>Presumably Amalgamated Collieries were based around
>the West Wales coalfield.
Jonathan,
The Amalgamated Anthracite Collieries, Ltd. operated in the Swansea District
- formed out of the Cleeves Western Valleys, Gellyceidrim and Gurnos
Companies in 1923. There were eight collieries in all - New Cross Hands,
Tirydail, Llandebie, Gellyceidrim, Gurnos, Diamond, Yniscedwyn and
Ystradgynlais.
The formation of the A.A.C. was the beginning of a rapid change in the
structure of the anthracite collieries in south-west Wales - by 1938 they
controlled most of the large pits in the area. Anthracite production was
export led, largely supplying a domestic market which was tied to its use as
a fuel in specialised appliances, and high prices in the immediate post war
years encouraged a move to amalgamation. Anthracite was the only sector of
the coal industry to increase its output in the interwar years - Welsh
production was over 25 percent higher in the mid 30s than it was in 1913,
compared with bituminous output which had fallen by nearly 50 percent. But
anthracite production was hampered by increase cost and struggled to make a
profit.
See Hare, A E C. The Anthracite Coal Industry of the Swansea District,
(Swansea, 1940).
Peter
______________________________________________
Peter Claughton, Blaenpant Morfil, Rosebush, Clynderwen,
Pembrokeshire, Wales SA66 7RE.
Tel. 01437 532578; Fax. 01437 532921; Mobile 07831 427599
University of Exeter - School of Historical, Political and Sociological Studies
(Centre for South Western Historical Studies)
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Co-owner - mining-history e-mail discussion list.
See http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/files/mining-history/ for details.
Mining History Pages - http://www.exeter.ac.uk/~pfclaugh/mhinf/
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