UK Headgears (scroll to Wales). General History of Welsh Mining gives a brief account from the Bronze Age to the present day.

Visit the links page of this site for more pages on mining in South Wales and the UK.

William Gerwyn Thomas is the man who many credit with the creation of the National Mining Museum of Wales at Blaenavon, and his book Big Pit, Blaenafon is required reading and excellent value. Buy it and read it before you visit the mine.

You may also find Collieries of South Wales Vol I by John Cornwell worthwhile.