The Denbighshire Coalfield in the historic county of
Denbighshire
Denbighshire ( ; cy, Sir Ddinbych; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. Its borders differ from the historic county of the same name. This part of Wales contains the country's oldest known evidence of habitation – Pontnewydd (Bontnewy ...
in north-east
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
is one of the smaller
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
coalfields. It extends from near
Caergwrle
Caergwrle () is a village in the county of Flintshire, in north east Wales. Approximately from Wrexham and situated on the A541 road, it is contiguous with the villages of Abermorddu and Hope, though in parts Caergwrle and Hope are separated by ...
in the north, southwards through
Wrexham
Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...
,
Ruabon and
Rhosllannerchrugog to
Chirk in the south. A small part extends into
Shropshire
Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...
around
Oswestry. Beyond Caergwrle the coal-bearing
strata continue northwards as the
Flintshire Coalfield. Together the two coalfields are known as the
North Wales Coalfield.
History
The shallower parts of the Denbighshire Coalfield were worked extensively in the early nineteenth century, most of the coal being used in the iron industry. In the mid-nineteenth century, much deeper pits were established and a network of railways was built in the Wrexham area to transport the coal.
A report on the North Wales Coalfield in the 1950s found that the reserves of coal were running low and that in the Denbighshire Coalfield, the geology of the coal-bearing strata dipped rapidly rendering it unlikely that the coalfield could be further developed.
[ The last deep mine to operate in the coalfield was Bersham Colliery which closed in 1986. Prior to this time, as many as 38 collieries had been in operation across the area, with a peak output in excess of 2.6 million tons, and giving employment at the height of production to some 12,000 men.
]
Coal seams
Several coal seam
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron fro ...
s are named in the sequence. All of the seams occur within the Bettisfield Formation with the exception of the Morlas which occurs in the Coed-yr-Allt Formation. The seams are listed stratigraphically with the uppermost (youngest) at the head of the list and the lowermost (oldest) at the foot.
References
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Coal mining regions in Wales
Coal mining in Wales
Geography of Wrexham County Borough