Trimsaran is a

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

and former mining village which lies on the B4308 between

Llanelli Llanelli ("St Elli's Parish"; ) is a market town and the largest community in Carmarthenshire and the preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is located on the Loughor estuary north-west of Swansea and south-east of the county town, Carmarthen. ...

and

Kidwelly Kidwelly ( cy, Cydweli) is a town and community in Carmarthenshire, southwest Wales, approximately northwest of the most populous town in the county, Llanelli. In the 2001 census the community of Kidwelly returned a population of 3,289, inc ...

, in the

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

county of

Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire ( cy, Sir Gaerfyrddin; or informally ') is a county in the south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. The county is known as ...

. Trimsaran is six miles (10 km) from

, and from

Carmarthen Carmarthen (, RP: ; cy, Caerfyrddin , "Merlin's fort" or "Sea-town fort") is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community in Wales, lying on the River Towy. north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. The population was 14,185 in 2011, ...

. It is close to

Burry Port Burry Port ( cy, Porth Tywyn) is a port town and community in Carmarthenshire, Wales, on the Loughor estuary (Moryd Llwchwr), to the west of Llanelli and south-east of Kidwelly. Its population was recorded at 5,680 in the 2001 census and 6,156 i ...

harbour,

Pembrey Country Park Pembrey Country Park is a country park on the coast of South Wales, located near the village of Pembrey, Carmarthenshire, and the town of Llanelli. Pembrey Country Park consists of some of parkland. Its southern edge is formed by the long Cefn ...

and the

Millennium Coastal Park The Millennium Coastal Park was originally a project undertaken by Llanelli Borough Council to transform a 12 miles stretch of industrial wasteland on the south Carmarthenshire coast into green parkland. The project was then taken over by Carmart ...

. The community is bordered by the communities of:

Llangyndeyrn Llangyndeyrn () is a village, Community (Wales), community and electoral ward in the River Gwendraeth river valley, valley, Carmarthenshire, in Dyfed region of West Wales, United Kingdom. The village name is often spelt as Llangendeirne. The W ...

;

Llanelli Rural Llanelli Rural ( cy, Llanelli Gwledig) is a community in the southeast of Carmarthenshire, Wales. Description Despite its name, Llanelli Rural covers large parts of the Llanelli urban area, including Bynea, Llwynhendy, Cefncaeau, Pemberton ...

;

Pembrey and Burry Port Town Pembrey and Burry Port Town (Welsh: ''Pen-bre a Phorth Tywyn'') is a community located in Carmarthenshire, Wales including the town of Burry Port and the village of Pembrey. The community population taken at the 2011 census was 8,547. The comm ...

; and

, all being in Carmarthenshire. Between 1909 and 1953

Trimsaran Road railway station Trimsaran Road railway station was opened in 1909 at Morfa It continued to serve the inhabitants of the Trimsaran area between 1909 and 1953 and was one of several basic halts opened on the Burry Port and Gwendraeth Valley Railway in Carmarthens ...

on what had been the

Burry Port and Gwendraeth Valley Railway :''Note: During most of the period of operation of the BP&GVR the anglicised spellings of Welsh place names were in use, and for consistency are used in this article. The Company's registered name included the incorrect spelling ''Gwendreath'' due t ...

, served the miners and the residents of the village and locality.

Trimsaran Colliery

There are historical reports of mining activities taking place in the Trimsaran area dating back hundreds of years. By 1896, the Inspector of Mines noted that Trimsaran employed 144 men, producing

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

anthracite Anthracite, also known as hard coal, and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic luster. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the hig ...

, and fireclay. By the early 1900s, three

drift mine Drift mining is either the mining of an ore deposit by underground methods, or the working of coal seams accessed by adits driven into the surface outcrop of the coal bed. A drift mine is an underground mine in which the entry or access is above ...

s made up Trimsaran colliery: Caedean (deepest), Waunhir and the Upper slant; all connected underground and on the surface by a tramway. By 1908, Waunhir and Cadean employed 198 men, while by 1918 the workforce had grown to 435. By 1923 352 men employed at Caedean Slant, Upper Slant employed 63 men and Waunhir 126 men. There were three notable

mining accident A mining accident is an accident that occurs during the process of mining minerals or metals. Thousands of miners die from mining accidents each year, especially from underground coal mining, although accidents also occur in hard rock mining. ...

s: *February 1907, Waunhir slant - 6 men died when a coupling plate broke and full mine-cars ran down the drift - the men had no chance. *1909 - an explosion in the Caedean Slant killed 4 men, possibly caused by

firedamp Firedamp is any flammable gas found in coal mines, typically coalbed methane. It is particularly found in areas where the coal is bituminous. The gas accumulates in pockets in the coal and adjacent strata and when they are penetrated the releas ...

. *26 April 1923- 12 men died whilst travelling out of the mine the end of the day shift, when part of the journey of drams, in which they were riding suddenly careered back down the slope after a connecting shackle broke. By 1931 the mine was owned by Amalgamated Anthracite Ltd. and employed 700 men on the existing working. These drifts closed in 1934 and was replaced by the Waunffynhonnau drift (new drift or Wimpey drift), which employed over 300 men in 1945. The mine was closed by the

National Coal Board The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "v ...

in April 1954, with most of the workforce going to

Carway Carway ( cy, Carwe) is a village situated to the north-west of the town of Llanelli in the county of Carmarthenshire, Wales, in the River Gwendraeth, Gwendraeth Valley. It is part of the community of Llangyndeyrn, and had a population of 672 in 2 ...

or Pentremawr Colliery. The site was later opened up as part of Celtic Energy's move into

opencast mining Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow. This form of mining ...

, called ''Ffos Las'', but was closed in 1997. As part of the redevelopment of the site, it has been approved to become a

coarse fishing In Britain and Ireland, coarse fishing (, ) refers to angling for rough fish, which are fish species traditionally considered undesirable as a food or game fish. Freshwater game fish are all salmonids — most particularly salmon, trout and cha ...

lake,

quad bike An all-terrain vehicle (ATV), also known as a light utility vehicle (LUV), a quad bike, or simply a quad, as defined by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI); is a vehicle that travels on low-pressure tires, with a seat that is strad ...

and

mountain biking Mountain biking is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and pe ...

centre, before proposed redevelopment of the site as a £16 million/1000m

horse racing course This is a list of currently active horse racing venues (Thoroughbred racing and harness racing), sorted by country. In most English-speaking countries they are called "racecourses"; the United States and some parts of Canada use "racet ...

, training centre and a grandstand for 1,000 spectators. A hotel and up to 250 houses would also be built on the site of the site.

Trimsaran Rugby Club

Trimsaran is known for its

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

involvement, and is a sport that plays a part in the local community. Rugby was first played in Trimsaran in 1910 but the first recorded captain was Bill Bailey in 1927. Players who have graduated from

Trimsaran RFC Trimsaran United Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team from the village of Trimsaran in South Wales. The club is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union and is a feeder club for the Llanelli Scarlets. Club badge The club badge is a shield split ...

onto represent Wales included Jonathan Davies,

Garan Evans Garan Rhys Evans (born 16 February 1973) is a Welsh former rugby union footballer, who played as a fullback for Llanelli, the Llanelli Scarlets and Wales. Evans was born in Trimsaran and educated at Ysgol y Strade in Llanelli. He made his ...

, Aaron "Girthy" Bowen and Gareth Lewis, who made his debut against Australia in the 2016 Autumn internationals.

References

External links

Trimsaran RFCFfos Las racecoursewww.geograph.co.uk : photos of Trimsaran and surrounding area
{{authority control Villages in Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire electoral wards Communities in Carmarthenshire Swansea Bay (region)