Tweedle Tip

The Tweedle Tip Reappears

The Tweedle tip can be seen clearly in the top right hand portion of the photograph, with its distinctive flat top.

The cull of diseased larch by Natural Resources Wales on Hirfynydd recently, has had one historic benefit to the village of Resolfen.  Namely, the reappearance of a once familiar landmark ,the Tweedle Tip. Its distinctive flat top and quarry in the background make it readily identifiable.  A chance meeting with Mr Spencer Evans of Abergarwed, (socially distanced and both accompanied by dogs having their daily exercise) pointed out this feature to the author. He recounted how the tip was a popular place for boys camping in the summer, and of the exploration of a cave on the site. He also stated that they would call the tip Tweedle Dum as against Tweedle Dee on the other side of the valley!


The Tweddel Level (changed by the passage of time to "Tweedle") was driven in Napoleonic times, and is named after its owner.

D. Rhys Phillips, describes it thus in his History of the Vale of Neath.


“The Tweddel Level was opened on the hillside near Ynys-y-biben , facing Resolven village.  The coal was sent down an incline and tipped into the canal boats below (on the Neath Canal Ed. Near the Ynisbipan aqueduct).   A clue to the period of its opening may be found in the circumstance that on April 28 , 1815 ,  Mr William Gwyn acting as solicitor to the Neath Canal Company , charges them £1 : 7 : 8, “for attending at Giant’s Grave to obtain possession of the dwelling house adjoining the warehouse to Mr Tweddle, to who the Committee had let the same the 9^th February last, but which had been surreptitiously possessed by Mr Vigors,  and who refused to deliver possession to Mr Tweddle : all this forenoon.  The little colliery was busily at work circa 1812 -18 and at later periods in spasmodic attempts under various local managements.  In 1905 – 06 the late Mr David Edwards of Tonna reopened the level, conveying the coal in carts to Resolven Railway Station siding. He abandoned the place on embarking in the new enterprise at Abergarwed. It has now been reopened by Sir D.R.Llewellyn , a tram-road connecting the level with the Ynys Arwed sidings. There are several old sidings in the area of Ynys-y-biben – which has been known as the Farmers Arms for several generations."


Professor Hywel Francis in his paper on the Anthracite Strike of 1925, describes how ventures such as those of Mr Tweddel (hence the Tweedle Tip ) was not uncommon:-


This dichotomy of interest was essentially a phenomenon which became more apparent in the early 1920's with the development of the coal combines. The anthracite coalfield had been dominated by drifts and small levels owned largely by local farmers or 'self improved' miners, supported by a mining engineer, a foreman and occasionally by additional capital from 'leading' members of the village. The mines were sufficiently small for recruitment to be limited to the immediate locality and consequently were very much village enterprises. The owner was known intimately by his employees as he had probably attended the same elementary school, Sunday school and continued to frequent the same chapel. Although there were often grievances, the pit, like the chapel and the public house, was part of a shared community experience of individual anthracite villages, and such grievances could be mere easily resolved within such a context. Discontent with economic hardships and conditions must have been appreciatby the owner to the extent that he respected the miners' customs and did not normally challenge them. Similarly, the owner was content to receive a relatively moderate and leisurely return on his money and was not answerable to a large and alien body of directors and shareholders demanding ever increasing returned.


This is echoed by the famous Welsh labour Politician and government Minister, James (Jim) Griffiths ,in his autobiographical essay “Glo Carreg”. He was deputy leader of the Labour Party and became the first Secretary of State for Wales, in 1966. 


Era of Small Mines


Until the two big pits were sunk at Cynheidre and Abernant, the anthracite coalfield had been one of small mines, mostly levels and drifts driven into the hillsides. Many of them were opened by the farmer who owned the land, aided by a mining engineer and an experienced "gaffer ". Some of them bore the name of the farm, such as Ynysdawela, Gellyceidrym, and Blaenhirwaun. Once a seam of coal was tapped, the practice would be to follow the seam to the boundary, or to the fault. When one seam was worked out and it became necessary to drive down to the lower seam, the Salesman at the docks at Swansea or Llanelli would find the capital as well as the trucks, which bore their names, such as T. T. Pascoe, Griffith Thomas, or Cleeves. It is significant that the first Combine in the anthracite coalfield was formed by Cleeves, the Salesman, who came to own four collieries. Even so, the pits remained small, employing from a hundred up to five hundred workmen. The miners at these small mines knew each other intimately; they not only worked in the same mine, but also lived in the same village, attended the same chapel or frequented the same "locals". In my time I have been privileged to belong to many circles of friends, but none of them have been richer in fellowship than the circle of miners, the men who faced the perils of the pit together and developed the warm fellowship of common danger.

Trefor Jones