The Llwynonn Colliery Company first began sinking the shafts for Cefn Coed Colliery on a site to the south of Crynant in the Dulais valley early in the 1926. Bellow the chosen site lay a layer of hard blue pennant sand stone which made attempts to excavate the shafts costly and dangerous there were three unsuccessful attempts made to sink the shafts. It wasn’t until after the Llwynonn company was bought out by the Amalgamated Anthracite Colliery's Ltd of Ammanford in 1928 that work was completed. The new owners were able to make a large capital investment into the colliery which saw the shafts break through problem sandstone layer to reach the rich anthracite seams below.

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The first coal was brought to the surface in 1930, raised by a Worsley Mesne Steam winding engine installed in 1927 turning a 10ft diameter winding drum. The engine was powered by a suite of six Lancashire boilers which burned gas extracted from old underground workings. The engine is still in situ today but was converted to electrical power during it's later in its life.

The colliery successfully worked the 'Peacock','Dulais','White four feet' and 'nine feet' seams but it was the deepest seam 'Big Vein' which provided the best quality anthracite. The shafts at Cefn Coed broke into the 'big vein' seam at a depth of 2,250 feet. The working within this seam would eventually delve to a depth of 2,500 Feet making Cefn Coed the deepest anthracite mine in the world. The mineral Brammallite was discovered in the Dulais by the Natural History Museum one of only two locations in Wales where the mineral has been discovered.

Working at extreme depth Cefn Coed was the scene of frequent accidents from methane gas and roof falls, the colliery soon earned the nickname "The Slaughterhouse". The extreme working depth also made Cefn Coed an expensive pit to operate continual investment and maintenance was required to keep the roadways open. In 1945 two years before the pit was nationalised 908 men were employed there. Changing economics in the coal industry during the 1950's made production less and less profitable and the colliery's workforce was dramatically reduced. The colliery was not included in the modernisation program probably due its high operating costs and continued to use traditional hand mining methods until its closure in 1968.

The closure of Cefn Coed did not bring an end to mining on the site. The headgear, shafts and winding house were kept open to provide access and ventilation for the New Blaenant drift mine, which occupied the same site. They operated as part of drift mine until 1990 when British Coal announced the closure of New Blaenant with the loss of 580 jobs because of geological difficulties. The majority of the site was quickly cleared but the winding house and its engine were saved by the local council and preserved as a mining museum. Both sets of headgear also survived, although not part of the museum they standing alone on the other side of a fence in the care of the Coal Authority.

The sole reason for my visit to Cefn Coed was to climb the sets of headgear, I finally managed to do this on early on wet morning in april. A previous attempt the evening before failed, I was by noticed volunteers working in the museum compound as I was half way up the down cast headgear forcing me to retreat out of view. On this occasion I decided to climb the No2 Headgear over the downcast shaft, the climb was easy enough although the condition of the stairway has deteriated quite badly towards the top. Climbing any abandoned headgear is a dangerous activity but I would advise anyone to think before attempting these and make sure you take the appropriate safety precautions. 17 years of exposure to the weather has badly corroded the stairway and platforms and they are not quite what they once were.