Trimsaran is a

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

and former mining village which lies on the B4308 between

Llanelli ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Carmarthenshire and the Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is on the estuary of the River Loughor and is the largest town in the Principal areas of Wales, ...

and

Kidwelly Kidwelly () is a town and community (Wales), community in Carmarthenshire, southwest Wales, approximately northwest of the most populous town in the county, Llanelli. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census the community had a population ...

, in

Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire (; or informally ') is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. ...

, Wales. Trimsaran is six miles (10 km) from

, and from

Carmarthen Carmarthen (, ; , 'Merlin's fort' or possibly 'Sea-town fort') is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community (Wales), community in Wales, lying on the River Towy north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. At the 2021 United Kingdom cen ...

. It is close to

Burry Port Burry Port () is a port town and community in Carmarthenshire, Wales, on the River Loughor, 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 ...

harbour, Pembrey Country Park and the Millennium Coastal Park. The community is bordered by the communities of:

Llangyndeyrn Llangyndeyrn () is a village, community and electoral ward in the River Gwendraeth valley, Carmarthenshire, in Dyfed region of West Wales, United Kingdom. The village name is often spelt as Llangendeirne. In 2011 the community had a populati ...

; Llanelli Rural; Pembrey and Burry Port Town; and

, all being in Carmarthenshire. Between 1909 and 1953 Trimsaran Road railway station on what had been the Burry Port and Gwendraeth Valley Railway, 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 Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

anthracite Anthracite, also known as hard coal and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a lustre (mineralogy)#Submetallic lustre, submetallic lustre. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy densit ...

, and fireclay. By the early 1900s, three drift mines 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 mining (hard rock), underground coal mining, although accidents al ...

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. *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 "ve ...

in April 1954, with most of the workforce going to Carway or Pentremawr Colliery. The site was later opened up as part of Celtic Energy's move into opencast 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 Coarse fishing (, ) is a phrase commonly used in United Kingdom, Great Britain and Ireland. It refers to the angling for rough fish, which are fish species considered undesirable as food or game fish. Freshwater game fish are all salmonids, parti ...

lake, quad bike and

mountain biking Mountain biking (MTB) 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 ...

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

Notable people

* Owen Picton Davies (1882–1970), a Welsh journalist. * Jonathan Davies OBE (born 1962), former rugby footballer who represented Wales in both rugby union and rugby league. * Nigel Davies (born 1965), a former international rugby union player, who played his club rugby at Llanelli RFC. * Garan Evans (born 1973), former rugby union footballer, who played for

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. * Trystan Gravelle (born 1981), theatre, film and television actor.

Trimsaran Rugby Club

Trimsaran is known for its

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

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 onto represent Wales included Jonathan Davies, Garan Evans, 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)